Anyone can add blue to a image of the sky, and anyone can draw a pair of shoes with a slogan underneath it, these are the kind of things that we have been trained to be able to do. We can all make posters and billboards that spew information about products and upcoming events, and we can all create a logo that has a meaning to the company and we can all make that company millions of dollars creating an e-banner, and we can all make clever titles for blogs because this is what we have been trained to do.
But my question to you is what is the point of all of this? I don't mean to seem nihilistic or anything of the sort, but I truly think this is an important question that we as young and budding designers should think about if not have an answer for soon,or we are going to go down a long and boring path.
If you couldn't figure out the title above it reads “THE MESSAGE is in the designs” with “THE MESSAGE” literally being within the design. This might seem like a joke and you are probably thinking to yourself, “of course there is a message in design.” But what I meant was: What is your point for making the design? I know we need to keep ourselves afloat and get steady money from somewhere, and I get this, I am as upset as you are about this, but there are options out there that don't make you abandon your humanity by making mindless advertisements with the sole purpose to sell to someone something that they probably don't even need.
I guess that all of the blogs I post will be more about concepts than just designing logos and fliers. In a sense I suppose that it will be more about art using design as a tool in both the sense of actual physical design and as a play of what and where we typically see design used as an art space.
The piece above is something that I am sure that most of you have seen before in various ways already. I chose it because it seems like a simple introduction to my point of mind. The message is clearly about violence and coexisting and possibly how we can not have one without the other. A truly simple message based with in the realm of design, and most importantly I don't see one corporate logo anywhere and I don't think I am being sold anything by the design. A clever design for the sake of art and proving a point that exists on a plain bigger than 8.5X11inch.
I would have to first caution this attitude in that if one wishes to solely sell their skills in a commercial capacity then that is their business. This is one of the points I was trying to make in my post. I think some get a little to egoistic about being a designer with high moral and all, and secondly, being overly clever with a design is not necessarily a good thing. It can confuse which leads to finally, be careful about using phrasing such as: " The message is clearly..." we all have different interpretations of what we see and read, and should not assume others see it the same.
ReplyDeleteI believe design can exist to get a message across, though not necessarily with the intent to sell something. I think the image you have is very engaging, and brings up a lot of issues about war and violence; however, i don't feel the need to buy a gun or anything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shanna. You must always love what you're doing, otherwise what is the point? Personally, though Tony may think I'm egotistic ;), I'd love to use my design skills to help nonprofits and the likes continue their honorable work, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say that my intent wasn't to offend anyone, and I must admit that I was in an odd mood when writing this post (due to the fact of watching Momento very recently), but I am pleased to hear that the most of us have a positive view about there investment in design.
ReplyDeleteTo simply put, I guess my goal was to talk about the art work that is based in design that doesn't cater directly to the corporate world, since most of the projects we do and most of the world is telling us to do is to submerge into this corporate mindset.
The image that you posted is simply one that makes people think about the issues that go on in our Country today. I personally see it as saying LOVE when I look at it at first but when you study it closely it has a larger meaning behind it of an ongoing issue our Country is facing. It definitely makes you think and for some people it might entice them to take action on a topic such as war.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't like being bombarded with advertisements and don't necessarily like designing ads; however, I feel that even if you think you are designing artwork free of being an ad, in the end you are trying to "advertise" an idea to an audience. After viewing a design, there might not be the next step of getting the viewer to purchase a product, but there is the step of hoping that that viewer takes in the idea or message you are trying to put out there. Basically, I'm trying to say that it seems hard to create design without trying to affect or manipulate a viewer in any way.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that being a commercial designer means having to sell your soul to please the man. I think that if you create something and it means something to you then that is all it needs. If that design also happens to invite people to a certain product then what can you do. I think there two sides to the advertising world. Yes there are designers who try and get you to sell, but nobody is forcing people to buy it. If someone really doesn't want it they won't buy it.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm different than a lot of designers, especially based on all of the comments of this post. Personally, I love advertising design, and I would rather design an advertisement and be able to see its tangible effects (do people start making spoof ads, do people do/buy what you are selling, does the song from your commercial get stuck in their head?) than to simply design for the sake of design.
ReplyDeleteI think that there's equal room for both "meaningful" and "meaningless" design, though from a certain point-of-view you could argue that the latter is oxymoronic. I'm someone who started out with art (and later design) just because I enjoyed it and had some modicum of skill with dealing with it. It wasn't necessarily an expression of myself in the sense that I was trying to impart some grand message; it was just what I liked, and it entertained and pleased other people. In that sense I'm a very shallow artist; I probably produce the visual equivalent of junk food. But hey, sometimes people just get an inexplicable craving for junk food...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shanna's post that you need to love what you do first. While most of us struggle on going the corporate route or not, we also have to understand that we live in the country of capitalism. So whether we like it or not our work will mainly deal with having to make ads. But we can agree that at the end of the day, if you're happy making your work it will make the world more tolerable.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog, I came across this website http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm. This is Mark Vallen's "Art for a change" website. The top of the website deals with Shepard Fairey, "Who is well known for his "Obey Giant" street posters, Shepard Fairey has carefully nurtured a reputation as a heroic guerilla street artist waging a one man campaign against the corporate powers-that-be. Infantile posturing aside, Fairey’s art is problematic for another, more troubling reason - that of plagiarism." When I read that artist was against the corporate powers, I figured he may have some of the same thought process and how you feel about design.
ReplyDeleteDesign doesn't have to be commercial. Advertising design is just a small portion of the design world. I do think that the world expects us as graphic designers to be part of this commercial world, and I think most of us expect to make money, and one of doing this is doing commercial work. After last class I think I brought up a good point that there are clients that trust the more creative aspects of graphic design which may convey ideas or even advertisement in a much less conventional manner than a typical advertisement which typically uses logos and call out terms and the such. I think most of us hope that we can get a design job were clients trust our methods of persuasion and believe in them fully rather than saying use this font, this color, this picture, and this logo...so pretty much just lay it out. UGH. Its definitely a challenge. I guess we can only hope that our creative senses will be put to into use in a way that satisfies us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shanna, the point is to enjoy what you do. If you are able to maintain you own style and creativity throughout your work for clients, then I believe that commercial design does not have to be a boring and long path.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that is an excellent illustration you've chosen. It's so simple, but so well thought out it says a lot with a little.
ReplyDeleteVery ironic image selection, but very strong none the less.
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ReplyDeletemomento puts me in a strange frame of mind as well after watching it, great dvd design and packaging as well :) I am in agreement with Julie in that after reading your post I immediately thought that design doesn't have to be commercial. I know many of us will at some point work commercially, but even so there are so many designers in the world, we all have our individual niches, even within our class. I am optimistic in believing that we are hired or trusted by our clients for our own creative senses.
ReplyDeleteI also often find myself questioning what is the point. But at the same time we are the point there are a lot of designers but there are only a handful that design things like you would.
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