The writer comments that many designers are encouraged in the direction of commercial work in advertising as it pays the bills but this has resulted in designers labelled as being only able to do this kind of work – which is often termed as ‘inessential work’.
Many designers are becoming uncomfortable with the way that society perceives them. Designers are responsible for the way society responds and many argue that there needs to be a shift in public opinion. Other perspectives apart from Consumerism need to be expressed through visual languages and design.
In 1964 22 visual communicators signed a manifesto to put graphic designers skills to worldwide use. This was documented in ‘First Things First’. They saw the situation a very urgent and agreed that designers are responsible for ‘manufacturing reality’, that design is absorbed deeply by everyone in society and designers ‘make the way things are’. They discussed that the power of design is in the ‘ideas’
It evolved originally in the period when the British economy was booming, people were better off and buying comsumer goods and there was a upsurge in young entusiastic designers.
The manifesto was backed immediately by the wife of a Labour Party MP. Anthony Wedgewood Benn and was printed in the Guardian which then resulted in a TV appearance by Garland and affirmation internationally in support of his message. Design was able to take off as a confident ‘professionalised’ activity. The rapid growth of consumerism meant that there were many opportunities for for talented visual communicators in in visual communications in advertising, promotion and packaging.
Garland expressed his concern that ‘design was in danger of forgetting its responsibility to struggle for a better life for all’.
The manifesto made the critical distinction between 1) design as communication and 2) design as persuation. Jock Kinneir agreed that designers are genarally less concerned with persuation, taste and fashion and more concerned with information, efficiency and amenity.
Katherine McCoy argues that the decision to concentrate on corporate projects is a ‘political’ choice. The vast majority of design projects address corporate needs with a massive overemphasis of the commercial sector of society.
Also designers are often obsessed with ‘the form’ of things to the excusion of other factors. In the 1990’s advertisers adopted radical graphics and typography and many designers took global notoriety and credit. Many designers are obsessed with ‘how cool’ and add looks rather than with what it is saying.
Designers who have grown up in the commercial environment find it hard to understand that design might have broader purposes and ‘potential meanings’. McCoy says ‘we have trained a profession that feels political or social concerns are either extraneous to our work or inappropriate’.
The First Things First supporters advocate that we must continue to debate these issues before it is too late!