Avant-garde graphics from around the globe
Introduction to the book 'Graphic Design for the 21st Century', by Charlotte and Peter Fiell
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The long-standing complicity of the graphic design profession with big business has led to the rapid expansion and globalisation of commercial culture, and perhaps it is now time for practitioners to question the ethical basis of the work they produce. For too long, graphic design has been cynically used as a means to induce people in the developed world to buy more products they don't really need, when in developing nations literally millions still do not have access to clean water, sufficient food, basic medicines or rudimentary education. To make matters worse, these superfluous marketing-driven products are often made in exploitative sweatshops by the most deprived members of our global society. Yet all too frequently, graphic designers have helped corporations gloss over such branddepreciating details with slick ad campaigns. Rather than helping to sell questionable products - from alcopops, cigarettes and junk food to gas-guzzling cars and environmentally damaging petrochemicals - graphic designers could use their communicative ingenuity to highlight vital social and environmental concerns. In fact this is already happening at a grassroots level, as can be gleaned from a casual perusal of Adbusters magazine.
Above all else, graphic designers working today need to acknowledge that they have a special responsibility (and ability to respond) not just to the needs of their clients, but also to those of society as a whole. The phenomenal persuasive power of graphic design could be harnessed and directed in such a way that it radically alters the way people think about the important issues of the future, from global warming to third world debt. Although not all the work done by graphic designers falls into the realm of ethical decisionmaking, the profession still needs to tip the balance from the commercial to the social if it is to remain a relevant and vital cultural force.
*Please note: for the purpose of this essay we are viewing graphic design in terms of the combination of text and image. Typography as a specialisation of graphic design has, of course, a much longer history.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
The long-standing complicity of the graphic design profession with big business has led to the rapid expansion and globalisation of commercial culture, and perhaps it is now time for practitioners to question the ethical basis of the work they produce. For too long, graphic design has been cynically used as a means to induce people in the developed world to buy more products they don't really need, when in developing nations literally millions still do not have access to clean water, sufficient food, basic medicines or rudimentary education. To make matters worse, these superfluous marketing-driven products are often made in exploitative sweatshops by the most deprived members of our global society. Yet all too frequently, graphic designers have helped corporations gloss over such branddepreciating details with slick ad campaigns. Rather than helping to sell questionable products - from alcopops, cigarettes and junk food to gas-guzzling cars and environmentally damaging petrochemicals - graphic designers could use their communicative ingenuity to highlight vital social and environmental concerns. In fact this is already happening at a grassroots level, as can be gleaned from a casual perusal of Adbusters magazine.
Above all else, graphic designers working today need to acknowledge that they have a special responsibility (and ability to respond) not just to the needs of their clients, but also to those of society as a whole. The phenomenal persuasive power of graphic design could be harnessed and directed in such a way that it radically alters the way people think about the important issues of the future, from global warming to third world debt. Although not all the work done by graphic designers falls into the realm of ethical decisionmaking, the profession still needs to tip the balance from the commercial to the social if it is to remain a relevant and vital cultural force.
*Please note: for the purpose of this essay we are viewing graphic design in terms of the combination of text and image. Typography as a specialisation of graphic design has, of course, a much longer history.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Graphic Design for the 21st Century
Flexicover, 19.6 x 24.9 cm (7.7 x 9.8 in.), 640 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
Avant-garde graphics from around the globe
Exhibition graphics and projected typo-animated audio-visual installation debating the issues relating to nuclear power for the Science Museum at BNFL Visitors Centre, Sellafield, UK. UNA (London) designers, 2002