Looking with hope towards the ... what?

Obama runs a brilliant web campaign.
Classic web 2.0 (whatever...) branding.
Able to reach into the power of social networks for donations and preaching.
Simple and direct message. No bullshit. Clear and exhaustive program...
Walking the talk...

This is to mention of a small error... that does not take into account the fact that most people are right-handed and the positive look into future is in the top right (from their perspective)...

The fact that Obama is left-handed is irrelevant, the following image gives the wrong unconscious message... We look positively into the past...

Consider:



Marketing design people should know better.

[update 15/05] on higher abstraction levels this might mean: the race is over, or that obama is not going to ask edwards to be his vp... but im going too far, this is just a stupid collage not a 12th century Christian painting.

[update 24/07] yes that sucks... Edwards has another commitment after the US election on the 25th of November. So no chances he'll accept the VP. At least I'll be able to see him in person :).

About Good and Evil Design - The end of a debate

Let's focus on the fine arts related design for a bit.

We, humans, don't get along with freedom very well. Or with evil as a matter of fact.

Designers, whether you like it or not, if you are working in a corporation, you ARE doing commercial design. Period.

There is a clear confusion between pure art and applied art.

By its definition fine art design is art with a purpose or applied art.
If you are doing commercial design then your purpose is commercial. And here you can add your own ethical touch.

Design as art is not good nor bad, but its uses are.
The art depicted in a design is bound to the aesthetics of the time. So it cannot be good or bad. It can nevertheless help sell a product.

The purpose of the design, the ethics of it, on the other hand, can be good or evil. If we are taking a utilitarian stand.

A design as art with purpose can only be good and ethical if: the product sold is good (healthy, fairly priced and produced) for the consumer AND the consumer buys (uses) it because your design is appealing. In which situation your client makes money and you are a superstar.

In all other situations, the design as art with purpose is either bad or unethical.

So there you have it.

Commercial design only for the sake of art is bad if it does not sell.
And you should be fired.

Commercial design that is good and sells, if combined with a bad product, it's unethical (or evil).
And you should fire your client.

Now either live with it or do something about it, but stop wining.

---
Octavian Mihai

Now it's official: "Designers suck!"

And here comes Bruce Nassbaum saying out loud what most of us silently thought ( Are Designers The Enemy Of Design ).

For the past 10 years, I have worked on a bunch of projects that won major interactive commercial design awards(CyberLions, SxSW, Communications Arts Magazine, CNMA, Webbys, etc).

There are a couple of points in Bruce’s article that I'd like to develop.

1. Democratized design
With all the online tools available, everybody is a designer nowadays. Remember Geocities (or MySpace)?

And every print designer or painter or cartoon writer or web designer or photographer or movie editing person thinks she can do all of the above, at once.

2. Sustainability in design
He argues that designers are too ignorant to create sustainable products and he goes on to give Apple as an example.
How about making Steve Jobs the expression of designer's arrogance, or maybe the other way around... Steve's arrogance created the all-knowing designer.

My personal experience comes from interactive design. The lack of sustainability in design is even deeper than what Bruce mentions.

All web development companies have horror stories about designers ignoring:

a. the information architecture existent in storyboards

b. designers pushing their 'beauty concepts' in spite of marketing and branding needs

And regularly i get: "Well that is the fault of project managers."
Actually the project managers are overwritten by higher managers with a lack of branding or architecture experience.

Because, yes, sustainability also means not reprogramming several particular (and generally useless) cases for every functionality just to accommodate an arrogant and bad design.

But, I preach to the deaf...

3. Here I have to disagree with Bruce.
Design has been replaced by creativity not by innovation, because innovation is creativity in motion. Although I understand why VPs like the term.

And still creativity is the wrong term too. Since creativity includes also the way to produce innovation. But I digress.


In any case, great article! Too bad it comes up after the PCWorld fuckup with 10 Things We Hate About Apple.

Great news, the world is waking up!

-- Octavian Mihai


P.S. Designers, you know I still love you... Just caught me in a grumpy mood...