Graphic design is everywhere, from the most intricately detailed monographs by Sagmeister, to the junk mail credit card applications that await you in your mailbox. It’s become second nature—ubiquitous to our normal glance. A big problem with the constant dumbing-down of our everyday semiotic experience is that EVERYTHING is branded (even things that never should be). Have we reached the point where we’ve gone too far?
Whenever I hear the word branding from an account exec or marketing team, I feel like my ears are being icepicked. To me, the word has the connotative value of a bad hangover.
Is this the same reason many creative directors I work for seem totally burned-out in their mid 40’s ? Have we branded everything to death? I think the answer is maybe somewhere in-between; having an ebb and tide effect that sometimes has us digging our own grave with client-generated briefs, and other times makes us realize that we’re kinda doing what we love for a living.
Whenever I encounter something that’s so over-designed that it gives me a toothache, I’m consoled by the continuous steampunk face of graphic design that has spawned the likes of Art Chantry, David Carson, Ed Fella, and even our own Post Typography.
I know one thing…being a graphic designer and having to think about this whole mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, I find myself seeking out things that are vehemently NOT designed. I normally shy away from clothing with logos and brand names emblazoned on them. When at the supermarket I’m fascinated with products that are devoid of glitzy depictions of their contents, often buying them for that reason alone.
One thing that’s refreshing in design right now is the somewhat recent popularity of new web standards. Yeah… Imaging that. From the flash-obsessed fodder everyone was in love with 10 years ago (not to dis Joshua Davis by any means) to nicely-designed, clean, semantic markup.
Anyway… this topic is something that’s always running through my mind, especially when being art directed by a client to “make it pop” or “punch it up a little”. So, I guess I can live with being an ad-slave by day and avant-garde wannabe by night. For now.
5 comments:
This is the problem since the time of Egypt and the Grate pyramids. The artists wanted one thing and the pharaoh another. It looks like artists were never understood by they environment. However, the bottom line is that the pharaoh is the one who has the money and who is willing to pay for our art and in the designers best interest is to understand what client wants.
As the designers, we don’t understand management and language of the business people, how executives things, how they make decisions, how their company operates. Only by understanding the client ant their needs we will be in the position to build a god relationship and this means trust. The client who trusts us is the best client, because at this point they will not even look at our design, and our dreams will came through, at last we will be in the positions to design what ever we want (with one small exception: logo will never be big enough).
But do we know how to build a good relationship? Just ask yourself: When was the last time that I or my boss went out with the client for a beer or lunch? And, when was the last time we’ve been talking with the client about something else rather then business?
Concerning the visual pollution, I want be worried about it. Art is full of junk. How many movies is produced every year and how many of them won the Academy Award? The majority of industry is the junk. The same think is in the design. The only question is: Are we strong enough to draw the line between things we want and do not want to design? (the answer is in the pharaoh’s hand and how greedy we are).
I absolutely agree with the comments about the visual noise of the every day world and the advertise-it-to-death, repititious nature of a major "branding campaign." This design environment furthers the need for not just aesthetically good designers, but the need for truly innovative designers.
**If you haven't yet read the Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell you should. It's covered in the Design/Business Link class, but worth a second read even. It discusses social epedemics, and focuses on the need for strategic "baby steps" rather than massive- all inclusive national branding campaigns.- Among many other fascinating topics**
All of us know by now that design is much more than ads and marketing, it can move people to change, inspire, and educate. It is our responsibility as designers to set a higher standard for ourselves-- that is not only to solve the problem that is established for us, but to raise the bar by incorporating larger, more meaningful issues in our everyday work. Whether these are environmental concerns, political statements, or simply using your creativity to creatively persuade or "upward manage" (if you want to use cliche work language) those "bosses" who set the guide lines. It's amazing what can happen when you take the reins and run with a project- soemtimes in a completely different direction than you were sent.
When working with freelance clients I've often come back to the table with something alltogether different from what they have asked. Sometimes it takes a bit of "selling"(which- sidenote- isn't "selling" when you believe it). Although this takes a little bit of getting used to on the client side, I often walk away having better served my client and feeling better about the work that I have produced.
I absolutely believe in the power of creative/ innovative thinking and problem solving, and so do all of you. It time to stop the belly-aching (I do it too) and start innovating. There's a quote that I love... Mahatma Gandhi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
We need to be the change we wish to see in the design world. Take a mundane, over-designed, repetitive project and turn it upside down with a creative concept. In this industry it's often too easy to pass the buck and say "it's out of my hands." It's not. I believe there is a way to love what you do, do it well, and inspire along the way.
This is great topic and has been on my mind for a long time about how everything is branded and start to finish of that product. I went in to a brand overload after a week in NYC.
I say to myself what were they thinking or that is one bad a$$ campaign.
I am a corporate brand plebeian slave by day which pays the bills and open minded day dreamer at night. Some of my freelance work has allowed me to dump my mind into a job.
Actually right now my wife and I are branding our home business and I've been slacking.
That blog about the kids passing from the medicine is terrible and I think I caught the 60 minutes or date line show on that. It amazed me how business most of the time doesn't look at design in even the smallest items. All they had to do was possibly invert the label or put a red on the label. I understand what they were trying to due with a different shade of blue but what freaking idiots. Bottom line it's about money.
The world is one big design fish bowl and we must supply the food. Sometimes, you can over feed the fish.
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