The Link

The standard excerpt:

But given the immediate nature of our relationship with design – one cultivated in a world where billboards, logos and 15-second ad spots scream incessantly for our attention – who has time to think about intention? Design is everywhere. If there’s nothing in the style of the well-intentioned design to differentiate it from all the other banal, trite and unoriginal corporate bullshit we’re exposed to every day, then the message is lost. AIDS in Africa gets swept to the side of our consciousness right along with Coke and CoverGirl.

I often contemplate the impact of advertising design in our daily lives. My peers, after all, are born under the advertising sign. It’s so much ingrained in our daily lives that – in the last few years – companies are starting to realize that we almost are PROGRAMMED to be advertising (Do you think social marketing would work in any other circumstance?)

My cynicism toward ad design comes from the fact that, though I am definitely part of the programmed lot, very few advertisements have any impact on me. They rarely change how I feel, what I want, or my perception of self. Yes – I buy products advertised, but I buy it more often because of the new marketing (social) versus the actual “designed” marketing.

So advertising – in it’s effectiveness, is ill designed. Design, as they say in the article, “is unique. It circumvents filter, bypasses analysis and impacts us directly. It’s not chewed, swallowed and then digested – design is injected directly into our collective stream of consciousness. The effects are immediate. That’s why advertisers, having only seconds to make a connection with consumers, value it so highly.” Design, however, isn’t limited to advertising. It’s an artform. It’s a science to understanding what the visceral impact of an image or collection of images will have on it’s audience.

So can design exist in the world of consumer goods and advertising? It’s a complicated question – one that I am not qualified to answer – and yet, I feel that it can. Like art can prosper despite commercial endeavors, I would like to think that design can as well. To me, great design speaks in the language of their audience yet forces them to question their status quo. If design now is stuck speaking the language of the masses – rampant commercialism – perhaps it simply needs to find the right vocabulary to allow us to challenge our means. In a way, magazines like Adbusters are already following through on using design to challenge ideas through the language of the masses. All can not be lost…