More than the dot-com bust, 9/11 is a touchstone for the nadir of American design. While both may have had the same root cause, the trauma of that day (and its resultant economic ripples) make it a much easier mark. Even Paula Scher would gladly lay the blame on Osama before the neo-conservative lunatics who flushed our economy away. She has been doing an impromptu survey of billboard advertising in New York City, and is pleased to announce that, not only has advertising resurged since that fateful day, advertising has taken on a new aesthetic. What a load of hogwash!
First off, neglecting indictments is the sure path to ruin. To ignore at best—and reward at worst—the criminals who beat the drums that lead a nation into a disastrous war, is bad enough in its own right. To let them off the hook is only inviting disaster (as if we haven’t had our fill of disasters for the past eight years.) The worst disaster of all, however, is inviting imitation.
Advertising and graphic design is historically the vanguard of economic prosperity, I will concede that to Ms. Scher. If it hadn’t been for the Depression, Woody Guthrie might have been a successful sign painter, and by all means could have founded a large Midwestern ad agency. But then his agency would be whistling in the dark today.
Adweek’s Joe Duffy seems to be the design world’s equivalent to Bill Kristol. He touts a new, democratic age of design that will just make everything better, but at the heart he is wrong on just about every point. Being one of those self-taught designers who worry those “Tiger Woods” level designers, I would like to use this article to support my raison-d’etre. Instead, I take great umbrage, perhaps because I really get it.
Our economy is poised on the precipice of a depression of historical proportions. Very soon, the vehicle wrap market is going to collapse because very few people are going to afford to drive cars, never mind decorate them with colorful advertising banners. Not that printers who integrated early will go bankrupt—there just won’t be much room for new business. Will these surviving printer make good design a priority? Well, seeing the glut of starving artists in the future, perhaps he won’t have to. Those artists had better be willing to work for a song, too.
The democratization of design means that the hand-painted logo on the side of a maid service van is respected as much as Dairy Queen (which may not be that much after all.) It does not mean that you need Crispin Porter & Bogusky to make your website more interactive. One big secret in web design is that graphics are actually spurious. They don’t hurt, but then again, they don’t help much either. Good graphic presentation is a shiny bauble used to lure clients—not customers. Those who know the difference truly get it.
Khoi Vinh is perhaps one of the foremost designers who gets it. He is Design Director of NYTimes.com. In an interview in the April 2008 issue of Print Magazine, he stated that a paradigm has shifted from the outside/in to the inside/out. Designers who see their product in the hands of the audience as the last step in a process are dinosaurs who will not survive the coming catastrophe. “We’re entering a new era of design where the brands and experiences we create are no longer closely held, highly controlled cathedrals, but rather bazaars of commerce and conversation… Digital media has upended that equation and now—yes—the audience is an active participant in the process of design.”
A designer who understands the convergence of print and web design has a head start. One who is willing to let the user, or audience (or client?) participate in the process will be the swift cat in the future. Let design be ugly if that is the case! Only do not let the liars put us in another colossal mess.
