Blah Blah design blahblah
Out of context: Reply #21
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- ian000
@canoe. If I ruffled feathers, or is any way came across as hating on design, I apologize. Also, I’d like to say that I’m under no illusion that I value design any more than cannonball1972 might. I simply thought that this thread may be a good way to engage in disciplinary discourse – something which has been sorely missing on this site for quite some time.
Whoever is engaged in the discipline – whether it’s designing logos for $100 or a costly institution re-brand – are “real” designers. Their efforts are reified in some way and circulate within our cultural currency. But if by real, you mean successful, talented, or prolific designers, then I would argue that they are among the ones who actively question the boundaries of the discipline. Take the 1964 and 2000 First Things First manifestos as an example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fi...
I am not advocating for any moral (or even ethical) rules. Nor do I think a standardized examination would prove that useful (the US public school system is clearly not benefiting from that). What I am advocating for is a critical conversation about the discipline. It is unfortunate that a site such as this, which runs on the participation form its user base, fails to engage the serious questions of design’s socio-poitical, cultural, and aesthetic impact on the world. This kind of dialogue is exactly what we need to separate the hacks form the “real” designers.