You might expect a book with "good design" in its title to showcase elegant communications pieces for savvy clients. Not this book. On the cover, the word "design" is crossed out. "Do good" is the message.
But first, Canadian designer David Berman shows us bad design. Really bad -- and not in the aesthetic sense of the word. He bombards us with offensive, sexist print ads for cigarettes, cars, fast food, beer. According to Berman, the multinational conglomerates selling these products are an axis of evil far more dangerous than Al Qaeda, creating an addiction to mass consumption that is leading to the demise of the planet's environment. He also bombards us with words: exploitation, deceit, junk, greed. "Designers are at the core of the most efficient, most destructive pattern of deception in human history," he writes.
Is it fair to blame designers for these evils? Should graphic designers, who generally work in small firms, be lumped together with the global ad agencies that create Coca-Cola and Marlboro campaigns? And where does the responsibility really lie? Are designers responsible for plastering Coke billboards on every surface in third-world villages? Berman, who is the ethics chair for the Graphic Designers of Canada, asserts that we are all designers and we are all responsible; we've collectively created the mess and must clean it up. Does that include lobbying the local landlords who sell the space where the ads are posted, and the authorities and politicians who don't legislate against it?
David Berman is a man of conviction and passion. But to whom is he preaching? To design firm owners ("Next time you pull out a disposable pen at a client briefing...")? To clients ("If you can't find a promise to make about your product that you'd feel comfortable making to your children or best friend, redesign your product")? Or to students? Perhaps only young, naïve students are unaware of many of the facts related in the book: "Cigarettes are the most highly advertised product in the world." "Extreme women serve as billboards for fashion brands."
Nevertheless, I truly hope this book gets in the hands of students. As required reading in first-semester communication design programs, it could help them begin to look at the uses and possibilities of design. If only a few are inspired by the picture of a girl on page 27 with a tube going from her ear to her mouth, the book will have succeeded. The caption reads: "...technology designed for quadriplegics. A person without use of their arms or legs can surf the Internet by combining neck movements with puffing air through a tube." Perhaps a student who peruses the babes-in-bikinis ads and then sees this photo will think, "Maybe my ultimate career goal shouldn't be designing CD jackets. I'll take engineering and physiology classes and become an industrial designer who creates products that heal people, and the world."
Healing the world is a key theme. Some of the book's most compelling bits are the "Doing Good" sidebars that describe remarkable things designers around the world are accomplishing. "There is no reason why you can't make an extraordinary mark on our world," Berman advises. "Recognize the independence, power, and influence of your role as a professional." I hope his next book will show more positive examples and explore in greater depth the projects he mentions including the ballot designs the AIGA is sponsoring, the Canadian cigarette packages that graphically depict cancerous lungs, and the design programs that celebrate indigenous cultures.
The book itself is an exercise in non-wastefulness. Its mass-market-paperback, Adbusters vibe has more in common with Jerry Rubin's 1970, counterculture Do It! than any design book on my shelves. However, the message might be more effective if the paper and printing were of better quality and the visuals were larger and more legible.
Today, a book is not just a book. It's part of a user experience including a Web site, and in this case, a pledge. Taking off from where British designer Ken Garland left off with his "First Things First" manifesto, Berman asks us to take the "Do Good Pledge, which includes: I will spend at least 10% of my professional time helping repair the world." As I write this, his site shows that 80,184 hours of doing good have been pledged. What could be bad about that?
