What's Wrong With Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a particle form of theft. Plagiarism is basically copying someone's work, idea, writing or anything that you didn't come up with. Plagiarism is so awful because it invades one's privacy and thoughts. It is in some ways the most unsatisfying argument. Plagiarism is also considered as a way of cheating and being dishonest. Plagiarists steal someone else out of their intellectual property and demonstrating. 

In the graphic design field it's hard to identify and clarify plagiarism but of course at the end its considered to be an assault and lying and no one can say but that’s lying is wrong, presenting someone’s else work to be your work is as wrong as lying and even worse.

Some Interesting and funny examples of plagiarism I found online, it included movies covers, posters and also food packages!

Socially Responsible Advertising

Altruism or Exploitation?

In any business the main two goals for the company is to gain money and to win their costumer loyalty. Many Marketing companies use social causes to advertise their brand. In the article The author categorized three different types of branders that relate their names with social causes; the three categories are Niche Marketers, Passion Branders, and Image Builders.

1- Niche Marketers: You might recognize some brands as being sympathetic with humanitarian causes. These products are a result of Niche marketers. Niche Marketing is a portion of a market that the company has identified as having some special characteristics that is worth marketing to.

2- Passion branders: are those who aim to make a strong brand through a deep long-run association with a cause. They don’t only aim to get profits, but to use the power of emotion as well.

McDonnell's took marketing to another level instead of just using it as advertising for their food, they are using it for good causes as well. Their charities have helped massively through organizations associated with helping children.

 3- Image builders: are corporations who use marketing strategies to enhance their reputations. They support the arts, sponsor events, or donate money. They also show that corporations have a humanitarian side.

I think its a smart way to grab peoples attention in the society by covering two different purposes. First educate the public with important social causes and second advertising their brand. One of the best examples of how is seen in Benetton, when Benetton published a magazine and labeled it colors and it had topic concerning racism, aids all the issues that is spread and talks about multicultural many criticize Benetton for spending their budget on ads, and that they should put money as well on the research for their campaigns.

Here in Saudi Arabia for example AlBaik huge campaign "Nzazeeh and Wartan". They are characters AlBaik company came up with to spread the awareness of littering and the importance of cleanliness , in two ways they are using the brand in covering the issue and helping spreading their brand by the posters they use about their restaurant.

I <3 NY More Than Ever

Design can be a strong and very effective way of expressing ones emotions and feelings toward something. 

In this article Steven Heller interviewed Milton Glaser and had a talk to him about his logo "I <3 NY". Milton Glaser is one of the most famous American Graphic designers. He was born in 1929. He created the logo "I love NY" and many creative designs and after that he added to this logo a sentence "more than ever". In the interview he talked about how and why this symbol-old and new- has become such an emotional touchstone and how it changed the the American society. He designed his logo "I <3 NY" in 1975 and widley spreadand became famous. You can see it on tshirts, mugs, keychains, and many countries used it for tourism campaign such as i love Paris,i love london, I love Saudi Arabia etc..

After 9/11 accident he added the word "more than ever" so people will remember this event and the year he created it which is in 2001 the same year 9/11 occurred. The people were so emotional about what happened. 

I think it was a clever idea to add this sentence so it'll express and show the situation more and people would relate to it more. Many designers nowadays change the design after a specific event that happen. All the events that happen around us make people wanna speak and express their emotions towards it; some of the local examples are the Jeddah floods which happened in January 2010, how people were sad about what happened the logo of Jeddah's festival was changed to Jeddah is sinking.

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-11-06/tech/berger.qanda_1_design-prototyping-solving?_s=PM:TECH

http://nanyang.academia.edu/NanciTakeyama/Papers/974885/Design_Can_Change_The_World

Another Important example we see almost in a daily basses of the concept of changing logos after event is Google. They change their logo depending on a specific event that is happening to grab people's attention to it.

Ethical Design Education

Confessions of a Sixties Idealist

How can someone define who is a good designer and who isn't? and what's a good design and what's not?

It is very simple yet complicated. A good designer is a person who can design responsibly. A good designer is the one who can accomplish an outstanding design yet it is sustainable. Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.Utilizing a sustainable design philosophy encourages decisions at each phase of the design process that will reduce negative impacts on the environment and the health of the occupants, without compromising the bottom line. It is an integrated, holistic approach that encourages compromise and tradeoffs. Such an integrated approach positively impacts all phases of a building's life-cycle, including design, construction, operation and decommissioning. 
So as designers our responsibility is to leave the earth better then how you found it, to do what you can to keep from harming it, to care about and for the other creatures here that have a right to live and thrive and all that by our work and designs. It's all about the idea to want deliver to the people and how we do it. 


Some worth reading websites:


http://www.asid.org/designknowledge/sustain/

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sustainable-design.htm

http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/sustainable-product-design/10-awe-inspiring-sustainable-designs-for-a-living-world-at-cooper-hewitt/

Note For The New Millennium 

Is the role of design to glorify corporate power?

Design lately have turned into focusing on style and brands rather than it's ethics and it's meaning.
I believe because recently designers are mostly from the youth and young people also the people they are targeting are from the same age group designs became more about the look, the style and the fashion more than about its usage. For example take a tour around the supermarket and you'll find all kind of designs that are made only for the sake of the good looking and attracting costumers rather than the use of it. And yes I believe this is working very well specially here in Saudi Arabia since it is considered a wealthy country people are attracted more towards the look more than the usage and they don't mind paying double and the triple the price for the sake of owning it.

When researching more about the topic I found this interesting website:
http://backspace.com/notes/2004/02/design-insurgency.php


I also recommend people who are interested in this topic to read this book:
http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745603049