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

Beyond Pro Bono
Graphic Design’s Social Work

In order for a designer to know how to think critically he should think about his background, his social background and his knowledge. For the designer's advertisement to be a good one and to be accepted by the people around them, they should think first of their target audience and of their background and cultural background. Designing an add for people who are not so well aware of what your massage is or for people who aren't really the right target audience will make it a failure. For example if you're designing an add for raising awareness about how bad smoking is for their health you shouldn’t be using bright and happy colors because that won't really convoy the massage that you want. You should be showing the people how bad smoking is and the bad effects that occur when smoking.

Designing socially is based on the belief that good design belongs to everyone & shouldn't cost the earth. Adds these days make a huge impact on the society therefor they should be really think of before mass-producing them to the public because if the people got it wrong they will not react to it. So here comes our social responsibility as graphic designers to convey the right massage to the right people.

When researching about the topic i found a really interesting article about it.

http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/?page_id=566

Also I found some cool adds that really got my attention and i think they are a very good examples of a raising a good social awareness. 

http://jayce-o.blogspot.com/2011/07/graphic-design-for-social-change.html

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