History behind WTO Riots in Seattle
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Resources to today's discussion
Original First Things First Manifesto by Ken Garland, 1964
Articles about SuperHuman Conference, 2001
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Today's Reading — Looking Closer 4 pp 5-44
??? Questions ???
Do you believe this statement to be true or false? State your reasons why.
“We the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors, and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective, and desirable use of our talents.
What do you think is meant by the following comment?
Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing, and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond, and interact.
Give a recent example in media, communications or other vehicles in which you have seen the following statement to be true.
There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social, and cultural crises demand our attention.
Elaborate on the following comments:
>Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.
>It is no exaggeration to say that designers are engaged in nothing less than the manufacture of contemporary reality.
>At the very least, designers should perhaps work to address their many audiences as citizens rather than mere consumers.
>Neville Brody claimed that the effects of brands on consumers “takes away their self respect.”
>The disconnection between holding a view and acting on it means that most politics in designland is simply posturing, as ideas never have to be tested and justified in the real world.
>Key skills in the design process include being able to conceptualize and weigh up a multi-dimensional problem, consider scenarios of use, think laterally and creatively, evaluate ideas and communicate effectively. As society’s needs become more sophisticate, people want to do and achieve more and a larger population has access to more of society’s resources, designerly thinking will become even more important as a skill for anticipating and working through problems and opportunities.
>Aldus Huxley Brave New World-“Both keep the hordes tranquilized and pacified, and maintain the social order. Both chase out reason in favor of entertainment and disjointed thought. Both encourage uniformity of behavior. Both devalue the past in favor of sensory pleasures now.
“The cult of instant permeates our ability to imagine”—Andrew Howard
MEME–noun
a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
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Statements from Reading 5-9
Design Skills
We need to take users seriously and not impose our perceptions values or prejudices on them, treating them as robust individuals needing effective and satisfying design solutions.
What would it take for me to make a spontaneous, radical gesture in support of something I believe in? Do I believe in anything strongly enough? What would it take for me to say, this may not be nice, it may not be considerate, it may not even be rational…
To Brand or Not to Brand? — Who are we designing for?
Average minimum wage:
1964— $1.25
2000— $5.71
2010—$7.25
Average CEO wage:
1964 the average CEO made 24 times as much as his average employee;
2000 the average CEO made 275 times as much as his average employee
2010 the average CEO made 343 times as much as his average employee
In 2010 the average CEO Salary $11,358,445
http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/