Nicole Roberts MFA Thesis Visual Component Artwork - Savannah ...
Nicole Roberts MFA Thesis Visual Component Artwork - Savannah ...
Nicole Roberts MFA Thesis Visual Component Artwork - Savannah ...
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EXPECTATION 7 | social responsibility<br />
EXPECtAtiON 7<br />
social<br />
responsibility<br />
In 1963, Kevin Garland, a British graphic designer wrote<br />
the First Things First manifesto which challenged designers<br />
to become more responsible with their contributions to a<br />
global culture. In 1999, a revised version of the manifesto<br />
was resurrected in the United States by a younger generation<br />
of designers and was widely published in a variety of design<br />
journals and the likes of Adbuster magazine. As far as<br />
intrinsic design issues go, the First Things First manifesto<br />
sparked significant controversy concerning design ethics. 27<br />
Its revolutionary sentiments have since resurfaced within<br />
professional expectations of new graduates entering the<br />
twenty-first century workplace. Today’s leading designers<br />
are not just evaluating the ethics of commercial content, but<br />
are also evaluating the ethics of the processes by which they<br />
conceptualize, produce, and distribute visual communication.<br />
With today’s newfound public awareness of design<br />
comes a newfound social responsibility for designers. Graphic<br />
designers must acknowledge that they have the responsibility<br />
(and the ability to respond) not just to the needs of their clients<br />
but also to those of society. 28 When leading professionals were<br />
asked about new industry issues students need to learn now for<br />
future success in the workplace, the dominant social topic was<br />
sustainability. Concepts of global culture were also mentioned,<br />
as social media continues to expand as the popular form of<br />
dynamic communication.<br />
27 Michael Bierut, William Drenttel<br />
and Steven Heller, ed. Looking<br />
Closer Four: Critical Writings on<br />
Graphic Design, (New York,<br />
NY: Allworth Press, 2002) 4.<br />
28 Charlotte & Peter Fiell, Graphic<br />
Design for the 21st Century,<br />
(Hohenzollernring: Taschen,<br />
2005) 10.<br />
Designers have a dual duty;<br />
contractually to their clients<br />
and morally to the later users<br />
and recipients of their work.<br />
Hans Höger<br />
41