Good Design

I have always looked at Graphic Design as an art from, no different from sculpture, illustration or textile design however after completing work placements last February with two different highly regarded design agencies in Edinburgh I came away feeling slightly disillusioned. I had witnessed that the industry can be no more than another nine till five job with little room for creativity and individual thinking. Everything felt corporate and formulaic, I knew I still loved the graphic design area but also knew I wanted room to experiment and learn more before joining the industry myself. This is why I chose to continue studying at Duncan of Jordanstone.

So far Design Studies has challenged what I saw in the industry. Design shouldn’t only just be about making something look pretty, designers have become obsessed with “Good” and “Bad” design, I know I have. I have been conditioned into thinking because something had garish colours and cheesy typography it is automatically bad design and have neglected to think about the needs of the client. A fast food restaurant does not need a classically designed menu; it needs something that is going to convey “This food is cheap, fast and easy”. In other words the customer needs to know what they are going to get, and as a designer I have to realize that communicating the brand is more important than simply making the design nice to look at.

“Good” and “Bad” design goes so much further than many designers think. Many different factors need to be considered when designing a product and not just about if you’ve got your em and en dashes mixed up. I do not just want to become a “Mac Monkey”, churning out generic and soulless pieces of design, too engrossed in kerning, stock photos and Photoshop retouching. I’m aiming higher.

It is important to understand the world’s needs and how it operates; it is too easy to lose perspective in our own design world bubble. Every so often we need to take a step backwards and realise the only way to advance it to understand the needs of others and their social and economical needs. We need to realise that what we do has consequences and it’s not just about the visual, when we fully understand this, then we can start designing “good design”, even if it’s just a humble pizza flyer.