Design, beyond the pretty stuff
Many years ago, I had a short assignment in a global engineering firm. I was only involved at the end of a communications project and as I was handed the document, the head engineer deemed it ready for the ‘lipstick’.
My training is in graphic design. Graphic design, also known as visual communication or communications design, is primarily concerned with making meaning through the considered combination of text and images. Lipstick, it is not.
Lipstick implies that designers merely add colour and gloss. Tim Brown from Ideo began using the term ‘design thinking’ to better describe the work that designers do, and shift perception “beyond the sculptural objet”.
Design is the elegant and intentional solution that follows the careful unravelling of a problem, no matter the design discipline. Yet, graphic designers and their peak bodies perpetuate the idea that design is about style, by presenting work as a collection of beautiful images without insightful accompanying text – ironic for a profession that is all about the careful combination of the two.
Consider the showcasing of winning entries for design awards around the world. Annoyingly, the Australian Graphic Design Association’s (AGDA) 2019 award website provides a selection of images of each final project with no explanation, leaving the viewer to assume that the decision was purely aesthetic. Yet the existence of a Design Effectiveness category would indicate to me some analysis beyond style. The 66th Sydney Film Festival was a recipient of this award, and I can see from visiting the UK’s D&AD website, again at those awards. The UK competition, originally formed to celebrate the work of designers and art directors, provides a brief explanation of each winning project and the audience is aware of some of the challenges requiring clever design. However, the UK award was in the Writing for Graphic Design category, and I would prefer to see accompanying text which outlines the process behind the writing concept.
Stanford's d.school defines design thinking – that thing designers do – as a non-linear, five-stage process – empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test. Using this framework to describe the complexities of a design project may assist designers to explain the clever thinking beyond the finished piece. Yes, the final form of any design project will be aesthetic and visually well resolved, however, the thinking behind the form needs to be equally visible if designers want a seat at the table for the world's most complex or "wicked problems".
Photo by Євгенія Височина on Unsplash
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