December 2007 Archives
After Thursday evening's Designism 2.0 panels and the political-design omnibus that was AIGA's Cause/Effect event, held today at The New School for Social Research, I don't care if I never see another Bush-bashing poster, t-shirt, sticker, or website. I could also do without the tossed-off condemnations of conservatives that this week's speakers delivered with alarming frequency, in some cases going so far as to wish, with a broad smile to assure us it was all in fun, bodily harm, even death, upon their ideological opponents.
Tonight I attended Designism 2.0, an event at Manhattan's Art Directors Club devoted to promoting and exploring socially conscious design. The organizers at the ADC devised the proceedings with the intent of building upon the initial Designism event (held in September of last year) by adding a direct call to action. It was clear from the presentations of tonight's panelists and the audience's reactions that the design community has no shortage of desire to, as invited speaker Milton Glaser put it, "participate in the life of our times." Clear-cut strategies for putting that passion to use, however, were more difficult to find.
