Product Description

What does it mean to be a designer in today’s corporate-driven, overbranded global consumer culture? Citizen Designer attempts to answer this question with more than 70 debate-stirring essays and interviews espousing viewpoints ranging from the cultural and the political to the professional and the social.



Edited by two prominent advocates of socially responsible design, this innovative reference responds to the tough questions today’s designers continue to ask themselves: How can a designer affect social or political change? Can design become more than just a service to clients? At what point does a designer have to take responsibility for the client’s actions? When should a designer take a stand?



Readers will find dozens of captivating insights and opinions on such important issues as reality branding; game design and school violence; advertising and exploitation; design as an environmental driving force; and much more. This candid guide encourages designers to carefully research their clients; become alert about corporate, political, and social developments; and design responsible products.




• Features an enticing mix of opinions in an appealing format that juxtaposes essays, interviews, and countless illustrations of “design citizenship”

• Includes insights on such contemporary topics as advertising of harmful products, branding to minors, and violence and game design

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189176 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Released on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781581152654
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Steven Heller is the art director of the New York Times Book Review and cochair of the MFA design program at the School of Visual Arts. He lives in New York City. Véronique Vienne is a creative director, marketing consultant, and author who has written extensively on design ethics and business practices. A consultant for such clients as Yves Saint Laurent, desgrippes gobé group, and Express, she also lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Designers need more responsibility
I got this book hoping it would shed more light on an issue I find very pressing within the design community: social responsibility. Is it important for the designer to know his/her great poster that helped make a Hollywood movie into a blockbuster also helped clear cut a forest killing an ecosystem for numerous species of wildlife? Is it important for a designer to only do work for companies that match their own morals and ethics? The book touches on the latter topic in a couple essays but largely provides a number of pieces of writing with good intentions but with no actual "next steps" to achieve more fruitful results. Desigers have to eat, so blowing off huge $$ tobacco ad campaigns can seem ridiculous. However by making social responsibility a key point of dialogue in the education of the designer, one could see a more responsible result in the business world. Maybe designers could receive the respect they deserve if they actually stood for something besides edgy looking websites and whatnot. Anyway, the book wasn't all bad. Its a good start to an important conversation... so three stars!

I recommend this book, but...
Good book with a great deal of interesting perspectives on design and a designers responsibility to "do the right thing." However, to me it was a tough read, some chapters I had no idea what the person was talking about or it read like a text book. That being said, I still highly recommend this to anyone in the creative industry. It brings up a lot of issues that would behoove you to think about before you take on work for irresponsible clients.

Absolutely seminal
This is an essential book for all designers worth their salt. If you have a backbone and you truly are 'ready' to understand the reach of the profession and its social responsibility, save your pitiful moral crisis, get out of the pointless world of persuasion and rhetoric, and start saying it like you mean it. Buy this book and write your life's manifesto. Design is not just a job hey.