Graphic Design: A Powerful Tool for Social Change

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF GRAPHIC DESIGN

            The simplest way one could define graphic design is communication through the use of art. It is art that is typically used to “inform, persuade, organize, stimulate, locate, identify, attract attention, provide pleasure,” and/or express feeling or emotion about something (Poggenpohl, 1993). Typically a graphic design artist will create type and image to communicate these intentions by hand, technology, or both. The means of carrying out these intentions are limitless but can be categorized by print and electronic (Poggenpohl, 1993). Print design can include flyers, brochures, posters, postcards, etc. – anything that can be printed in a physical format. Electronic design may include websites, interactive media, television, design for social media, etc. Because of the wide range of easy, efficient, and financially reasonable methods of getting this type of art out, I feel that graphic design is one of the most powerful tools for getting involved in social justice and services.

           

THE POWER OF GRAPHIC ARTS: HOW GRAPHIC DESIGNERS CAN AFFECT SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH THEIR DESIGNS

            The graphic arts have an enormous influence on our society because it encompasses our lives every second of every day. For example; I wake up in the morning and rummage through my pantry for a flavor of cereal that looks the tastiest for that day (packaging design). I head to work and pass by a neighborhood school and slow down because I see a sign that says “School Zone: 20 MPH” (informative design). I stop at a coffee shop and see a huge sign that says, “Try Our Holiday Favorites” and immediately I know I want the new peppermint mocha because it looks so delicious and I’m a sucker for peppermint anything (persuade and stimulate advertising). Graphic design doesn’t stop there – it’s in the layout of the books we read, the brands we buy, the websites we view, and even the social media sites to which we are all addicted.

            Graphic design can do harm in that it can advertise a deadly product, persuade impressionable people that they should look, feel, and act a certain way, or just waste important resources such as paper and energy. On the other hand, graphic design can save lives with crucial information, it can refresh and inspire, and can create awareness of products and lifestyles that are important to different types of people.

            I had the pleasure of interviewing Dirk Fowler, a well-know graphic designer who owns F2 Designs (along with his wife) and is one of the most inspirational and influential Communication Design faculty members at Texas Tech University. During the spring semesters at Tech, Dirk teaches the Public and Social Service Design class for design majors.

SA: What does teaching for Social Justice mean to you?

DF: You know, here’s the way I want to answer that: I think that designers being a part of a community is really important and we actually have a responsibility to do something that benefits society in some way. I think that there is a misconception about graphic design. I think students have it, I think pretty much most of the world thinks that graphic designers only do things to try to make money. I think that they think that we sell product, we help sell product – and that can be a part of what we do. But really graphic design in its purest form is about communication. It’s about reaching people with a message – and that message could be about a bar of soap that you want to buy. But it could just as easily be about some issue within the community that you want to bring to light. So I think it’s really important that graphic designers use their talents and their voice to somehow benefit society – to bring to light injustices or to work on campaigns that can help people. I tell my students that I think that it’s interesting that doctors, or [anyone] in the medical profession, have to take an oath of  ‘do no harm,’ but we don’t, and I think we should. I think graphic designers, or anyone in the creative arts, can do harm if they so choose. I am trying to help my students understand that we can do good and we do have a lot of power. People think that design and advertisement is not really that powerful, that it is just a message, and you can take it however you want it. But it is extremely powerful and we should use it for good and not for evil.

SA: What are some great ways for designers to get involved in social matters other than doing non-profit work, because I know that is the most typical way that designers are doing to help their community?

DF: You know, I think the most important thing is to just get involved no matter what it is. If you believe in something, do whatever you feel like you need to do to make a difference. That could be marching in a protest, it could be taking care of a child that needs help, or it could be making some posters that bring to light a situation. We are not just machines that make pretty things, we are living, breathing human beings and we have to be a part of our community. A great designer named James Victore [is] basically his own client – he makes posters that express some idea or belief that he has, and he wants to get across. He says that we have a responsibility – if you have a belief in something, or if you have something you want to say, as a creative person you have a responsibility to say it – not keep it bottled up or stay quiet about it. There are so many things that you can do and I think the main thing is, don’t sit on your rear and do nothing – do something, do anything.

SA: Have you personally ever been in a situation where you were asked to do work for something you didn’t believe in, you thought might hurt someone, or that was very controversial or compromising?

DF: Several times, yeah, I’ve been in that situation. I was approached a couple years ago by an ad agency in England that asked me to make a series of posters, and then they said, “We need to let you know that these are for a tobacco company.” And there was a lot of money involved. And I told them, “You know, unfortunately, I didn’t feel like that was something I could be involved in.” So I said “no.” I felt like, for one thing, I have a responsibility as an educator. If I’m teaching my students that you have to make tough decisions, I felt like I had the responsibility to follow through with the things I’m saying, you know? I have said “no” many times in the last few years to political candidates who asked me to make logos for their campaign. And that’s just something that I choose not to be involved in. I think that you have every right to do that, if you believe strongly in a candidate, you should work for them. These particular candidates, I didn’t know enough about them or feel strongly enough [about them] – they weren’t in my district, they were from across another part of the state of Texas. I just felt like I wasn’t connected to them in any way and I shouldn’t take money from their campaigning if I’m not going to be directly involved.

SA: How do you think design can affect a society and the environment, in positive and negative ways?

DF: Well, I think environmentally, we have a responsibility [as designers]. I mean, we use paper – we use lots of paper. We use computer technology, which consumes a lot of energy. When I teach packaging [class] for instance, I actually talk about the idea of designing a package [where] maybe the answer is [to] not design a package. Maybe the solution for the design is that there is no package. Why would a product need to have a cardboard package around it if that’s just something that is going to be thrown away? What if it just had a tiny, little jute string, tied to it that could hang from a shelf, you know? We have the responsibility to make design decisions based on our environment as well. And that’s hard to do, it’s hard to tell a client, “I think the solution to this design is to not design anything.” It takes a strong will to be able to do that, especially when you have a family to feed, but, I think we do have a responsibility to do things like that. I’ve had to say things like that to clients. I’ve told a client that wanted me to design a new logo, “You don’t need a new logo, your logo’s fine, there is no reason to spend money and to pay me to design a new logo – that would be wasteful.”

SA: I personally feel guilty because, you know, in the Library we just pushed out this recycling campaign, but in order to let people know about it, we printed off like thousands of handouts.

DF: That’s the double-edged sword. I think that the key to that Shannon is to be informed and to try to educate yourself about what your doing. We have to use paper, but we should be smart about how we do it. A good example is soybean inks, soy-based inks. So, that’s all the buzz right now [in the design community], to use soy inks. But people don’t realize how evasive the production of soybeans is on the environment. You have to think about how soybeans are grown by farmers who use diesel in their tractors to plow the fields. They use fertilizers, they use chemicals on the soybeans to make them grow. And then the milling of the soybeans itself is also very destructive. So sometimes people, they think, “Well I’m doing something to help out the environment,” but they’re not educated, they don’t really know what the product they are using is doing. So we have a responsibility to know about that also. Its fine to use paper, just know where that paper comes from. Know how the paper is being made – is it from a paper company that [produces its products with] renewable, sustainable resources?

SA: So for your social service class this [spring] semester, have you thought about what you’re going to do for it yet?

DF: I don’t have my clients picked out exactly. I taught it last spring, [so] I’ll just give you [an inside] on how that class was structured. We had three projects in the class. The first project, I divided the students into teams. I let them choose something they felt [strong about] and just make a campaign for it. It could be something national, like the American Cancer Society. It could be whatever they wanted, as long as it was something they believed in and they could support. For the second project, I contacted a local non-profit and asked them if we could help them out. The first was Literacy Lubbock. They help people learn to read, etc. We developed a new logo, a new website, and some printed collateral [for them]. Each team worked on it independently and then presented it to the class. That [particular] one was semi-successful. The students did a great job. The organization wound up not using everything. The third project was another local client that I chose called, Project Linus. They make many, many blankets for children - mostly children that have had some sort of recent trauma in their lives. That one was super successful – they loved everything we did, they chose a campaign and they are currently using it. We redesigned their website, gave them a new logo, and a poster campaign (to view the logo and website redesign, visit http://www.lubbock-project-linus.org/). They were very, very grateful. What I tried to do with that assignment and that class was help a local organization [that there may not be] much awareness about it, you know? It’s great to do work for anything you believe in. It could be the American Cancer Society, it could be the Heart Foundation, except, my thought on those is that they have so much help already. Everyone is aware of organizations such as these – they get a lot of help, they get a lot of publicity. Who’s ever heard of the Project Linus? No one really had heard of it, yet they gave out 500 blankets last year alone in Lubbock, Texas. So they make thousands and thousands of blankets [for traumatized children]. It’s a great charity, a great thing, and so, they actually need the help – they need designers like us that otherwise they wouldn’t have access to (personal communication, November 18, 2011).

A POWERFUL RESOURCE TO HELP DESIGNERS GET INVOLVED IN SOCIAL CHANGE

            Beginning to make a change can be so overwhelming – how does one find these endless possibilities to make a difference in what they believe in? A good place to start is to visit the Design Ignites Change website. I first heard about this organization when I attended the HOW Design Conference in Austin, Texas, June of 2009. The speaker, Mark Randall talked about the graphic designers social responsibility to get involved in social change – going beyond the “typical approach” of conserving resources such as paper and energy, and “working with a non-profit organization.” Randall believes that by “taking the lead in implementing our own projects, we will set precedents and create sustainable markets for socially responsible design.” To start thinking about using design for social change, Randall gave everyone a handout with some points to help get the process started (Randall, 2009).

1.     “What is your passion?” Do something you believe in, something you really care about, and you will most likely succeed.

2.     “Start local.” Randall believes that “small acts inspire big ideas.”

3.     “Go beyond the obvious.” Try and think of new, innovative ways of expressing and presenting the issue at hand.

4.     “Find partners, build a coalition.” Randall expressed that “social change is often best achieved through community efforts.” Delegate tasks and get others involved – it creates a sense of involvement and accomplishment. Plus, the project won’t seem so overwhelming, which may result in failure.

5.     “Be realistic.” Use materials and “resources” you already have, and utilize your partners’ strengths and skills.

6.     “Raise some cash.” Randall says that if your organization needs the help, “think about ways to fund your project through foundation grants, a client relationship, or corporate sponsorship.”

7.     “Execute.” In other words, carry out your idea, project, organization, etc.

8.     “Measure success.” Working in a communications and marketing department, I can vouch for the importance of this step. If it’s something like a web site, Google Analytics is a wonderful tool to track website usage. If you are asking for donations to an organization, find out the before and after number of donations in reference to the campaign push.

9.     “Spread the word.” This one is natural to designers, communication is their job. Basically you should “educate the public” on your social service (Randall, 2009).

THE BEGINNING TO MY PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT IN ART FOR SOCIAL CHANGE USING GRAPHIC DESIGN

            Since I started this class, Critical Pedagogy in the Visual Arts, I have really been inspired to help out more in my community. This whole semester I have donated design work to the local non-profit organization, The Lubbock Community Theatre. The project was to create a cohesive poster, postcard, and TV spot design that encompasses their American Season play series. The season featured five plays by American writers and included subjects that were comical, dramatic, and controversial. This work was done in collaboration with Kevin Jones, a 3D animator and illustrator/artist.

Helping out Lubbock Community Theatre was very satisfying to me, however, I wanted to include another project that would allow me to dig deeper into issues that are very important to me. This particular project is unfinished and ongoing, so I will share with you my current progress.

            The project is a website, a community resource tool specifically for Lubbock Texas. The name of the site is still unknown, as I am still in the process of a logo design. Some names I came up with are:

1. Live Wise Lubbock: Improving the Quality of Life in Lubbock, Texas
2. Connect Lubbock: Get Educated, Get Involved, Love Life!
3. Know Lubbock

With the possible name titles, I have experimented with designing some possible logos.

The purpose of the site is to serve as a resource, provide information and ideas, feature local stories and people of interest, and provide external links to important information sites regarding health, social service, environmental issues, and activities in Lubbock. For example, the site would have the typical Home, About, and Contact buttons along with a side bar with the main categories of interest. These categories include:

1. Community Art. This section will feature local artists who are creating artworks with social justice/social service themes. The feature story will include information on how, why, and what their stance is on this particular issue(s) along with examples of their art. I will also provide links and discussion about any art shows in Lubbock that pertain to social justice/service.
2. Sustainable Living. This section will feature either a local farmer practicing organic farming or a local farmer’s market. This category would also provide links to local food banks, give tips and locations for starting/helping out with community gardens, and provide tips and help on sustainable home gardens.
3. Community Service. This section will feature a local service organization, provide information on different ways of donating time, money, and/or help to local organizations. I will also provide links to many local organizations to help create awareness of not-so-common non-profits.
4. Recycle. This section will provide tips and ideas on how to reuse everyday items in homes and at work, tips on how to start neighborhood recycling clubs, and provide links to local recycling sites. 

     When I first started thinking about what I wanted to do for my community and this resource website concept, I had no idea the amount of time and energy that it would take to accomplish something of this magnitude. To prevent that overwhelming feeling which could result in failure, I first cut down much of the “categories of interest” section, created a site map of the layout of the website, and am now starting to enlist friends to help upload the site and write feature stories.

REFERENCES

Poggenpohl, S. (Ed.). (1993). What is graphic design? In Graphic design: a career guide and education directory. Retrieved from http://www.aiga.org/guide-whatisgraphicdesign/

Randall, M. (2009, June). Graphic design/social change handout. In M. Randall (Presenter), Design ignites change. Session conducted at the HOW Design Conference, Austin, TX.