Milton Glaser’s speech at the 2005 AIGA Design Conference just reached my browser. Sadly, it’s as relevant today as it was two years ago:
The political exploitation of the fear of terrorism is as alarming as terrorism itself. It has caused me to examine my role as a citizen and to think about whether designers as a group have a dog in this fight, to use a pungent, down-home cliché. Our dog in this fight may be human survival.
Glaser accurately notices how frequently our discussion of design ethics is “impaled” on the subject of whether we, as designers, can serve our clients and the public at the same time. Or, at least how we can do the least disservice to the public by serving our clients. Moving far beyond that tired discussion, he suggests that we should recognize our role as participants in a more global (even transcendental) affair. He references Victor Frankl in his exhortation for us to live actively and selflessly, and leads by example in changing his self-designation to “Designer/Citizen.”
“How primitive are the means we have to dissent. And yet I believe these modest tools can help change history,” he said. “Things have changed, and there is much work to do.” We couldn’t agree more.
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