Monday, November 20, 2006

The Use of Design

What is graphic design for? Many people think it is for making their communications pretty. A kind of decoration for boring text. This couldn't be further from the truth.

Bad design may be merely decoration. But good design is a form of communication itself. It uses text—which is communicating something the communicator considers important (hopefully)—and enhances the transmission of that message using visual cues, metaphors, and beauty. It can alter the mood, evoke a response, and draw the reader in before the message is ever read.

This is important to understand, because I've seen, and been requested, to use design to make a bad message better. Some people want to use design to enhance a bad reputation or revive their brand without making any substantive changes in the brand itself. They view design as the process of decorating a message.

Unfortunately this can be done. But is it right? Shouldn't design make an appeal rather than making a bad idea appealing?

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