Good Friday: Gray Areas
This week has been about gray areas — those indeterminate territories of understanding, delineation and judgement. The design directions are in the hands of the publisher (who is out of the office for another 10 days or so) so we’re in a holding pattern there. The submission deadline has been extended another two weeks (until the 14th) and though entries continue to arrive we’re still not opening them — leaving us in a hazy gray area of curiosity as we ponder the contents of the growing pile of boxes envelopes and tubes in the corner of the office.
The biggest gray area remains how to decide what makes the cut. This week especially I’ve been fielding inquiries from interested designers, curious to know if their work qualifies as “good.” These include for-profit projects that nonetheless promote a social message, works of industrial (as opposed to purely graphic) design, environments, naming and branding, etc. There is no clear cut answer as to what makes a project “good” and its been the topic of some discussion in the office. If I make a T-shirt with a social message and sell it for a profit, is that good design? If I design a system that encourages people to modify their behavior and attitude toward the indigent, but there’s no tangible deliverable, is that good design? If I do well-compensated work for a non profit that pays its Executive Director a quarter million dollars a year, is that good design?
I can’t say where I’ve come down on all this, but here are my thoughts at the moment:
1. We must be judicious. If the book is to have value, only the very best work should be included.
2. We must be open. There are many ways of evaluating work and we have to be willing to consider things from multiple angles.
3. We must be thoughtful. Every project has a context. Appreciating the environment in which a work was created is essential.
4. We must be diverse. Lots of different people design things and they come from many different places. It is appropriate to consider origin as a critical factor in our evaluation of the work.
5. We must celebrate. Ultimately this book is about celebrating and illuminating design projects that succeed as much on the strength of their purpose as their execution. In every piece we will look for an opportunity to celebrate its goodness.