Design Discourse 2

Why Designers Can't Think
by: Michael Bierut


Key Points:
• Graphic Designers
• structure
• communication
• SPECIALIZED DESIGN SCHOOLS- two categories
- Process Schools: form-driven, problem- solving approach
drawing letterforms, "translating" three-dimensional objects into idealized high-contrast images, and basic still-life photography.
- Portfolio Schools: provide students with "books" that will get them good jobs upon graduation.
problem solving mode is conceptual, bias for appealing, memorable, populist imagery. The product, not process, is king.
staff is impatient with idle exercises that don't relate to the "real world."
-SOMETHING IN COMMON:
What's valued is the way graphic design looks, not what it means.
"Semiotics" or " Conceptual Problem Solving"
Employers want trained designers, not writers and economists.
• Typography
• Visual Problem Solving
• Advanced Aesthetics
• formal training
• curiosity
• culture, science, politics, history
• high school seniors-bright future in "graphics"
• Swiss style process schools- perceived "slickness"
• design education
• Corporate Identity Firms
• Package Design Firms
• diverse alternatives
• technical skills
• purely visual solution
• "Principles of design"
• "Communication Arts Design Annual"
• technology
• Graduates will continue to speak in languages that only their classmates understand. And designers, more and more, will end up talking to themselves.




In this image we see how graphic designers can partake of as many fields of interest as they have clients. In a single day, a designer can talk about technology with one client, cancer cures with another, and about beauty with a third. I imagine how hard it must be for other people that only have one thing to think about all day long. For example a dentist who has nothing to do all day but worry about teeth. I found this idea very interesting because I never thought about designers like that. We are versatile and are always working in different things. We learn about different topics every day, because to be able to come up with a good design we have to make some research about the topic, their competitors, and their customers or consumers.




So who decides what good design is?
Many successful graphic designers share the same traits that make artists, painters or sculptors unique. I believe graphic designers like artists are born with a gift that only a lucky few possess. There are a lot of people out there that may claim to be graphic designers because they happen to have the latest version of Adobe and a Mac. It’s not the tools, it’s the talent that exists within. A natural born designer will make it happen, they’ll find a way to express themselves. A person without raw talent can be taught the ins-and-outs of graphic design. They can learn the mechanics, concepts, theories and tools of graphic design but can they truly create great designs if they don’t possess that spark of creativity?

Design schools and degrees can only take students to a certain level. If that student lacks the imaginative talent, he or she won’t be a successful or “great” designer. There are many types of designers and I think there's a place for everyone although it might be more difficult for some to achieve. Unfortunately our educational institutions are sometimes more interested in collecting a paycheck than sending students along the correct career path. Unfortunately there are some who don't look at a career as something that engages and fulfills them, but to make money. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may be for the wrong reasons.