Last night I read this long, but very interesting article. Basically it talks about the moral behind design, and how the designers (we) have to deal with it. I believe this is the first article I have read that talks about moral issues, etc. and I think it is very important that we take this particular issue very serious, because it is likely that you will encounter this type of situation. I also would like to use this opportunity to encourage you to subscribe to ideas-on-ideas feed (which is where I read this article).

To get you in the mood here is bit of it:

There are those such as Victoria’s Secret.
Their mailings have surpassed their more utilitarian role of solely
cataloguing product and have now become cultural artifacts. They are
noted regularly in media, and without question carry substantial brand
currency. It’s interesting to note the cost of these catalogs to the
environment. Victoria Secret mails approximately one million of them a
day, of which almost all printed on virgin fiber.

Our endangered forests are being compromised to sell shiny underwear.
I have to wonder about the many creative people work on these
catalogues. We can suppose that a small army of creatives style them,
take the photos, design the catalogues, and subsequently coordinate all
of their related marketing. To learn more, and enjoy some smart
activism around the issue, visit the Victoria’s Dirty Secret website.

Read the complete article

technorati tags:web, design, moral

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