now what magazine

how

designers

could

escape

capitalism

WORKING ON DECOMODIFICATION
AND EXPANDING THE PRACTICE

It’s important to understand that the profession of graphic design – not visual communication but the profession by that exact name – dates back to the early 1900s, when those who had previously been artists or printers were asked to train in the direction of mass-produced printed work. That was when design education began, at least in Europe and the US, first as advertising schools and later as communication design. So we are both educated and culturally trained to work in the context of and for capitalist mass production. For me, it starts with separating what we are taught to do as graphic designers; which is branding, commodification and selling, with the kind of design that society needs; which is clear access to information and an honest artistic interpretation of that information. For example, perhaps we may be asked by a museum or a public institution such as a hospital for a brand, a logo.

If these are public institutions without a profit motive, why should they have to compete in a market as brands? What function does the logo even have when we can all find these spaces?

»Most designers don’t like many of their clients and what they demand, but if we don’t work together and show solidarity, we won’t be able to change how clients think or approach us.«

If we automatically assume that everything needs branding, we reduce all visual communication to a market logic, when maybe a museum needs better access to its archive (through a better online accessible archive) and maybe a hospital needs better floor signage.
The question is whether clients would be open to this, but my point is that designers love to turn every moment of communication into branding, because it is easier than knowing what people actually need.

clean up

In short, besides less focus on selling and commodifying everything, there is also more collective organisation in design and less individual competition. We all benefit from working together and supporting each other instead of always competing, lowering prices and even working for free. If we want to stop working for the fossil fuel industry, it would be more effective if all designers in Germany signed this petition, instead of just a handful. Most designers don’t like many of their clients and what they demand, but if we don’t work together and show solidarity, we won’t be able to change how clients think or approach us.

WHY NESS SHOULD NOT
ALWAYS BE THE GOAL

Newness, novelty and trendy graphic languages are adopted by capitalist ideas to feed the market with new ideas and products. I just think that economic information such as annual reports, excel sheets and budgets should always be contextualised with the social realities of this information as much as possible, and made accessible if it is meant for a wide audience. For example, I barely understand the Dutch tax forms, and I have a master’s degree. This is because they are produced by people with a financial legal background. If you’re not literate or don’t speak the language well, you can’t fill it in without help. I find it very strange that a tax system that is meant for everyone can only be understood by the most educated. It is difficult from a legal point of view, but these kinds of barriers also mean that the wealthy can pay for accountants and lawyers and get more tax exemptions and tax breaks than the people who really need them: the poor.

»We can also ask ourselves as designers: what am I willing to sacrifice or change in order to save the planet and its ecosystem from imminent collapse?«