5th August 2011 by Rob Foddering
It was whilst working on our rebrand that I questioned who we are as a company and what direction we should be taking. What clients should we work for? What style of design should we focus on?
It’s easy when you work in the design industry to focus on design itself and not actually consider who you work for, or what they do.
The competition to be at the cutting edge of the web, or to produce something that is brilliantly designed seems to have replaced the need to consider why we are doing it? Are we all just chasing the kudos of our peers?
Are your clients your achievement? Do you wear them like badges of honour? Lots of companies seem to.
Does this make a difference? Why do we design? To communicate a message clearly, visually? There are a lot of amazing designers out there that produce their own work, which communicates messages that mean something.
But what about when designers work for other businesses or organisations? You’re then communicating their message. Is it time to have a think about who they are as clients?
If you are their mouth piece are you happy with what they do?
Do they give something back?
The words of Neville Brody are perhaps more eloquent than mine:
Radical Culture and the idea that the work you do as a designer could actually be of benefit to society is no longer evident. When did you last hear the word ‘progress’ ? Progress is essential to society; the idea that what you’re doing now should make a better society for tomorrow. [Good Design] is not about doing something that’s going to bring in money, it’s about doing something that’s going to re-engage people, re-engage culture and society and re-engage possibility.
- Neville Brody
