Socialist Designers

Socialist Designers is a collective of politically conscious graphic designers who have agreed to follow an indisputable set of rules.

Nowadays, Designers forget to use their own unique touch in their work. They depend on stock photo that found on the Internet, even if they know how to photograph what they need, they just don't do it. They just find the easy way out to find what they want from internet which i think their designs would be so typical and repeated. It doesn't mean thats way is wrong, but there are many ways to avoid less using the photos from internet ( stock photos).

Examples:

          

Reality Branding

To communicate with today´s audience who are completely sick of advertising, we need to communicate facts and real benefits, not features and value based statements. Many ads are really good in the that have been designed so it grabs the consumers attention, but on the other hand it could be as bad as many others because for instance the product it self harmful to user. Clients are very strict in promoting their selves and product, but we as graphic design we have a our way to convenes the clients ideas in design by facts and be aware of it. 

In my opinion I think the best way to sell the product is basically having a true ad design and the most important thing is having the trust of consumers.

Examples:

Who Gets to Say What to Whom?

In our daily life we see many ads, posters, in magazines, newspaper and even media. Media has become the big communication that people are influenced by, and we as graphic designers have to put in consideration what is the message that we are delivering to the consumer in a creative and understandable way even if their is something wrong that affects negatively in our culture.

For example, sometimes the designer designing the ad without thinking if its right or wrong just because the client asked him to to, whats the point and why we have to such a humiliating ads that could be designed by other way?

Examples:

Finally, we have to say no and stop designing something that could affect negatively on the audience.

Think Globally, Upload locally

BY J.D. Biersdorfer

J.D. Biersdorfer is a member of the newsroom technology staff at The New York Times. She was heavily involved with the recent conversion of the Sunday Times Magazine to a desktop publishing system, and now spends her workdays providing technical support, writing documentation andoccasionally testing new software.She has wandered into the digital world from a decidedly liberal arts direction, having spent four years at Indiana University in pursuit of a theater degree while working nights at IU's campus newspaper, The Indiana Daily Student.

After two seasons as a technician in various regional theaters around the country, she moved to New York City in 1989 ,Coming from a non-technical background herself, Biersdorfer is dedicated to finding the most efficient ways of explaining computers to new and bewildered users in the simplest language possible.

She has worked in the production departments of Men's Journal and McCall's magazines, has written for Rolling Stone and The New York Times Book Review and plays harmonica and 5-string banjo in her dwindling spare time.

Thesis:

The internet is a free space for anyone to express themselves and this has positive as well a negative
impact .


Introduction:

-The world wide web is easily accessible by everyone around the world , it’s a place where people can write or upload whatever they had in mind with no restrictions , this fact may have positive and negative impact as far as content and accuracy of information.

-New software have made the web design process simple for any ordinary person , weather professional or not

-Websites have revolutionized the way in which we seek information and has taken the place of the book.


Outline and brief:

-Before websites and internet professionals take a lot of time and effort designing and writing for books and magazine making sure the information is accurate and being responsible about every word they write, keeping in mind the reader .

-Now websites are much easier to find an information than a book it has colors, animation, obvious icons guiding the reader through multiple pages. Because of this ease people have a place to express their thought ideas and information.

-Free speech has made people think globally expressing their thoughts in a selfish way that made them forget how it could effects the readers.

-As a nature incent when children find themselves surrounded by all these website they will surely explore this world with endless information , where they can stumble upon websites that are not suitable for their age .

- Ordinary people who upload information , are not aware of the design aspect of the web pages such as layouts and easily guiding the readers through the pages . They must make sure that links are always functional and information are up-to-date .

- Hocks , roomers , political jocks can make a huge misunderstanding between countries.

Examples

International:

Local :

Question:

1) How can we solve this problem of false information and badly designed websites?

2) Do you think blocking websites in Saudi Arabia is necessary ?

3) Have you ever believed a rumor and how did you figure out the truth 
    (did you search about it or did you find out through a friend later) ?

4) How do you tell if a website that has accurate information, and what do you base it on 
    ( for example )?
5) (freedom of speech), when do a person shut up?

The Cultural Influence of Brands

Thesis:
The article addresses business ideas that have achieved cultural influence.

The writer:
Chris Riley, he is the head of planing in the graphic design group of apple. and the founder of studio Riley.

History of the article:
It is relevant us new because we are all surrounded with brands.
Ex:

  

At first i thought that we are using imported brands and we don't have our own needs instead of letting brands define needs that are impossible to be defined which means that we are all letting brands define who we are even though we don't need it we just go and buy for the sake of fashion. for instance, blackberry phones first this kind of phone where introduced in Mobily company for business men or people who need to attached with in there businesses, but nowadays everybody got one, personally am one of the people don't have blackberry because I hate technology in certain time, but I f am going to get one just because everybody has it. 

One of the question:

• Do we have a local Identity of our own in the market or is it all imported?

- Some of the brands are imported, but we do have our local brands.

Ex:

Fashion wise ex:

Finally, We are all into fashion and international brands that it makes our identity invisible.

Not for PROFIT

Steven Heller Interviews David Sterling and Mark Randall

•Mark Randall: serves as vice-president.

•David Sterling: is president and founder of worldstudio Foundation.
•Steven Heller: is an American art director, author and editor.


Mark Randall

For more that fifteen years, Mark Randall has been principal of Worldstudio, the New York City marketing and design agency which serves major clients in the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. Randall is also president of the Worldstudio Foundation, a nonprofit organization which offers scholarships and mentoring programs in the fine and applied arts. In addition to lecturing on design and social responsibility around the country at colleges, universities and industry conferences.

Steven Heller

An American art director, journalist, critic, author and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design. He has published more than eighty titles and written articles for magazines. he is the art director for the New York Times Book Review, and co-chair of the Master of Fine Arts design program at the School of Visual Arts. He has produced or been curator of a number of exhibitions, including "Art Against War," "The Satiric Image: Painters as Cartoonists and Caricaturists," 

He has organized various conferences, including The School of Visual Arts’ "How We Learn What We Learn,"   

David Sterling

Founder and principal of Worldstudio International, a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary design firm. 

Sterling studied painting and literature before entering the design world as exhibit director of Omniplex (The Omniplex Science Museum, a previous name of the science museum oklahoma) in Oklahoma City in 1973. He spent three years at the science museum creating hands-on exhibits for science instruction. Sterling is also a teacher and lecturer, and served for 10 years as adjunct professor of graphic design at School of Visual Arts in New York City, teaching all levels in the four-year program.

Every one in life has responsibility towards his society. From a point of view for a graphic designer, our social responsibility lies on how we translate ideas and implementations by other organization towards its society in manner of transferring the action plan through designing the subject matter, so can people feel and live what is been done for them.

Our religion Islam encourages us to help people and feel for their sorrows by providing them help, assistant and awareness about meaningful things in their life.

Like taking care of their health, education, nature and people in need.

Examples in Saudi Arabia :

- Orphans' Friend

- Al zahra campaign for breast cancer.

The biggest ribbon awareness where done in jeddah during the month of october by women standing all together making the largest ribbon and it was a huge step and change in the history of Saudi Arabia. people where divided in two parts some of them with that huge event and how it was so effective for people who never know about it and the other part was saying that it was for show up and having fun. 

Timing is Everything

Timing is essential when dealing with people. You don't ask for a raise when business is not going well or when things are tense around the office. You don't try to correct someone who feels threatened by you. You don't ask for a favor when someone is under a lot of stress or angry.

We got into a debate when we saw a movie was talking about four people who were fighting about things that they want to do.

• Fatima wanted to do a colored Abayas. But people said that black abayas reflect our society and shows respect. She was angry and said that wearing colored abaya doesn't reflect us as bad women in Saudi Arabia.

• Abdul Aziz thinks that why we can't sit with your girl/boyfriend in public spaces. I was against him at the beginning because we are muslims and its something unacceptable in our society, but on the other hand most of the people do sit in public places put that doesn't mean that we can't, on the other hand we are muslims and we do have our believes and everybody dealing with it in his/her way.
Finally I think that Abdul Aziz has to think about it from a different perspective which means is he going to allow to his sister or whatever to sit or hang out with her boyfriend would it be ok with him, or lets say is he going to accept it?

 

Good Citizenship

Citizenship means being a citizen, or member of a group. When you are apart of a group, you have certain rights and responsibilities.

Graphic Designers are people that have the responsibility in design wise, i mean when designing an ad, product, or even poster we have to take in consideration the message we send to the consumers mind.

But sometimes and in some situations we design the ad just for the sake of designing without having any concept or meaning behind it, but when we design we have to know the concept, meaning, what message we are sending.

But the question is whats the point of designing without knowing the concept?

Milton Glaser's 12 Steps on the Road to Hell!

1. Designing a package to look bigger on the shelf.

2. Designing an ad for a slow, boring film to make it seem like a lighthearted comedy.

3. Designing a crest for a new vineyard to suggest that it has been in business for a long time.

4. Designing a jacket for a book whose sexual content you find personally repellent.

5. Designing a medal using steel from the World Trade Center to be sold as a profit-making souvenir of September 11.

6. Designing an advertising campaign for a company with a history of known discrimination in minority hiring.

7. Designing a package aimed at children for a cereal whose contents you know are low in nutritional value and high in sugar.

8. Designing a line of T-shirts for a manufacturer that employs child labor.

9. Designing a promotion for a diet product that you know doesn’t work.

10. Designing an ad for a political candidate whose policies you believe would be harmful to the general public.

11. Designing a brochure for an SUV that flips over frequently in emergency conditions and is known to have killed 150 people.

12. Designing an ad for a product whose frequent use could result in the user’s death.

* My answer for question 12:

I wouldn't design the product because simply I'll lose my repetition although if i did designed it i wouldn't be a trustable designer. and I'well be the key of killing people who are innocent. and I personally can't live by people blaming me for something i did by knowing the harmful effect of.

Assignment One

          Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design. He has published more than eighty titles and written articles for magazines including Affiche, Baseline, Creation, Design, Design Issues… etc. and he is the art director for the New York Times Book Review, and co-chair of the Master of Fine Arts design program at the School of Visual Arts. He's a frequent contributor to Print, HOW, and I.D. Magazines and he has written more than eighty books on graphic design and popular and political art.

          Basically the introduction of the book talking about the design whether it is good or bad and what its reaction to citizens and how their reaction well be to the designer and cultural behavior in society. and the good design doesn't have to be designed by a goo designer, because good design has to include creativity in respecting the cultural behavior to convey and send the massage throw the design.

but on the other hand designers have the right to choose between designs whither he accept it or refuse to design it, because everyone has his own point of view that he want to prove by his designs.

• Designing an add for a product whose frequent use could result in the user's death.  

I wouldn't design the product because simply I'll lose my repetition although if i did designed it i wouldn't be a trustable designer. and I'well be the key of killing people who are innocent. and I personally can't live by people blaming me for something i did by knowing the harmful effect of.