Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility
—Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne

Edited by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, Citizen Designer is an anthology of essays on the timely subject of design responsibility. Culled from different sources over the last few years, it attempts to address the topic of the a designers’ responsibility on social, environmental, humanitarian, moral and artistic issues without taking an overly dogmatic stance. Opinions vary widely, from hardcore culture jamming to branding concerns for today’s media-saturated consumer. Some I agree with, others, not so much.

Cheryl Towler Weese conducted an interview that I found very interesting, with architect and industrial designer Stanley Tigerman. Located in the chapter on ‘Professional Responsibility’ — Tigerman quotes rabbi Jose Faür, “…the slipperiness of language is no longer sufficient evidence of moral behavior. You have to make something, and make it well in order to communicate with God.” The entire interview is a compelling read from a brief discussion on Mies van der Rohe’s questionable morality in his desire to displace Albert Speer, as Hitler’s chief architect, to Tigerman confessing to not having, “…bought a book on architecture in fifteen years,” instead favoring books on philosophy and theology.

The interview by Steven Heller with Milton Glaser centers on his redesign of the I Love New York (More Then Ever) logo, created right after 9/11, which would appear shortly on the entire cover and back of the New York Daily News. The interview illustrates how design can affect society in a positive way. Not to be out-done is the essay by Véronique Vienne and her calls to look at the entire process of design, and not just the finished result, but also the use of sustainable methods and materials. Both bring a grounded passion to their work and writings.

The essay on Shepard Fairey and his special brand of Dadaist-like cultural provocation caught my attention for the contradictory decisions it brings up that we as designers sometimes face. For years, he has created subversive messages in the public sphere and blasted corporations for their stupidity. Now he lends his talents to corporate clients such as Nissan and Mountain Dew, or as he puts it “a bunch of fifty-year-old schmucks who don’t know what’s going on.” This from a self-proclaimed “dork” who “never goes out.” Contradictions aplenty. Can you have it both ways on different levels? Apparently, yes.

For the designer trying to sort out their place in the big-picture — one that is constantly being defined and refined in publications such as Emigre, Print and Eye — Citizen Designer is an excellent place to join the dialogue. Heller and Vienne have done a great job of choosing and ordering a large collection of essays — over 250 pages — on what helps shape today’s designer. In the best of cases the essays in Citizen Designer will spawn dialogues. And dialogue will make design a stronger, better-understood discipline or profession — your choice.

Allworth Press

Review by: Jarrett Kertesz