Paula Scher: Pretty/Shitty

Yesterday a friend of mine mentioned this interview with Paula Scher on the website Pr*tty Sh*tty. It’s several weeks old, but the relevance of good ideas doesn’t expire as quickly as the internet wants to make us think they do. If you missed it (like I did) you’ll want to check it out. Paula makes some familiar observations, as well as some interesting new ones. One comment that stood out to me was about designers’ general reluctance make good design for anything other than good causes:

Many talented young designers today have abandoned their roles as improvers of the general visual environment. Many only want to work on cultural work, or not-for-profit work, or on projects they perceive as “good-for-society” which may have a high profile within the design milieu, but don’t really reach ordinary people. These designers are afraid to get involved in mainstream packaging, promotion or corporate work. They forget that these are the products and messages that most people really encounter in their daily lives, that these products and services are at the heart of the American condition, and that there is responsibility for us as designers, always, to raise the expectation of what design can be. We are responsible for that daily experience. These “ivory tower designers” leave the job to others (ad agencies, schlock shops, etc.) who are simply doing it for the money, and are often cynical about the outcome… [read more]