I watched this...



I really enjoy the animation. From a nonprofit management perspective though, I'm disappointed that it's missing a specific call to action. "Don't Let it All Unravel" is pretty vague. Say I watch the video and I'm all moved and upset and ready to do something... I get to the end and I read that phrase... then what? "Yeah, I'm NOT going to let it all unravel! Ok... how?" At least the video, if it's going to address a social issue, could advocate something specific any person could do, like donating money to an environmental organization, or insulating their home to save energy. That's marketing 101.

But wait, 'creatives' aren't supposed to be concerned about that stuff, right? It's really just about making cool work.

I looked up the organization that sponsored the video. Here's their mission statement:

"Live Earth was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action. A for-profit company, Live Earth seeks to leverage the power of entertainment through integrated events, media, and the live experience to ignite a global movement aimed at solving the most critical environmental issues of our time."

Does this seem credible? Or will it just make for a bunch of bad, didactic forms of entertainment? Also, does it seem strange that Live Earth is a for-profit organization? It doesn't necessarily mean it's unethical, but it strikes me as a little strange.

evil, evil persuaders

Last night I finished reading a section of this book about how public relations works. Though the author qualifies the beginning of the section that public relations (which, by the way, is one of my majors) is not unethical per se, it seems to me that her hatred for the practice is thinly veiled.

I've found this sort of animosity applies to graphic designers as well. In fact, almost anybody who works in a field that involves either persuasion or communicates on a subconscious level seems to attract a certain level of distrust. It seems as though decades after Freud introduced the idea that humans have a subconscious and are not wholly in control of themselves, we are still rather uncomfortable with the idea. And we still like to dismiss Freud entirely as hopelessly sexist and ethnocentric, even though he was just as much a product of his sexist and ethnocentrist culture as we are of our culture, whatever that may be.

I think there's a difference between persuasive techniques and the message, or intent, they communicate. Are the persuasive techniques that aim to convince you to buy their company's SUV, different from the persuasive techniques used to get you to donate to a reputable nonprofit, or to give up smoking?

Is the fault of advertising encouraging a consumer mindset a problem within the individual advertisement, or the aggregate onslaught of all advertisements? If the latter, how do we hold individual advertisers accountable?

Sophisticated use of white space...

...has struck again! This time, the quilting world has become its victim. This downhomey craft has ben *gentrified* at the hands of advanced design sensibilities. See exhibit a.

Lusting in the way only a graphic designer can lust

The Sheppard Fairey Obama posters have sprung up around campus overnight, and I am lusting after them. My earlier wariness about Obama's very savvy use of graphic design, about which I've been thinking, "FINALLY a candidate gets it," has turned into a savage lust to get my hands on what I consider to be political/graphic design history. I've since been harassing a friend of mine who is involved in the Obama campaign here to bring me some copies. I've had to be persistent. I think she's a little scared of me now.

the san-serif effect

How powerful can typography be?

Ok, so the premise may be a little exaggerated... there's not much evidence that micro-lending really does much to boost a country's overall economy (though it may have other advantages). Still, it's a very engaging campaign.

bias

Even though I'm an avid crafter and appreciate things that are hand-made, I've always hated scrap-booking. It's always struck me as cheesy and minimally creative, though I suppose following a knitting pattern made by somebody else isn't that much more innovative.

I've finally decided that what really turns me off on that particular craft is that the whole decorating process that goes on in scrapbooking distracts from the actual photos it is meant to enhance.

I recently went with my boyfriend to his friends' house, they are married and the husband just got back from Brazil. They also showed us some pictures from his trip to Russia a few years ago that she had put into a scrapbook as a gift for him. I think we talked more about her decorating style than the actual photos. I wonder how much it was actually a gift for him or a gift for herself.

distinction

There seems to be a fine line between valuing well designed, hand-made, or artistic items, and being materialistic.