Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design

Lucienne Roberts

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781350161726
• eBook ISBN: 9781350035263
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Graphic Design

Consider this simple conundrum: is it possible to be a bad good designer or a good bad designer for that matter? If the answer is yes then which is preferable and what does this reveal about the relationship between ethics and design practice? Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design seeks to answer these questions. Graphic design is in ethical flux. Good comes at a time of growing disenchantment with style-led design solutions and the pursuit of self-expression alone and yet vacuous design judgements are still made without any real analysis of the criteria used. The terms good and bad are repeatedly applied without qualification whilst the relationship between personal and professional ethics is far too contentious to do any more than give cursory consideration. Despite recent manifestos and themed publications on design for good graphic designers have yet to examine what such terms really mean: in a time of relativism it has been far too divisive to do so. Good takes philosophy as its starting point but is not a philosophy book. It seeks to marry abstract ideas with practical application, removing some of the mystique that surrounds philosophy and highlighting its relevance for us all. Designers are people. This book seeks to engage designers in a debate about their profession and in an analysis of their value and worth. The decisions we make define us, in our ethical choices we reveal who we are.

Good:

An introduction to ethics in graphic design

Section 1: Making good/a brief history

Ray Roberts +

Sophia Gibb picture research / Dave Shaw photography

In all its many guises, visual art has long been the agent of moral and ethical thought. This pinboard’s apparently random selection of art and design demonstrates clearly how with greater freedom, practitioners have exercised responsibility in the use of their skills.

This is a brief and compressed look at the historical background to increasing ethical awareness in graphic design. It is biased towards developments in the West, partly because trade by sea, the result of European exploration, and western scientific advances were eventually the catalysts for mass manufacturing and the advent of graphic design as we know it.

Much of what this section charts is the changing role of ‘artists’ and then ‘designers’, so these terms need to be examined. Remaining evidence tells us that most people who were engaged in forms of artistic activity in the distant past trained and worked as craftspeople. They produced two- or three-dimensional artefacts, ranging from painted images to sculptures, pots, jewellery, furniture and a host of other objects for daily use. Much of this work was figurative, and took the form of illustration concerned with belief systems and the organisation of society. Other work was purely decorative or strictly functional. The current notion of the ‘fine artist’ as someone expressing a personal reaction to life, or exploring his or her own imaginative experiences, did not exist.

Nearer to our own time, fine artists began to set their own problems for solution and were no longer commissioned by others. The present-day designer is generally in a mid-way position between craftsperson and artist. Work is commissioned – the problems are generally given by a client – but the designer is expected to imbue the resulting solutions with an individual quality that is both appropriate to the subject and satisfying to the client.

For the sake of simplicity, for most of this section the term ‘artist’ is used when referring to the maker of artefacts. If there is any one theme that this section follows historically, it is that as societies have moved towards greater freedom of expression artists of all kinds have emerged as named individuals, valued for their personal contribution, but with increased responsibility for the public effect of their work. With this growing involvement in the complex weave of society, the ethical dimension of artists’ work has become more powerfully evident.

Early civilisation

Since mankind first settled in organised groups, societies developed degrees of specialisation in producing the necessities of life. Artists were regarded as skilled people who could be used to support, illustrate and document visually the authority of those in power. This power might be military or political, but art nearly always reflected the higher and mystical guidance of the gods. Early societies were hierarchical and stratified, with slavery as a base. The majority of artists developed their skills as apprentices to a master, whose knowledge included the making of necessary tools and materials, and an understanding of the prevailing iconography.

For example, the civilisation of ancient Egypt extended over several millennia and expressed its rigid structures in a highly formalised manner. Sculpture was mainly static and contained vertically within its basic floor space, while painted work on flat surfaces was two-dimensional. Subject matter consisted mainly of images of the kings and queens and their exploits, the major and minor gods, and everyday rituals and activities. As beautiful as much of this work is, the effect is of formal stiffness, heavy with symbolism. Artists were controlled by priestly classes, whose interests centred on the promotion of the gods and links between those deities and the kingdom’s rulers.

For a brief period in the reign of Akhenaten, who ruled between 1353–36 BC approximately, a remarkable diversion occurred. Worship was concentrated on a single god, the Aten or sun disc, and Akhenaten encouraged artists to portray himself and his queen, Nefertiti, as human beings rather than demi-gods. They are shown hand in hand, playing with their children and venturing out together in their chariot. Given the opportunity, artists revealed an ability to bring greater naturalism and freedom into their images, together with an awareness of space. This change of direction was short-lived and after the passing of Akhenaten, Egyptian art returned to its previously controlled formality.

To a great extent, this situation continued in the evolving West into the Middle Ages. The balance between religion and politics altered from time to time, but artists had to serve the prevailing belief system. An artist’s ability to make personal comment, or feel responsibility, was extremely limited. Even the twentieth century showed that forceful dictatorships could repress art forms considered to be decadent or critical.

Classical societies

The growth of less rigid early societies, such as those of classical Greece and Rome, allowed more self-awareness for individuals and permitted some upward movement on grounds of merit. With the huge advantage of a simply written phonetic alphabet, more people could read and write and therefore contribute to the exchange and recording of ideas. What we know as philosophy and philosophic method had their origins in this era, when the deep concerns we still have about our beginnings and purpose were subjected to serious debate embracing ethics, morals, logic, science, psychology and literature. Secular thought ran alongside religion, and the arts became part of the spirit of enquiry. We know the names of individual artists such as Phidias, Praxiteles and Apelles, the favourite painter of Alexander the Great. Subject matter was legendary or historical, but Hellenistic art also pursued ideas about form and proportion that still exert influence today.

The small city states of ancient Greece experimented with forms of democracy, but neither this, nor the intellectual enquiries of its thinkers, stopped quarrelling and warfare between them. The growing empire of Rome absorbed these fractious states, but their culture came to permeate Roman thought and art, and was therefore transmitted throughout the empire. The Roman language, Latin, and Roman writing became the channels for Greco-Roman culture, and remained so long after their empire vanished.

The art of Rome was used partly as an instrument of propaganda, to impress and overawe its peoples. Like Grecian art, its themes included military exploits, legends and the lives of the gods. Interestingly, despite the benefits of Roman rule, opposition was felt at many levels and was expressed in scratched graffiti on public walls by disaffected slaves. Among such scratchings are those from the second century AD, which mark a momentous event for the Roman empire, the coming of Christianity. At first repressed and treated with violence, Christianity became an underground protest movement with its art drawn on tunnel walls. Eventually, Rome became Christianised and the religion spread throughout its empire. The iconography of Christianity developed gradually, and the narratives of the Bible became the subject matter of written books and wall paintings.

1

King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti

creator unknown c1345 BC

One of a small number of surviving images, this depicts King Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertiti with their children. They are shown informally, as human beings kissing and touching, within a truly flowing design cut into limestone in shallow relief. The sculptor demonstrates skills and understanding that were not encouraged in the preceding or following art of ancient Egypt.

2

Illustration of tiles

creator and date of tiles unknown illustration by Owen Jones mid-nineteenth century

The wonderful richness and abstract invention of Islamic art are demonstrated in these tiles from the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. While not permitted to depict living beings, artists invented a paraphrase of the natural world in decorative symbols. Religious restriction spurred individual creativity.

3

Leonardo da Vinci The Virgin of the Rocks

c1508

This mysterious yet humane image is very different from the multitude of depiction...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Using this book
• Declaring an interest
• Some useful definitions
• The parameters of this book
• Introduction
• Section 1: Making good
• Section 2: Approaching good
• Section 3: Debating good
• Section 4: Being good
• Section 5: Doing good
• Reference
• Credits
• eCopyright