Do Good Design

Contents vii Forewords 1 Introduction 4 The Creative Brief: disarming the weapons of mass deception 6 Chapter 1: Start now 20 Chapter 2: Beyond green: a convenient lie 30 Chapter 3: Pop landscape 48 Chapter 4: The weapons: visual lies and manufactured needs 60 Chapter 5: Where the truth lies: the slippery slope 72 Chapter 6: Wine, women, and water 84 Chapter 7: Losing our senses 102 The Design Solution: Convenient Truths 104 Chapter 8: Why our time is the perfect time 120 Chapter 9: How to lie, how to tell the truth 128 Chapter 10: How we do good is how we do good 134 Chapter 11: Professional climate change 146 The Do good Pledge 148 Chapter 12: "What can one professional do?" 159 Appendix A: First Things First manifesto 160 Appendix B: Excerpt from the GDC Code of Ethics 161 Appendix C: Excerpt from AIGA's Standards of Professional Practice 162 Appendix D: The road to Norway and China 165 Notes 171 Index 177 Questions for discussion 178 Acknowledgements: a small group of concerned citizens 180 About the author

David B. Berman is a strategic consultant with 30 years experience in universal design thinking. He has traveled to over 50 countries, as an expert speaker, high-level advisor to the U.N., Ethics Chair for graphic design in Canada, chair for accessible technology at Carleton University, and a vice president of Icograda, the world body for graphic design. Clients include IBM, the international Space Station, Sierra Club, and Canada's three largest federal government departments.

"Do Good Design will now proudly be in the library of the Bauhaus." --Dr. Walter Prigge Bauhaus Dessau Foundation "In Yiddish, a mensch is a person of integrity and honor and it seems David Berman fills the bill. His book is lively and humorous and sly too because while it makes you think and adjust your perspective, it includes the reader on several levels. Changing the world for the good never seemed more appealingly possible." --Edward Asner Past President, Screen Actors Guild "Timely, relevant, and necessary. Well done!" --Don Ryun Chang President of Icograda "I believe that the real value of this book does not reside in the plethora of data and information that it contains but rather in the compelling biographical account of the author's passionate journey to discover and advocate how design and designers can contribute to doing good in a fragile world." --Jacques Lange Former President of Icograda (2005-2007) "David Berman, in this lively visual narrative, reveals for us the power of design to drive consumption and some of our unbecoming behavior of recent decades. Yet, more importantly, he speaks of the extraordinary potential to design to change the world, leading human behavior toward our aspirational destinies." --Richard Grefe Executive director, AIGA | the professional association for design "...just the right measure of passion and reticence...excellent." --Ken Garland Author, First Things First manifesto "A fine read." --Steven Rosenberg Past President, Society of Graphic Designers of Canada "I think the book is just great!" --Mervyn Kurlansky Co-founder, Pentagram UK Past-President, Icograda "It should be required reading, not only for all aspiring designers... but even more so for the established stars." --Pete Kercher Founder, EIDD - Design For All Europe