Why is the world in need of GREAT DESIGN!?

Growing up in a country with so many diverse cultures and styles in art, design, theater and culture I find that South African design has the ability or influence to be the best or among the best in the world. This would be true if everybody understood design and the need of design in our society. Often the concept of graphic design to any student of the trade is creating awesome looking posters or pretty CD covers. As creatives we are constantly influenced by what we see around us and the influences we come in contact with, everything from music, tv, movies, magazines, other designers around the globe and our general sense perceptions. The very reason have been influenced by these designers means that they have done an exceptional job. It is what we do with our creativity that counts, as merely plagiarizing another design is just not going to cut it, no matter how pretty it looks.

i spent 2 years in London just 3 years into my design career and battled with concept of ‘good design.’ I understood the concept of pretty pictures and making beautiful designs, but the true cognitive power of design was the last thing on my mind. Every other English designer seemed to have it wired because right from the word go, they had the concept and power of ‘why we design’ drummed into their heads.

I read a quote that went something like this: “Design is the most immediate way of defining what products become in people’s minds.”
This spoke volumes to me as a Creative and owner of my own design agency, as I feel that as designers we have the power at our creative fingertips to influence, mold, and create perceptions that were never once there or might have been skewed. This is one thing that I try and communicate everytime one of my designers has a concept or is trying to conceptualize.

For far too long, designers aren’t respected for having the ability to create and this is directly evident by the minimal wage in their back pockets. The whole market has changed over the past 5 years, due to designers with a 1 year course in Core Draw that think they are designers yet havent really concieved the meaning and flair for design flooding the market. Unfortunately a lot of clients will settle for this in the hope that a pretty picture will do the job. Unfortunately often times this proves to do more damage to a product.

We need great design in this world, as this is VISUAL COMMUNICATION. i think in this country with so many languages and cultures, the true meaning of design has to be COMMUNICATION THROUGH VISUAL STIMULATION. It has to be. Complicated pretty pictures just is not going to cut it. Peter Vee