Breaking up is hard to do.
Last night I woke up with a weird thought: Why do most designers work for advertising agencies? If you survey the design landscape, I suspect the number of designers working in agencies far outnumbers those in studios and full time freelancers. Which leads me to wonder if design either (a) hasn't grown up enough as a profession to stand on its own or (b) is in a co-dependant relationship with advertising. Relationships always influence the people/organizations/professions in them at some level—even down to the heart. And this is one of the reasons I'm wrestling with advertising's long, intimate and influential relationship with design. Advertising seems to have long become design's sugar daddy (couldn't think of a better term, but maybe you can). So much so, that designers wonder if they can make it on their own. Here's what the relationship looks like now: (Sorry no clever graphics here. Use your imagination.)
Advertising
design
Is it time for design to break off the relationship with advertising and "just be friends"? I would say so. The steady relationship between design and advertising is quickly changing whether they realize it or not. Let's do a little muckraking so you can see what I mean. Guess who's advertising's sugar daddy? Business. Business calls the shots in the relationship. This advertising-business relationship changed for a brief period during the dot com era when advertising agencies demanded outrageous fees for online advertising and site development. But business wised up (or went belly up) and has the relationship back under control. Right now the relationship between all three looks like this:
BUSINESS
Advertising
design
Over the last few decades, consumers became more savvy and the market became more saturated with advertising. Business started looking for another partner besides advertising to boost sales. Guess who business found? Design. Business in almost every industry is head over heals in love with design right now. Design is the new, hot competitive edge that's supposed make products and services more useable, desirable and profitable. Whether it's the Michael Graves garbage can at Target or the hipster packaging at Starbucks. Business loves design. Now, you would think design learned a lesson with advertising, but no. Design seems star struck by business' silky words and big paychecks, and is rapidly heading into another co-dependant relationship. Will it end up like this?
BUSINESS
Advertising - design
Or maybe like this?
BUSINESS
Design
advertising
Getting messy isn't it? From what I see on the web (no data, just observation) the number of pure design studios and freelancers is exploding in comparison to large agencies. You can read Daniel Pink's book, Free Agent Nation, if you want some research on this cultural trend. You may have even felt the growing tension between those in your company who are "creatives" and the "suites" or the "marketing" folks. As design solidifies it's relationship with business, there will be jealousy and confusion. And advertising will try to tighten it's grip on design. It won't work though, because there's an even more important relational shift coming. The new relationship will look like this:
DESIGN
Business
advertising
Or maybe like this:
Design - Business
advertising
Crazy? Scary? Let's call this new stage of growth in design—design entrepreneurship (a term I don't particularly like, but don't have a better one for now). In this new phase of design's life, design itself spins off businesses and advertising. Don't believe me? Just look at the recent thread on Speak Up about design entrepreneurship. In the comments, people differentiate between design working for someone (be it agency, client, business) and design creating its own business. They site Cloudal Partners as an example of design as entrepreneur. There are other examples like 37Signals, whose online project management service Basecamp is taking off. The results are interesting so far. A t-shirt shop, a project management service, etc. Are you getting the picture? Design in the driver's seat, business in the passenger seat and advertising in the back seat. So, I think in the near future we'll see design breaking off a sugar daddy relationship with not only advertising, but business as well. Interestingly, this break up could give design the courage and space it needs to mature and get free of the biggest sugar daddy of them all…clients. Yep. No kidding. Here's what the new structure could look like:
Current situation:
C L I E N T / C O N S U M E R
BUSINESS
Advertising
design
And now design freed from the tyranny of clients:
D E S I G N
CLIENT/CONSUMER
Business
advertising
Why does someone have to be on top? Really, they don't. Ideally the relationship between all should look like this: (in no particular order)
Advertising - Business - Client/Consumer - Design
Mutually beneficial, respectful, healthy and willing to serve each other.
Ok. So what does this have to do with the B L A N K and the soul of design? A picture of design's heart and soul becomes clearer once the relationship, influence and impact between advertising, business and clients is fully understood. And that's why I've been writing about this so much lately. Let me give an example.
A year after my first son was born, I began to feel uneasy about sending him to school. I wasn't sure why, but both my wife and I had a sense that neither public or private school was right for our children. Naturally when my son was about 5, we thought "how are we going to educate him if we don't feel good about sending him to school?" So we decided to home school him. For the first year or two we tried to replicate a the school environment, teaching style, standards and curriculum. That left my wife burned out and my son miserable. Then we realized we just needed to relax and let him learn at is own pace the things he was interested in with some guidance from mom and dad. Still, he was in school, now just at home. Something didn't seem right. It wasn't until about two years ago we realized that the concept of "school" itself was causing all of us not to experience or enjoy learning and understanding. As a result, my son's true identity, what he was created to do, was stifled by this "schooling" paradigm. Once we understood our children could just be home with us growing up and didn't need to be "schooled," our lives radically changed, and our son's identity is beginning to unfold.
I suspect that design's heart, soul and identity, like my son's, is covered up and possibly held captive by an unhealthy relationship with advertising, business and clients. I don't have a vision of design's true identity, but I do think that it is emerging the more we stand on our own from these other relationships. What will happen when design frees itself from co-dependant relationships and establishes healthy friendships? That's our story to write together.
Advertising
design
Is it time for design to break off the relationship with advertising and "just be friends"? I would say so. The steady relationship between design and advertising is quickly changing whether they realize it or not. Let's do a little muckraking so you can see what I mean. Guess who's advertising's sugar daddy? Business. Business calls the shots in the relationship. This advertising-business relationship changed for a brief period during the dot com era when advertising agencies demanded outrageous fees for online advertising and site development. But business wised up (or went belly up) and has the relationship back under control. Right now the relationship between all three looks like this:
BUSINESS
Advertising
design
Over the last few decades, consumers became more savvy and the market became more saturated with advertising. Business started looking for another partner besides advertising to boost sales. Guess who business found? Design. Business in almost every industry is head over heals in love with design right now. Design is the new, hot competitive edge that's supposed make products and services more useable, desirable and profitable. Whether it's the Michael Graves garbage can at Target or the hipster packaging at Starbucks. Business loves design. Now, you would think design learned a lesson with advertising, but no. Design seems star struck by business' silky words and big paychecks, and is rapidly heading into another co-dependant relationship. Will it end up like this?
BUSINESS
Advertising - design
Or maybe like this?
BUSINESS
Design
advertising
Getting messy isn't it? From what I see on the web (no data, just observation) the number of pure design studios and freelancers is exploding in comparison to large agencies. You can read Daniel Pink's book, Free Agent Nation, if you want some research on this cultural trend. You may have even felt the growing tension between those in your company who are "creatives" and the "suites" or the "marketing" folks. As design solidifies it's relationship with business, there will be jealousy and confusion. And advertising will try to tighten it's grip on design. It won't work though, because there's an even more important relational shift coming. The new relationship will look like this:
DESIGN
Business
advertising
Or maybe like this:
Design - Business
advertising
Crazy? Scary? Let's call this new stage of growth in design—design entrepreneurship (a term I don't particularly like, but don't have a better one for now). In this new phase of design's life, design itself spins off businesses and advertising. Don't believe me? Just look at the recent thread on Speak Up about design entrepreneurship. In the comments, people differentiate between design working for someone (be it agency, client, business) and design creating its own business. They site Cloudal Partners as an example of design as entrepreneur. There are other examples like 37Signals, whose online project management service Basecamp is taking off. The results are interesting so far. A t-shirt shop, a project management service, etc. Are you getting the picture? Design in the driver's seat, business in the passenger seat and advertising in the back seat. So, I think in the near future we'll see design breaking off a sugar daddy relationship with not only advertising, but business as well. Interestingly, this break up could give design the courage and space it needs to mature and get free of the biggest sugar daddy of them all…clients. Yep. No kidding. Here's what the new structure could look like:
Current situation:
C L I E N T / C O N S U M E R
BUSINESS
Advertising
design
And now design freed from the tyranny of clients:
D E S I G N
CLIENT/CONSUMER
Business
advertising
Why does someone have to be on top? Really, they don't. Ideally the relationship between all should look like this: (in no particular order)
Advertising - Business - Client/Consumer - Design
Mutually beneficial, respectful, healthy and willing to serve each other.
Ok. So what does this have to do with the B L A N K and the soul of design? A picture of design's heart and soul becomes clearer once the relationship, influence and impact between advertising, business and clients is fully understood. And that's why I've been writing about this so much lately. Let me give an example.
A year after my first son was born, I began to feel uneasy about sending him to school. I wasn't sure why, but both my wife and I had a sense that neither public or private school was right for our children. Naturally when my son was about 5, we thought "how are we going to educate him if we don't feel good about sending him to school?" So we decided to home school him. For the first year or two we tried to replicate a the school environment, teaching style, standards and curriculum. That left my wife burned out and my son miserable. Then we realized we just needed to relax and let him learn at is own pace the things he was interested in with some guidance from mom and dad. Still, he was in school, now just at home. Something didn't seem right. It wasn't until about two years ago we realized that the concept of "school" itself was causing all of us not to experience or enjoy learning and understanding. As a result, my son's true identity, what he was created to do, was stifled by this "schooling" paradigm. Once we understood our children could just be home with us growing up and didn't need to be "schooled," our lives radically changed, and our son's identity is beginning to unfold.
I suspect that design's heart, soul and identity, like my son's, is covered up and possibly held captive by an unhealthy relationship with advertising, business and clients. I don't have a vision of design's true identity, but I do think that it is emerging the more we stand on our own from these other relationships. What will happen when design frees itself from co-dependant relationships and establishes healthy friendships? That's our story to write together.
posted by fivemcclungs at 11:58 PM
3 Comments:
Just ran across this article today (after I wrote the above post) in the April 2005 Fast Company mag:
"The Business of Design". Need more evidence that business has gone ga ga over design? Here is my favorite quote from Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, "Businesspeople don't just need to understand designers better -- they need to become designers."
Or try this one: "In a global economy, elegant design is becoming a critical competitive advantage. Trouble is, most business folks don't think like designers."
Or if you really need earth shattering evidence: "...traditional organizations must reinvent themselves to perform more like design shops."
Yikes! This is better than I thought. Looks like the we are now in the early phases of a "design economy." So, our relational picture looks like this now?
C L I E N T S
DESIGN
Business
advertising
Now I'm starting to understand looking at these relationships and this article at Fast Company that design goes all the way to the heart and character, while advertising is only skin deep. Design is a way of thinking and creating while advertising is a way of manipulating someone toward a desired outcome and business is a way of making money. If you describe design, advertising and business as people, you now have a very different picture of who they are underneath the outer shell.
Design is about Business using artfulness to further itself, perpetuate itself, and increase wealth at its basic level. But business is no friend to design. Advertising is no friend to design either for that matter. The coming trend is to absorb the process of designing into itself and kick the whole bunch of prima donnas out the door. I've been kicked and I don't like the feeling. It's nothing personal, and I am stronger - more realistic - for it. My sense of self-worth hasn't suffered either. I just look for more likely watering holes. I know this must sound cynical, but after years of trying to interface with both businesses directly and working with ad agencies, design shops, etc, my conclusion is that they would only use designers because of some mysterious ingredient/talent of arranging things that furthers their aims. But that is slipping and designers must realize that computers have engaged in shortening the gulf between business and design used in commerce. Call it dumbing down, if you like, but I don't see breathtaking artwork in ads anymore. It's a trend and it's not a good one. For designers to be viable in a transforming climate they need to form a better alliance with individuals, even companies, that understand the value of a more authentic voice to the dialogue between consumers and businesses. I'd like to refer to a book "The Cluetrain manifesto" as an example of this change towards authenticity in advertising. The site is www.cluetrain.com. Interesting.....
I've been reading Cluetrain too and it has been nothing short of revelatory. I think that finding design's authentic voice will be a key to understanding what's coming from the heart of design.
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