Good Design, Bad Design...

Before I comment on last Friday's lecture, for anyone who doesn't study design, I would like to draw your attention to a website that Jonathan suggested we take a peek at: http://www.johannabasford.com/ Her use of twitter and blogs (see http://www.johannabasford.com/twitterpicture) drew attention to her work and assisted greatly in her success. To date she has been commissioned by Channel 4, Starbucks, Converse and for last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to design the front cover of the programme. Her clever use of technology has encouraged me to start using my blog more often! Can't hurt I guess...


Now to Friday's lecture. Nadia Plesner's T-shirt design was a topic of conversation that particularly sticks in my mind. After watching the news and hearing about the goings on of Paris Hilton instead of the genocide and other problems in Darfur which were happening at the time, Plesner was disgusted and decided to raise awareness of the apparent priorities of the general public. 

This was classed as bad design. Jonathan made a valid point that this design did not achieve anything and made no difference to the issue Nadia Plesner raised. The attention was drawn to the t-shirt and not the point itself. While I agree with this point I am a strong believer that small things can make a big difference. If more people acknowledged the problem with the media through design in the way Plesner did, would it be enough to raise awareness? Is a t-shirt enough to "tip" an idea? After all clothing is worn by one but seen by everyone the person comes in contact with.