Nov 8, 2009
Do Good Design
by David B. Berman
I’m kind of tired of all the cynical preachers. They really only end up affecting the choir. And while Berman has many good, strategic points, his ranting becomes a bit tiring. He uses the first two-thirds of the book to rant about all the bad advertisements out there in the world. And finally at page 105 he states, “If you’re still reading…” and goes into a very shallow exemplar of how to positively promote good through design. His three part vehicle for change does not justify, in my opinion, an entire book. And I finished this book out of pure stubbornness. I can’t have an opinion if I never finished it.
Berman doesn’t really enlighten his readers on how to do good design. He merely ends up tearing down everything around him, while not so subtly complementing himself on his good citizenship. Thank god I didn’t actually spend good money on this tirade! God bless the library system! And while talking about good design, you’d think a graphic designer would try and layout his book a bit better. It’s scrappy, his content jumps around and the images are overly dark.
Should it be rather, Done Good Design? Or Good Design Done? Or since most of the book was ripping down bad ads, Bad Design Done? Where is the proactive, progressive leadership? How about facilitating change and not hating! The most helpful and informative pieces of the book were located along the sides with examples of people paving the road in social and environmental responsibility.
“Designing for the extremes results in benefits for all.”
“Yes, it means more time spent on strategy. No problem: I’ve yet to see a single design project that suffered from too much time spent on strategy. Such time always more than pays for itself in saved time later in the process, and of course it yields better results. If the client thinks that the strategy is set, and that you were simply hired to execute, then push back and engage them in the strategic discussion. Show what you have to offer. When the dust clears, you’ll be more useful to the client than if you had just blindly said, ‘Sure, we’re happy to play the role you’ve defined for us in your game.’ Instead of saying no, you can provide a better version of yes.”