ABSTRACT
“I can’t imagine doing anything else.” We all have most likely made this statement about the profession. Graphic design is creative and logical, expressive and practical, and demanding and fun. You wear many hats and change them frequently. You might be brainstorming logo ideas one minute and sending out invoices or estimating project plans the next. In the same day you could be delegating tasks to colleagues, providing feedback to contractors, and presenting ideas to clients. Despite the diversity of the job and the many hats you don throughout the day, most graphic designers specialize or have a distinct passion for one area of design or type of working environment. Your area of expertise may be in print, exhibition, packaging design, interactive design, or traditional advertising. You may be working in-house for a company, running your own freelance business, or working at a large agency or a small design studio. Whatever your niche, the work has a significant positive or negative impact on our world. As designers, we relish the praise of satisfied clients, recognition by peers, and the return on investment of a successful campaign, but beyond the immediate influence of the work, there is much more that may not be measured or seen. What are the unintended consequences of design work over time? How does the work impact the planet we live on? The last question is one more designers are thinking about as the realities of global warming and changes in our natural landscape like pollution, droughts, and deforestation reveal. There must be a shift in mindset away from only making beautiful and economically driven work to include a better understanding and a strategy to stop the negative impacts of design work on the planet.
