Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility [Paperback]

Steven Heller (Author), Veronique Vienne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

What does it mean to be a designer in today’s corporate-driven, overbranded global consumer culture? Citizen Designer attempts to answer this question with more than 70 debate-stirring essays and interviews espousing viewpoints ranging from the cultural and the political to the professional and the social.



Edited by two prominent advocates of socially responsible design, this innovative reference responds to the tough questions today’s designers continue to ask themselves: How can a designer affect social or political change? Can design become more than just a service to clients? At what point does a designer have to take responsibility for the client’s actions? When should a designer take a stand?



Readers will find dozens of captivating insights and opinions on such important issues as reality branding; game design and school violence; advertising and exploitation; design as an environmental driving force; and much more. This candid guide encourages designers to carefully research their clients; become alert about corporate, political, and social developments; and design responsible products.




• Features an enticing mix of opinions in an appealing format that juxtaposes essays, interviews, and countless illustrations of “design citizenship”

• Includes insights on such contemporary topics as advertising of harmful products, branding to minors, and violence and game design

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program and co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism and MFA in Interaction Design programs at the School of Visual Arts, New York. For thirty- three years he was an art director at the New York Times, and currently writes the “Visuals” column for the New York Times Book Review. He is editor of the AIGA VOICE: Online Journal of Design and contributing editor to Print, EYE, Baseline, and ID magazines. He contributes to Design Observer and writes the DAILY HELLER blog for Print magazine. He is the author or editor of over 130 books on design and popular culture, including Design Literacy, Design Disasters, Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig, and Vintage Type and Graphics. He is the recipient of the 1999 AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Heller lives in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581152655
• ISBN-13: 978-1581152654
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Designers need more responsibility, January 14, 2006

By 

Eric C. Benson "benzolamas" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (Paperback)

I got this book hoping it would shed more light on an issue I find very pressing within the design community: social responsibility. Is it important for the designer to know his/her great poster that helped make a Hollywood movie into a blockbuster also helped clear cut a forest killing an ecosystem for numerous species of wildlife? Is it important for a designer to only do work for companies that match their own morals and ethics? The book touches on the latter topic in a couple essays but largely provides a number of pieces of writing with good intentions but with no actual "next steps" to achieve more fruitful results. Desigers have to eat, so blowing off huge $$ tobacco ad campaigns can seem ridiculous. However by making social responsibility a key point of dialogue in the education of the designer, one could see a more responsible result in the business world. Maybe designers could receive the respect they deserve if they actually stood for something besides edgy looking websites and whatnot. Anyway, the book wasn't all bad. Its a good start to an important conversation... so three stars!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book, but..., February 12, 2009

By 

Robert E. Gillespie (Baltimore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (Paperback)

Good book with a great deal of interesting perspectives on design and a designers responsibility to "do the right thing." However, to me it was a tough read, some chapters I had no idea what the person was talking about or it read like a text book. That being said, I still highly recommend this to anyone in the creative industry. It brings up a lot of issues that would behoove you to think about before you take on work for irresponsible clients.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely seminal, September 3, 2008

By 

Michelle "Thoughtful" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (Paperback)

This is an essential book for all designers worth their salt. If you have a backbone and you truly are 'ready' to understand the reach of the profession and its social responsibility, save your pitiful moral crisis, get out of the pointless world of persuasion and rhetoric, and start saying it like you mean it. Buy this book and write your life's manifesto. Design is not just a job hey.