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May 02, 2003
Clement Mok on design
Well duh. I stopped this morning at a bricks and mortar bookstore to pick up the May/June Communication Arts after reading this entry from Mark Bernstein. The link to the magazine site in Mark's blog goes to the magazine TOC, which provides no links. Yesterday I assumed that meant the column wasn't online. You know what they say about assuming :) Anyways, after a little lunchtime URL hacking, I've found that Mok's Designers: Time for Change is indeed online. Since this is a quick lunchtime blog, I don't have time to comment extensively, but as you might imagine, I certainly found this interesting given last week's discussion on IA and ID: Currently, we spend way too much time as professionals explaining—often in contradictory terms—what it is that we do. The value of design is defined in thousands of different conversations in as many different individual vocabularies. While these views are doubtless sincere, they would be much more valuable if they were expressed in the context of a shared professional vocabulary and ethos. If every physician made up his own set of definitions and beliefs about anatomy and disease on an improvised basis, the medical profession would still be in the Dark Ages. Yet the design profession functions as if each individual designer is selling his or her services in some sort of terminological vacuum, with nothing more substantial than his or her personal charisma and taste to serve as the foundation for vast edifices of public influence. I'm not sure what Mok is up to next. He's finishing up his term as prez of AIGA next month, and I see from the magazine that he's no longer with Sapient. I look forward to his next adventures!
Comments
Although I'm not sure I agree with the medical doctor analogy, I think what Mok said really needs to be said. Do you think this meme will be pick up by the design community at large and actually acted on? Is it being embraced by the blogosphere? -- Posted by Lee Potts on May 2, 2003 11:45 PMI find it interesting that C. Mok structures his statement to say, "all designers" must use a common language. I recognize he comes from the design/information design/AIGA communities ... but perhaps the challenge he presents suggests we might think of ourselves in an even broader label -- such as "professional communicators" (since that is what we are doing). -- Posted by thom haller on May 6, 2003 12:43 PM
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IDblog is Beth Mazur tilting at power law windmills. A little bit Internet, a little bit technology, a little bit society, and a lot about designing useful information products. Send your cards and letters to .
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