My thesis for my final paper in Media History is on how the future of design is designers contributing to maintaining, questioning and transforming positive social values.

I was raised in a community that focused on social issues, and being compassionate and responsible in the world. This helped nurture a
side of me that believes the future of design is giving that same responsibility to all designers. After I received my undergraduate degree in Graphic Design I got my first job working for a communication firm in Washington, DC. While working I learned even more about the design world: the client is responsible for the content, subject matter and point of view, I was responsible for making their vision come to life. However, eventually I realized there had to be more to design then this method, and I quit and came to Art Center to pursue more.

Designer Katherine McCoy who has taught at the Cranbrook Academy of Art for the past 23 years expresses her concern that, “we have trained a profession that feels that political or social concerns are either extraneous or inappropriate.” This is frightening to me because it means that many designers in the field still aren’t aware of how they have the ability using their skills to improve our world. I myself was one of those designers. I believe that more and more designers will become aware of this movement and be willing to join in on finding their place in influencing culture with design for the better good of the world. This is the future and responsibility of all designers.

The Obama campaign, and websites like Hope. Act. Change, and Witness.org are great examples of how design is able to impact the world and use non-designers as co-creaters. Designers have the ability to influence culture and we need to use that power to contribute to the greater good of our world. We don’t need to save the world, we just need to be more thoughtful of our contributions to it.