Design: Commodity or Investment?

Mr DityAccording to pbs.org website, over 12 million Africans were taken to the New World to be slaves. The majority of them went to the Caribbean and Brazil. Only a small percentage were shipped to the United States. Posters were hung in major U.S. cities advertising the sale of slaves. Here is a case where people were turned into human cargo, i.e. a commodity.

I teach The History of Western Thought: 1500 A.D. to the Present at least three times a year. This college class covers the Protestant Reformation, The Renaissance, New World discoveries and the evolution of religious, aesthetic and scientific thought. As we go through the class textbook, we discuss commodification as a result of new discoveries and emerging markets. According to etymology.com, commodity in the 15th century was defined as to profit or benefit. It is a marketable item that is in demand (like cheap slave labor in the New World). Today, eggs, milk, energy and other things are viewed as commodities.

In our era of globalization, commodification is happening in every industry. When one visits a Foot Locker, isn’t one overwhelmed with sneaker choices? When was the last time you went into a store and they sold only one thing? LOL

Commodification forces manufactured products to compete and drives prices down. The service sector industries also has not been immune to this.

This is also happening in graphic design. I talked briefly about this in a past Linkedin post: Good Graphic Design is Good Social Science.

A capable graphic designer provides a service AND a product. The service component involves developing a relationship with a client and allowing them to share The Story. In turn, we educate them throughout the design process in such areas as visual design, audience research, brand positioning, color, etc.

Certain industry influencers have sped up the commodification of graphic design. Various logo contest websites have designers from developing countries. (Click here to see my infographic on crowdsourcing logos.) But there is also a polar opposite: the elitification of graphic design. I fell into this trap during and after college. I thought that, in order to be a good graphic designer, other designers had to acknowledge your work all the time. I don’t disparage being recognized by your peers. Honestly, it is probably a gateway to getting noticed by larger influential clients. However, when we design for other designers, we often overvalue and (and commodify) three elements:

  • Uniqueness
  • Creativity
  • Beauty

When you live in the pressure cooker of design school, you are fed these elements consciously and unconsciously. In some sense, I understand it. Portfolios need to demonstrate EVERY skill you have developed and it makes the design school look good. But the truth is, in the real world, you may not have projects that allows these three elements to function at full capacity every time. I know as brand consultant, some of my projects don’t demand equal depth of each element. It depends on the project. (But it is still good to be strong in these areas.) 

Here is an example. Is the Apple logo unique, creative and beautiful? Is the Target logo unique, creative and beautiful? Is the McDonald’s logo unique, creative and beautiful?

The truth is, global brands understand the power of simplicity….something I learned courtesy of the Swiss Design Philosophy at the University of the Arts. But I don’t consider either of the above logos I mentioned unique, in and of themselves. Apple and Target use ordinary symbols for their logos. The McDonald’s logotype isn’t that unique either. What makes these logos unique is the consistent branding investment that has been put in place.

So, is graphic design a commodity or an investment?

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