When you picked up this paper, there were design decisions at work that made you pick it up. You looked at the banner photo and headline, probably going to the pullout sections first and reading articles based on your interests. Then you got to this point, the opinion section, which is the easiest to get to because it’s where the paper is folded. Finally, this column probably got more initial attention than the others because of the different headline and visual cues that were used. That is design at work.
In the later years of my college education, my definition of design was simple and based on its difference from art. While art is expression, design is communication. Design is communication that needs to cater to your target market. Design is this thing that I need, as a designer, in order to capture the attention of my audience. Honestly, a part of design, in my opinion, is just making something nice that people—designers and non-designers alike—will notice and love.
After going through thesis, and having already been employed for a few weeks, I have learned that design is more important and more powerful than people give it credit for. It’s more than simply choosing colors and knowing the right fonts to use; it’s experiential. It is powerful enough to change the experiences of people and to direct them to where they should be (as was the case with getting to this opinion section as a result of the design ideas).
We have this notion that design is something that deals with what people see and what people want to see. We think that good design is just pretty. There is confusion as to what good design is and what is just aesthetically good. Design goes beyond what’s in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign.
There is a lot of potential when it comes to design in the Ateneo. There are a lot of promising and good designers in the Loyola Schools. In the recent Loyola School Awards for Leadership and Service, nine finalists out of 15 for the Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement for National Development Awards were design theses. One of the design theses even emerged as the winner because of it’s potential to impact society and the experience of other people.
This shows that design has the potential to do something great, and we must move that potential to something more useful. We need to do more than designing our class schedules and org promotional materials. The success of the design is not measured by the number of likes it gets on social media because of how pretty it is; the real measure of success is how useful it is and how effective it is in its achieving its overall goal.
Just like how you picked up this paper, you can also change experiences and make design work. There is a need for good design in our society.
For the next batch of designers in the Ateneo, and even the ones going down from the hill, take this time to create change. It’s a really good time to be a designer and it’s a good time to make ripples in our society.
