passion & integrity

As designers, we play the primary role of visual communicators in this society. It is our role, for sure, but it provides little direction as to what we are to communicate and in what fashion. In other words: what "kind" of designer are you going to be? (more appropriately...what kind of person are you going to be?). This opens the discussion to values and our responsibility to the people we live with & design for as well as the place in which we conduct these relationships. In a blind society, we are left to our own to find our own truth. Our fathers failed us; they made values relative (and many of them used this rationale to abuse or abandon us). But to even discuss values or responsibilities seriously, there must be a measuring stick. There must be some bedrock, some universal big "T" Truth. Only with agreement and joyful submission to a common Truth can we begin to live lives of integrity. Being integrated people is vital to being responsible designers. We cannot continue to separate and compartmetalize our lives where one truth applies in one area of our life but not another. Much discussion is required to resolve this essential question:

What is Truth?

In addition to being people of integrity, our other major responsibility is to live lives of passion. As men and women passionate about design we are the purveyors of the beautiful & sublime and I believe our society is consistently looking to us for inspiration. But to inspire, you must be extraordinary and all extraordinary lives throughout history have all loved deeply. This begins with seeing, something we as designers should be good at. We need to see ourselves for who we truly are, BELOVED. We will then begin to see this in others. From the security found here (as a natural out-pouring) we can begin to live and design confidently and responsibly.