Reality Branding?

I really like the way this article started. I thought that the following sentence in particular was a good point to start with. “Instead of pretending that design is the be-all and end-all of existence, let’s look at it from the outside, be honest about its place in the world, its power, and its potential, and see what we can do with it.” She went on to say how it does not make sense to expect design to fulfill your social, political, spiritual, and cultural ambitions. And of the importance of ones life outside of design. I think that as students we are expected to not have a life outside of design, that we should live, breath, and think design. I think as students it is very important for us to immerse ourselves in all things design but there has to be a balance. The closer I get to graduation the more and more relevant this is becoming to me. I think that in order to do good design and design that is relevant in the world outside of design you have to be plugged in to what is going on in the world and the culture around you.

Once she really got talking about “reality branding” she started to sound a little idealistic. Sure the points she was bringing up were valid, but the solution she was talking about seems idealistic and unrealistic in the world today. So many of the products and companies that designers design for are things that people really do not need. It doesn’t matter if you market it as a lifestyle or as a political stance, even if the company really does live up to it, you can’t change the fact that people don’t need that particular product.
I am sure that if you could find a company that would allow you to persuade them to live up to what they say they do and then if you could convince them to allow you to market them in “reality branding” they would see an increase in their income. But really I think that, as we all saw in project 2, there are very few if any companies that really practice responsible business practices.

I would like to think that we could all change the world.
But hopefully there are other ways of doing it.