...means to put aside one's personal reactions regardless of the situation and to carry on. Prostitutes, practitioners of the so-called oldest profession, must maintain an extreme of cool objectivity about this most intimate of human activities, highly disciplining their personal responses to deliver an impartial and consistent product to their clients."
-katherine mccoy, in "design as a social and political force"
sound familiar? thinking back to the "2-points of view" project, how does this make you feel? consider also the "stereotype" of the high priced prostitute that made its way onto the collaborative poster. many excuses were made as to why the 2pov project was undertaken, despite contrary beliefs. many were in the name of education, getting a grade, a degree. what excuses will come when a $3000-a-month paycheck is on the line?
i recall hearing more than once, via the blog, personal discussions, or in crit, the notion of objectivity or impartiality that kathy mentions above. is that possible at all? should designers strive for it regardless? is it unethical to editorialize as a visual communicator, as a citizen designer?
i wonder if being a designer makes us think differently about what we are allowed to do/say as citizens, as if our professional status disqualifies us from making personal, opinionated statements for public consideration. don't we elect politicians because of their personal stances on issues? don't we gravitate toward a specific hairstylist because of their personal flair and opinions about fashion?
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don't know if i missed the boat on this discussion, but for visual language we had a stimulating discussion on this topic here
"...Fortunately, there's an alternative model, exemplified best in Google's brand mission: to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Could there be any paradigm more noble, beautiful, and purely democratic than this? It sounds suspiciously modernist too."
"...To design for the public arena means transcending personal bias to present information objectively and allow the public to make decisions and value judgments for themselves, not to beat them over the head some rhetorical stick. True "design for democracy" allows the individual to pull and disdains to push. It would seem that the only way to "defend our freedom of expression" is to afford every viewpoint equal opportunity for expression. This requires neutral arbitrators - not advocates."
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