As a reaction to a handful of articles “maligning design and the job of the designer”, Andrei Herasimchuk of Design By Fire stands up to defend our profession in his Design Matters post:

«Design matters. It matters in everyday life. It matters in everything we consume or use. It matters in every human endeavor. Without design and those people that commit their lives to its practice, the world that would result from that absence would be an intolerable place to live.

There is no room for diplomacy when discussing the importance of design or its place in the world we live. Appreciating good design is as crucial to the human condition as appreciating our ability to laugh and to love. Design has roots in principles that are as fundamental to the universe (as experienced by humanity) as mathematics, science, literature, music, engineering, linguistics and art. Design never takes a back a seat to anything any human creates with their own hands -- it is integral to the creation process.»

His point makes perfect sense. Design matters. It is condensed civilization.

The discussion should start from clarifying the mission of the designer and the role of design thinking and practice in society -- and build from that ground up. Unfortunately many times the level is much lower.

In the last months I noticed a toxic level of noise both offline and in a couple of online forums (forums -- surprisingly good name, as Webster's defines forum as "A tribunal; a court; an assembly empowered to hear and decide causes", and this is what they think they are doing, carefully hidden behind their nicknames), where so-called designers angrily boil in their who-stoled-what paranoia, unable to appreciate good design if it's not their own, keeping the level of the discussion at a harmful level. Sometimes this people do lack the legitimacy given by major achievements. Their improper vocabulary reflects a severe lack of knowledge, and keeping open flame wars against same-profession individuals is a dubious business conduit. Sometimes their speech disregards contracts, NDAs, and other legal documents which is plain bad practice altogether. Their conduct is actively “maligning design and the job of the designer”, to quote Andrei Herasimchuk again, and thus they should not represent our profession and should not set the level of discourse in front of the world. Real designers stand up for design, not against it.

Let us create less noise and more sense.

Fellow designers -- be that art directors, brand identity designers, print designers, 3D artists, web designers, motion graphics designers, environment designers and so on -- we must acknowledge the fact that we have a responsibility in defining the role of design and designer in the Romanian economy and society at large. We need to reassess our discourse with this objective in mind.

What can we do? We can stand up for our profession by publicizing it in order to increase its awareness in society, by striving to further open up this market, by constantly lobbying our profession in front of the business community, by raising the status of good Romanian design both within the country and outside and by paying more attention and respect to best practice guidelines.

We have to work. It is our duty to help entrepreneurs start new brands, retail environments become more civilized, television develop higher aesthetic standards, advertising being tasteful. Those who stay aside and talk with their hands crossed deserve their marginal status.

We should keep doors open for young talents to reach us, encourage and point them in the right direction. The tools of our trade -- advertising, brand building, information architecture, visual communications and so on -- are incredibly powerful, let us teach them to use these tools in responsible ways. Make them understand this is a noble profession that should be served with honor.

Let's try and deflate a bit our egos so we can find a higher purpose in advocating our profession. Design matters.