Designism at The Art Director’s Club (Part One)

Imagine Madonna, The Beatles, and Mick Jagger on stage at Madison Square Garden, discussing the inherent ability of music to make the world a better place. Well, Thursday evening, the rock stars of the graphic design world, Milton Glaser, George Lois, Jessica Helfand, and James Victore, spoke to an audience of 200 artists and designers at The Art Director’s Club in Manhattan, about the growing anti-war, anti-fundamentalism movement, Designism. Milton Glaser, best known for having created the 1970’s “I Love NY” campaign, and the subsequent, post-9/11 “I Love NY, More Than Ever” posters, coined the term Designism, and defined it as “design for social change,” but challenged the panel and the audience with the question of “whether design can and should do good.”

Answering the challenge to find “ways creative people could use their talents to address social, political and cultural issues,” Jessica Helfand urged, “find some point of entry where you can make a difference. Because you will.” On effectiveness, Mr. Glaser spoke to the importance of “finding the mechanism to enter the bloodstream,” and, with apparent regret, ordained Karl Rove “the greatest marketing genius of all time.” George Lois, about George Bush, demanded the country “impeach the son-of-a-bitch,” and suggested that “if there was a draft in America tomorrow, we’d be impeaching him today.” To the audience, James Victore pleaded, “Don’t fucking wait for anybody to ask you to dance.” Words that could only be spoken by a true rock star.