Stefan Sagmeister arguably the most passionate graphic designer to ever grace our planet once said that to be a Graphic Designer is to be someone who has a privileged position (in society). The works of graphic designers are displayed in public, and whether we as the public like it or not, take in the subliminal messages of the designs, process it and somehow are affected by it. Graphic Design has toppled governments (think protest posters) while fashion design has not. Graphic Design, unlike other form of design, is a design language that is truly universal. And because of the universality of Graphic Design, graphic designs can be (and some argue, should be) criticised by just about anyone.
I have been working as a graphic designer for just a few months, but I have been fortunate enough to be working on projects that would allow my designs to be exposed to the larger public - think the walls of train stations, the façade of hotels and uniforms of a certain popular bakery chain. And because of the exposure of my designs, I have been on the unfortunate receiving end of certain design criticisms, that I until now, always thought could handle well. Apparently receiving design critiques from a creative director and clients is far less painful in comparison to receiving critiques from someone whose idea of good typography is letter-spaced Arial for a header - basically someone who has never been involved in the design process.
My mum is my most ardent critic. She would tear it down, de-constructed it in a way that even I as a designer never thought would be possible. And recently, a new critic (think Farhan :P) has joined the lets-make-sudirwan-cry club and while, his critiques are never as analytical as my mum, reflects perhaps at the very least, the way the general public thinks. As a professional graphic designer, its hard to receive critics from someone whose design credentials are pitiful at best. My ego has burst. My designer manhood challenged. I could be all pompous and defensive and go into a stance, I would like to call the fashion designer stance. "You all don't know design." But I am not a fashion designer. I am a graphic designer, and my work are for these people. People like Farhan and my mum. Being a graphic designer is painful.
Stefan Sagmeister is best known for the work above. It is a poster designed for an AIGA design lecture, and those letters carved onto his skins reflects the pain the designer goes through in putting out graphic design. I have always been a fan of his work, but only until now, do I realise the truth of his message.
