Design ethics

I gave a talk to George Fox University art and design students on how my path has been shaped by ethical considerations. I handed out these cards with a link to my blog and how to find a couple of essays online that were meaningful milestones for me regarding design ethics.


I also talk about projects at my previous job that I found troubling ethically. This logo was one such project: an identity design for a company that created interactive tv, a way for people to connect with brands in ways that "will create a true relationship between viewer and product and may even encourage them to internalize brands as an element of personal culture and self-expression." In other words, encourage people to watch more tv, buy stuff through their tvs, and ultimately define themselves through the brands they consume. Needless to say, I was thankful to switch jobs shortly thereafter.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: disclaimer

Disclaimer:
Religious groups often form different factions and split into two groups, which then split, etc., etc. This happens to Quakers as much as any other group, but Quaker factions wouldn't change their name when they split. So now we have all sorts of groups believing all sorts of things, all calling themselves Quakers. Therefore finding a group of Quakers who all believe in all the things in this particular list of Quakerisms might be difficult.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: X

Reason 10
It's simple.
Ah, Quaker simplicity; it brings to mind plain gray clothes, carriages, funny beards... or is that the Amish? Anyway, simplicity of life for Quakers is not in itself the goal. Rather, simplicity of life results from the actual goal: having lives which are focused on Christ. This focus on loving and serving God (and thus loving and serving others) results in lives that are free from insatiable hunger for possessions and power and external beauty and entertainment and...

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: IX

Reason 9
A little peace and quiet.
Peace we've already discussed. Quiet is another peculiarity of Quakers. A Quaker church service has a period of"unprogrammed worship" that will last anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. This is a time of silence, broken occasionally as a person feels led to speak. The quiet itself is not empty; it is a time of meditation, and is a time to attend to and listen for the voice of God. Plus in this day of noise and information overload, a little quiet is refreshing.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: IIX

Reason 8
No empty, meaningless rituals.
Quakers originally rejected rituals and symbols as a reaction against the 17th century Church of England, which had become full of ritual and empty of real meaning. Therefore Quakers abandoned water baptism and communion, saying that only real baptism in God's spirit and actual, ongoing communion in God mattered. Of course for many Christians these rituals are very meaningful, representing the inward changes which Quakers believe in. So the rejection of rituals wouldn't be a positive change for everyone.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: VII

Reason 7
We'd all be filled with the light within.
Wow, how mystical! In Quaker terminology the "light within" is the capacity all people have to respond to God working within them. Quakers tend to look for the good in others. This leads to a more compassionate and less judgmental attitude towards people. Quakers encourage others to look to the light of Christ to change them inwardly (a change that will affect their outward behavior), rather than attacking them for immoral actions.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: VI

Reason 6
Equality is as equality does.
Quakers have a history of working for the rights of the downtrodden. They were one of the first groups to be convinced of the wrongness of slavery and were active in the underground railroad. They were early proponents of women's rights, including the right to preach. They have been instrumental in prison reform and in the improved care and understanding of the mentally ill. Aren't those Quakers great? Let's give them a big hand, folks!

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: V

Reason 5
World peace.
Quakers are pacifists. They believe that fighting violence with violence is wrong. They believe that human life is sacred - no exceptions. The pacifism of many Quakers is very active: they're peacemakers, and work for peace using nonviolent resistance and other methods, methods that halt the spiral of violence rather than perpetuate it.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: IV

Reason 4
No singing "liar liar pants on fire."
One of the oddities of Quakers is their refusal to swear. Not swear as in cuss words, swear as in "I solemnly swear to tell the whole truth..." Odd as this sounds, it's based on a simple premise: Christians shouldn't lie. When someone has to swear to tell the truth, it implies that the person doesn't always tell the truth. Quakers strive to be truthful always, so swearing a special oath is not needed.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: III

Reason 3
Every one of us would be a minister.
Okay, so that doesn't sound like the world would be a better place - everyone preaching and no one listening. But that's not what Quakers mean; they mean every Christian is called to be a minister, to minister to the needs of a very needy world. Having a bunch of people helping meet the needs of those around us sounds a lot better than a bunch of preachers, huh?

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: II

Reason 2
We'd all be Friends.
The official name of Quakers is "the Religious Society of Friends;" the name Friends comes from Jesus' statement to his disciples that "I have called you Friends..." The kind of close personal relationship reflected in the word "friend" is the kind of relationship Quakers seek to have with Jesus.

Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone Was a Quaker: I

Reason 1
You wouldn't see any lists like this.
That's because Quakers are pretty inclusive of other traditions. They tend to look for common ground rather than differences. They tend to focus on essentials rather than peripherals. So they wouldn't necessarily wish that everyone else was a Quaker.

Quaker booklet

A little booklet I wrote, illustrated and designed called Ten Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Everyone was a Quaker (subtitled A Paltry Primer of Quakerism). I sent it out as an illustration self-promo piece. I'll post all ten reasons in the coming days.

Living Stone Outreach

A logo I designed for Living Stone Outreach, a nonprofit group to assist people in meeting their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and education. The initial logo (bottom) was developed because Living Stone is currently focused in Africa, but due to plans to expand beyond that continent, the less geographically-specific solution (top) was created.

Peace poster

Peace poster I designed for a Quaker youth retreat: how can we live our everyday lives in a spirit of nonviolence?

Accessible Asceticism

Geez issue 2 includes one of my favorite Geez articles, by publisher Aiden Enns, called Accessible Asceticism (you can read it here). I later reprinted it in this little book to give away.

First Things First

I read the First Things First manifesto in Emigre magazine in 1999. It started me thinking critically about what I did, and about how I'd feel looking back on my life’s work. It led me down a path to where I am now, doing design work only for organizations and people that are consciously trying to make the world a better place. For me, that means education, human rights, environment, organic, fair trade, non-profit, holistic health and the arts.

Another Emigre article that was influencial was Saving Advertising by Jelly Helm. He talked about overconsumption (“If everyone consumed the way Americans do, we would need four more earths to support it”) and advertising and design’s role in that. Advertising’s goal is to create desire, to make you unhappy until you buy something. And as Jelly points out, the danger of materialism is one of the things every major religion agrees on.