Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World
The follow review by Mark Busse was originally published on TAXI Design Network:
David B. Berman has been demonstrating inspired design leadership for nearly three decades and this book is no exception. After decades of volunteer work as an international ambassador for the communication design industry, Berman’s book Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World is another fine example of his tendency toward helping others—and not just graphic designers, but all of us.
The book presents a well-researched and clearly articulated argument that design matters—more now than ever before—and like the First Things First manifesto referenced in Erik Spiekermann’s foreword, Do Good Design serves as a call to action to designers everywhere to stand up, take our seat at the boardroom table and start changing the way the world looks at design.
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Posted by Mark Busse on January 1, 2009. | 3 Comments
Choosing the right partner to expand your design business can be just the thing you need to survive and grow, especially in these uncertain economic times.
Recently we published a short article about partnerships which was well received. Now the fine folks at FunctionFox have asked us to create a more comprehensive presentation called Partnership: Choosing the right person to expand your design business with and host one of their popular webinars on February 12th at 11am PST. We’ll try to jam all our thoughts into a concise 30 minute presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Here’s the promo copy from their website:
Choosing the right partner to expand your design business can be just the thing you need to survive and grow, especially in these uncertain economic times. Creating that partnership can also be fraught with complexity and the best solution may turn out to be going it solo after all. There’s no right answer, just a real need to cover all the angles. Join as design firm principals and business partners Mark Busse and Ben Garfinkel share their perspectives and advice for design professionals considering a business partner, and learn from Mark and Ben’s personal and professional experience.
For more information or to register for the webinar, visit FunctionFox’s events page.
Posted by Mark Busse on December 30, 2008. | No Comment
As President of the BC chapter of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), I recently wrote an article on behalf of GDC called How to Use Communication Design to Weather a Recession for Business in Vancouver (BIV) Magazine. The article, which can be found in the special How To Book coming out early 2009, is reproduced below:
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Posted by Mark Busse on December 20, 2008. | 1 Comment
S (December 19th, 2005)
It is a hotel, its called Emirates Palace, it was the brainchild of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan in order to host the GCC confrences (which can accomadate 6 leaders and their entourage). Here’s the website: http://www.emiratespalace.com. Do your research before commenting on facts, just to make Arabs look like extravegent dictators who suck up all the money through oil.
Mark Busse (December 19th, 2005)
Interesting. And a very good point indeed. I apologize for not be thorough, though I don’t think it’s fair to accuse me of trying to make all Arabs look like dictators, as easy as that argument would be to make. I think rich and powerful leaders all over the world have done this time and time again throughout history. Regardless, I think most would agree that the decadent extravagance demonstrated throughout Abu-Dhabi and the surrounding region sends a clear message to the world, some of which is living in sub-standard conditions and starving: we have the oil and money and aren’t afraid to spend it.
S (December 20th, 2005)
Just because we do not hold elections, which have proven to be corrupt in the past in so called “democratic” countries, does not mean we are not free people, living in an age were we don’t have to worry about tax, health or education comes as a relief to many and easliy a great replacement to voting or democracy. To compare Sheikh Zayed to other leaders is a hard thing - at best. No other was beloved by his people as Sheikh Zayed was. As for accusing, I did not mean to be sold bold, but your comment was correct in the first place to say it was a hotel and then you pulled it back to say it was a palace - to call it a palace would be to show a certain kind of money hogging by the “owner” if he were in a position to direct wealth from oil. As for having money from oil, why is are we critized for it?? Any other country that had the abundance of oil and gas as the gulf would spend it just as fast inorder to help their country grow - logistically, ecnomically, socially and structurly.
David (January 2nd, 2006)
We live in a world of sharp, if not harsh, contrasts. Here is an example of abject wealth designed to impress. It is grown solely on the successful commodification of a naturally resource. History is filled with those who capitalized on something they could take for free. This doesn’t make them any better than the others. I hope this one didn’t involve crusaders, or some self-justified war.
So many economies are based on natural resources with staunch claims of ownership. Older cultures believed such things belong to no one and were to be shared by the world. What happened to us? And why do we so badly need to show our apparent worth? Real estate agents need expensive cars to look successful, lawyers need sharp suits to look authoritative, oil magnates/countries need opulence to show their weight, it seems. Need is relative, but there is no real justification. Imagine what the price of just one of the cars in the drive could do for starving people in Africa.
We all leave our mark on the world. This palatial hotel certainly does, but for what benefit to others?