I Want Communication, Not Art
(originally ranted in 2003)

Getty Images has a new ad campaign. They are a stock photo company, and there is not a solitary image in any of the ads. It's just a red page with small black and white text. Each reads something different, but the one that struck me like a falling piano reads, "I want communication, not art."

Now if that's not the most perfect thing I've ever seen, then I just don't know what is. Of course, I also know nothing about the quality of Getty Images stock photos, but that's not the point. The new campaign is brilliant, and most of all, that ad.

We designers are a tough lot. We want to use that new technique we just read about. We want to emulate (not copy) that thing we saw in the movie credits last night. We want to put CADD images into a brochure about stock options. Now, chances are good that none of it is relevant to the message, nor will it enhance it. In fact, it probably detracts from it.

But we fancy ourselves artists, not advertisers, yet WE ARE IN ADVERTISING!

We try to act so elite. "I'm an Internet Solutions Programmer." But the reality is that we just posted the company's Policies and Procedures Manual to the already existent web site. "I'm a Visual Communications Specialist." What crap. We spent the afternoon working on an ad for a high school yearbook.

A year ago, by some freak of nature, I won an Addy Award. Then, at the same event, I was awarded Best of Show in Print. Now, I've never taken crack, so I speak in ignorance, but I think I can safely say that it is not one tenth as addictive as getting a design award. Since then, I'm like a junkie who needs a fix. I gotta get another one. NOW!

I don't care about the project, or if what I do is serving its purpose. I just want it to be shiny. I want it to be in the next issue of Print. I want recognition. I want commendation. I want awards.

"I WANT COMMUNICATION, NOT ART."

Ouch.

This very week, I was asked to send a job to the printer that I produced last year. Now, it's good, and I poured my soul into it last year. But now I'm over it. I've seen it too much. But we're in a rush. Just a couple of changes, and get it out of here. NO WAY! It needs to be completely and totally redesigned, as far as I'm concerned. New look. No photos. Vector art only. 4 color process this time, not 2. And it just HAS to be on Finch paper.

I know there's only one press in the area that can do the job, so we can't send out bids on it. And there's no time for the redesign. And we don't have 4 colors in the budget. And we can't get Finch paper through the only printer that can do the job.

My boss reminds me of all of this, saying that I should be happy my previous design was strong enough to last two years. But I'm not. I want to redesign it. Not because it needs it- I just want another award, and I just know the redesign would get one.

"I WANT COMMUNICATION, NOT ART."

Easier said than done.

As a designer, communication is primarily visual. It IS art to us. There's no way to separate the two. We even get suckered in by our own professions, buying things we don't need at all because the packaging is clever.

But we're not marketing to other designers, really, or we're not supposed to be. We market to high school students, businessmen, stay-at-home Moms, seniors who like dominoes- and they don't care about the latest Xenofex filter. They want the bottom line. They want to read the type, not struggle through Fidelle body copy.

We try to give them the Sistine Brochure. To them, Helvetica is not a sin. Reflex blue is not a travesty. Clip art is not an Andrea Yeats-sized nightmare. Nekoosa Solutions is not a cause for tears. They want communication. If they wanted art, they'd go to a gallery.

Been to a gallery lately? If you can even find one, you'll be able to hear the sound of a mouse clicking 40 miles away because THERE'S NO ONE ELSE THERE!

We are actually working ourselves out of a job. Ironic, isn't it?

So thank you, Getty Images. I love you and hate you all at once.

But I know what your intentions were with the new campaign. You wanted a design award, and to be in the next issue of Print. And you know what? You'll probably get your wish.