John Emerson: "When Should Designers Make a Political Commitment"

My friend and fellow socially conscious design blogger John Emerson has an excellent article in the new issue of Communication Arts. He's created a fictional conversation between designers discussing their role when it comes to politics, addressing many of the questions that get asked of activist designers on a regular basis:

Sam: Sounds great. But do you ever feel conflicted? I mean, look at those posters about the genocide in Darfur. I’m all for rising to the challenge, but don’t these things just take advantage of the cause by exploiting some tragedy as an excuse to make a clever design?

Robin: Well, if I care about a cause, why shouldn’t I respond and communicate that? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with clever, as long as it helps you get your point across.

Read the entire article here.