Lilula

Coming soon.

Ethical Design

I’m pretty sure most of my visitors are aware of accessibility and design with user needs in mind. Those would be ethical issues surrounding user necessities. So what about client end ethical issues? What happens when a company that is morally unsound asks for work?

Coca Cola are notorious for murdering union leaders in Latin America, so by designing them an identity which essentially lies to the consumer are we endorsing the immoral acts of the company? Would designing for the oil industry be a strike against consideration for climate change?

Designers seem to be increasingly worried about these issues surrounding the evils of capitalism, as made apparent in the First Things First Manifesto. To me it’s just a pretentious crock. It’s very easy to take a moral stand point and refuse to work for a company - but what of it?

Any work that is offered by a money hungry company that is declined by a morally upright individual is going to be taken up by another designer who doesn’t care. In the end by not doing work, nothing is done to stop the dumping of toxic waste in third world countries.

If any individual actually cared about ethical issues then why would they sit around simply refusing work? Why not get off their fat arse and do something about it against all adversities instead of just pretending to care by protesting mildly from a comfortable La-Z-Boy?

The only thing that inspires change is being proactive, such as going out and helping people whose lives have been affected negatively by global corporations. Designing a few images about how mean capitalism is will just get lost in a sea of visual stimuli and hyper aesthetics.

I’m not going make myself appear better than others for pretending to give a hoot. The practices of any corporation I should decide to work for does not fall within my moral responsibility just because I’m a designer. I doubt the cleaning crew for Coke think long and hard about their ethical duty.

Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate change. Good for all those organisations which actively participate in ways to change things for the better. I hope their work will continue to inspire others to be proactive about helping others.

In conclusion, I’m not going to parade how concious I am of moral issues by meekly refusing design work. If I were to ever take an ethical stand point you bet I wouldn’t involve design in the concoction - it’d be a real effort to do something that can make a difference.

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Long Live the New Flesh

Who are we in a digital sense? Online we perceive others differently, as interpreted by a series of images and text that wouldn’t be logically presented in a real life format. Often we construct our bodies online creating an identity that we control and manipulate - some identities are truer than others.

How does our existence vary from who we are on and off screen? One could argue you are what you become, and if feigning a characteristic online were done consistently then eventually it would become a part of that individual. Therefore an online persona is an extension of a dormant personality. On the other hand, it is easier to fake who we are not.

To what extent do we become part of the screen and fuse with our formulated online identities? We are a generation defined by our blogs, our phones, our laptops, our televisions, our IPod’s and our digital interests. There is almost an obsessive quality in having all aspects of ourselves as close to the online world as possible. We carry a piece of our digital fingerprint where ever we go.

Could a screen be compared to an eye that looks on into another world? Is this eye omnipotent or is it limited? We make ourselves and destroy ourselves on a whim with little or no repercussions online. Yet there are still standards, netiquette and ways to behave within different circles. We are still controlled by our environment - a huge irony that contradicts the freedom of the internet.

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50 Reasons I Don’t Want Kids

• I don’t have the patience to put up with the screaming, complaining and wailing.
• I’m selfish - I’d rather a new pair of boots than a buggy.
• I’m very career orientated and would probably die if I had to leave work.
• Getting disproportionately fat doesn’t appeal to me.
• I like my pelvis the way it is.
• There are laws against smacking the snot out of children.
• I get easily agitated by stupid behaviour as done regularly by children.
• Having time to myself is an essential aspect of every day life.
• Children become teenagers and go on to deny your existence.
• There’s only room for one set of hormones in my abode.
• The way children elongate vowels really irks me.
• You’re stuck with them for anything between 18-30 years.
• I get bored easily.
• Bodily fluids make me feel nauseous.
• Teaching and nurturing others really grates me.
• I like my expensive gadgets.
• I attack things which annoy me at regular intervals.
• I am very house proud.
• If it’s a girl I’ll be instantly disappointed.
• For some reason an epidural isn’t all that appealing.
• Eating strange food combinations to nourish a foetus is unwholesome.
• Babies look like bruised beetroot’s - no such thing as a cute baby.
• Family holiday’s *shudders*
• It’s cruel to purposely expose someone to our self destructive society.
• Parents night and having to feign an interest in my child’s education.
• Young children have a habit of smearing faeces everywhere.
• There is a large probability I’d fuck up a human being.
• There’s no such thing as fashionable maternal gear.
• Children are like little drunks.
• I’d need to counterbalance watching children’s programming with killing puppies.
• I loathe the idea of a child’s birthday party.
• I wouldn’t want to socialise with the ‘other’ parents.
• Stretch marks.
• Having to change social outings so they are ‘family friendly’.
• The sale price on children is high and I happen to like money.
• Being given an enema before childbirth to prevent ‘accidents’ - no thanks.
• Children are bound to be run over, electrocuted or drowned at the parents expense.
• I’ll be damned if there will be posters of the next Britney on the walls of my house.
• My loud music is not to by outdone by the crap kids listen to.
• I’d hate to have my professional title tippexed over in favour of a more maternal one.
• Children make mess like it’s no one’s business.
• The only underwear I change is my own.
• Children become teenagers, whom I dislike interacting with.
• The thought of spending money on clothes they’ll outgrow in two months sickens me.
• I’m possessive of my food.
• There’s too many pedophiles for parents to fend off.
• From experience disabled children are a nightmare - slim possibility but feasible.
• Making frequent trips to A&E for bumps and falls isn’t appealing.
• Having to indulge fads only for a child to outgrow it fairly quickly = do not want.
• The only thing I maintain on a regular basis is my website.

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