If the journalistic community is fretting over losing mindshare and gainful employment to blogs and consumer-generated media, I can provide one example of why I believe they should. You see, for about two decades there’s been a mostly lone voice in the mainstream media talking about Design: Bruce Nussbaum. One would think I’d appreciate having someone talk about design – and I would – if I believed that what I perceive as increasingly worthless, honey-dripping hype was how the design profession would grow and gain respect in the corporate community.
Although previously mentioned (reLink), I’ll repeat a little history here. In the late 80’s Nussbaum told the world via BusinessWeek (April 11, 1988) magazine that Design had returned to America:
After relegating design to the backseat in the 1970’s, U.S. manufacturers are once again discovering that it is key to industrial competitiveness.
Right. And there was much self-congratulatory backslapping in the design community. Until everyone figured out it wasn’t quite true; that it applied to only a handful of manufacturers. I wish you could see the products chosen as examples of this new Return to Design. Sadly, there’s essentially nothing that a design student today would likely recognize. No truly great design icons; just mostly pretty, 80’s era geometric shapes.
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