To design or not to design?

I was recently approached by a friend to help design a product line for her
new company. I felt honored and excited until she told me what her idea was.

It was a “politically” driven product and unfortunately, my views fell upon the
opposing side…I struggled with the request for a while, and I think I would
not have had this dilemma if this product line had encompassed all political parties. I
mean, after all, as a designer, I should be versatile enough to design for
all. 

I guess it was not a question of abilities, but rather a personal vendetta /
choice of my own. Then I started asking questions like what if it was beyond politics;
what about religion, social causes, racial issues, tobacco, alcohol? Where
do we draw the line?

Here we are celebrating the success of President Obama 2008 campaign, with
hundreds of articles written about it’s phenomenal brand strategies, the
success of it’s design execution. And yes, he was the more popular, cool
candidate and he won. And of course I stood in line for 5 hours to vote for
him. BUT what if he had NOT been the popular vote? What if he had been the “other” guy
and you had to design for the “other” party?

Are designers similar to attorneys? Are we obliged as a professional,  to
consider or take on projects regardless of content, based on that client asking for our help
and them being ready to pay for our services? Or do we have the moral obligation to truly
investigate the repercussions of the projects we take on and the design we
put out to the world? 

What if the result of our designs impact the world in a way we may be horrified with?

It maybe an easier decision to make if you are asked to design for a party
or a cause that you TRULY believe in. My question is how do you tackle a
design project you fundamentally do not believe in, but may need to keep your
design studio up and running? Equally so, how do you design for the less popular, non-politically
correct group? What if you are asked to design for anti-gay groups,
anti-women’s rights, or a tobacco company, or a company that profits off 3rd
world child labor? 

I guess in many ways, it’s a privilege to run my own design studio, where I
am able to make choices as to what type projects to take on and who to say
NO to. But to those working fulltime for a corporate studio/agency; how do you tackle
situations like this? 

Tags: politics, religion, social causes