Terry,
On Sep 17, 2013, at 10:58 AM, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As a practical example, imagine a government health services as a client
> that requires a poster that will reduce the proportion of obesity in the
> population by 2%.
[snip]
> Would using visual language methods *guarantee* you would achieve
> the designed outcomes (the 2%).
I would submit that a client that requires a poster have a particular measured result--a result that is causally several steps removed from the poster and its environment--is naïve and/or delusional. My advice to all designers is that they should not work with such people. Saying that a poster will reduce obesity is very much *unlike* saying that a bridge will withstand a specific use or saying that an object will last some specific amount of time.
I believe that you are correct that designing toward a tangible result is (at least in this case) something that requires understanding influence. But no matter what someone knows about influence, claiming that a poster will have a specific tertiary effect is not making a guarantee. That would be making a bet. The two are similar and not unrelated but are not the same.
It is possible that we will someday know enough to compare bridge loads and the result of information/influence but when I say "we," I mean people and not you and me. We will be dead before that happens. I am suspicious of most firm predictions but I will not only bet on that one, I'll guarantee it. (I'm right or your money back.)
Back to something near the territory of my earlier questions about specialization: Why would a graphic designer be making such warrantees? Would it be a profession necessity to have the designer of an impeller for a vent system for an airplane bathroom (or even the subcontractor building the whole bathroom) make claims about how long it will take the plane to fly from London to Singapore?
I keep wanting to agree with you on this subject but every time you get specific, you convince me that I can't.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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+1 252 258-7006
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