photo: Megan Ann Rucker

What happens to all those hopes n' dreams? Carl Alviani's got a call to arms for designers over at Coroflot's Creative Seeds blog. Here's a sneak peek:

...talk to practically any student or recent graduate, and nearly all of them will attest that they want to improve the world, solve problems of waste and poverty through better design, make a positive impact, make a difference. Even kids who want to do nothing more than draw cars and shoes all day will light up when explaining the fuel cell technology that drives their roadster, or the compostable uppers on their high-tops. This was true when I was in school, five years ago, and if you ask someone who studied a creative profession 10 years ago, it was mostly true then.

As far as I can tell, the change occurs in the first year or two out of school. The bravado nurtured by professors and studio-mates rapidly withers in the harsh conditions of the job market, leaving the junior no less able to devise green strategies, but deeply doubting his or her right to voice them.

What's the issue here?

...one of clout, or perceived clout, and it results in a double-sided silence: management doesn't ask for more conscientious solutions, and design doesn't tell...[A] degree of license enables discussions that would otherwise never occur. Imagine for a moment you went into every client or management meeting knowing your suggestions would be granted that kind of weight. What would you do with it? Judging by conversations I've had with professional colleagues, I'd suspect that issues of sustainability and social benefit would be broached far more frequently, even if they weren't always enacted.

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