While the principal role of visual communication has remained unchanged through modern history, a broader realm of influence must be acknowledged and addressed, and the design community must ask questions that transcend outdated boundaries of culture, influence and motivation. Even as debate surrounding the fundamental issues of form, content and audience has raised the graphic design field to a new level of maturity, visual communicators are confronted with evidence that their work is negatively impacting both socioeconomic balance around the globe and Earth’s vital natural systems.

At the center of this debate is the need for a new ethos that can effectively address matters of global equity, true sustainability, and the downsides to consumerism on an increasingly populated planet. The inattention to social, cultural, and environmental repercussions of an outdated mode of business operation cannot continue. Pragmatic notions of global citizenship are necessary.

This conference brings together design educators and practitioners who are wrestling with these difficult issues in an attempt to help define the next step in graphic design’s continuing evolution.

SPEAKERS
Jonathan Baldwin, Rebecca Bedrossian, John Bielenberg, Eric Benson, Valerie Casey, Brian Dougherty, William Drenttel, Phil Hamlett, Cheryl Heller, Terry Irwin, John Jennings, Russell Kerr, and Joshua Onysko

Hosted by the Graphic Design Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design.