Flusser

Flusser brings up a lot of facts about where the word design comes from, its Latin word, its Greek word its German word etc. All coming to the conclusion that design is a way to “seduce people into perceiving distorted ideas” and that designers obtain the “ability to turn something to one's advantage”. I completely agree with what Flusser is saying but the way in which it is said sounds as though this all comes as a surprise or some grand revelation. Where as I've always though of design that way. My brain works very commercially, which is exactly why I 've always seen design through “deceptive” eyes. In advertising specifically, the designers g­oal is to sell a product or brand and beat out their competition. By doing this you have to make you product look better then others and call out key points that make your product stand out and become more worthwhile for the consumer. Flusser raises the question, “Who and what are we deceiving when we become involved with culture (with art, with technology – in short, with Design)?”. We are deceiving our consumers to make sure they are drawn into buying what we want them to buy. We are deceiving fellow designers and the common folk just passing by. We need them to believe that every line, every word, every image is intentional and that the color, the font, and composition is specific for that layout. We need them to believe that our design is the right design, that there is no better way of putting it. If design is not trickery then it just becomes something that is pretty (hopefully), a piece of home décor. Without that tinge of deception it becomes a “what you see is what you get” piece. There is no deeper meaning, no underlying or between the lines message to decode and what's the fun in that?