I just read two articles in the same day- one was about the AIGA (the center for graphic design) and this 'manifesto' about how design can help America/the world- it was a little pretentious but has genuinely good intention and some good ideas. The other article was about how insanely difficult the FAFSA form is to fill out and how unnecessarily complex it is; how the gov't can't seem to figure out how to make it more understandable without just removing information.
And at the same time I'm reading a book on information design ('Envisioning Information' by Edward Tufte) where the author writes something like 'confusion and clutter is never the fault of the information, its a lack of good design'. I have a heard time feeling too bad for americans when compared with the problems in third world nations, for example. but it is interesting to think about how design could help third world countries- again, it sounds kind of silly. But I'm sure there are applications of it- maybe making it easier to apply to welfare or some equivalent. Design could not replace aid in any way but it could make the whole system work a little smoother- especially in third world countries that have been industrialized too fast for their own good. Helping schools become a little more standardized, making "the system" (the maaaan, that system) more navigable, intuitive, understandable. The AIGA article and a few other related documents mentions more than one past president who has embraced design a tool for social and governmental change- Nixon and Reagan are the two on the top of my head.
My professor (jackie thaw) mentioned a book or two on this topic that I might look into.
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