I came across this recently on Fonts.com, and a friend of mine questioned the ethics of creating a font that is a direct rip-off of a Jewish design style. This brings up interesting questions of appropriating culture and reinforcing cultural stereotypes. Designers raid all cultures for ideas, and like all ideas, some ideas are better than others. Point to ponder: I am holding a book of international colour schemes. Is it more or less of a rip off to take design element from a typeface and create a new font, or take a colour scheme that is obviously Chinese (red and gold, for example)? There is a class of typefaces called “Modern” that are predominantly French; if I designed my own Modern typeface, would I be accused of ripping off French culture? Is it more of a crime or less to rip off a European cultural element or to take, say, a Middle Eastern design element?
Design is not about right or wrong, it is about appropriate and inappropriate.
Design is first about very quick communication, and the lazy designers fall back on cultural clichés to do this. I’m not sure it’s an ethical issue, though.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I was thinking about the appropriation of native symbols by non-natives as I read your comment. I have blogged (indirectly) about this on my anthropology blog — and, in fact, my very first post ever was about the use of the Inukshuk as the logo for the 2010 olympics. As I search my blog on Inukshuk, I find three posts all dealing with similar issues of symbols, their use and misuse. See here:
http://www.anthroblog.tadmcilwraith.com/index.php?s=inukshuk&Submit=Go%21
I am generally less concerned about appropriation occurring and more interested in the situations in which it occurs. Who is doing it? Why? After all, as you suggest if not say outright, all cultures are constantly borrowing from others. When is it that people begin to feel a line is crossed?
The ethics in these situations relate to misrepresenting other people and other cultures … or reducing them stereotypes. This is always a concern for anthropologists … because we do this, or run the risk of doing this, every time we write something or produce an ethnographic film. Can we write about others without doing this though? (Some would say the whole practice of anthropology is generally unethical on these kinds of grounds … they are the same people who are generally too paralyzed to do anything and end up being critics more than practicing or field-based anthros.) I get around these concerns by consulting with the people I write about and trying to be respectful. When I go north in a couple of weeks, I’ll find out if I’ve been successful.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
How do you feel about West Coast/Haida designs being used on non-aboriginal items? Like the Vancouver Canucks logo? Is it to honour the culture or simply a way to quickly identify the Canucks as a West-Coast-Canadian team? Is it better or worse for a Jewish designer to use a Hebrew-looking font for a Jewish deli vs. a gentile designer doing the same thing?
After an initial survey (and I may be wrong), the Vancouver 2010 Olympic logo is the first Olympics logo to be taken from an indigenous peoples. What blows my mind is the symbol - an inukshuk - is an Inuit symbol, not a west coast symbol. With the strength of the West Coast/Haida art style, it would have been much more appropriate to use a local style.
I think this raises a host of questions, most of which have been addressed in your blog. The biggest issue is the regionalism (? regionality?) of the logo. Why not a Coast artist? It’s a blow to the local communities, and the overblown, self-important claptrap of the press release is mind-boggling. If we are so enamoured of our environment, then show a couple of mountains and some trees.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Your initial complaints about the logo were audible around Vancouver, at least initially. I haven’t heard too much complaining about it lately. It may be a case of people simply accepting what became inevitable. And, generally, I hear that the First Nations in the area of the games are happy with their participation in the promotion of the games. I’m sure some aren’t — these communities are way to heterogeneous for there not to be some dissent. Still, that is very inaudible.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
The more I think about the V2010 logo, the more it is starting to annoy me. First of all, the design competition that was held for the logo design violated the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada’s Code of Ethics. It took fairly intense negotiation with VANCOC to wiggle around the code, but the competition left a bad taste in the mouth of Canadian designers.
Point 2: How are the bands around Vancouver responding to this? I read one article about a Squamish chief calling the logo “aggressive” and “an attack on our sovereignty”. The local First Nations see the symbol as a foreign symbol that does not represent their people, akin to a Russian flag on Parliament. So, as a local anthropologist, is this a voice from the mainstream or from the fringe? It does show me a bit how the different First Nations communities see themselves in Canada and the risks of cultural appropriation by people who are not members of the community. I think it’s safe to say that no local aboriginal designer or artist would ever choose such a symbol for a Vancouver Games.
IMHO, the two best logos in recent years are Athens and Lillehammer. They represent an aspect of the games or the country in a recognizable and stylish manner, and the message is very clear. Actually, looking over the history of Olympic logos encapsulates a history of 20th Century design – an excellent summary of design styles.
A country with the physical size of Canada: is it more appropriate to capture the essence of the country or the region?
The Olympics are named after a city, not a country. Is it best to represent the city or the country, or, as in Athens, capture an element of the game themselves?
Are the logos of the individual sports going to be derived from Mohawk or Blackfoot art, compounding the inappropriateness of cultural raiding?
Yeah, I’m starting to rethink my approach towards cultural raiding in design. There are so many nuances to cultural elements that a designer who is not familiar with a particular culture can only misappropriate and misuse these elements. If I were to design a rave flyer, is would be a pastiche and not really reflective of the rave culture. People can see through this quite quickly.
I did a web site last year for a kayak company that tours Gwaii Haanas. I was working with a design that incorporated a stylized Haida whale tail, and it just wasn’t working. Now I know why, and I am glad I abandoned it. One of the issues at work right now is the fact that there are three male computer guys in their 30s creating a web site for women in their 20s looking for entry level administrative assistant jobs. Culture clash anyone? Maybe every marketing student needs to take a course in cultural anthropology.
It sounds like designers and cultural anthropologists have many concerns in common. I can’t wait to read more of the design anthropology blog.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Your questions about how to design an Olympic logo are interesting. My feeling is that a logo that captures the local well ends up representing the country. The annoying thing about the 2010 logo is that it is a local symbol used to represent the country — it’s just that the local for the inukshuk is in Nunuvut! You are right … couldn’t a Salish totem pole or mountains and oceans had the desired effect? I have no idea what the logos for the sports will look like … but I’ll be watching with your questions in mind.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:17 am
That was stimulating . I love your style that you put into your writing . Please do move forward with more similar to this.