Addressing Intercultural complexities through ethical design practices
Visual communication is just as ambiguous as verbal communication, and with the advancements in technology that allow artists to design seamlessly across geographical boundaries, the necessity for designers to increase their cultural awareness is higher now more than ever. The responsibilities of a graphic designer are larger than the traditional obedient-to-consumer role. Good design should be human-centered and grounded on the designer’s empathic abilities to communicate messages with their large audiences. Accurately addressing the characteristics of culture in a design piece builds on the communication between all parties that brings forth a product of shared heritage. This thesis is focused on how design professionals can create visually appealing pieces while effectively incorporating cultural competencies into their work with the goal of accurately addressing the interconnectivity of our diverse world. By analyzing food and beverage advertisements the goal of this research is to create a design manifesto for professionals to develop intercultural competence as a habit throughout all creative endeavors.
The icon is representative of a lightbulb, a symbol commonly referred to for 'competence'. The bottom triangle point represents a stylus or pen tool, symbolizing 'create'. The colors blue and orange represent culture, competence, and creativity according to color theorist.
This icon is inspired by the usage of the Better Business Bureau and I hope that Creatives can adopt these culturally competent practices as habitually as a business promises to act accordingly to the Better Business Bureau's guidelines.
Inspired by the five questions I used for my analysis throughout the research paper, this manifesto is a declaration of the practices I hope design professionals will begin to adopt and present to others in order to form a habit of cultural competent design.
