Graphic Design Needs to Take Responsibility: Embedding Social Awareness and Ethics Through Social Science Knowledge and Pedagogical Change

Abstract

Graphic design aims to affect human thought or behavior through visual communication. To do so effectively, designers need a robust understanding of why people behave as they do and the appropriate research skills to explore the wider social and cultural landscape. All the principles involved in understanding and affecting behavior are defined in the social sciences, including analyzing their effectiveness. Acquiring this knowledge could allow graphic designers to better reflect on the ethical and social consequences of perpetuating stereotypes and provide a starting point to address the significant issues created by excluding the lived experience of diverse communities. Graphic design has never adopted an industry-wide set of ethical guidelines. To address this lack, the discipline should aim toward incorporating social science knowledge in methodology to help promote social and cultural awareness in practice. In this article, I propose that social science knowledge, particularly social psychology, could become an integral part of graphic design curriculum at the undergraduate level. I also argue that cognition and educational psychology theories contribute important knowledge and research practices to designers’ long-term problem-solving, potentially transforming the discipline's influence and producing more socially aware communication in the future.