Image of transparency

It’s lunchtime but here in Milan lunch is often skipped for the sake of “productivity”, but also and frequently for the passion for one’s job. In the corridors of the Milan Politecnico, we meet Carlo Branzaglia, communication and design theoretician and critic; today it’s his turn to skip lunch because of us.

RELATIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE, ALSO OCCASIONAL ONES, GENERATE ECONOMIC VALUE; A LOT HAS BEEN SAID LATELY ABOUT THE SO-CALLED “RELATION ECONOMY”: WHAT IS THE OPINION OF THE WORLD OF “COMMUNICATORS” IN THIS RESPECT?
In the economy system, professional communicators have always been the core mediators to relations between businesses and the so-called consumers.
However, because the world is increasingly governed by trade rules, communicators (especially graphic designers) have been led to take sides with their primary and direct clients, i.e. companies. The time has come now, however, to re-balance this relation, to move closer to consumers, re-discover the ethical-social dimension in every project, which by the way is a very Italian-like feature. Just think of the example set by Albe Steiner in the Forties.

DO GRAPHIC ARTS, AND MORE IN GENERAL INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, HAVE A DUAL NATURE? COULD WE REFER TO THEM AS ART OR ARE THEY JUST ONE OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED TO COMPANIES?
By its very nature, the design study model has always been linked in commercial terms to the company’s purposes. However, it is also true that unlike marketing and traditional advertising, it uses, and is expected to use, cultural and language tools that are capable of educating consumers, providing recipients in a way with something “extra”, something that goes beyond the simple market promotion of the product or service that is being offered.

IN THIS “RELATION ECONOMY”, FREQUENT REFERENCE IS BEING MADE TO THE FACT THAT CONSUMERS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT OR IN ANY CASE MORE INFORMED THAN IN THE PAST.
TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT CONVENIENT FOR COMPANIES TO HAVE KNOWING CONSUMERS?
The number of intelligent consumers has increased, but this is only partly true. There is a lot of counter evidence making it difficult to advance any tautological statement about the actual state of consumer awareness.
I believe that intelligent consumers are really good for the market, and especially for improving production in all sectors. In fact, they will demand greater quality.
By quality I mean sustainability, improved performance, research. This type of situation is not convenient for a static market, for those who have a product and want to sell it regardless of its quality.
Those companies which truly know how to make strategies are the ones that care about transparency and educating their clients, the very ones that inevitably care about the quality of their products.
The designer’s duty will be to see that this quality is perceived.

NOT ALL COMPANIES INFORM THEIR CONSUMERS. WHAT WILL BE THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN THE PROCESSES OF CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY AND CONSUMER INFORMATION?
In a context such as the “relation economy” one, the Internet is definitely an “acceleration” tool. Of course, the moment a user realises that he/she has a certain need and finds out through the Net that there are others out there with the same need, this creates an atmosphere of sharing which would otherwise be impossible to reproduce.
This “sharing” makes the single consumers feel more confident, so they start heeding to their true needs, thus maturing a stronger sense of critical awareness. “Critical masses” come into being and they inevitably end up influencing market dynamics.
The Internet, therefore, is capable of generating a bi-univocal form of communication where one person speaks to many people, but also where many people speak to many others, thus multiplying information exponentially.
This new and massive possibility of generating information, however, will have to be matched by a different kind of mental project. Indeed, it will have to be matched by individual responsibility and critical ability, regardless of the community’s driving force.
The risk of generating “critical masses” may soon result in the rise of collective moralism and the loss of individual critical ability.

ARE GRAPHIC OR PRODUCT DESIGNERS STILL THE TONGUE OF THE SCALE BETWEEN CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES?
They most certainly hold great responsibility. Clearly, they cannot determine every single choice a company or consumer makes, but they do have the power to make small changes which are sometimes fundamentally important.
Design has the task of educating clients, as in the case of the recent awareness-arousing initiatives launched through a number of events and conferences. “NO BRAND MORE PROFIT” is the title of one of these initiatives, the one organised by AIAP, the national association of graphic communicators. A book by the same title will soon be published. Product designers are now following this example.