The annual Design and Art Direction Yellow Pencil awards are almost upon us again, meaning that the next month is one of the few times when it is possible to talk to people about graphic design without being thought of as an absolute bore.
This is not particularly surprising. Most people do not care about graphic design, at least not consciously. At the same time, major awards ceremonies such as D&AD offer editors of broadsheet newspaper supplements the opportunity to cement their readers' self-depiction of themselves as creative and vital individuals (rather than class-ridden social climbers with no love of intellectual inquiry) by offering them a few bits and pieces of information suitable for regurgitation at dinner parties, a form of social engagement that I am reliably informed does actually exist.
Still, Britain, as in geopolitics, punches well above its weight when it comes to graphics, so will there ever come a time when graphic design is actually viewed as an important and legitimate form of activity by anyone outside the industry?
Graphic design does not enjoy a status anything like that of fashion design or architecture. Even interior design, long a poor cousin of other design disciplines is now part of the language of daily life.
For the last decade or more, the British obsession with home ownership and greasy pole climbing has dovetailed neatly with the need for cheap television programmes, magazines and newspaper supplements capable of offering their consumers (yes, consumers) some method of standing apart from their neighbours, preferably one which involves spending large wads of cash.
Everyone now has at least the option of depicting themselves as design-literate and savvy individuals, whether that's through building a terrifyingly expensive house or arranging the interior of their ordinary house with various pieces of manufactured tat.
Thus, for the rich architecture has become a method of differentiation (as if it were ever otherwise) while the merely well-to-do can do the same, albeit on a smaller scale, via interior design - the only potential downside being that they will have to admit one or two members of the great unwashed into their homes in order to enjoy that feeling of smug superiority.
In comparison to rarefied world of architecture and the slinky, sexiness and alleged "personal vision" of interiors, graphic design doesn't have much to offer the class-conscious consumer. A framed Saul Bass poster surely brings with it some kudos but the same effect can be achieved on a grander scale by buying some art, and it doesn't even have to be any good.
It a way it makes sense: magazines and newspapers are throw-away items, packaging is part utilitarian, part propaganda and advertising is ephemeral at best, a visual pollutant and nuisance at worst. But don't let yourself be fooled, graphic design surrounds us at all times and is quietly informing our decision-making processes.
Nevertheless, the winds continue to blow in the direction of ever grander design. Monetarists have been informing us of the virtues of "trickle down" economics for decades now - will the same process inflate the status of graphics?
Perhaps the most pervasive cliché about art is that the artist will only find recognition after death. It may well be a reflection of the improving status of commercial art that dead designers are apparently now worth reading about. In the last year the Guardian has published obituaries for at least four graphic designers, Ruari McLean, Germano Facetti, George Daulby and Henryk Tomaszewski. Last Saturday's Irish Times, meanwhile, ran a slightly bizarre obit for Richard Eckersley [paid subs. required]. One can only hope that this is a reflection of the realisation that design is significant and not just an attempt by two liberal newspapers to show how clever their readers are.
So: pay attention. Design is important, much more important than many other things which clutter up newspapers and magazines. It might even be considered an important contribution to culture and life in general. Just don't let anyone tell you it's more important that fine art.
