David Berman’s Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World, is a provocative wake-up call for graphic designers. It reminds us all that the power to design is the power to change–for good or for evil.

As Berman shows , graphic designers are often often more concerned with the creativity of their designs rather than the implications and results of their designs.

“Amoral design” can create worldwide problems like National Socialism in the 1930’s and health problems like cancer associated with cigarette smoking and both diabetes and heart problems like obesity and heart disease associated with fast-food consumption and sugar-saturated carbonated beverages.

All of the above sounds like alarmist posturing, until you leaf through Do Good Design and you find yourself confronted with page after page of images showing the way that cigarette and soft drinks logos are imprinting their images throughout the developing, as well as undeveloped world.

As one disquieting series of photographs shows, visitors to China’s Great Wall are exposed to soft drink logos at entry points. Other photographs show how product branding is proliferating as part of the “official” signage in even the most desolate rural areas of developing countries.

Do Good Design is not a polemic, however. It is not as much strident as it is thought-provoking and dialog-building. It points out how the power of graphic design can benefit society, as well as undermine its attitudes and health. Readers are left with a feeling of empowerment, not disillusion.

Do Good Design not only asks provocative questions about the economic and mental consequences of societies based on “cultivating endless consumer desire” but also suggests ways, small steps, that graphic designers can take in more positive directions.

A slim “big book”

Do Good Design is an heavily illustrated 192-page, 8 inch by 5 inch book. It may be slim in size, but it is having a big impact–and is destined for more. It’s an AIGA Design Press book published by New Riders, an imprint of Peachpit Press.

The AIGA is the professional association of design, the place where design professionals exchange ideas and information.

New Rider’s motto is “Voices that Matter;” their books frequently champion new visual communications ideas, such as Gar Reynold’s Presentation Zen and Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think.

Peachpit Press, itself, has been a trusted voice serving graphic designers for several decades. Peachpit enjoys an enviable reputation for consistency and relevance.

David B. Berman, the author, is donating 10% of the proceeds from Do Good Design to a non-profit agency whose mission is in alignment with the goals of the book.