Privacy For A Song - 04/07

Cash is no longer king. Indeed, it is under siege from the electronic revolution, which is to say, the credit cards, transit cards, phone cards, paypasses and, soon, mobile phones that can act as payment devices. Defenders of the paper note and the metal coin have long pointed out that the small, everyday purchases we all make are still most easily handled in the old-fashioned way. But that rationale may now be short-lived. Cadbury Schweppes and MasterCard are testing hundreds of vending machines to answer two questions: Will people use plastic for this purpose, and will they spend more if they can use plastic? The early answer is... duh... yeah. Some machines have seen sales increases of up to 35%. Soon it may come down to this in our society: cash will only matter to individuals who still care about privacy and do not want their purchasing history and, indeed, their every movement to be trackable. Are there still people who value privacy above convenience? Apparently not, if it means slower access to a stale candy bar or some shrink-wrapped vanilla creme cookies. The vending machine example may seem trivial (and I like vanilla cremes as much as the next guy), but we are collectively on a slippery slope. A recent survey revealed that “consumers are increasingly willing to trade off privacy for electronic personalization.” The number of people who blithely provide extensive demographic information in exchange for having a customized computer experience has grown dramatically over the past year, as have the number of consumers willing to allow websites to track their clicks and purchases. It’s a funny thing: Fireworks go off, whistles blow and Congress holds hearings if the FBI taps a few phones, but tens of millions of people will happily surrender their sacred privacy for a song. My mother taught me that if I have nothing nice to say, then I shouldn’t say anything at all. But, frankly, this behavior is lazy, sad and, ultimately, dangerous. Sorry, Mom.

Roaring 20s

Graphic design is a relatively young discipline — unless you are one of those whose date it back to cave art, in which case it is arguably the second oldest profession. Conventional wisdom treats it as a post-World War II phenomenon, and, surely, it’s growth has largely occurred in the past 50 years. Interestingly, however, two news items in this month’s magazine — regarding the Art Directors Club annual and the AIGA Medal awards — date the start of those traditions to the early 1920s. It is good to be reminded, once in a while, that today’s vibrant and expansive graphic design community is built on a firm historical foundation. And a surprisingly long tradition. In that spirit, we have listed some of the formative graphic artists of the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover eras in our April GDUSA Enewsletter and provided a few other links to the history of design. (Visit www.gdusa.com and click on “Enewsletter”).

That Was Then

A few years ago, a major paper mill asked us to conduct a poll concerning how creatives felt about sustainability. I nodded knowingly, cleverly covering up for the fact that I hadn’t the foggiest idea what they meant — though it sounded vaguely prurient. (I was a younger man then, and everything sounded vaguely prurient.) The survey results proved that designers were in the same boat as me; few understood the concept ,and fewer practiced it. That was then, this is now. Evidence of the sweeping acceptance of sustainability is at every turn. This month is no exception, as two unrelated but, in the end, telling announcements indicate. Nordstrom, the deeply influential fashion cataloger, will become the first among its peers to print on FSC-certified stock with 30% postconsumer waste (in this case by sourcing Stora Enso’s Arbor grade). And xpedx, the largest North American printing paper distributor, has become the first distributor to receive both FSC and SFI chain-of-custody certification. Says Linda Finn, executive vice president of marketing at Nordstrom, “We realize the number of catalogs we send out and the kind of paper we use directly affect the environment. Our goal is to keep Nordstrom customers updated on the latest in fashion and inspire them to shop with us, but we want to do that in a way we can all feel good about.” Jeff Higgins, corporate director of marketing services for xpedx, has a similar message: “Designers and end users are increasingly looking to align their social and environmental philosophy with their specifying and purchasing practices. With our dual, national chain-of-custody certification, U.S. printers can now be assured they have a dependable supply of certified papers to meet growing demand.”