And, like most things American, they do it big time.

1. Mark Busse Says:
   June 7th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

   Thank you Michael and Marian. And thank you colleagues for this important thread.

   Above all, it brings this critical issue under closer scrutiny so it can be further addressed with intelligent public discourse between working professionals out here dealing with these exact situations.

   The reality of the information age of late has included a cultural shift we’ve never witnessed previously. Copyright and intellectual property rights have been devalued as has the process of designing truly innovative creative solutions to real-world communication problems.

   Those of us that work with brand planners and youth research groups know that today’s young people (the Bruce Nussbaum’s of tomorrow unfortunately) see and use “free” stuff everywhere. Every day. We all do. There are free daily newspapers, web services like Google, MySpace and Flickr. Music and videos are easy to download for free. Even in our industry, there is easy access to cheap or free stock photography and logo designs. They may be crap, but they’re cheap.

   Granted, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, but think about it: Kids and young adults - and high-powered publishers apparently - think very little or nothing of the skills, research, time and heaps of effort that goes into developing these “innovative” solutions, so why should they value the process of design? Who cares? Someone, somewhere will create something good eventually, right? And whoever creates the best work is the one who deserves to be paid, right? Wrong.

   Shame on you Mr. Nussbaum. You owe us all an apology. I hope your magazine tanks. And if we spread the word about this situation, undermining the design public’s perception of your brand, it will.

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