Communication design could not exist without consumerism

The view of life in this kind of society is consumption is good thus more consumption is believed to be better. This conceptual paper tries to examine the concept of consumerism, and, using examples of design, explore whether consumerism and design are indeed inevitably intertwined and if designers should operate from an ethical code. One of the most powerful forces that exist in our lives is design. It is quite enlightening and empowering in nature. According to Rawsthorn, a major publication is one that tends to cover a huge commercial eco-system. There exist a number of design principles that must be put into consideration. The designs need to be human-centered in order to help people. No one at any given point will take part in a design that will not benefit him or her in one way or the other.

It is essential for a person to consider conventional designs and master skills that are human-centered in a certain manner. On top of that, designs should be fractal. This is a kind of a society in which consumption makes the life of the people. The factor that leads to consumerism in a capitalist economy is actually the manner of profit-maximizing competition. Competition in the capitalist economy makes the businesses to be innovative in order to remain in the market upon which in long-term tends to affect the leisure time and consumption of the people. If the people could opt for voluntary simplicity by averting their consumerism, the economy could be in a great threat. Therefore, consumerism is not only on the basis of "life-styles' it is embedded within the specification of the capitalist economies.

In the same manner, we are exposed to a thousand designs in terms of advertisements that tend to promote the idea of consumerism in our minds. The trap tends to mold our thoughts in short-term and it turns out to be quite difficult to escape from the same. Some of the impacts that are related to the concept of consumerism are exactly the expectation that people tend to have towards a culture that favors the idea of consumption. We always live in a society that we cannot be satisfied with what is available in the society. We are always after making our lives better and the idea of competition tends to make people need more in life. The idea of using different designs spoils the experiences of the people as the case of consumerism.

On the other hand, designs and consumerism tends to manipulate people minds. The modern advertising is aimed at informing people but in the long run, some of the advertisement has got a bad impression. Therefore, the idea of communication design cannot exist without the idea of consumerism. A good number of professions have got codes of ethics, a set of principles that guide them in their daily activities or operations. The interest of the people should be prevented in order to smoothen life at any given time. Nevertheless, codes tend to outline the responsibility of the designer to the respective client, the interaction amid designers, the responsibility of the designer to the environment, the public and the code of conduct to the people.

The ideas to do with conflicts of interests, behavior, confidentiality and eventually professional responsibility are also contained in the code of ethics. Therefore, a designer should act ethically adhere to the code of conduct in order to prevent interest in conflict within the settings of the society. The idea of consumerism in design should not lead to a conflict of interests within the setting of the society at any given time (Chapman, 2015). There is much need for cultural shift and values within the society. The current financial crisis offers us within an opportunity to think about where we are heading as a whole society. The interrelationship between communication and design is positive. Communication design cannot exist without the concept of consumerism.