Socialdesignzine

Sdz is a daily updated information blog published by the Italian graphic design association (Aiap). It is online since 2003 and edited by Gianni Sinni and Andrea Rauch. Sdz's main aim is to offer an open discussion platform on the social responsability of designers, combined with ideas and opinions related to everyday life and facts. The designer's ability to intervene on the values of our society is not confined to his/her works that may have an impact on the social environment; it must be part of his/her daily activities. Therefore, the themes which are discussed on our blog include a wide range of issues from visual communication to cartoons, to advertisement, to television and typography. Every project, even a graphic project, implies a choice - a political choice according to the actual meaning of this word, related to the "polis", the society. To be a good professional designer one must indeed be able to analyse the context and background one lives in. This approach may raise some critics within the designer community, too often worried about its proper world and references. For us, in Sdz, this is the natural continuation of the civic and political heritage of Albe Steiner, a founding father of Italy's modern design, who has taught us that "the graphic designer is not a snake oil salesman"