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Scott Benish @ dreaming america “From the beginning I wanted this to be special, something that we liked, a magazine for ourselves.” * Our independent work is about bringing some humanity to the web. We live in a strange time, in which we have access to the largest human network in the history of the world. The potential for communication, sharing, mutual understanding and peace seems enormous. And yet, most of the communication going down on the web is all about corporate branding. Rangermag is our response to this environment. The 'zine provides us with an opportunity to share the stories of some people and things who make life great: musicians, artists, writers, filmmakers, travel, technology, and opinions. It's about self-expression through design. Of course, all of our projects are not so stimulating. In light of our financial needs as a small business, we can't always view social responsibility with each project at a macro level. So, we let our ethics guide us in the details of every project we do. For instance, we designed a corporate site for a client in which privacy protection became a divisive issue. We were contracted to build a Flash application in which the end user was asked to fill out a form with a lot of personal data. At the end of the process, the user had two choices: 1.) SUBMIT the data for analysis, or 2.) EXIT the application. We were asked by our client if we could build in functionality that would capture the data even if the user hit 'EXIT'. Our response was something to the effect of "that is a violation of a users' trust and privacy...not to mention a really bad idea." In the end, our client realized it was an issue we felt strongly about, and wisdom prevailed. So, whether social responsibility is the overt
message of our work or not, it is always a part of
our mission as designers. The internet is a powerful
thing. Its reach can be tremendous. If, through design,
we affect how people feel and interact with one
another, it is our responsibility to think about
what we are communicating as well as what we are enabling others to do.
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