The graphic designer who works on my team in marketing at Gensler spent the day yesterday at an Edward Tufte workshop. I went to see him last year, and thought he was just brilliant. He's got a really interesting perspective on information, and I find his ideas about information density specifically to be quite controversial. In today's world, people seem to have a tacit belief that information needs to be presented in an increasing simplified way. We need to show less data, not more. PowerPoint rules the day. Tufte would argue that the answer isn't less data--it's more data. The challenge is to present as much data as possible, as clearly as possible. Tufte goes as far as to say that PowerPoint is, essentially, evil. His essay "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" makes the case that PowerPoint was responsible for the destruction of NASA Space Shuttle Challenger, by totally obfuscating the risks of bringing the shuttle down. It's riveting reading, and is sure to get a lively conversation going around the conference table when you're rehearsing for that important presentation.
But Tufte goes one step further... He seems to believe that marketing is, in fact, one of the greatest evils in the world today. At the start of his seminars, there's an opportunity to meet him briefly and have him autograph the books that are included in the cost of the seminar. When I was there last year, I waited in line to meet him and get my copies signed. When it was my turn, he asked me what I did for a living. "I'm the Marketing Director for a large architecture firm." He looked away, signed my books, and was done with me. Not that I expected a whole conversation, but it was clear to me that the man didn't have much respect for what I did for a living.
So what? I thought to myself. Who cares what he thinks? But I've actually been chewing on this ever since, turning it over and over again in my head. Is the substance of marketing really lies?
I believe that my purpose at Gensler is actually to serve the truth, to help our staff and our clients get access to information about our experience and our capabilities, and to collaborate with staff members on communications to clients that clearly present what we're proposing to do, how long it's going to take, how we're going to do it, and how much it's going to cost. I'm not interested in deceiving anyone. It's not worth it. It's not necessary. It's not professional.
But when Tufte thinks of marketing, he isn't thinking of me. He's thinking of commercials. He's thinking of packaging design. He's thinking of politicians. He's thinking of communications that attempt to persuade you to do something (usually to buy something), and that are inherently subjective, including all the information that serves the argument, and ignoring all the other data.
Are all commercials lies? Perhaps.
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