Design. Mark McGinnis

in common. Both deal with the concept of wholeness as mentioned in our original definition of integrity and, indeed, in our original definition of design itself. An honest person is a whole person, one who has not broken her or his integrity into pieces. Integrity is an area where some people see a deep crisis in our society. Integrity can be interpreted as a spiritual sense of wholeness and commitment as expressed by Heschel:

       The central problem of this generation is emptiness in the heart, the decreased sensitivity to the imponderable quality of the spirit, the collapse of communication between the realm of tradition and the inner world of the individual. The central problem is that we do not know how to think, how to pray, how to cry, or how to resist the deceptions of the silent persuaders. There is no community of those who worry about integrity. (251)

      To have integrity as an artist and designer is to have an honest approach to the concept, the production, and the distribution of your work. Integrity can and should extend beyond individual integrity and encompass the artist/designer’s responsibility to society and the environment. The ramifications of one’s art and design must be considered in a broader sense. The integrity of one person does make a difference. It makes a difference in what that person does and in the example that person sets for others. Integrity is a gift to yourself and to others.

      In the commercial arts designers can make a major difference in how responsibly our finite resources are used, in what materials to design for and what materials not to, and in how to design for the use of more renewable resources rather than continuing to design for nonrenewable materials. The designers can rethink package design in our society and eliminate the excessive packaging that adds to the snowballing garbage problem. Designers must decide what they will promote and what they will not. Will they create beautiful, luring advertisements to encourage people to smoke? Will they distort sexuality to sell nearly everything? Will they produce dazzling, creative ads that induce people to excessive alcohol consumption? These are questions of integrity.

       PROJECT #1: INSPIRATION, ORIGINALITY, CREATIVITY, AESTHETICS, and INTEGRITY - IN ONE ARTIST’S WORK

      objective: To apply the five concepts of this chapter to an artist or designer.

      procedure:

      1. Write a report on a nationally or internationally recognized artist or designer, one whom you admire and would like to learn more about. You may choose from any field of art and design. It should be an artist or designer who you can find adequate materials to research.

      2. The report should have four primary sections, one for each of the categories: inspiration, originality and creativity (combined), aesthetics, and integrity. Each section should explain in detail how the artist’s work and/or life relates to the concept. The report should be based on some library research but most of the report will be your own personal analysis. Some of the concepts are not going to be obviously explained in research information that has been written about the artist. You are going to have apply your understanding of the concept to the artist’s work and formulate your own opinion.

      3. All areas of the report using written sources (books, magazines, and minimal Internet) must acknowledge those sources using footnoting or the Works Cited procedure (as used in this text). This citing must include all direct quotes and all information that you have summarized from other sources.

      4. Photocopies of the artist’s work should be included with the report as supportive visuals. The report is to be word processed in 12 point Times New Roman font and presented in a clear plastic report folder with a title page listing your name, the project title, and your topic’s name..

      5. The report will be due at mid-term (date to be announced in class)

      The report will be evaluated for the depth in which you cover each area, format & presentation, writing skills, and source acknowledgement.