If you’ve ever thought design is about more than making things look good, Jorge Frascara’s Graphic Design for the People is essential reading. But just in case you skipped that lecture (or snoozed through it), here’s the short version!
Frascara makes a bold, compelling case for graphic design as a human-centered practice. Not designing for the sake of aesthetics, awards, or the designer’s ego, but design that works, that helps, that communicates.
Design as Social Action
Frascara sees design as deeply social. Web design aims to solve real communication problems, whether in public health, education, or institutional settings.
Though he wrote in a pre-Figma, pre-AI-assistant world, the challenges he tackled are just as urgent today. And his core idea still resonates: good design is clear, purposeful, and ethical.
To get there, designers must understand their audience, their context, and the real-world implications of every visual choice.
Who Are We Designing For?
Frascara warns against self-referential design. The goal isn’t to please clients or impress other designers. It’s to serve users. And that means:
- Doing research
- Listening
- Empathizing
Designing for people means accounting for different cognitive abilities, literacy levels, and cultural backgrounds. If a message confuses, misleads, or excludes, it’s not the user’s fault. It’s the designer’s.
Measure It, Don’t Just Defend It
For Frascara, good design isn’t about style or personal taste. It’s about effectiveness:
- Does it work?
- Does it inform?
- Does it produce the intended outcome?
This turns design into a process of testing, iterating, and validating, not defending a portfolio piece on a whim.
Collaboration Is Key
Frascara also champions interdisciplinary teamwork. Whether it’s creating a health campaign, a civic app, or an educational tool, design doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Designers should work alongside doctors, educators, sociologists, and yes, even users themselves.
Because the best design isn’t just for people: it’s created with them.
The Designer’s Ethical Responsibility
For Frascara, neutrality is a myth. Design communicates values. It can include or exclude, clarify, or manipulate.
So designers have an ethical duty to ask:
- Who am I serving?
- What impact will this have?
Purpose-driven design means owning that responsibility, not avoiding it.
Final Thought: Design to Serve, Not to Shine
Revisiting Frascara is a reminder: design is not self-expression, it’s service. Our role is to help people understand their world, make informed decisions, and navigate life with more clarity. And it’s as relevant now as it’s ever been.
Let’s keep designing like it matters, because it does.