Are we obsessed? by Adam Bloomfield

Graphic Design: Are We Obsessed?

Adam Bloomfield BLO10297850 BA Design for Graphic Communication 03 Contents 04 Introduction 04 Initial Perceptions 05 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 07 Testing 13 Conclusion

Introduction ‘Graphic design is an idiosyncratic business. The term seems currently at it’s most indefinable.’ Roberts and Wright (2010: 6) Graphic design seems to me to be, at its core, a paradoxical discipline where completely contrasting processes and elements combine to produce both purposeful and aesthetically conscious communication. Creativity has been seen as a chaotic and enigmatic “phenomenon” gifted to a minority of our species. Seemingly unteachable, you either have it or you don’t. For centuries humans have found it difficult to explain the creative process and of course there is no one accepted template to follow in order to replicate that eureka moment. However graphic design seems to combine the unknown qualities of limitless creative possibilities and artistic statements, within a framework of well established and respected guidelines and practices. The systematic and methodical design practice juxtaposed against imagination and lateral thinking when successful, balances perfectly to produce beautiful yet informative outcomes. Because of this unusual mixture of attributes, designers are often posses an eclectic arsenal of characteristics. Unlike the chaos and turbulence embodied by the artist, where emotion and introspection dictate the outcome, designers seek to find order and meaning, and answer a question or produce a solution. The outcome of their work is based around the needs of the audience and not necessarily dictated by the authors’ opinion. In his writings on how designers think, Lawson states ‘Designers must solve externally imposed problems, satisfy the needs of others and create beautiful objects’ (2006: 153). However there are no definitive instructions for how this process can be completed, design is not a science and the design process can be refined but not perfected. Good design requires some unknown qualities, a little bit of magic or unexpected inspiration that even the most diligent of pupils will fail to conjure without possessing that creative spark that sets the artist out from the rest of the population. I believe that this rather specific skill set demonstrates a common identity that designers share. I think this can be seen in our practice but also in our personalities and behaviour. If designers are all born with a natural propensity for design it is perfectly logical that we have collective behavioural tendencies. The pattern I have noticed and want to explore is the necessity for orderliness. I believe designers are subconsciously inclined to find order and complete tasks systematically even if this is not necessary to reach the end goal. Compulsions to develop and create processes and find order and comfort in the world around them. This rationale has led me to believe that graphic designers share characteristics with sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and I wish to conduct a study to investigate my perceptions. I plan to use a mixture of recognised psychological diagnosis strategies and devise my own practical tests to record and analyse behavioural patterns graphic designers display, specifically in their lives outside of their practice. I aim to record whether or not there is a consistency between designers’ behavioural tendencies and whether or not designers have a propensity towards OCD. I would like to find out whether this behaviour informs or has an impact on the creative process with the aim to evaluate my own practice against my findings at the end of the research.

Initial Perceptions The practice of graphic design continues to expand, and in the 21st century with current pace of technical advances, at an ever increasing rate. Such a vast and diverse industry, it is impossible to definitively categorise its disciplines and practitioners. However there are certain factors, which differentiate the practice of a designer to other creative pursuits. Graphic design projects predominantly follow a variant of this simplified process, a client employs designer to convey a message to specified audience. In this way design differs from other creative pursuits where an outcome is produced without a purpose or simply to satisfy the creators desire to produce the outcome. Whereas practices such as painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, furniture production etc. can produce work not intended for any purpose other than to be aesthetically appealing or challenging, graphic design by nature has a purpose, a source and an audience. ‘Designers must consciously direct their thought process towards a particular specified end, although they may deliberately use undirected thought at times. Artists, however, are quite at liberty to follow the natural direction of their minds.’ Lawson (2006: 141). There are

inevitably, arguable exceptions to this notion, as with all creative practices the outcomes of projects are assessed subjectively and can therefore be difficult to accurately and unanimously define a projects purpose, message and whether these were successfully achieved. Graphic design is often interchangeable with the term visual communication and also described as problem solving. Whether the elements such as the client or the target audience have been defined, all graphic design projects will fit into definable demographics. Projects can be self initiated by the designer/for the designer but these projects will still follow the aforementioned pattern. ‘[The term graphic design is] readily applied to both a small, self initiated niche project produced by a one person practice and to the highly commercial work of a multinational and interdisciplinary agency.’ Roberts and Wright (2010: 6). Graphic Design as an industry encompasses personal self directed projects to international corporate business, even though there are many ways to go about design projects there is usually a traceable process, however any such endeavour is subjective and some disagree, ‘Creativity isn’t a process at all.’ Griffin and Morrison (2010: 7). This ‘disputed’ process can be linear and follow: the problem is researched, defined; ideas are generated, developed, before a final outcome is reached, pattern. This can also take the form of a cyclical process where ideas and concepts our continually refined and tested developed. Skolos, and Wedell write ‘While the design process is seldom linear, for the purposes of examining the topic, we have constructed a chronological model: Research, Inspiration, Strategies for Actualizing Ideas, Narrative, Abstraction, Development and collaboration.’ (2012: 1). Designers noticeably have a critical eye and will often look for or notice problems with the way ‘things’ work or our produced. In my own observations graphic designers often complete mundane and everyday tasks subconisously exhibiting their tendencies both for systematical and logical processes, finding order and aesthetic appeal. Common graphic design principals such as hierarchy of size, colour, usage and importance are visible in the completion of household tasks. For instance I have observed designers; washing crockery and cooking utensils from largest to smallest so they are more conveniently stacked and put away, hanging clothes according to their colour and tone (presumably so they are more easily match and worn with other items), ordering books on bookshelves by size or colour instead of alphabetically by author, and giving items on shelves priority based on the frequency of use. These tendencies are definitely not exclusively displayed by graphic designers and can all be considered quite rational and logical ways of simplifying tasks and easing decision-making. However many people consider the insistence of completing everyday tasks in such a thought out and formal manner quite fastidious and unnecessarily excessive, concurrent perhaps to the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the presence of one or both of the following anxiety based issues in a person’s conscious; Obsessions: persistent and repetitive thoughts or images that intrude the consciousness and cause disruption. Paranoid fears, unreasonable concerns and perfectionism are common manifestations. Thoughts or images are intrusive, unpleasant and produce and high level of anxiety. Common themes can be excessive worries of dirt, cleanliness and contamination and lack of personal safety and being at risk of danger or attack. Compulsions: being compelled to perform certain repetitive tasks or behaviours multiple times often to seek relief from obsessive thoughts. This behaviour is intended to prevent danger, regimented rituals are often performed to reassure the sufferer such as washing hands for cleanliness or checking locks for security however the relief is only temporary and as such the actions have to be frequently repeated. Often compulsions tend to be a larger obstacle to leading a normal social or working life. For instance, being obsessed with being burgled causing a sufferer to repeatedly check doors and windows are locked before being able to sleep and not feeling comfortable until the action has been repeated 10 times. Classified as an anxiety disorder, OCD is connected with feeling a lack of safety, and seeking to control your environment in order to feel more comfortable and safe. Suffers’ often

display increased levels of orderliness, a constant search for safety, and an inability to deal with uncertainty. When levels of anxiety, or behaviour caused by anxiety disrupt daily (social, domestic, working) life the condition is considered psychotic and treatment is necessary. OCD: Martin, C (2014, 10th October). Telephone interview “OCD is characterized by uncontrollable intrusive thoughts and action that can only be alleviated by patterns of rigid and ceremonial behaviour. Symptoms frequently cause considerable distress and interference with daily social or work activities. There may be a major preoccupation with the smallest of details in daily life. Obsessive ideas frequently involve contamination, dirt, diseases, germs, real/ imagined trauma, or some type of frightening/unpleasant theme. People recognize their obsessive ideas do not make sense but are unable to stop them. These obsessive thoughts frequently lead to compulsive behaviours as the person tries to prevent or change so dreaded event. They frequently repeat activities over and over again. (E.g., washing hands, cleaning things up, checking locks.)” “Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is characterized by perfectionism and inflexibility. A person with an Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder becomes preoccupied with uncontrollable patterns of thought and action. Symptoms may cause extreme distress and interfere with a person’s occupational and social functioning.” “The former (OCD) is characterized by anxiety, while the latter is not a disorder but a personality type who may function quite well without anxiety or distress. If you have OCD, you do or think things you don’t like doing, which makes you unhappy or distressed. If you have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, you may do the same things, but you may not mind. In fact, you may like doing or thinking such things” Davis (2008: 14) As stated earlier, I have observed a noticeable pattern of behaviour in peers and colleagues of mine performing household tasks to excessive levels of detail, or employing particular systems. This unnecessarily heightened level of accuracy in everyday task can be either sub-conscious or intentional but is considered excessive or over the top in relation to the importance of the task. Sufferers of OCD also carry out everyday tasks to what normalised society would consider excessive levels of detail and also repetition. Exact precision is taken in completing these tasks each time in the same way the designer employs a specific system to complete at task that could be performed to a satisfactory result in a random manor. Initially I can see two main differences in these patterns of behaviour. The first is motivation. A sufferer of OCD is compelled to wash their hands because of and overbearing fear of their hands being dirty and this causing contamination or illness. A designer may wash their hands as thoroughly and using a certain devised system, but this is more likely to be a subconscious routine usually performed because the designer finds it provides a preferred and satisfactory result after trying a variety of ways of washing their hands. The same behaviour may be being displayed, but like the difference between OCD and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, it is only when the reasoning behind the behaviour is caused by levels of anxiety or worry that, or the behaviour itself becomes an obstacle to a functioning domestic/social life. The second difference is the frequency of the noticed behaviour. Although both factions perform tasks to higher levels of detail, compulsive behaviour nearly always manifests itself in frequent repetition of a task, often performed a specified number of times. The difference seems to be that designers perform everyday tasks often subconsciously, but can rationalise if questioned why they have done so in a particular way, even if this is considered to be to an unnecessary level of detail for the task in hand. Whereas a sufferer of OCD performs a certain task to an unnecessary level of detail or a certain amount of times to try and ease irrational fears of anxiety based on an impending future event that they have obsessive thoughts of, e.g. lack of cleanliness causing illness. Both the designers and OCD sufferers search for orderliness when completing these simple tasks. The OCD sufferer looks to control certain situations in order to feel comfortable or safe and to counteract and minimise the irrational and uncontrollable worries they are afflicted by. Designers also search for order, this is likely to be due do their inherent propensity for problem solving and systematic processes. Although not a negative attribute, or not severe enough to

cause psychological problems, this behaviour in designers appears to be intuitive as apposed to conscious decision, at least when exhibited in everyday tasks that don’t need improving or refining.

Testing

With the help and consultation of both a Physcotherapist and Neuroscience student I devised the following improvised experiments in the hope of observing and defining obsessive behaviour in designers. I asked 50 graphic design students and practicing designers to fill out a generalised anxiety disorder assessment form. Anxiety is considered to be the root cause of mental afflictions such as OCD and therefore I reasoned that if I could gauge whether designers suffered from higher levels of anxiety, this could go some way to explaining behavioural similarities between designers and OCD sufferers. The assessment is made up of 6 questions which are answered with a scale from 0-4, the patient has to choose which value represents the amount of time or level of anxiety caused by various factors over the past 2 weeks. These values are combined to produce a score out of 24. On average, mental health patients who have been diagnosed with OCD, score 10.0 and above and those that have been diagnosed with OCD and Panic disorder, score over 13.0. However this assessment is by no means airtight and a large level of discrepancy could be expected in my results. Firstly the assessment is supposed to be conducted in the form of an interview delivered by trained psychologists who would use a number of other techniques as well as their expert opinion to make a medical diagnosis. This is because aspects of psychology are incredibly subjective, circumstances and variable factors mean we all process and rationalise our emotions differently and two patients subjected to the exactly the same conditions can react with completely different levels of anxiety. Secondly we all experience anxiety and a certain level of anxiety in our everyday lives would be considered normal. Illnesses such as OCD are only considered psychotic when levels of anxiety, or behaviour caused by anxiety disrupt daily (social, domestic, working) life, therefore someone could experience very high levels of anxiety that don’t disrupt their ability to function in these categories, and not be diagnosed with a disorder. As stated by Lawson in How Designers Think, ‘Cognitive psychology is one of the most problematic fields of science since it involves investigation of something we cannot see, hear, or touch.’ (2006: 131). Of the 50 participants, 72% scored over 10.0, the average score of an OCD patient. 44% of the participants’ results were concurrent with a patient diagnosed with both OCD and Panic Disorder. These results, although seemingly congruent with my earlier predictions were much higher than I’d expected. I believe this is for the following reasons: Firstly the assessment wasn’t delivered in its intended form. I used an online survey generator to email the assessment to designers (fig 2). Although I ensured the wording of the questions was as clear and straight forward as possible, without having someone qualified on hand to re-define any of the questions for the participants, and ensure answers were consistent, it is fair to assume that my results will include exaggerations and underestimations. People also tend to answer questions with the answer they think they are expected to give instead of the truth. Secondly over half of my participants were students, the majority of them in their final year and currently completing projects and reports that will count towards the class of their degree. It is safe to assume the pressures of their academic studies are causing them a reasonable amount of anxiety, which may or may not continue throughout their careers post graduation. And finally both whilst studying and practicing professionally designers work for clients and too deadlines. The pressure of needing to fulfil a brief and impress a client, or delivering an outcome by a deadline can cause a certain amount of anxiety which would far from disrupting the process of the project, be a normal and necessary factor in completing a project to a satisfactory standard and on time. Regardless of the accuracy of my GAD assessment and whether or not my results are solid enough to make an OCD diagnosis, it is safe to conclude that designers are conscious of their anxiety levels and many consider themselves to suffer from frequent anxious thoughts. My second test was conceived to gain an honest insight into designers’ behavioural patterns aside from their professional lives. My aim was to see how orderly designers subconsciously are and how this manifests in their private lives. I felt that this would give a more honest perspective than how the designers conducted themselves in their professional lives, as it

is likely they would alter their behaviour in front of clients or employers to suit the situation. I wanted to record something visually that represented how orderly the designers were and that could be analysed, initially I intended to photograph designers workspaces however I decided designers who worked in studios or for companies may have certain practices or expectations imposed on them and their work space would therefore not be indicative of how they choose to work given the freedom to do so however they pleased. I then considered analysing how designers organized their personal bookshelves at home, the problem being there are a number of prescribed and accepted ways of organizing books, such as alphabetically by author, and therefore this would be unlikely to indicate the inherent orderliness of the designer. I settled on asking designers to photograph the interior of their wardrobe so I could assess how it was organized and whether or not the participant was content with this. This would hopefully indicate how orderly the designers were but more interestingly whether or not they were satisfied with this level of orderliness. If a wardrobe was organized to a ‘reasonable’ level but the person in question was unsatisfied with this, it would suggest they have higher than average levels of orderliness, but are able to overlook the need to tidy their wardrobe to this level as an excessive and irrational desire, therefore not displaying the compulsive symptoms of OCD. I produced and circulated a digital flyer with instructions of how to complete this task. However I received far fewer responses than the Anxiety assessment survey. I believe this was mostly because the task I had asked people to complete involved a taking a rather private photograph, which someone could be sensitive or embarrassed about sharing. It also would take more time and effort than completing an online survey, which could be done immediately on receipt of the email. Taking a photograph and emailing it to someone is a self directed action as opposed to replying to a digital survey sent to you, never the less I received some photographs. Only 2 of the 9 shown were form men and the rest women. I consider the top three of these photographs to be very orderly, clothes are clearly ordered by garment first, then colour and tone, then print. Very deliberate and obvious consideration has gone into the organization of these wardrobes and I would imagine this level of orderliness is apparent in other aspects of these peoples’ daily lives. They definitely display levels of orderliness and control parallel to that of an OCD sufferer. The middle three photographs I would consider normal, clothes have been hung up properly and there is some distinction between different garments such as trousers and jackets however items haven’t been categorized by noticeable patterns like colours, material or purpose. Clothes can be found and the orderliness of these wardrobes wouldn’t hinder the owner from finding an item of clothing, however they are not a systematic or structured as the wardrobes above them. From this level of orderliness I wouldn’t expect these designers to exhibit OCD tendencies but it is possible that other aspects of their lives are more meticulous.

The bottom three photographs show very little order at all. Some of the clothes haven’t

been hung up at all and others are falling from their hangers. No discernible patter is visible and garments are randomly stored. These pictures suggest a lack of orderliness is present in these participants’ lifestyles. I wouldn’t imagine they display many if any visible symptoms of OCD. There was no district trend or correlation through my photographs and I categorized them equally into 3 groups I will name Hyper Orderliness, Normal Orderliness and Lack of Orderliness. Most of the participants were women however I feel that is more likely to be due to an interest in clothes and being interested in the relationship I was attempting to analyse between how people organize their clothes and inherent behavioural traits. Interestingly though the two male participants fell into the Hyper and Normal categories, however there aren’t enough results to consider this a trend. I therefore consider this excursive failed to demonstrate similarities in designers and OCD patient’s behaviours. For my final test I asked designers to build a structure with children’s wooden building blocks. I gave them 5 minutes in which to complete the task and a selection of wooden blocks of different colours and shapes to do so, they could use the blocks in anyway they choose to build their structure. When the five minutes was up I asked them to stop building. I photographed the structure and then asked the participant do dismantle it. I then asked the participants to put the building blocks back into a box I’d provided. Although I implied the ‘test’ was over what I was really trying to observe was how the participants put the building blocks back into the cardboard box, by allowing them to think this wasn’t part of the test, I was hoping they would complete this task with minimal conscious thought and not modify their actions based on the result they assumed I was looking for. By encouraging them to have no personal investment in how the blocks are transported or stored I hoped I would see how they would naturally complete the task and therefore how orderly they were. Unfortunately, as with my photographic exercise, I struggled to find as many willing participants as I’d hope for. I filmed 5 designers completing this experiment and photographed their results before explaining the real part of the exercise I would be analysing to them. Two of

the five designers threw all the building blocks back in the box with no thought or system. The remaining three each devised a system of some kind. From the photographs, one has obviously arranged the blocks into groups by colour, another has grouped certain shapes together and the third seems to have attempted to make the various shapes tessellate. The building blocks fit much better within the box if they are arranged in some way and the lid can only be fitted if this has occurred. It is worth noting that two of the three designers who choose to use a system to put the building blocks away, asked if they had a time limit as in the decoy challenge. To this I replied they could take as long as they liked, I didn’t inform the participants this unless they asked. It is possible the participants decision whether to choose a system of putting the building blocks away was based on how much time they thought they had to do this. All my participants enjoyed playing with the building blocks, I don’t think there is much of a correlation between the designers results, however I was not surprised to observe that some of the designers did choose to use a system or pattern to complete the task. As before I feel there is too little data to apply a universal trend. After further reading I am not surprised at my broad field of results, Lawson writes ‘Typical intelligence test questions ask the subject to find a correct answer, usually through logical thought, where as the creativity test question is more likely to have many acceptable answers.’ (2006: 152) this definitely applies to my exercises as they both focused on how the subject solved a problem, and it was up to them, themselves, to judge whether or not they had successfully achieved this.

Conclusion In summary, I’ve realised graphic design is the sum of many elements. Designers are challenged with solving communication problems with purposeful and beautiful solutions. To do this they must employ equal measures of logical and lateral thinking, and in practice I’ve discovered that methodical research and abrastract inspiration can have equal value in the direction of a project. ‘Many forms of design then, deal with both precise and vague ideas, call for systematic and chaotic thinking, need both imaginative thought and mechanical calculation.’ Lawson (2006: 4). I agree with Griffin and Morrison who state ‘Ideas, like babies, decide when to be born. They defy prediction.’ (2010: viii) a healthy amount of distraction and procrastination can work wonders for creative projects. Emulating others ideas or processes will never lead to refinement or advancement. The ability to work to deadlines and with clients professionally whilst maintaining spontaneous creativity requires both freedom and self-control. Controlling ones surroundings can be necessary too achieve certain results, however there is a point at which certain levels of control can become restricting. OCD sufferer’s compulsive behaviour is a direct reaction to obsessive thoughts; by taking excessive control over a certain aspect of their life they feel more comfortable about uncontrollable circumstances. Controlling tendencies manifest as extreme orderliness, often with personal hygiene, safety and tidiness. Designers to often employ orderliness in hierarchies within their work, the process with which they approach projects and their creative outcomes. This orderliness can also seep into personal lives. From my practical experiments, I’ve realised design is far less prescriptive than I first thought. All of my tests showed both the result I were inconclusive, they didn’t reliably highlight higher levels of anitexty, orderliness or obsession and encompassed nearly all possible outcomes with very few strong trends. It is far more likely that similar tendencies I believe I have witnessed between designers and OCD sufferers are caused by different factors and are only coincidentally recognisable. It is however definitely true that both designers and OCD sufferers often display high attention to details and prioritise commonly undervalued actions. I would like to study the personality of graphic designers further as this investigation has shown my initial perceptions to not necessarily be accurate and designer’s personalities are far more diverse and individual than I first thought. I would like to further observe designers in social situations, I feel understanding better designers personalities and their strengths and weaknesses when engaging with other people could benefit my own development as a designer and help me to make myself as accessible as possibly to broadest range of people and be able to effectively communicate what I can offer as a designer to them or their business.

Bibliography

Davis, J D (2008). Obsession. London: The University of Chicago Press. Hollis, R (2001). Graphic Design: A Concise History. London: Thames & Hudson Lawson, B (2006). How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified, 4th Edition. Oxford: Architectural Press Griffin ,W G and Morrison, D (2010). The Creative Process Illustrated. Cincinnati: How Books McQuiston, L and Kitts, B (1987). Graphic Design Source Book. London: Macdonald Orbis Noble, I and Bestley, R (2005). Visual Research: An Introduction To Research Methodologies In Graphic Design. Lausanne: AVA Roberts, L and Wright, R (2010). Design Diaries: Creative Process in Graphic Design. London: Laurence King Skolos, N and Wedell, P (2012). Graphic Design Process: From Problem to Solution. London: Laurence King.

Picture References Fallon, R (2013) Wardrobe Holliday, P (2013) Wardrobe Russell, K (2013) Wardrobe

Parsons, O (2013) Wardrobe Cole, A (2013) Wardrobe Casali, L (2013) Wardrobe

McDermott, S (2013) Wardrobe Mullan, S (2013) Wardrobe Fernandez, S (2013) Wardrobe

Bloomfield, A (2014) Boxes x6

Interview Transcript

Christine Martin Psychotherapist (2013). Interviewed by Adam Bloomfield. via telephone. London. (18/10/2013)

OCD is in essence one or both of the following anxiety based issues; Obsession- persistent thoughts/images that intrude the consciousness and cause disruption. Compulsions- being compelled to perform certain tasks/behaviours multiple times often to seek relief from obsessive thoughts.

Do graphic designers have a propensity for orderliness? Left brain; Sustained, Broad, Open, Vigilant, Alertness. Right brain; Narrow, Sharply Focused, Attention to Detail. What are the noticeable (generalised) signs of someone with OCD? Anxiety, upset easily, (anxiety, worried about things in the future)

For instance, being obsessed with being burgled, causing a sufferer to repeatedly check doors and windows are locked 10 times before being able to sleep. The disorder is connected with feeling a lack of safety, and Is OCD manageable and can someone live seeking to control your environment to feel more normally with the symptoms?Yes comfortable and safe. Is there a scale of severity with OCD, or a point Suffers often display increased levels of where it before which it is not considered a orderliness, a constant search for safety, and an problem? inability to deal with uncertainty. When levels of anxiety, or behaviour caused anxiety disrupt daily (social, domestic, working) Orderliness, the ability to focus (anticipation of life, this is considered psychotic. the future) > left percentile cortex Could obsessive tendencies lend themselves Right brain>>> emotional to certain professions? Certainly, orderliness to design. Create order to minimise anxiety? (OCD) = irrational Briefly how can you treat OCD?Cognitive behavCreate order to solve problem? (design process) iour therapy, exposure therapy EMDR = rational