Criticism helps us to understand good and bad design

Haydn Cooper seems to think that the pages of Design Week are full of bullies, criticising the hard work of dedicated designers (DW 16 March). This is not so – very little criticism of design ever appears in DW or anywhere else. Indeed, this lack of criticism is one of the principal reasons why design is so undervalued by many in industry and business.

Because so little is understood about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ design, too many designers get away with presenting lazy, uninspired, ineffective work to clients, who then wonder why they fail to gain any business benefit from it.

Designers have a duty to point out poor design – if we don’t, then we are condoning it.

Rick Osman, Partner, Highwire, Amersham, HP6 5AE