CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 2009
A studio in two parts: Individual Projects (7) & Car of the Future (5) Soumitri Varadarajan Industrial Design Program RMIT University Melbourne/ Australia
The Campaign is an interesting way of speaking about a particular kind of project - one that involves working with communities and implementing change. Often in these situations the forces against change may not be overt - though sometimes they are but equally the established manufacturers and service providers are not interested in adopting the solution of the designer. This may be because they are set in their ways, see no need for change or the process of change requires too much effort. This is the classic ‘inertia’ that established agencies have - and this is also a situation where the designer may have stumbled upon a paradigm shift or a different way of looking at the situation.
When the ‘big’ agency says - ‘forget it’ to the idea of the designer we have a problem. Should the designer walk away and save themselves the bother or should they stay and provide the solution/ product/ service themselves? In the ‘new inventors’ the inventor/ designer goes ahead and develops the product and becomes a manufacturer. But this usually takes years and years of working away. Designers are of the view that they must not hang around doing just one thing - which is sensible as they cant make a living on the job then - and that they should move on after really short/rapid stints at any one job/ project.
Can one walk away from communities? Obviously not - and here lies one problem. Is the designer equipped to function in a project that involves them hanging around to see the implementation of their ideas? Not necessarily I would say - but they can function in this environment - by developing their skills as they go along. Which makes the acquisition of the skills as a student worth while.