lowcost

‌design for a low-cost world

id-lab, st. petersburg, 27th february 2009

the question is easy: if ryanair or easyjet can fly us at 1/20 of the normal cost, why can’t we develop product (or exhibition) design with the same principles? could we envision a new museum where we spend 10k euro rather than 1ml euro?

we live in a world where the new keyword is “crisis”. even the best practices, companies and architects are collapsing…

henry paulson, launched “TARP” (troubled asset relief program), in the following slides you will see an explanation about its functioning…

rem koolhaas CCTV’s skyscraper in beijing, caught on fire: the landmark of a new era, is now gone. power and force has been replaced by gloom and despair

of course, if the previous world collapsed, this idea of “having to reshape a new one� is very charming and interesting (especially if you are a designer and/or an architect). here above koln, 1945 (sorry for being a little bit cynical: still, the only chance to move on is to look for the glass being half-full).

chairman mao (quoting confucius) used to say: “everything under heaven is in utter chaos, the situation is excellent� how can we translate this into design field, AD 2009?

public institutions, don’t have anymore money to run systems and services. no more money to run libraries, sport facilities, transportation systems, health care and all the rest‌

private companies are even worse. the old products, no one wants them anymore, still, for the time being, no-one knows what will be the new products fitting the desires and necessities of a completely new world.

all in all this is great moment for the ones who have new concepts and new ideas. this is the best moment to work on your creativity, insight, experimental attitudes: people are desparate, people will listen to you (because they have to, because they need new ideas, because their work is collapsing)

in italy for thirty years under the borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced michelangelo, leonardo da vinci and the renaissance. in switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? the cuckoo clock (orson welles)

make the “phone call experiment”. what is the phone call experiment? call a person, whoever, the more important, the better it is. he/she can be the CEO of a company, the mayor of the city, the head of the fancy museum… tell him/her: “listen, i’ve got an idea that will fix all your problems” you’ll get an appointment within the week.

of course, you still need to have the “idea”. the idea has to be good, feasible, viable. you must find a way to get paid…. anyway, now it is great, because normally no-one would listen to you. this is a great chance: now you succeed or fail because of the quality of your ideas, not because of your connections, because of the capital you have, because of external factors…

make sure your idea is simple and easy to understand. it has to be an “elevator pitch�: something you can explain in the 30 second run of an elevator. iImagine you meet bill gates in the elevator: you have apx 20 seconds to explain your concept and trying to convince him to fund you.

http://www carrozzeria. images/ formazione Centro2060 ere.jpg

warning # 1: we want to be “meccanico”, not “carrozziere”

in italy, we have two different business. the “meccanico” (mechanic), who is the guy who fix the engine and the mechanical part of your car. and then we have the “carrozziere” (no word in english), the guy who fix the bodywork of the car, its “skin”. in these days, mechanics have a lot of work, their business is doing very well (before to buy a new car, you fix it over and over). at the same time, for “carrozzieri” is disaster: no-one fix the little damages on body works anymore. “meccanico” and “carrozziere” used to do a very similar activity, very similar business. in this new world, we want to be on the “meccanico” side, not on the “carrozziere”…

warning # 2: don’t forget the vespa scooter‌

piaggio, the company of vespa used to be in airplane business: most of the italian bombers of world war II were built by piaggio.

In 1945 italy was shattered, no need for airforce bombers, a complete business without “market�. what to do? what to do with all these little components and parts left in the factories? the question for mr. d’ascanio was simple: use the little engine used to sparkle the big ones, to make some kind of new system of transportation.

so… the same engine used as a component of the bigger system used by the airforce bomber, became the main propeller for the little vespa scooter. of course, very impressive this system where d’ascanio invented the vespa when the concept of scooter was not existing yet…

also, this moment calls for new languages, new dictionaries, a complete new set of communication tools‌ this is absolutely great!

now, we can do all kind of things. to take materials from the past, to change their meaning, their function, to use them in a completely different way‌ above, the famous square in lucca: two thousand years ago, it was a roman anphiteatre. then, through the century the original building changed its function, meaning, organization.. still, the shape factor remained the same‌

casy study #1: the way ryanair flies people at 1/20th of the normal cost

casy study #2: iPhone marketing strategy (or, how vodafone is able to sell 500 euro phones in a moment no-one has money)

casy study #3: ikea concept. imagine you go to a restaurant and they tell you that you have to cook yourself your own dinner. this is what ikea does with the furnitures: we have to build them up ourselves. and we are very happy‌

casy study #3: the book-on-demand idea: everyone can write, publish and sell his/her own book‌

casy study #3: the book-on-demand idea: naba design school yearbook (or, how to transform horrible constraints into a lovely result)

casy study #4: esterni for “fuori-salone” share-a-bed concept

casy study #5: esterni for salone del mobile, “casa del designer�

casy study #7: holocaust museum for the jewish community in rome

casy study #7: diffuse restaurant in the city

casy study #8: compasso di latta, by riccardo dalisi

casy study #9: bruno munari, sculture da viaggio

casy study #10: enzo mari, autoprogettazione

casy study #11: apple iphone, make your own application‌

casy study #12: crispin jones watches (special process)