CONTEMPORARY CRAFT & CONSUMER ATTITUDES A Literature Review By Sophie Bain
The nature of the themes discussed in this literature review support contemporary attitudes towards mass consumption from varying viewpoints, allowing supporting and opposing arguments on the correct path of action to correct these attitudes. These will include the role of the user in determining the end use of designed objects; reappropriation & open ended design, the control aesthetics has over consumer choices & behaviours, nostalgia & the commodity, the effect of normalization on eco design and inappropriate growth directions in some consumer cultures. One of the most recognised researchers in the field of user centred design is Don Norman, his book “The Design of Everyday Things” is a common starting point for students of industrial design and engineering. Norman draws on his extensive academic career in cognitive science and experience with his design consultation company, Nielsen Norman Group, to give a comprehensive analysis of the user influence in design throughout history and its importance for the future of the industry. Norman believes aesthetics must be second to usability. The dilemma he presents is that if design is ruled only by aesthetics it will be beautiful but unusable; causing further wasted resources on modifications. However, if it is ruled by usability it is likely to be functional to the defined user yet unattractive, raising the issue of the importance of aesthetics in an emotional and social narrative. An example of these mixed motivations can be seen in the industry recognition and presentation of aesthetically concerned design awards recognising attractive yet flawed designs offering no social, environmental or economic benefit. During his travels to such museums and art galleries around the world, Norman found that usability was second also in their displays. While they looked spectacular, the exhibits were hard to understand and were therefore overlooking the purpose of the facilities. When confronted with this, the designers responded the records of high visitor rates and wondered why Norman was imagining problems that were irrelevant or non-existent. While he mostly refers to user centred design, Norman also touches on user input in the design process. During the redesign of two administration offices in Seattle, architect Sam Sloan proposed one building be designed under the suggestion of the workers, the other be designed by a professional team. Don Norman describes Methods in Design R & P
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the results of this project as an example the lack of industry recognition of successful user centred design. The effectiveness of the office designed partly by the workers increased productivity by 7% the following year, while the professionally designed office stayed at the same level of productivity, yet attained several awards from the American Institute of Architects. The idea of leaving room in professional design practice for the user to develop the outcome by way of intuitive interaction and re-appropriation, relates to the concept of open ended design discussed by Rob Trostle in his article The Power of Leaving Things Half Done. Steven Heller, author and graphic designer, invited Rob Trostle to give his experience with the world of professional design in his 2008 release Design Disasters: Great Designers, Fabulous Failures and Lessons Learned. Trostle identifies the stage of the design process which occurs after the product has entered the market and concerns itself with tweaking, adjusting and re-releasing until the product is ‘perfect’. He questions the value of this phase as its aim is to reach a point where the product can not possibly be improved, this is of course impossible. If this stage is replaced with consumer/user re-appropriation, the design will continue to develop in an organic manor resulting in a ‘perfect’ design for that individual. This in turn will remove pressure on industry to release models with slight improvements and adjust the consumer driven attitude toward commodities. This theory is also discussed by Hal Foster, scholar and art historian whose articles occasionally featured in October Magazine. In the 2001 edition, Fosters’ article The ABCs of Contemporary Design refers to the phenomenon as ‘running room’, where the design allows room for the user to freely interact with the object. Providing this freedom in the end use of a product can allow organic product development determined by the user rather than research and development departments, often resulting in more well received products enjoying a longer use life. In this way, Foster reminds us of the Bauhaus mentality and that it is possible to direct your lifestyle to be governed by the motto ‘Art as life and Life as art’. This as an approach from the user, whether it is subconscious or premeditated, that draws the commodities surrounding them into this lifestyle mix, ensuring they live through material objects that reflect themselves. Pauline Madge provides a new take on the final stage of the design process – normalization. Normalization is the final stage, if there can be, of the design process where the consumer or user becomes so accustomed to the products presence that it is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. For example, by following the design developments and consumer attitudes towards the domestic freezer, Elizabeth Shove & Dale Southerton map the normalization, or journey from luxury to necessity, using marketing examples. These examples demonstrate the motivation of the consumer to first own a freezer. They then move to suggest an Methods in Design R & P
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upgrade to a slightly more stylish freezer with all the features, and finally the advertisements assume the consumer will expect the freezer to come as part of their fridge. The notion carried by designers (and often engineers or marketers that find themselves in a similar position) that a new model must be released to combat a design flaw, drives these consumer attitudes. Through her investigation of the term ‘eco-design’, Madge describes this productive drive of design in relation (and contradiction) to ecological thought. Ecology in the design realm denotes the interaction between manmade objects and social existence. An all too frequent approach to innovation is to make slight or relevant improvements to existing designs, creating a domestic material culture, another branch of consumerism. This is of course not true innovation as by definition innovation is the implementation of ‘the new’. Pauline Madge suggests we should oppose such attitudes and reverse normalization; to turn the necessities back into luxuries. Given the above example, it is fair to think this may be a point we have moved beyond. However there are other consumer attitudes that can be played upon to direct future design trends. Anthropologist and advisor to the Greek Minister of Public Health, Nadia Seremetakis talks about the role of nostalgia in design development and purchasing power. Seremetakis explains how nostalgia is cultural defence against modernism, which she interprets as ‘global sameness’. The introduction of new senses brought to us by modernity creates a sensuous longing for past experiences. Nostalgia is to remember a past experience that only grows stronger and fonder with time - nothing tastes as good as the past. Younger generations hear these fond stories of the older ones around them and remember the emotional descriptions of objects seemed lost forever, creating a mystic and a desire to have it return, assuming it brings the memories with it. Both Pauline Madge and Nadia Seremetakis see that the productive drive of design is to blame for the loss of many nostalgic artefacts; these may be as simple as a type of fruit forcefully evolved into a ‘better’ tasting flavour and texture, the original seed pushed beyond return leaving older generations craving the simple enjoyment modernity has robbed them of. The more we design to improve motivated by social development, the further we get from the original luxury and the stronger the nostalgia. We then have a desire to go backwards in each individual and of a localised cultural influence or direction. Nostalgia is perhaps the proof that most design ‘improvements’ are unnecessary to the consumer and only provide opportunity for economic development for production. While economic growth is very often the force behind design for consumption, it does not suit all countries to invest in this direction. Former director of India’s National Institute of Design (NID), Ashoke Chatterjee, explains how this phenomenon can be best witnessed in India. Independent India has some of the most technologically advanced design, manufacture and research organisations in the world; however the majority of its residents live in poverty. The country is Methods in Design R & P
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Sophie Bain s3195033
divided by two directions, self-reliant systems of design (traditional crafts) promoted by Gandhi, and technological and scientific socialism as the ‘the way forward’. In 1921 Gandhi introduced the Swadeshi policy, a boycott of British made textiles. This focused on home production of looms and textiles and is now globally recognised as India’s biggest achievement in contemporary design and the backbone of the culture and economy. The two directions appeared after India declared independence in 1947. The developed world’s focus on technological advancement influenced the initial path, while the suggestions of design team Charles and ray Eames, invited by the government, resulted in the founding of NID in 1961. NID was the first institution in a developing country to recognise the design principles of the Bauhaus movement, in this case a blend of localised craft and technology. However, the technological effort continues at great cost to the country’s growth. It would seem that these observations prove the worth of the nostalgic values of traditional manufacture outlined by Nadia Seremetakis and the approach to ecological design and reversed attitudes to normalization suggested by Pauline Madge. The research undertaken for this literature review is an introduction to the level of awareness surrounding our consumption habits. The broad selection of authors, not always with a design background, gives an indication of the scale of impact a change in approach toward design process would have on the way we consume.
Methods in Design R & P
GRAP2225, Sem1 2010, Liam Fennessy
Sophie Bain s3195033