Raw, cooked & everything in between.
Fan Sissoko, K1045278 MA Design for Development DDM002, June 2011 Kingston University
From designing for passive consumers to sharing design knowledge with active citizens and resourceful communities.
Can design “disengage itself from consumer culture as the primary shaper of its identity�? 1
From designing for passive consumers to sharing design knowledge with active citizens and resourceful communities.
1. Margolin, V. (2002) The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Can design “disengage itself from consumer culture as the primary shaper of its identity�?
If sustainable development depends on local self-reliance and active citizenship, what can designers do to facilitate the emergence of a more participatory society?
From designing for passive consumers to sharing design knowledge with active citizens and resourceful communities.
Can design “disengage itself from consumer culture as the primary shaper of its identity�?
If sustainable development depends on local self-reliance and active citizenship, what can designers do for a more participatory society?
From designing for passive consumers to sharing design knowledge with active citizens and resourceful communities. Do designers have a responsibility to demystify the creative process?
I. Values II. Structures III. Knowledge
http://www.mindfulmaps.com/ offerings/public-community-art/
Shifting aspirations. From designing for consumption to designing for engagement. Design as resourcefulness.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
design + consumerism
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
• as a profession, design “grew out of the industrial capacity for mass-producing goods” 2 • almost exclusively concerned with adding functional and aesthetic value to material goods, through manufacturing and advertising • “consumer-led” innovation3 • failed to consider “the needs of individuals and social groups who have little power in the market-place.” 3 2. Campbell, E. (2009). You know more than you think you do: design as resourcefulness & self-reliance. London: RSA. 3. Whiteley, Nigel (1993) Design For Society. London: Reaktion Books.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
“Never before in history have grown men sat down and seriously designed electric hairbrushes, rhinestone-covered shoe horns and mink carpeting for bathrooms, and then drawn up elaborate plans to make and sell these gadgets to millions of people.� 4
4. Papanek, Victor (1984) Design for the Real World: Human ecology and social change. 2nd edition. London: Thames and Hudson.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
Does it address real needs?
Does it solve or does it create problems?
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
If consumer goods do not address basic human needs, why do people buy them?
http://www.undrcrwn.com/blog/tag/kate-bingaman
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
If consumer goods do not address basic human needs, why do people buy them?
Consumption “is not just a way of life. It is life.” It is our way of “interacting with an evolving world.” It is a “process through which the external meanings and values, as signified by objects, are internalised by the consumer.” 5
They provide a “symbolic language in which we communicate with each other ... about what really matters to us: family, friendship, sense of belonging, community, identity, social status, meaning and purpose in life.” 6
5. Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy. London: Earthscan. 6. Jackson, T. 2009. Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
But really, what makes people keep buying them?
http://www.worldsbestinformation.org/2010/10/8-smart-ways-to-dump-your-e-junk.html
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
But really, what makes people keep buying them?
“Durability is designed out of consumer goods and obsolescence is designed in.” 5
“Like an itch that can never be scratched, the covetous search for the ultimate expression of self as mediated through manufactured objects appears to be endless.” 6
They fail. 5. Jackson, T. 2009. Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet. London: Earthscan. 6.Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.1 Design & Consumerism: a love story
submission to market economy
desirability is main focus
other meanings neglected
Designers have been too efficient at “trying to push consumers into market-based methods of wellbeing.” 7
7. Thorpe, Ann (2007) The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press.
needs expected to be met through “passive endeavours of visuality and materialism” 7
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.2. Reconsidering what we value
http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys-to-happier-living
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.2 Reconsidering what we value
If money is our single measure of prosperity...
... “capacities that are not scarce,” that we universally share and that make us human, are disregarded.8
8. Cahn, E. (2004). No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative. Washington: Essential Books.
If we see these capacities as worthless, “is it any wonder that our survival on this planet is in danger?” 8
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.2 Reconsidering what we value
We need to rebuild our system around the “core economy” and to value “the world of family and community where transactions take place that economists do not measure ... and where assets exist for which the market has no use.” 9
http://www.erinloveslove.com/2011/02/time-banking.html 9. Cahn, E. (2004). No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative. Washington: Essential
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.2 Reconsidering what we value
http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/five-ways-well-being-postcards
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.2 Reconsidering what we value
The challenge is then to shape a society that will allow people to “flourish beyond material pleasures.� 10
http://www.joannachoukeir.com/filter/work#1455846/DIY-Happiness-Game 10. Jackson, T. 2009. Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.3. Wy design then?
“In an environment that is screwed up visually, physically, and chemically, the best and simplest thing that designers ... could do for humanity would be to stop working entirely.� 11
11. Papanek, Victor (1984) Design for the Real World: Human ecology and social change. 2nd edition. London: Thames and Hudson.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.3 Why design then?
If objects are to our search for meaning, what food is to our need for subsistence, is it reasonable to advocate a world beyond products?
“What we should be pursuing is redirective behaviour, which steers consumers towards greener, and more sustainable, alternatives.� 12
Design for a sharing economy: services, not products.
12. Chapman, J. & Gant, N. (eds.). (2007) Designers, visionaries and other stories: an anthology of sustainable design essays. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.3 Why design then?
“Could the creation of wellbeing, not goods or services, be a new purpose for design?� 13
13. Fuad-Luke, A. (2007). Redefining the Purpose of (Sustainable) Design: Enter the Design Enablers, Catalysts in Co-Design. In Chapman, J. & Gant, N. (eds.). (2007) Designers, visionaries and other stories: an anthology of sustainable design essays. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.3 Why design then?
So design could be the solution?
It can “demonstrate new values in action” through tangible projects rather than through visions. 14
“To build possible scenarios of a sustainable society is the first and fundamental step to shift the designer’s role from the side of the problem generators to the one of the solution promoters.” 15
14. Margolin, V. (2002) The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 15. Manzini, E. (2007) The Scenario of a Multi-local Society: Creative Communities, Active Networks and Enabling Solutions. In Chapman, J. & Gant, N. (eds.). (2007) Designers, visionaries and other stories: an anthology of sustainable design essays. London: Earthscan.
I. Values Shifting aspirations I.3 Why design then?
Can wellbeing be delivered like a product or a service? Hmmm...
How can we reform social structures so that they provide opportunities for everyone to thrive beyond material comsumption?
II. Structures From designing for consumption to designing for engagement. II.1. Slow, local and connected: new structures for a sustainable society
Easy! Let’s create “islands of slowness!”16
16. Manzini, E. (2001) ‘Context-based well-being and the concept of regenerative solution. A conceptual framework for scenario building and sustainable solutions development’, Journal of Sustainable Product Design, (2002). [Online]. http://www.changedesign.org/Resources/Manzini/ManziniMenuMain.htm [Accessed: 25 March 2011]
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.1 Slow, local and connected
corporate ownership broadcasting disposability standardisation machine-made
community ownership interpersonal communication durability diversity handmade17
17. Thorpe, Ann (2007) The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press.
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.1 Slow, local and connected
Localisation:
Localism:
“shifting the focus of economic activity to local markets [and] local production”18
“devolving decision making to communities and local government”18
Less bureaucracy! “Local distinctiveness!”
Enabling: Not providing!
Resources! Practical support! Tools!
18. Hopkins, R. (2010). Some Reflections on ‘The Big Society’… [Online]. http://transitionculture. org/2010/07/06/3734/ [Accessed: 25 March 2011] http://rebeccagovehumphries.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/dscn3681.jpg
II. Structures From designing for consumption to designing for engagement. II.2. Decentralised innovation
I know!
We act!
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.2 Decentralised innovation
We need “assets based approaches, rather than needs based ones.�19
19.Britton, T. (2011). Handmade, Portraits of emergent new community culture [Online]. http://socialspaces.org/#460053/FREE-CHAPTERDOWNLOADS-FEB-2011 [Accessed: 25 March 2011]
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.2 Decentralised innovation
Social innovators: “People that have chosen not to delegate their future to the choices of policy or of the markets.� 20 Creative communities: Individuals working together to to fulfil their own needs, actively organise their own resilience, or add value to their everyday lives.
20. JĂŠgou, F. & Manzini, E. (2008). Collaborative Services, Social Innovation and Design for Sustainability. Milano: Edizioni POLI.design.
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.2 Decentralised innovation
Community? “Community interactions previously based on grievance or complaint are replaced with creative and meaningful engagement.� 21
21. Britton, T. (2011). Handmade, Portraits of emergent new community culture [Online]. http://socialspaces.org/#460053/FREE-CHAPTERDOWNLOADS-FEB-2011 [Accessed: 25 March 2011]
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.2 Decentralised innovation
Diffuse creativity22 & entrepreneurship: everyone is an expert.
Democracy: from representative to participative.
How does it change the politics of design?
22. JĂŠgou, F. & Manzini, E. (2008). Collaborative Services, Social Innovation and Design for Sustainability. Milano: Edizioni POLI.design. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SocialSpaces
II. Structures From designing for consumption to designing for engagement. II.3 Designing for emergence
“for”
“co-”
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.3 Designing for emergence
Uncertainty “changes fundamentally power relationships because it invites questions, the answers to which are not already pre-set. [It] encourages the participation of others to engage with each other in search of ideas not based on pre-established routines, nor on so-called best practices.� 23
23. Hamdi, N. (2004). Small Change, About the art of practice and the limits of planning in cities. London: Earthscan. http://www.uscreates.com/case_studies/co-designing-peer-support?offset=4
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.3 Designing for emergence
“Open design” • Where is the balance between structure & emergence, planning & spontaneity, universalism & adaptability? • How much of the process should be “cooked” by the designer, and how much should be left “raw” for the user to cook himself?22
22. Thorpe, Ann (2007) The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press. http://www.sea-communications.co.uk/what-we-think/article/43
II. Structures From consumption to engagement II.3 Designing for emergence
How can we genuinely “engage the user beyond simply buying and owning an artefact”? 23
“If designers were to practise restraint – leaving the job less than fully complete – could they activate people’s intrinsic motivation; their natural instinct to design?”24
23. Thorpe, Ann (2007) The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press. 24. Campbell, E. (2009). You know more than you think you do: design as resourcefulness & self-reliance. London: RSA.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness. III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
How can we further promote proactive behaviours? Can creativity be regarded as a resource in itself?
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
How could the confidence building mechanisms used during co-creation processes be spread throughout social structures so that “people who are not professional designers might acquire some capability to design for themselves�25?
25. Campbell, E. (2009). You know more than you think you do: design as resourcefulness & self-reliance. London: RSA.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
What do designers know, which is so valuable that it should be shared with everyone?
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”26 Level
Type
Motivation
Purpose
Example
4
Creating
Inspiration
‘express my creativity’
Dreaming up a new dish
3
Making
Asserting my ability or skill
‘make with my own hands’
Cooking with a recipe
2
Adapting
Appropriation
‘make things my own’
Embellishing a ready meal
1
Doing
Productivity
‘get something done’
Organizing my spices27
26. Sanders, E. & Stappers, P.J. (2008) Co-creation and the new landscapes of design [Online]. http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk [Accessed: 25 March 2011] 27. Simon, H. (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.1 Is creativity an undervalued resource?
Being told they can.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness. III.2 Design as literacy.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.2 Design as literacy
“confidence in creative process”
creative?
resourceful!
“readiness to improvise and prototype with resources available” “sense of how things are made and manufactured” “visual and spatial fluency”
28. Campbell, E. (2009). You know more than you think you do: design as resourcefulness & self-reliance. London: RSA.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.2 Design as literacy
I am told and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.2 Design as literacy
“But can design do more? Can it show you how the problem is to be solved without doing it for you?� 28
28. Campbell, E. (2009). You know more than you think you do: design as resourcefulness & self-reliance. London: RSA. http://www.mindfulmaps.com/casestudies/mapping-brixton-village/
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness. III.3 Design as challenging the status quo.
How? Why? Why not?
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.3 Design as challenging the status quo.
Understanding how things are made: reveals where and how one could intervene to make things more favourable for oneself.
enhances sense of ownership over external environment
increases confidence!
III. Knowledge Design as resourcefulness III.3 Design as challenging the status quo.
Construct and deconstructing our material environment is essential to keep challenging why things are agenced the way they are and to actively and creatively question what sort of future we are building.
http://www.studio-h.org/
If seeing the world like a designer is scanning the environment in search of opportunities for improvement, there is indeed a strong case for sharing design knowledge.