Throughout the course of the past semester our class was exposed to a range of issues and topics that deal with design and its role in the modern world. We learned more about different areas and controversies, as well as about interesting and influential practitioners in various fields. I have described below some of the topics that were of particular interest to me.
1. The vision of Bruce Mau
While I was familiar with some of Bruce Mau's work before, I certainly had not realised how prolific and influential he was. I true visionary, committed to sustainable multi-disciplinary design, with firm belief in the power of design to make the world a better place.
2. CSR – the bigger, the better?
On the topic of Corporate social responsibility (CSR), I've learned that the companies that have strongest policies and invest the most in CSR projects seem to all be global giants. This is not entirely surprising, as they have the financial resources to spare. On the other hand, through their global operations they often cause the most negative environmental impact of all. So it is positive to see them trying to improve their practices and give something back to local communities.
3. Are we all in a Czech Dream?
The documentary Ceský sen (Czech Dream) revealed, quite humorously, how advertising and the media affect and manipulate us. And it was made by two students. Thoroughly enjoyable, funny and thoughtful exploration of consumerism.
4. Insight from the masters – Milton Glaser
We all know who Milton Glaser is and what he has been doing through the years. However, what I was not familiar with was the extent of his involvement as a speaker for design. His essays and speeches – like Light & Dark, Ambiguity & Truth and 10 Things I've Learned – are eloquent, inspirational and full of insight.
5. Decode – art by programmers?
In my mind coding and art didn't go together. Then I visited the decode: digital design sensations exhibition at the V&A and learned more about its organiser Onedotzero. As a result I feel like my horizons on the subject have broadened and I have become more appreciative of the art itself.
6. Sustainable by design
I feel that the importance of sustainability is constantly growing as people are becoming more and more aware of our impact on the environment. In contrast to a few years ago, it has become an important consideration for designers and sustainable design has become a discipline in its own right. Reducing packaging, moving from print to digital, redesigning products, services and whole communities are some of the main directions of sustainable design.
7. Another dimension
Motions graphics and animation – they are prevalent today. Yet the trend seems to be towards a move to 3D – after Avatar gave it commercial credibility in the movie industry, it has moved into television with Sky launching a 3D channel in months. I am quite interested in the ways in which this extra dimension will change how motion graphics are created and perceived.
8. Packaging for the future
Carrying over from last semester’s sustainable metal cans project, the theme of 'green' packaging was expanded upon. My new research has led me to discover how companies are trying to make their packaging more efficient and eco-friendly, while reducing production costs in the process. A good example of radically updating a common product is the redesign of the gallon milk container by Walmart, which helped slash production, storage and transportation costs by more than half.
9. Philippe Starck and New Design – what's the use?
Starck is a renowned French designer, most famous for his work in the New Design style. A lot of his work is visually striking, but lacks sufficient functionality to appeal to someone like me. The Juicy Salif is a good example – a lemon squeezer that looks like the alien tripods from War of the Worlds, but apparently is not that good at squeezing lemons. Nice to look at, but not my cup of tea... or lemon squeezer.
10. Michael Moore – the social consciousness of America or another fame-hungry movie maker?
Michael Moore's documentaries have exposed many of the shortcomings of the American corporations and government. Yet, his methods of filming and stretching some of the facts seem curiously at odds with the kind of righteous image that he has created for himself. But yet still, I sympathise with many of his views and I am more willing to be slightly lenient with him rather than with the people he lampoons.
To sum up, I feel that throughout the semester my horizons have been broadened on a variety of subjects and I have picked up a few topics for further exploration in the future.
10 Things I've Learned / Critical Debates Task 8.2
Sustainable Design / Critical Debates Task 8.1
The main objective of sustainable design is to completely eliminate the negative impact we have on the environment through thoughtful design. Sustainable designs may include everything from small objects for everyday use to buildings, cities, etc.
Sustainable design gradually developed as a reaction to the environmental deterioration, the rapid population growth (and the associated rise in economic activity and overuse of natural resources), and to the widespread damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity.
I find sustainable design rather inspirational, as it causes us to look at everyday objects and conditions and try to make them not only more efficient, but better in general. It also upholds principles like "cradle to cradle," meaning that at the end of its lyfecycle a product can be easily recycled to provide the raw materials for its replacement.
I think that sustainable design is set to grow in all its different disciplines, as the need for it is greater than ever. I don't think that it will solve the environmental and resource problems by itself (the solution to most of them will be a new source of abundant, cheap and renewable energy); but sustainable design clearly has a major role to play both today and in the future.
A good example of sustainable, clever and innovative design – the flatpack UK power plug concept by Min-Kyu Choi. It makes the clunky UK plug a real space saver, with the costs for storage, packaging and transportation likely to be drastically reduced. Plus, it looks much sleeker than the regular plug that we are so used to.
Advertising & Ethics / Critical Debates Task 7
Anyone that tries to sell anything knows how important advertising is. It is always present and is everywhere around us, both in the real world and on the web. It is necessary, no doubt about that – to keep our capitalist economies going and to keep quite a few designers employed.
Still, there have always been concerns, both very specific and quite general about ethics in advertising and whether there is much care about them at all. Some people take more radical views, which may be well described by a quote by the late great comedian George Carlin: "they make you buy stuff you don't need with money you don't have." He was talking about corporations, if I recall correctly, but advertising in general can be described not entirely inaccurately with that phrase.
I think that in the UK we can enjoy some really clever advertising because the economy is one of the most developed in the world, which means that the market here is very mature, very competitive and very demanding. There is strong public conscience, which is one of the reasons for advertising to be more ethical in its approach than in many places in the world.
In Bulgaria, after half a century of communism and no need for advertising, now the industry has still much to learn in my opinion. Most advertising is on the "sex sells" basis, which plays into the disinterested, somewhat nihilistic views of many Bulgarians. There are, thankfully, exceptions as well :o)
Bulgarian advert for Kamenitza beer – "sex sells."
A much funnier advert – it is for rakia (our national brandy); the Karnobat distillery is informing its customers that it has begun exporting rakia to Scotland.
Product Packaging / Critical Debates Task 6
Packaging has many roles with the main ones being protecting contents and helping sell the product at the point of purchase. Packaging is what commands a higher price tag for many products by creating a perception of quality or exclusivity – which can sometimes be misleading if people could actually compare or test the contents before buying.
For years, the focus has been on 'green' and sustainable packaging – which is achieved in different ways: by using recyclable and sustainable materials, by reducing the overall amount of packaging required, by redesigning packaging so it is stackable and more efficient for transportation and storage.
An interesting example is what Walmart-owned Sam's Club stores have done some time ago with the radical redesign of a common item – the one-gallon milk carton. Their new design allows Sam's Club to fit 224 gallons of milk in the space that previously held 80. They pack tighter in the lorry, and with no empty, dirty crates to retrieve and wash, they ultimately cut lorry trips, fuel costs, labour, and water usage by 60-70%. As a downside, apparently some Americans have complained that it was now easier to spill while pouring. I don't know about them, but when a product has so many environmental advantages, I would just be slightly more careful while pouring.
While researching I came across www.thedieline.com, which declares itself to be "the world's number packaging design website" – they do certainly have a large collection of cool packaging imagery.
1. Sam's Club new milk packaging 2 & 3. Ecological take-away packaging and confectionery packaging from www.thedieline.com.
