Design for real life

By VISI managing editor Alma Viviers

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Four separate incidents cause Alma Viviers to re-examine the nature of design and the roles of designers.

Incident #1

During 100% Design, UK magazine Blueprint challenged a series of designers, artists and architects to rethink the ubiquitous road sign. The results of this creative challenge produced, at least for me, a powerful reflection on how sluggish institutional elements like signage are in catching up to modern life.

The signs that display the Facebook, Twitter and Apple loading icons in particular struck a cord with me as none of these are actions that you can perform on a hands-free set (except if you have the Apple iPhone with Siri voice assistant).

In a country like South Africa where the number of road accidents are horrifically high, costing the country in excess of R60 billion per year, isn’t it time that we critically look at the way we communicate about acceptable behaviour. Should designers take up the role of advocating better behaviour through design?

Incident #2

The gala dinner for the culmination of the visit of the 2014 World Design Capital judges was an evening filled with plenty of celebration and deserved back-patting. Heady with the optimism of what design can and will achieve in Cape Town and by extension also in South Africa, I left the restaurant and headed towards my car parked two blocks away in front of our office building.

Just ahead of me a fellow attendee walked brisk steps in the same direction and as soon as he heard my foot fall behind him, he turned around, smiled and asked if he could escort me to my car.

My immediate response was that I was fine and that I felt safe since I knew there were CCID patrolmen in the area.

Turns out the concerned citizen was none other than Tasso Evangelinos, COO of the Central City Improvement District (CCID), and he insisted on walking me to my car. 

The Central City Improvement District is a private-public partnership formed by the property owners of specific precincts in the city centre. They provide top-up or complementary services over and above those provided by the City of Cape Town. These include safety and security services, urban management such as the removal of illegal graffiti, city cleaning, and maintenance. 

Although it seems like an insignificant incident, it once again made me aware of the power of social design. Designing systems and structures that make our cities more liveable is vital yet often overlooked and undervalued.

Incident #3

VISI’s online journalist Remy Raiit recently reported on the No-Chair-Design Challenge that forms part of Helsinki’s World Design Capital programme. I'm inclined to agree that another chair design, however original or innovative, won’t change the world.

I think this campaign perfectly captures a larger movement of designers who are reconsidering their role. An article in Design Issues, voiced it as follows:

“Whether as a result of the financial crisis, the public perception of massive overconsumption, or global climate change, designers are increasingly motivated 'to do good for society'. This interest seems to manifest itself primary in two ways. First, designers and design companies are behaving in more socially responsible ways in their product development. A focus on the use of recyclable materials, the rejections of child labour and the use of sheltered workshops are possible consequences of such an attitude. Second, designers are using the design skills to tackle social problems. In these cases designers apply design thinking and design methodologies to social issue to create innovative solutions.” *

Although many local designers have embraced designing in a more socially and environmentally responsible way, I think it's time that they move beyond this to self-initiated projects that start to address some of the social problems we face.

I was delighted to read about Luke Pedersen of Perdersen+Lennard, who responded to the need of one homeless person. Designers with their unique way of thinking, and their inherent forward-looking, creative problem-solving skills can make such a powerful contribution. 

Incident #4

With the recent tornadoes that hit Duduza and Ficksburg, I was saddened to see the devastation of people who lost everything they own. Annual shack fires that rip through some of our informal settlements are almost accepted as normal.

Although governments provide starter kits that assist people to rebuild their houses, unfortunately the kits don’t assist in building a better future. They merely perpetuate the same condition. Isn’t it a golden opportunity to empower people though design to create better living conditions?

The situation reminds me of architect Shigeru Ban’s beautiful and poignant response to the destruction caused by the Kobe earthquake in 1995.

The earthquake took the lives of 6,434 people and caused around $100 billion worth of damage. The Takatori Church was just of one of thousands ruined in the quake, but Ban designed a paper-tube church as a temporary replacement. Working for free, he organised the donation of materials from companies, assuring it would cost nothing for the victims.

It created a beacon of hope and beauty in the face of devastation. It also kick-started a series of projects for Ban, who developed among other things emergency housing using crates and paper rolls.

Our daily lives provide all the creative briefs any designer could ever wish for. Responding to real issues like these provide designers and creatives with the challenge but also the opportunity of creating something truly worthwhile.

Source:

* Design for Socially Responsible Behavior: A Classification of Influence Based on Intended User Experience by Nynke Tromp, Paul Hekkert, Peter-Paul Verbeek., Design Issues, Summer 2011, Vol. 27, No. 3, Pages 3-19. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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