Being a responsible designer

Today, we are surrounded by so many objects, that more and more of us seem to have issues with hoarding: hunting for things, keeping them just in case, looking out for sales and bargains. But do we really need all these things lining up on the shelves of department stores? We all know how much waste is generated during the manufacturing process and the after-life of the product as well. Does it make any sense to design such objects, what difference do they make in our lives? As a designer your main goal might be to get a job and pay your bills, regardless of what you’re asked to create. That’s fair, but isn’t there an alternative?

Mike Monteiro, co-founder of Mule Design gave a talk in Lisbon (see video) in which he talks about the responsibility of being a designer and what could be the consequences if designers don’t stand up to what matters to them, to what matters to the rest of the world:

“And when designers disregard the effect that that manipulation [design] has on the environment, they are at best negligible; at worst, culpable. And when designers practice without forethought to consequences, without responsibility, what we get is not creation but destruction.”
Mike Monteiro

Several times in this video, he quotes Victor Papanek, a designer who strongly disapproved of unsafe or useless products. He wrote about his views on design in “Design For The Real World”, first written in 1971 but still accurate. Papanek asked designers to be fully responsible socially, and environmentally. For him, it is the designer’s job to tackle real issues such as better living or helping disabled people. It is up to the designer to decide not to create anything that he feels is unethical. Papanek was not delusional though, he knew very well that not every designer can afford to work on these social or ecological issues all the time, so he encouraged them to spend 10% of their time and resources to work on these problems. Yes, these issues won’t necessarily bring any money, which is why not everybody wants to spend some time working for undeveloped countries, or people living in remote areas without electricity. But it is our duty for the users and for the planet to choose which values to promote, which people to help. In doing nothing, we all contribute to a consumerist society that, as Mike Monteiro says, might bring destruction.
For makers and designers of any kind, I think it is a question we should all consider. Who are we designing for, and what is our goal? If we were to follow that 10% rule, we could change things, make a real difference.

I highly recommend you watch Mike Monteiro’s video “How Designers Destroyed the World”. Even though it's a bit long and he’s very blunt he made me realize that every choice we make when creating something has an impact; which is why we have to be extra careful. Victor Papanek’s book is also very interesting with lots of examples of things that were poorly designed, but also examples of projects focusing on important issues.

For a different point of view on consumerism, and on the subject of hoarding, I recommend reading “Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding And The Meaning Of Things” by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee. Through a few very interesting case studies, they try to explain what drives people to accumulate stuff.

Papanek, Victor. Design for the real world : human ecology and social change. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985. ISBN: 9780500273586
Frost, Randy O., and Gail Steketee. Stuff : compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things. Boston: Mariner Books Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. ISBN: 9780547422558