
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE
Why Design Is Important For A Better And More Hopeful World
How it can add value to you and your business
Dieter Rams, said that Good Design should: Be innovative, Make a product useful, Be aesthetic, Make a product understandable, Be unobtrusive, Be honest, Be long-lasting, Be thorough down to the last detail, Be environmentally friendly, and, Involve as little Design as possible.
Most people see design as a way to create new, good-looking and better-performing products, artefacts, and clothing. Dieter Rams, too, referred mainly to product innovations. But the meaning of Design has expanded, and what it is related to has shifted and grown. And still, Dieter Rams’ principles stay central and important.
Today Design has taken on a whole new meaning and encompasses many parts of our lives. Not just products, but systems, processes, spaces, cities, solutions, experiences, communication, intelligence and even ways of thinking. All this with a critical approach — The approach to create usefully, improve and make better.
I have been privileged to be in design education and the creative industries for over 30 years. I have repeatedly seen in the voices and work of my teachers, students, and the industry, a purpose and optimism beyond comparison—an eternal striving for improvement and a conviction that every problem is there to be solved. I have often thought about this, and I will share some ideas that will help you understand why Good Design works for today, but as much for a better tomorrow.
All creators, entrepreneurs, start-up founders would do well to understand Design and how essential it is in all value-adding businesses. Just like the potter's guiding hands on the ever-turning wheel, design can help you gently mould your business in the ever-changing world.
Here are three things you must know. Design is much more than good products Design changes lives Good design gives hope — the hope of a continuously improving situation, system, world.
To be a designer is to be someone who is always looking at the world to make it a better place. Understanding the importance of design and sponsoring it will add value to anything you do. This post will take you on bits of a journey and show you the real impact and importance of Design today. It will also introduce you to two paths that Design is taking, which could help you in your future strategy.
Design as a Natural Intelligence
Design has always been central to the creation of culture. 3.3 million years ago, an early East African hominid struck one stone against another to knock off a thin flake and used it as a tool. That was Design. When he struck two pieces of flint together to create fire, that was Design. Design is continuous with the basic human need to organise the material environment for survival purposes and thrive as individuals, societies, and cultures. Designs initial focus was on using the natural environment to improve life.
Design as a Technical Intelligence
Along with natural intelligence, there was the yearning to improve and make better. Michelangelo saw a statue in every block of marble in front of him. He had the technical ability to make it come to life. Design works at creating products and solutions to problems. Design also finds opportunities where it appears none existed. Yes, Braille is Design, limb prosthetics are Design, hearing aids are designed, early childhood learning tools by Maria Montessori are Design. Each of these solutions needed technical intelligence to succeed.
Design as Social Intelligence
And finally, becoming more and more important today is social intelligence. Human-centred Design which was a buzz word for many years, is now shifting to Society-centred Design. Here is the ability to think beyond the need of the individual/individuals to society or community’s more significant needs. Social Design is a large area of growing importance. Designers are working alongside health professionals, social scientists and governments, to look at how to use the design process to serve society and its needs.
Design has moved from being focused on form and function to something much more significant. Design often collaborates with other disciplines to create more holistic solutions.
Below are some newer directions that Design is taking to impact and solve today’s wicked problems strategically — Transition Design and Speculative Design. Through these, Design creates a road map for success and techniques and tools for the future. These two approaches could be used to create innovations and give direction to strategy.
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the current model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller
Transition Design
The issues confronting us in this century require fundamental change at every level of our society. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources, the widening gap between rich and poor, and widespread disease are just a few of the wicked problems that require new approaches to problem-solving. Designers today are invited to solve much larger wicked problems, to make significant social/behavioural/economic shifts in society. This approach is called Transition Design.
Transition Design accepts that we are living in ‘transitional’ or changing times. It takes as its central premise the need for societal transitions to more sustainable futures. It argues that Design has a pivotal role to play in these transitions.
This approach provides a practical framework for: Mapping wicked problems and their complex, conflictual, stakeholder relations; Mapping the historical evolution of the situation to reveal insights from the past that can inform solutions in the present; Co-creation by stakeholders of visions of long-term futures that are sustainable, equitable and desirable; Designing the transition between the problematic present and the desired long-term future; Designing entire ecologies of solutions (interventions) at multiple levels of scale, simultaneously solving numerous issues.
In Transition Design, the participants are involved in designing things or outcomes, which will take a significant amount of time to happen. Carefully designed steps and interventions make this happen.
Speculative Design
Speculative Design is an essential tool for questioning. Therefore, the aim is not to propose implementable product solutions nor to offer answers to the questions they pose. Speculative Design acts like a mirror reflecting what is likely to happen in our future lives, instigating contemplation and discussion.
It is a means of speculating about how things could be — to imagine possible futures. This method is different from predicting, forecasting, spotting trends and extrapolating. Instead, we see macro trends mapped and “what if” questions asked. This opens debate and discussion about the kind of future people want (and do not want).
The Speculative Design Process imagines and evaluates a future through informed extrapolations of existing product lineages and present near-future products, systems, and services. These act as a cultural litmus paper, testing and examining implications before committing to specific applications or research directions.
Researchers and think tanks are using Speculative Design as a tool to go through the looking glass. It looks like the ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures!
It is clear now that Design is as much about the future as it is about the present. Design practitioners today are constantly looking at how to create a better world. Design cannot be ignored and is beginning to be a boardroom priority across all industries.
As a creator, an entrepreneur, someone who wants to impact the world positively, Design is one of those tools that can help you leapfrog into tomorrow. Whether through Design Thinking, UX, innovation or speculation, you can use the design process to help you get where you want to be effectively and consciously. Design is moving from sustainable to regenerative. You will also move and create a continuously living and learning system that will design itself for a better future.