Monday, September 7, 2009

Design Activism

The intro and chapter 1 of this book discussed the impact of design and how it influences our societal values as well as our perception of reality. It linked design to capitalism and brought up the issue that nature can't sustain the current standard of living forever. It talked about the idea of sustainable development as an approach to restoring the depleting ecosystems and it maps out ideas for design activists to consider when using design for improving both humankind and nature. Design is basically linked to all the different forms of capital and therefore it is important to understand capital and activism in order to become immersed in potential design solutions. I was amazed at all the different branches of capital that designers have the potential of influencing. I think this book is really helpful because it lays out all the possible opportunity areas where designers can make a difference and create sustainable designs. This book seems like it would be really helpful for design activists because they can so easily see the breakdown of areas where they can focus on making changes and instead of wasting time searching for a cause to support they can simply pick one area and spend more time designing something that will improve life. It is a little scary to think of the time crunch we have to make changes in so many areas before resources become depleted and species become extinct etc. due to the current standard of living humans have created without previously considering the impact of their design decisions.

No comments:

Post a Comment