#designservingpeople

[cipselajournal]

My first approach to the Bauhaus was in 2004, at the Design School of the Dr. José Matías Delgado University. I remember perfectly that my mind tried to take me towards those spaces and moments in history where the Bauhaus emerged, established and positioned itself as a school of great influence for design and architecture worldwide, despite its short operating life as a school. .

However, Bauhaus was much more than colours and shapes arranged in an innovative and harmonious way.

Helvetica, Calibri, Georgia, Times New Roman… Many are the typographic options that we have today only at the distance of our fingertips from the computer keyboard. Choosing one of these typeface is for many a completely arbitrary act, but there was a time when choosing a particular font was considered a bold political act.

This was especially true, in the short life of the Bauhaus, which a hundred years ago shaped everything that we consider modern art today. The ideas conceived in their classrooms crossed the entire globe. Influenced from buildings, furniture and cities. This German school was never a school that only made cool designs using nice colours. Its creators wanted to show how design could serve people. This I think is what most attracted my attention to his philosophy. Serve others.

The founders wanted to teach their students how design can be meaningful to people who use it in one way or another and that with the designs we come up we ​​can transform societies.

Many things to say about the Bauhaus, which dates back to 1919 and inspires me very much.

By the way, I am anxiously waiting for the lockdown level 5, that we have in Ireland to end... So that I can go to the exhibition that the National Gallery of Ireland has prepared to celebrate the Bauhaus Century.

I share with you the link to the National Gallery and the exhibition https://www.nationalgallery.ie/art-and-artists/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/bauhaus-100-print-portfolios

And a link where you can find more about this school https://www.bauhaus-bookshelf.org/bauhaus-original-sources-for-pdf-download.html

[thethoughtfultheorist-blog]

Design serving people - does it?

Last weekend I read Liz Sanders’ piece titled, “Design Serving People” - if you haven’t given it at least a glance, I highly recommend it. 

“No, design is not serving people today Design is serving markets, not people. Design is serving the needs of companies, not people. And as a result, consumerism is out of bounds. We have too many “innovative” products that we desire but do not need. We are degrading the planet with the debris of overabundance and overconsumption. Environ- mental sustainability is in big trouble. Meanwhile, cultural and social sustainability are finally being recognized as having tremendous importance to human survival and well being.”

Personally, I agree with most everything she says - and I would wholeheartedly agree that design, today, does not serve people. It mainly serves corporate and personal interests above all else - and I would take it a step further, adding that designers themselves drive this trend. As the ‘experts” of the field and discipline today, we are responsible for how are field adapts and is utilized by outside forces.

One area I would disagree with is the idea that there will always be multiple types of design spaces, and that people will always live in the four general ones she described - I think, with outside technological advances and more progressive civil rights movements, design will rapidly become democratic to a point where design experts will become obsolete.

My prediction is that as our economy shifts to a more service-oriented and personalized machine, designers will become facilitators of design, not experts or drivers behind it.

As my thesis is on design education, I plan to use this piece as a reference to some of the broader implications of education serving commercial and economic interests - design is a powerful tool that needs to be accessible to all, if they wish it to be. 

[astronauthannah-blog]

Design Serving People

This paper written by Elizabeth Sanders really struck some sensitive chords with me. It brought up many issues that I have been wading through in context to design, and speaks to why and how it is impacting people around the globe.

One point that I thought spoke directly to me was the perspective she gave about the architecture industry. She was speaking about the future of design and what changes are being made now in the process of different design fields. While many design industries are moving towards bringing user experience into the design process, she says that architectural design seems “to be suck in the expert-driven phase..”. In order to move forward their industry will need to learn and adopt from the other design disciplines and be able “to see the built environment as a stage for human experience rather than as a finished product.”

This is something that I think needs to be addressed by the architecture and interior community and evolve to not only compete with other industries but to step up to their responsibilities as creators. Although technology and programs are becoming more advanced and being used to produce more shiny and finished looking products, advancing in the human experience and contribution area is a must as well.