I've been amazed at how often those of us inside the discipline of design talk and talk about how important we are, and how no one else understands how important we are.
Yes, exactly, the idea that we need to expand on this or make it into something ABOUT design instead of about human problems with a particular approach. Let's get off our high horse and stay in the background where we belong--just work--lest we enter some sort of meta-territory that's become the domain of self-congratulatory modern critical discourse (or as Banksy put it: "Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.") Actually, this kind of talk can be great fun, but it's enough that we know how important we are. Let's not convolute the discourse and alienate people (the public, the clients) anymore than we have to. This should all be worked out in the privacy and shelter of school, not public.
I'm in total agreement on the avoidance "self-congratulatory" bit. I suppose I "support" this statement from the viewpoint that my field (beyond school and in communication design) often garners attention only from its decorative quality and thereby misses the value of the ways that it can contribute on deeper levels. I love Jorge Frascara's book "User-Centred Graphic Design" for its contribution to these deeper questions. If you haven't, check it out. And I LOVE the Banksy quote. Perfect.
My name is Kara Pecknold and this space hosts a plethora of ideas and opinions about the role of design for social, cultural and economic impact — here, there and everywhere. I have a graduate degree from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and my research investigated how a designer could adapt his or her approach when working with the underserved to encourage both dialogue and collaboration in the design process when language or technology were not shared.
It also considered the presence and absence of the designer during the process, and was framed around the ideas of governance, in which people are given access to spaces where they can share ideas, help each other and collaboratively build a new body of common knowledge (Thank you, Ezio Manzini). If you would like to see/read more, here are the finer details.
Nowadays, I work as a Senior Design Researcher at frog.
5 comments:
Kara! How perfect is this??? I Love it!
Jen
I've been amazed at how often those of us inside the discipline of design talk and talk about how important we are, and how no one else understands how important we are.
Expand on this, Jeff. I'm curious.
Yes, exactly, the idea that we need to expand on this or make it into something ABOUT design instead of about human problems with a particular approach. Let's get off our high horse and stay in the background where we belong--just work--lest we enter some sort of meta-territory that's become the domain of self-congratulatory modern critical discourse (or as Banksy put it: "Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.") Actually, this kind of talk can be great fun, but it's enough that we know how important we are. Let's not convolute the discourse and alienate people (the public, the clients) anymore than we have to. This should all be worked out in the privacy and shelter of school, not public.
I'm in total agreement on the avoidance "self-congratulatory" bit. I suppose I "support" this statement from the viewpoint that my field (beyond school and in communication design) often garners attention only from its decorative quality and thereby misses the value of the ways that it can contribute on deeper levels. I love Jorge Frascara's book "User-Centred Graphic Design" for its contribution to these deeper questions. If you haven't, check it out.
And I LOVE the Banksy quote. Perfect.
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