Everything was beautiful & nothing hurt

Two years late with this one, but still very much enjoyed watching Objectifed (2009) last night. On the surface, the documentary is a celebration and an insight into the process of industrial design. However, the film gravitates towards the issues of sustainbilty, first touched upon by Dieter Rams (Chief of Design at Braun), as he expressed his ten principles of ‘good design’, stating that “Good design is:

• Innovative
• [should make a product] Useful
• Aesthetic
• [should make a product] Understandable
• Unobtrusive
• Honest
• Long-lived
• Consistent
• Environmentally friendly
• As little design as possible”

Design critic Alice Rawsthorn, makes an interesting point that “designers spend most of their time designing products and services for 10% of the world’s population that already own too much; when 90% don’t have even basic products and services to lead a subsistent life.” Rawsthorn also emphasises that real sustainbiliy is a mammoth task and requires the designer to consider every aspect of the product; sourcing materials > process > transport > usage – from its ‘cradle to grave’.

New York Times columnist and author Rob Walker, has the final say in the film speculating that “The hurricane is coming – what objects do you take?” He underlines the intrinsic value we place on our items, insisting that the real audience for our purchases is ourselves. It reminded me of the opening quote to my 4th year dissertation:

“In persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others that don’t care, advertising design is probably the phoniest field in existence today.” (Papanek, 1985)

Surely there are better ways to be creative – community over commodity – mass communication over mass production? Communicating a sense of ‘mass empathy’ and concentrating our efforts on the other 90th percentile may be a good start . . .