For a long time the single most pressing problem in design has been that too many unnecessary things are being designed and produced. I can't improve on what Victor Papanek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Papanek wrote in the preface to the first edition of his essential book, Design For The Real World. "In an environment that is screwed up visually, physically, and chemically the best and simplest thing that architects, industrial designers, planners, etc., could do for humanity would be to stop working entirely."
Papanek softened his view to advocate the practice of socially beneficial design but his basic premise is still valuable. In the spirit of his tirade I propose the following design to help designers restrain their "creative" impulses:
ANTI-DESIGNORRHEA GLOVES - A pair of gloves joined at the base of the palms. These would be a genteel way of applying handcuffs, keeping the hands of the designer away from further mischief on computers, that primary contemporary adjunct to unnecessary design.These gloves would also prevent designers from sketching on paper pads and napkins, another practice which often leads to the spread of designed objects.
For example, had Philippe Starck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Starck, a leading sufferer from designorrhea, been in the habit of wearing these gloves it is possible we would have been spared such objects as the Juicy Salif, a "design object" masquerading as a juicer. Perhaps in a future ramble I will deal with the interesting subject of malfunctioning objects marketed and collected as "icons" of design.
Papanek softened his view to advocate the practice of socially beneficial design but his basic premise is still valuable. In the spirit of his tirade I propose the following design to help designers restrain their "creative" impulses:
ANTI-DESIGNORRHEA GLOVES - A pair of gloves joined at the base of the palms. These would be a genteel way of applying handcuffs, keeping the hands of the designer away from further mischief on computers, that primary contemporary adjunct to unnecessary design.These gloves would also prevent designers from sketching on paper pads and napkins, another practice which often leads to the spread of designed objects.
For example, had Philippe Starck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Starck, a leading sufferer from designorrhea, been in the habit of wearing these gloves it is possible we would have been spared such objects as the Juicy Salif, a "design object" masquerading as a juicer. Perhaps in a future ramble I will deal with the interesting subject of malfunctioning objects marketed and collected as "icons" of design.
No comments:
Post a Comment