Social Media in 2009, what is next?
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Facebook, Origo, Myspace, Twitter, social media has become fundamental in running projects with many actors. It is a new way to link to distant people, we are connecting back to earlier collaborators and schoolmates. Capitalism thrives on the activities of normal people and there is in my opinion a battleground of things being puched at us and loops and closure possibilities for us to discard it. It basically reminds me of walking through a bazar where the whole world is available, being pushed at you and one’s ability to hold focus while walking and browsing.
Ravit Lichtenberg has here an interesting picture of how things might change in 2009.
Social Design and Relational Design
I am an architect. Architecture deals foremost with people, not buildings. Architecture deals with how people live, interact, protect themselves etc. As an architect have I never been able to create structures and plans without people. Since I am brought up in theater my way of designing has been to make up plays of life; theatrical events and actually sometimes based my private houses on well known plays that I sat under as a child while my father, an actor in the Reykjavik City Theatre, was rehearsing. One of my better known private house designs in Iceland is based on the play by Anton Chekov: THREE SISTERS, because the family that I designed it for felt like that play.Why do I have to say this? To clarify the fact that architecture is Social Design. The first town planners were creators of societies, looking out for infrastructural and political solutions for the good of the people. A good example is Pericles, the
architect of the Acropolis and an influential developer of the society. Often these early planners were military leaders and city planner in the same person. But the situation is more complex today.The newly named field Social Design bases its existence on doing social good, for the benefit of society, human relations and sturctures. As stated in Wikipedia: “as the creation of social reality; design of the social world and the shaping of products and services.”
The fundamental definition of design is: “To make the every day easier, simpler and more beautiful”. It is about humanizing processes like technology, communication, services and strategies. As such, design is fundamental to all human activity. Design has always a social agenda, but this has sometimes been forgotten, for example when services and structures have been created by industrial designers, architects, city planners creating structuralistic solutions based on technical expertice or theoretical functions where relations between structures and processes has become fundamental and not the relation of people. In a sense, the receent term Social Design has come up, to differentiate it from technical design that has often evolved in technical design schools located in engineering faculties.All design is in its essence active, it thrives on doing, it is visionary and solution oriented – to quote the designer Richard Seymour in the 2007 Intersections Conference: “If you are not positive and with a belief in the future then you should do something less dangerous than design“.
Relational design. In his book, RELATIONAL AESTHETICS, Bourriaud says ‘Artistic activity is a game, whose forms, patterns and functions develop and evolve according to periods and social contexts’. The case is the same with many design solutions, especially those that deal with situations, like the design of events, space, products and furniture. I am very excited about the development of furniture/product design and interior architecture over the coming years, because the fields seem to have come to saturation. No more of these things are needed in the Western World at least, people are sick of new products every year, extreme makeover shows etc. (see previous blog) There is a need for things and spaces that have stronger emotional values. Thus the interest in relational design and art. I have been following various projects that could be classified as Relational Design, where peope gain attachment with products and services resulting in social contentment and often improved social interaction. I will tell about some of these projects later.Images: Three Sisters / Pericles / Richard Seymour / Grass chair that will only last through emotional attachment to the owner
Paul Polak – disseminates D-REV
Design for the Other 90%. This is a very interesting concept. Paul Polak has started D-REV now as an effort to support entrepreneurship through innovation and design that works for the Other 90% of the world. Almost all of the products and services designed in the world is designed for 10% or world inhabitants. And I know clearly that the design schools are almost solely looking design from that perspective. Paul has now announced that his new non-profit organization — D-Rev — has received official IRS designation as a 501(c)3 organization.In this presentation in Business Week he explains his vision and tools.
Furniture crisis
My faculty has been taking part in the Stockholm Furniture Fair for some years. We decided to put some proper effort into this event, funding a stand and transport for our students to participate in this most important event in product and furniture and interiour design in the Nordic countries. The autumns are full of student activity for the event. Our program includes a ’self defined’ project in the autumn of 3rd year BA. This is for the students to gain experience in creating their own brief, problem solving and self profiling. We have named the 3rd year in BA as the year for ‘FINDING YOURSELF’. At that moment in their development, the students should have a perspective of what they want to do: define a master project, get a job, travel or maybe even leave the idea of being a designer.
Many students try to create products to be sent to the Furniture Fair and our 2nd class in visual communication takes on the project of creating a visual profile including posters, name card, press releases etc. During my years here as dean producers and publications have approached the students after the fair, resulting in some press and some items have ended in the shops.
I think that furniture design is one of the most interesting fields of design these days. Why? Because the field is in a total crisis. People are definitely coming to the conclusion that there is enough furniture in the world already and no need for more. Last time I went to the Stockholm fair I estimated 1500 different ways to sit down were available and almost all of us have enough chairs in our life. So our students are trying to redefine their direction, with some support of the teachers while others keep hitting their head against the rock, promoting more boring versions of chairs that already exist in much better designed versions.We have started talking about situation design, including spatial and corporeal solutions. Often including relational design like things that change and respond to users needs. The users create the situations themselves through different interactions with the product. This is somewhat the same genre as the art referred to in Bourriaud’s book: Relational Aesthetics.
Some of our students, especially the students in MA are developing projects in this direction. I am excited to see how this kind of product and situational design will develop in the future. This reminds me of the crisis in graphic design in the seventies and the creative explosion that resulted after that crisis. I will report about those situational relational projects later, like a project about the redevelopment of the Norwegian West Coast furniture industry through the production of pieces for the users to create their own furnitur, a project about less energy use in the home for lighting etc. Many very interesting projects.
Last Friday we had the last selection of projects to go to the fair next month, here are images of some of the products.
Concert in Hljómalind
On my last visit in Hljómalind, today I met a very nice concert.
1. January 2009. New NordicDogS Site
We have spent Christmas in Iceland, meeting friends, family and re-evaluating our activities. We are to move to Africa soon, Dori finishing his position as dean of the Design Faculty in Oslo at the National Academy in Norway. Soley is going to take on the task of supporting graphic design education in ENAV (school of visual arts) in Maputo. We have spent quality time of our Icelandic holiday break in the Hljómalind Cafe in Reykjavik. There is wireless internet and lots of nice people from all over the world visiting Iceland and much of the underground and protest activity in Reykjavik is planned there. The cafe is very close to our flat in the town and we feel very good there, starting the day with organic toast and double espresso. Most of the time we have not been looking up from our Macs, but now the site is almost ready for running. We hope that this new site can help in informing about what we think important.
In Iceland 2009 is starting beautifully , lots of excitement and great possibilities! Please wish us luck!
Here are our older sites. DORIGISLASON.COM and OLDER DOGS SITE
