Design & Sustainability

"A Question of Design"
This article discusses the Industrial Revolution, how it came about, the effects it had on society, and its relation to design.  My favorite statement from "A Question of Design" is the following: "You may be referred to as a consumer, but there is very little that you actually consume--some food, some liquids.  Everything else is designed for you to throw away when you are finished with it.  But where is 'away'?" This statement happens to be my favorite because it brings up such valid points--ones I have never thought about myself.  Why are we called 'consumers'?  What are we 'consuming'?  When we throw something away, where does it go exactly?

The Industrial Revolution, provided society with a much needed positive change.  This included new work opportunities and better standards of living.

Another statement that caught my attention is, "The waste, pollution, crude products, and other negative effects that we have described are not the result of corporations doing something morally wrong.  They are the consequence of outdated and unintelligent design."  I found this point particularly interesting because we are, in fact, quick to blame a corporation for being careless and lazy when it comes to issues such as pollution.  However, in reality, these corporations have not yet caught up with technological advances, nor have they acquired proper design knowledge of the machines they put to use.

Key points in the article:

• "The Industrial Revolution as a whole was not really designed.  It took shape gradually, as industrialists, engineers, and designers tried to solve problems and to take immediate advantage of what they considered to be opportunities in an unprecedented period of massive and rapid change."
• "Cheaper products, public transportation, water distribution and sanitation, waste collection, laundries, safe housing, and other conveniences gave people, both rich and poor, what appeared to be a more equitable standard of living."
• "Ford's innovation was to bring 'the materials to the man,' instead of 'the man to the materials.'"
• "New work opportunities in factories improved standards of living, as did wage increases.  Ford himself assisted in this shift.  He actually created his own market, and raised the bar for the entire world of industry."
• "Viewed from a design perspective, the Model T epitomized the general goal of the first industrialists: to make a product that was desirable, affordable, and operable by anyone, just about anywhere; that lasted a certain amount of time and that could be produced cheaply and quickly."
• "Today the International Style has evolved into something less ambitious: a bland, uniform structure isolated from the particulars of place.  Such buildings reflect little if any of a region's distinctness or style."
• "In product design, a classic example of the universal design solution is mass-produced detergent."
• "To achieve their universal design solutions, manufacturers design for a worst-case scenario; they design a product for the worst possible circumstance, so that it will always operate with the same efficacy.  This aim guarantees the largest possible market for a product.  It also reveals human industry's peculiar relationship to the natural world, since designing for the worst case at all times reflects the assumption that nature is the enemy."
• "The waste, pollution, crude products, and other negative effects that we have described are not the result of corporations doing something morally wrong.  They are the consequence of outdated and unintelligent design."

"The Sincerest Form of Flattery"

This piece is an interview with Janine Benyus, a biologist and science writer.  When I first took a look at this reading, I was not sure as to what this subject had to do with design.  However, after reading deeper into it, I discovered that, in this interview, a different type of design is being discussed--one that creates devices that will better the environment and make for a more economical society.

I found it hard for me to personally relate to this interview because it consists of information regarding environmentally-related design--a type of design that does not exactly interest me.  Though, I suppose in order for one to be a well-rounded designer, one must be knowledgeable of every type of design.

Benyus' love for nature and her allowing it and its aspects to become such a huge part of her life is awesome.  However, it is just not a lifestyle to which I am able to relate.  But, I enjoyed seeing the world through Benyus' eyes because it is a design perspective which I have never before explored.

From this interview, I obtained the fact that Benyus believes we should create technology based only on what nature has already been doing.  This way, we can simply improve what we've already been given.  However, weren't we put on this earth for a reason?  Two of those reasons being to express our personal opinions on things and use our minds creatively.  These reasons, among others, don't come into play if we are solely going to build from something that already exists.  Humans are supposed to make mistakes--that's how we learn.

Key points:

• "Biomimicry is the practice of borrowing nature's design principles to create more sustainable products and processes."
• Benyus believes that biomimicry allows designers and others to extract design principles from nature and use them in their own designs.
• Benyus believes that fossil fuels have been in existence for longer than we could even imagine.
• "People think all we need to fix our predicament is a free source of energy, but I think we need to change our behaviors.  More energy would just help us deplete the earth's lifeblood faster."
• Benyus took part in the design of a website titled, AskNature.org.  This site is a place where biologists can connect with engineers/designers and vice-versa.  They can then discuss projects they hope to create collaboratively.
• "There's no time for untested technologies that may not be fit for the earth.  We've got to use technologies that have already been tested by nature herself."

"Buckminster Fuller" Extract

The main focus of this article seems to be the effects the design, the environment, and wealth have had on humanity.  According to the author, there are "four billion real-wealth billionaires" on this Earth.  This wealth, of course, does not necessarily equal billions of dollars.  "Wealth is the accomplished technological ability to protect, nurture, support, and accommodate all growful needs of life."  This statement is probably my favorite from this article because its perspective is so true, yet unseen in the eyes of many.

Another interesting statement the author makes in this article is, "The world's power structures have always 'divided to conquer' and have always 'kept divided to keep conquered.'  As a consequence the power structure has so divided humanity--not only to special function categories but into religious and language and color categories--that individual humans are now helplessly inarticulate in the face of the present crisis."  These divisions create an issue when it comes to crises because people have become unaware of how to interact with those of different religions, cultures, and races.  If people are unable to identify with one another, how can they possibly communicate?

Key points in the reading:

• "The overall design of humanity's present social, economic, and, political structuring and the physical technology it uses wastes 95 out of every 100 units of the energy it consumes.
• The omni-engineering-integratable, invisible revolution in the metallurgical, chemical, and electronic arts now makes it possible to do so much more with ever fewer pounds and volumes of material, ergs of energy, and seconds of time per given technological function that it is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a 'higher standard of living than any have ever known.'"
• "Money is not wealth."
• "Humanity does not understand the language of science.  Ninety-nine percent of humanity thinks technology is a 'new' phenomenon.  Most people therefore think they are against technology, not knowing that the technology they don't understand is their only means of exercising their option to 'make it' on this planet and in this life.  Physical Universe is technology and the technology does make possible all humanity's option to endure successfully."