DUTCH DESIGN WEEK 2009
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ISTANBUL DESIGN WEEKEND 2009
BAUHAUS SUMMER SCHOOL 2009
A fresh post over at Ideas on Ideas serves to remind us that design isn't all about style...or more simply and directly stated, "Fuck Style." Yep. Here's a plea, not to shun style (after all, who doesn't go bonkers for the pretty shit), but to prioritize other elements of the design process in an effort to create the best possible solutions.
Design is such a multi-layered practice that it's often difficult to define. That being said, I believe that the word "design" is increasingly confused with "style". For example, to most "I like the way it's designed" means that they like the way that something looks....I'm a believer in what I like to call "hardcore" design. This is design focused on results. It can employ any of a multitude of treatments. It's not personal in nature, unless this is in fact necessary. Hardcore design is driven by insight, strategy and purpose.
...For hardcore designers, "does it work?" is the one question that must be obsessed over. Really, this should be the case for any designer anyways; not whether it looks cool, and not if it can win awards. Hardcore design is about taking away the cute, fluffy stuff, and concentrating on what is actually accomplished.
...Perhaps we have to see design less like art (which is how I fear it is still classified by many), and more like engineering. The data and ability to measure results exists. We simply have to put hard analysis ahead of our personal impulses. This is a great opportunity for us as designers to make a leap. In doing so, we can earn a seat at the table and provide the unique kind of reasoning that our practice can afford.
Shazam! And there's more...a lot more. Get the whole earful here.
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Comments
Yes. The term 'design' is being bastardized and thrown around on these home improvement channels left and right. Repaint a shelf, and it's 'a great design'. Curtains do not equal design. It's a good thing I don't watch TV.
Ugh! Yet another rant against style that can't help arguing for it while arguing against it. Even using style-master Apple as an example.
C'mon, what he is really advocating is the judicious use of style. It may be possible to be "style-agnostic", but not style-less.
While he supposedly rages against style, a brief check of smashLAB's work reveals an often formulaic approach that is in and of itself, a style.
As you mention, we all go bonkers for "pretty shit" (pretty being in the eye of the beholder). And that's not a bad thing. It can be and is exploited to capitalistic advantage.
Designers have to stop being afraid of being stylists and learn to articulate the critical importance of being Stylists.
Focused on results? Hard analysis? The definitive answer comes from the marketplace. If it sells it works. Even if it's "cute, fluffy stuff."
We don't need to see design more like engineering. We need to see it as it really is - at the heart of marketing and business strategy. Requiring a return on investment. Requiring a positive effect on sales and margins. The goal of design is to sell more stuff, period.
Hardcore design answers to numbers. So even if it is insightful, purposeful and strategic, if it doesn't generate a positive return, it fails.