FRIEZE ART FAIR NEW YORK 2012
MILAN 2012: SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEL MOBILE
MILAN 2012: SATELLITE EXHIBITIONS
MILAN 2012: BRERA DESIGN DISTRICTIn a guest essay over at Design Observer, Cheryl Towler Weese elaborates on the concerns of rising crime rates related to the popularity of the iPod. The device is iconic because of its ubiquitous physical presence as well as the can't-miss ads that highlight those quintessential headphones that scream, "Hey I probably have an iPod or iPhone or maybe an iPod Nano or Shuffle at the very least." Weese juxtaposes the iPod's overwhelming success with critical claims that Apple lacks social responsibility.
...here's the real question: could a climbing crime rate and the rise of the iPod be related? Has the iPod's design increased its likelihood of theft, and if so, what role could Apple's designers play in developing solutions?...When desire turns so often to theft and even murder, how can you target, let alone measure the degree of a manufacturer's complicity? In this case, the design of the product is intrinsically connected to its desire, and while Apple's designers deserve credit for creating the most coveted gadget in recent memory, their relationship to this critical social problem remains deeply ambiguous. It's time for them -- for all of us -- to use our design skills to develop equally innovative solutions to issues of larger human consequence.
For starters, we suggest simply buying a new, non-Apple pair of headphones. (If you're still really worried, you can invest in a Zune.)
Comments
Er, What!?
You can seriously be suggesting that companies should design less desirable products so that some low-life won't steal it. Get it straight: Hold the thief accountable for his actions and create the absolute best product design you can. No wonder this country is in trouble with backwards thinking like that!
Yes you could invest in a zune and not only get more features, better screen but also way nicer ear buds that aren't targets.
I'm thinking that other headphones don't fit in the Iphone jack.
tony- other ear phones do fit, I wear non-ipod ear phones all the time with my shuffle.
We should be asking ourselves WHY people are mugging and murdering people for ipods. Why they mug people for money, for cell phones, for anything at all. Probably because they don't have these things, probably because they are worse off than most of us. Addressing poverty and gaps between social class can help solve this problem, not designing a big brother ipod that is impossible to use and loses all of its stellar qualities. ipods are not the problem, poverty and crime is the problem, and to focus solely on ipods is to miss the bigger problem entirely. Kind of like the "design for the other 90%" exhibition...design solutions for all the little problems, not for the big problems that cause the little problems.
This has to be one of the dumbest theories I have ever heard. To think that a successful company like Apple is in anyway responsible for a rise in crime because of their products is ridiculous. The root causes of crime are poverty, unemployment, polarized societies, drug abuse etc..., not good and/or popular design!! This is like blaming video-games for a rise in violence, while ignoring the responsibility of the parents who bought them.
Unfortunately this article hits on some sad truths that we face living in these deadly cities. Every morning as I get out of the rickshaw that I take to work, tip the "driver" in coupons good for one free back rub, and adjust the twine that hold up my tater sack pants, I think that it would be nice if I could just pull the ipod out of my handkerchief bindle and play some tunes as I walk the last few miles to work. But I can't show all the robbers that I have money and nice things. They'd just kill and rob me. Or worse, rob me and then kill me.