Design Activism

Introduction

The concept of design activism has become a lot popular today. It implies the application of the design process outside its traditional narrow scope as a broader medium of intellectual inquiry in order to produce new inventive solutions to the most severe contemporary social problems. What we mean by design here is a complicated process of production through which ultimate products for human survival come into being. However, simple as it may seem, the definition of design has undergone numerous changes through centuries. Different scholars have attributed different meanings to this simple word. In today’s industrial age, design frequently means the formal process through which something of tangible nature, like an object or an image, comes into being. This process is often applied by the industrial specialists and experts. For example, an ingenious engineer may design an economic process for producing plastic from different gases and raw material. His valuable contribution to the plastic industry may add value to it, by reducing the costs and thereby making the ultimate product available to consumers at low rates. Like this design can contribute to the social well being of individuals (Rawsthorn, 2013).

Hungarian designer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy writes that, “The idea of design and the profession of the designer has to be transformed from the notion of a specialist function into a generally valid attitude of resourcefulness and inventiveness.” (Moholy-Nagy, 1947) The critics to design activism hold the view the concept of expanded design and its integration with the social change process is likely to complicate the design, because the it will be harder to distinguish between design and common sense and just about any type of planned change can be described as “designed” (Rawsthorn, 2013). I believe that if any form of design could lead to improvement in the outcome of process then it the society is better off. So a modern day designer have to think rationally, and with support from social scientists, inquiry, analysis, communication and other specialists, they have to redefine their role with respect to activism, the essence of which lies in the political or social change. Every type of process, say building a house, cooking a meal, business transactions, looking after infants etc, have room for improvement and without being properly designed (and perhaps just following the procedure in its normal course) it may fail to advance, enhance and become better. So effective management of the design discipline can really lead to an improvement in the life of people and benefit communities as a whole. In this essay we will explore this alongside some of the recent projects and their impact on the social well-being.

Discussion

Activism is all about resisting the status quo and calling out for a change for any wrongdoings or social evil on behalf of the wronged, excluded or a minority group in a society. We have seen the spirit of activism whenever a group of people protest, march or hold a strike in order to influence the decision makers and public opinions. However brining about a social or political change through the design of physical tangible objects and structures is a rather new concept (Thrope, 2011). The need for social change is triggered by several factors including the identification of the problem or wrongdoing that needs to be changed (Tilly, 1995). Many writers including Tim Jordan have described the culture as a moral need for every society as it removes the evil and brings about the positive change (Jordon, 2002).

So can design merely on its own bring about a positive change and eradicate the evil from the society? Thorpe has written in his article that a positive change can be brought by a good design but it may not be necessarily for those who are often neglected, excluded and lacking behind, and therefore not constitute activism. Today, a good design is most likely to add value to the products and consumer’s life that are most likely to be obtained through private consumption, depending on the consumer’s ability to pay. This type of design improvement cannot be considered activism. So Thorpe set his basic criteria to define design as activism consisting of the following:

• Design that publicly discloses the problem
• Design that calls for a change based on the disclosed problem
• Design that speaks on behalf of the neglected or excluded group of people
• Design that is unconventional, and seems unusual or nonconformist because it disrupts the regular routine practices, formal authority (Thrope, 2011).

Based on the above mentioned characteristics, the following cases meet the criteria for the definition of design activism.

PARK(ing) Day is an example that primarily focuses on activism through design. It originated in 2005 when an art & design firm from San Francisco – Rebar Group – turned parking space into a small park by planting a tree, laying down grass and a bench. Their claim was that a lot of valuable city estate is consumed by the parking of private cars. The claim was on behalf of pedestrians and those with private cars. The disruption caused by this design is obvious, that it disarrays the pattern of metered car parking for more productive and meaningful use for citizens (Reiter, 2013). The picture below demonstrates one such parking space transformed into a small park. (Source: Rebar Group Inc.)

Today, PARK(ing) day is a global event that occurs on third Friday of September in more than a hundred cities, every year. This year it was on 20^th September. According to Rebar group, city government’s permission should be obtained, but it is not possible in all cases as a result of which the group considers it a form of guerilla art (Reiter, 2013). Nevertheless the social effects of the design are obvious as it increases the park space in the cities and helps in curtailing pollution.

The field of architecture can greatly benefit from the intellectual design. The work of Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford in their book Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism is worth mentioning. In their book, they have presented a new generation of creative design in architecture for affordable housing and the greater good of humanity. Their text also demonstrates the many in which design can solve the social problems by allowing the general public and communities to improve their life and raise their standard of living (Bell & Wakeford, 2008). In architectural design, Tsunami safe(r) house is a project that was made after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in 2004. It is a project by the MIT Senseable City lab proposing the construction of new form of houses. They spoke on behalf of the Sri Lankan fishermen and proposed many technological and developmental strategies that could guarantee future safety from tropical storms at a lower cost. Prior to the announcement of this project, the government of Sri Lanka had announced the planned relocation of coastal communities which came with a very high economical, cultural, social and environmental cost. This project thus provided a better means of coping with the difficulties in disaster affected areas. (Source: MIT)

Cindy van den Bremen’s head scaves are also a form of design promoting activism. This is was designed when the Dutch schools forces the Muslim girls to remove the head scarves worn by them as a part of religious practice. The insisted on removing the scarves due to safety reasons in atheltic classes. Hence the claim of Cindy and Muslim women was they should be allowed to fully follow their religious practices. The good thing about the design of this new scarf is that is avoids all the arguments of pros and cons as put forward by many politicians and religious groups and instead goes on a middle group as a result of which head scarves are no more a safety problem for athletes. Called Capsters These head scarves are specifically designed for Muslim women to engage in athletics (EBSCO Host, 2004). (Source: BBC News Europe)

These scarves need not be tied and come in ready made form that just needs to be tightened a bit. It is also created from stretchable material which minimizes the risk of choking injuries during sports.

Conclusion

Design activism also has its implicaitons in the field of graphic designing. We often see the attempts of design ativism in culture jamming as well. Even in the smallest of things we use in our daily lives there could be room for design improvement which may result in solutions to great social issues. There is room for good in everything we do, or as it has been said, “Good is about what we do, how we do it and mopst importantly whether it is worth doing.” (Roberts, 2006). Gunnar Swanson’s standpoint about plagiarism in his essay is valid for the design creation as well. Plagiarism is a wrongful and unethical act because it converts the “spiritual act” of designing into a simple mechanical humdrum task (Heller & Vienne, 2003). As evident from the aforementioned projects, design does have an impact on the social well-being of individuals. It can even serve as an instrumental change agent. In the end I would like to quote Fuad-Luke,

“designers need to educate [the over-consumers] by raising awareness of the real impacts of the over-consumers directly and indirectly on the global commons and on the under-consumers. Designers need to invoke new ideas about how to live a better life with reduced consumption. In contrast, the under-consumers are often struggling to meet basic physiological requirements of life. Yet they too need education and design solutions to gain access to appropriate levels of consumption that improve their quality of life.” (Fuad-Luke, 2009).

Bibliography

Bell, B., & Wakeford, K. (2008). Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism. Metropolis Books.

EBSCO Host. (2004, November). A Sporting Chance. Foreign Policy (145), p. 19.

Fuad-Luke, A. (2009). Design Activism: Beautiful Strangeness for a Sustainable World. Routledge.

Heller, S., & Vienne, V. (2003). Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (1st ed.). Allworth Press.

Holligan, A. (2013, March 30). Dutch design challenges Fifa’s football hijab ban. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from BBC News Europe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17548568

Jordon, T. (2002). Activism! Direct Action, Hacktivism and the Future of Society. London: Reaktion Books Limited.

MIT. (n.d.). tsunami-safe(r) house. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from MIT: http://senseable.mit.edu/tsunami-prajnopaya/

Moholy-Nagy, L. (1947). Vision in Motion. Chicago.

Rawsthorn, A. (2013, July 15). Expanding the Definitions of Design. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/arts/design/Expanding-the-Definitions-of-Design.html?ref=alicerawsthorn&_r=0

Rebar Group Inc. (n.d.). Parkign Portfolio. Retrieved October 8, 2013, from Rebar Group: http://rebargroup.org/parking/

Reiter, A. (2013, July 8). PARK(ing) Day Transforms Metered Parking Spaces. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from UBM Future Cities: http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=378&doc_id=525345

Roberts, L. (2006). GOOD: an Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design: Ethics of Graphic Design (1st ed.). Fairchild Books.

Thrope, A. (2011). Defining Design as Activism. Journal of Architectural Educaiton , 1-10.

Tilly, C. (1995). “Contentious Repertoires in Great Britain, 1758-1843,” in Repertoires & Cycles. Durham: Duke University Press.