I recently came across this article by Allan Chochinov from Core77. Check it out, and let me know what you think. I was able to relate many of the points to my recent reading of Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough (which I plan to cover in a future post). Here are some comments I’d like to make.
“First do no harm” is important for designers as well as anyone else involved in some form of decision making. This little rule may seem obvious, but the concept of ‘harm’ may not be immediately visible or understood. One way of analyzing a situation or process for harm is to look for correctionary measures within your realm of influence in the value chain.
‘Stop making crap’ seems like a great goal - you tell ‘em! But I must say that designers are hardly the only ones responsible, although I suppose they could simply say ‘No, I will not design that crap for you. It is bad for our environment and society’. Uhm…marketers, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and anybody else involved in voting their funds and ideas to a creationary process are responsible for what products are made.
Systems thinking is difficult, but at the heart of holistic sustainable design. If all actions have consequences, we should be not only be thinking about zero-harm immediate and long-term effects in the value chain, but also about positive enhancement that contributes to the quality of life.
To teach sustainability at an early age is important to the development of a culture that practices it; from designers, architects, and engineers, to process developers, operations and marketing managers, purchasing agents, and everyday folk. At the simplest level, this implies promoting the three R’s: Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. That’s eco-efficiency. In a larger sense, it implies choosing to design, decide, and act more for the benefit of all of US (rather than just the org or little ‘ole ME). That leads to eco-effectiveness.
So education is great. There’s a corollary requisite condition though: the design, composition, and effects of products and processes need to be visible so people could hence make informed decisions. Quick real-life examples of this include the numeric coding on most plastic containers; ingredient listings for packaged foods, drugs, and chemicals; and materials lists used for the construction of buildings and infrastructure. The idea is that we can’t expect people to make great ecological/sustainable choices if they don’t know what they’re dealing with. Secondly design should provide instructions for things like disposal, disassembly, and reclamation. This includes labels, trade-in policies, and public awareness programs for local communities and orgs that best handle this ‘next-in-lifecycle’ stage.
Designing for impermanence just goes without saying. This could mean we use more organic materials that will naturally decompose, not fusing together natural and synthetic materials in ways that can’t be disassembled and reclaimed (easily or all together). Nothing should last forever.
The rest of the article asks us to weigh our options for action/input against our desired effect, and choose the combination that produces a balanced result; be skeptical if consequential visibility isn’t clear and to seek out advice if we can’t make informed decisions; give regard to our community and the environment because they are what support life and society to exist and happily function for this generation AND of those to come; and lastly: Context is king in all design matters.
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What do you think?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Mario,
Since we offer creative, I understand the slippery slope of copywriting and design. The client pays us to meet their wants and needs, not ours. We offer our best advice, often two or three times, but at the end of the day we have two choices: Say yes or walk away. Good post.
Lewis,
Businesses have to grow, maintain revenues, or provide work for others. Employees need to make a living. Oftentimes there is no room for moral choice. That’s practical reality.
I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cry at comment number two. Stop making crap. After all, who wants to make something undesirable? But by your comment (and I agree with you on this one), it appears that the world is producing crap. In multitudes, too! I guess this is taking a long, hard look at what’s going on in the world today. Perhaps we should take a look at our designs twice before showcasing them to the world then.