Name: Design for the Real World
Rating: 4.1 (22 reviews)
Author: Victor Papanek

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Learn how to change the world by shifting the focus of product design.

Have you ever bought an expensive piece of equipment – like a laptop, camera, or mobile phone – only to have it suddenly break long before you'd expected? Did it make you angry? Did you even get the feeling that that was some sort of conspiracy out there to make sure products are designed in such a way that suckers like you keep going out year after year to buy new, expensive products?

If any of those questions resonate with you, then Design for the Real World can offer you some of the answers you seek.

In this book, written in 1971 and yet more relevant than ever, the author gives us a relentlessly honest account of irresponsible design practices in the United States and their contribution to the surge in production of the disposable and low-quality consumer goods that line our shelves today.

But in his scathing critique, the author is careful to provide many practical ways in which designers can refocus their efforts so that they become positive forces for change, rather than contributors to the destruction of our environment.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

why sometimes it’s better to produce a simple radio rather than one decked out with all the latest gadgets,
how it could be worthwhile to put a positive spin on waste,
why watching Saturday morning cartoons can be seriously dangerous for children’s health, and
why the super affluent sometimes buy chairs that are super uncomfortable.

Key idea 1 of 10

More than beauty: design produces functional tools and objects for human society.

What do you imagine when you hear the word “design?” High fashion and fancy chairs?

Certainly, today’s understanding of “design” is mostly associated with the design of products – e.g., the sleek casing of the iPod – and is often considered to be the art of making things look beautiful.

In fact, there are many examples where product design focuses only on appealing to our senses, i.e., look, touch, smell, sound and taste. One particularly exaggerated example of this is the disc player that produces an aromatic scent whenever the disc plays. Consumers then have the option of choosing between “romantic” or “natural” aromas.

Although this design feature is entirely cosmetic and an unimportant improvement to standard players’ function, it would not be unusual for products like these to be referred to as “good design.”

However, good design encompasses far more than just aesthetics. Good design is about creating functional tools, products and systems.

In addition to aesthetics, functional design considers the methods employed by the designer, the intended use of the product, the human needs the product aims to meet, the associations the design creates with friends and family, and its relationship to nature and society as a whole.

In order for a design to be considered “fully functional,” it must fulfill all these elements.

Consider, for example, Leonardo da Vinci’s mural, The Last Supper. The painting is clearly beautiful, and thus satisfies an aesthetic function. But it does much more than this! For example: its immediate use is to cover an otherwise bland or ugly wall; contemplating the painting serves our need for spiritual enlightenment; and it creates clear associations with the Bible, thus helping people to identify with the design.

A successful designer, such as da Vinci, needs to balance these varying demands when designing her product. This is especially important as design can have far-reaching, unintended effects, as we’ll see in the next blink.

Key idea 2 of 10

Designers carry a serious responsibility for the consequences their designs have on society.

In the face of ever-increasing complexity in our modern society, there are more and more things which need to be planned and designed.

Consequently, the impact of a designer’s decisions goes far beyond a single customer or targeted market group. In fact, every design decision today has far-reaching consequences that reach deeply into different areas of society, such as the economy, politics and culture.

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Key idea 3 of 10

Unfortunately, design is often completely detached from real-world needs.

In the last blink, we talked about the great social responsibility that designers carry. In recent decades, however, design has become increasingly detached from this responsibility.

Rather than designing for society’s actual needs, designers instead tend to focus on the highly individualistic preferences of only a narrow portion of society.

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Key idea 4 of 10

Current design produces meaningless, tawdry and short-lived products.

During spring cleaning, do you ever find these relics – the junk collecting dust in your closet, unused? Did you find yourself asking: “Why the hell did I even buy this in the first place?” Well, there’s a good reason for this.

Currently, rather than expending their energy designing products that would add value to our societies, designers instead busy themselves with the production of useless, tacky products, such as gadgets and toys. Unfortunately, the number of examples which illustrate this trend seems endless.

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Key idea 5 of 10

Misdesign has dramatic negative consequences for both society and the planet.

So far, we’ve learned about the grave social and environmental responsibilities that come with product design. But what happens when designers don’t live up to these responsibilities?

First and foremost, since many products are intentionally designed to quickly become obsolete, they are also sloppily designed. This lack of diligence in the design process can have damaging effects in terms of health and safety.

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Key idea 6 of 10

Certain myths act as roadblocks on the path to more meaningful design.

In order to stop the destructive consequences of bad design, we must fundamentally rethink the purpose of design. But to do this, we must first overcome certain barriers.

Some kinds of misdesign are upheld by powerful social myths based on ignorance and misinformation.

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Key idea 7 of 10

Time for a radical rethink: Designers must begin with the real needs of people.

If they're going to meet the real needs of real people, designers must explore fundamentally new paths in order to to overcome the barriers and myths that perpetuate a socially and environmentally destructive system.

The way to accomplish this is through integrated design, a comprehensive design strategy that incorporates various factors and perspectives into the decision-making process. Integrated design is also proactive, in that it seeks to create positive future outcomes.

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Key idea 8 of 10

The natural environment offers important insights for designers.

So where do designers get their inspiration to overcome barriers and revolutionize design today? One good place to look is Mother Nature, with her billions of years of design experience.

In fact, there are many ways in which designers can learn from nature and biology simply by studying natural processes and applying them to their designs for novel products and solutions. Examining, for instance, the natural growth processes of plants, the skeletons of animals and the structure of crystals can help us to find the inspiration for innovation.

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Key idea 9 of 10

In order to be effective forces for good, designers need experimental design education.

Would you trust a stylist to cut your hair if he had only studied, but had never actually used the scissors in his hand? Probably not, and we should take the same approach to design.

Today, most design graduates leave school without the necessary competency to actually solve the problems our society faces. That’s because their studies teach them only the technical aspects of design, such as work processes, tools and methods. Aspiring designers, however, must become generalists that learn from a variety of sources.

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Key idea 10 of 10

Placing our focus on research, personal ethics and design education will help us to make positive design contributions to the world.

So far we’ve talked about the “big issues” facing designers and design education. This final blink will discuss the three simple steps that will get designers started on the right path.

First, we should focus our energy on large-scale research efforts. If designers are to be a force for good, then it is essential that they have an informed perspective, and that means having an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the world we live in.

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Design for the Real World summary