ABSTRACT
If we understand the history of design practice as a struggle between William Morris and Raymond Loewy, between a sense of social purpose and testosterone-fuelled shape making, then Morris’s legacy currently prevails. Historically, designers saw their role as persuading us to buy unneeded stuff at unaffordable prices. But even as designers work on well-meaning projects, contributing to policymaking, they face growing resistance. Designers are optimists, with a touching conviction that design can make the world a better place, which made Victor Papanek’s assault on them in his book Design for the Real World so provocative. Designers saw themselves as part of the solution rather than as an aspect of the problem. Design is a way of looking at the world from multiple perspectives based on understanding people and their behaviours and on applied technology and the use of systems. It’s a powerful way to understand the potential for unintended consequences.
