Design Sojourn

This little video excerpt by Allan Chochinov (of Core77 fame), during his presentation at the PSFK Conference New York 08, talks about his observations he made of his students after he asks them to design the perfect pooper-scooper.

Quote from transcription:

You have to make a lot of shit if you want to create something of significance. The attempt is to “clever” your way to a solution without cranking out a lot of work. You need to give a shit about what you do. Need to make your work personal. In this time of focus groups and user testing, with the tyranny of the user going on, I think we’re starting to commoditize creativity and turning ourselves into problem solving machines and innovation specialists. Forgetting there’s a reason they called us in the first place. The students able to find a place that was personal not only were more successful but they had a lot more fun. Don’t work on shit jobs, only create artifacts and services of value…

Honestly I was a little disappointed, I had expected something different. Perhaps something more insightful? Nothing particularly new here, but at least his delivery is different. Regardless, how many of us have the privilege to decide on the design projects we can take on? I certainly cannot.

Many years ago, I took the steps to work in an industry where we focused on low volumes, long product life cycles, and hopefully better product value offerings. But that is as far as I can go. At least csven can walk away. I certainly can’t.

The reality is many of us designers are stuck in this massive cycle of consumerism. Getting on a soap box and telling the world how designers can make a difference is one part of the story. The reality is the consumer and businesses must change first, as most designers (including myself) are either doing something about it or are waiting for a chance to make a difference.

Via: PSFK, with a pointer from rebang’s twitter updates.

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