I will give Hustwit credit for taking on the large and daunting topic of design in our everyday lives. There certainly is a lot to cover and for the most part the film did a good job of discussing the main topics. That said, however, I didn't think the the film covered all the aspects of design that it could have. I guess it just bothered me that in the film the word design seemed to be a synonym for sleek, plastic and simple, when in fact design means so much more than that.
That point aside, however, the movie was beautiful to watch and did interview some very interesting design related folks. It also touched on a very important design issue right now which is sustainability. I thought Alice Rawsthorn, the design editor of International Herald Tribune made a good point when she said,
Arguably the biggest single challenge facing every area of design right now is sustainability. It's no longer possible for designers to ignore the implications of continuing to produce more and more new stuff that sometimes we need and sometimes we don't need. Designers spend most of their time designing products and services for the ten percent of the worlds population that already own too much when ninety percent don't have even basic products and services to lead a subsistant life. Although a lot of designers believe emotionally and intellectually in sustainability, they and the manufactures they work for are finding it very very difficult to come to terms with because sustainability isn't just a sort of pretty, glamorous process of using recycled materials to design something that may or may not be in the color green. It's about redesigning every single aspect, from sourcing materials to designing, to production, to shipping and then eventually designing a way that these products that can be disposed of responsibly. That's a mammoth task, so it's no wonder that designers and manufacturers are finding it so difficult.
Sometimes it almost feels like the word "sustainability" is just a fad and that we have to use it to sound like we are with it and hip. Saving the planet somehow just became cool, but the more I think about it, and as the film points out, it's a huge issue for design right now, not just because it's a catch phrase, but because our generation has made the recent realization that all designers before us where creating things with absolutely no concept of how their work would effect the environment or this planet in the long term. And although that sounds like something we've heard a million times, somehow I feel like I'm finally old enough to understand it. All these incredible technological breakthroughs have happened during my generation, and that's not long. And although these design and technological advances have been great, they have come at a cost. So when I was watching the movie and a guy who looked just a bit older than my father was showing his design of the first ever laptop, I realized just how far we have come so fast and it boggled my mind. Somehow that's easy to forget, but it's so relevant.
There was a whole section of the film that was on the phenomenal design done by Apple. The designs that Apple creates are sleek, beautiful and useful and are so fluid and functional that somehow when you look at them or use them, you wonder how the hell you lived without it before. The mere mention of all the products they've created made me realize just how many I've used. I had the first imac (because my dad is awesome) and I have the most up to date imac at work now (because my old computer fell apart) and I still remember, very vividly, the first time I saw an ipod nano. I thought, holy shit, that's the coolest things I've ever seen in my life and I want one. And to this day my nano continues to be one of the best and most useful gifts I've ever been given. And all that is great, but what I think was forgotten in the film, and what plays an in important role in many peoples lives, are just the other every objects. The things we buy that are so "designed" as the movie would put it. That film didn't have one piece of wooden furniture. It was all sleek, plastic and, in my humble opinion, complete crap. I guess I just don't appreciate the term "design" to only pertain to the objects that look like they were designed by NASA. A beautiful wooden rocking chair is design too, as well as, if I may say so, a candle that smells good and looks pretty. So although I do appreciate smart designers creating better handles for potato peelers and hedge clippers, I thought the movie missed other areas of... well... objects.
There was another interesting point brought up at the end of the film that I agreed with, but was also conflicted about. It was Rob Walker, an author and columnist for New York Times Magazine, who said,
If I had a billion dollars to fund a marketing campaign I would launch a campaign on behalf of things you already own, why not enjoy them today? Because we all have so many things that are just around, they're in the closet, they're in the attic, whatever, that we don't even think about anymore because there's not enough room left in our brain because we're so busy processing all the exciting new developments. At the end of the day when you're looking around at the objects in your house and you're deciding "what here really has value to me?" they're going to be the things that really have some meaning in your life. The hurricane if coming, you have twenty minutes, get your stuff and go, you're not going to be saying "Well that got an amazing write up in this design blog", you're going to pick the most meaningful objects to you because those are the true objects that truly reflect the true story of who you are and what your personal narrative is and the story that you're telling to yourself and no one else because that's the only audience that matters.
I grappled with this quote a lot, because although I do agree that we live in a society where people always feel they need the newest, best and trendiest thing,
I also am a firm believer in the concept of everything in moderation. So yes, there are people out there who are out of control with their need for "things" and the objects that they own are never good enough (some might even say that's why we're in the economic shit storm that we're in) but there is also a need for people to evolve and for their lives, and purchases and "things" to evolve with them. "New" isn't a bad word, it's just that moderation is key. And we can't all live our lives everyday as if a hurricane is coming any minute because then we'd all just sit in our houses with our dogs on a leash and our photo albums in a suitcase next to us and we wouldn't be productive or happy in any way. But I can certainly see Walkers point. I just think a happy medium between our wants and needs are in order, and like I said, everything in moderation.
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