definitions

I have about three working definitions for design which I am reluctant to reconcile into one – not just yet. They go like this.
1. Design is meaningful creation. There is always creation in design whether you are dealing with tangibles or otherwise. You always end up creating something or non-thing that did not exist before. Meaningful – because it is a conscious, deliberate process. The process is always meaningful even if the end results turn out to be meaningless.
2. Design is a process of increasing Contrast or Uniqueness. Whether visual or otherwise we always add value in such a way that it is different from all that exists. Therefore all the attention that a new creation gets could be explained like the flow (of electricity) that happens when you have a (potential) difference.
3. Design is about re-arranging information flows. In order to bring about change it is necessary to change the relationships i.e. the various interconnections which determine the qualities of an entity (an object in our case). These interconnections are the structure of the object and are primarily channels of information flow. When a connection is altered the information flow is altered and the behaviour / output is altered. Lovers getting married, clubbing a camera with a cell phone, adding GPS to traffic navigation, count-down units at traffic lights, changing the seat height of your chair etc. etc. are all examples of such structural alteration and therefore alteration of information flows leading to change in behaviour / quality of experience.

middleman

Yes, there is a middleman in the practice of design, who filters what benefits are passed on to the ultimate beneficiary and how much the designer should get rewarded in return. Yes, the client is a middleman – we ought to be able to get to the people more directly.

future

Does the future happen
or is it made?
maybe,
it happens
when
each of us
make
or do not make
our future?

‘unique’ing / ’same’ing

Design is about creating contrasts about making things more unique. Uniqueness is life. Sameness is death. Death, unlike as we know it is not an event but a process like life itself. A candle when it spreads light is also burning itself out. Life and death happen at the same time. This is true for both animate and inanimate objects. Reading glasses are relevant only if your eyesight is failing. This relationship between failing eyesight and its relief through reading glasses is the connection / flow that makes the very existence of the product relevant. Correct the failing eyesight condition through yoga or science and there would no more be an object called reading glasses. For any object, there is such a fundamental relationship that is its lifeline. This is the universe of the User. Design intervention in this realm is all about enhancing this fundamental connection between the person and the object. When you enhance the relationship you make the object more meaningful and therefore more unique and therefore instill more life.

best way to die

The best way to do die would be to ‘live’ to the fullest. Look at a candle, it is when it gives out light that it also dies. And the best way to live would be to ‘give’ unconditionally?

partners

Life seems to be about forming entities larger than ourselves. Built into us are so many wants, yearnings, desires, needs etc. which can only be fulfilled through partnerships. Every partnership comes with its own boundaries and connections and affordances / possibles and will determine the life span of the entity formed. Entities formed through love – such as parent-child, friendships etc. seem to have a quality of evolving as circumstances change as the connections are stronger than the boundaries.

signals

A signal is an attribute of being. It indicates how a flow (of information / energy?) should happen. Quite often, we come across wrong signals where the entity is actually seeking something else while signalling for some other thing. In the hope that you will get the opposite of what you are seeking? Does ‘blink’ work on signals? What does a new design signal? How much attention to signal is given during the design process? Maybe, all the spiel we give about aesthetics is actually about signals?

nature

Nature wants us to be who we are and not anybody else. Whew, that’s such a relief!

‘design’?

In recent times the same design education has evolved many different kinds of animals (no offence – only to draw a parrallel with different creatures evolving from the same starting point – fish) who ‘create’ with specialised expertise. viz.

• styling + fashion
• usability
• branding
• corporate strategy
• systems
• social relevance
• sustainability
• etc.

irrespective of the classical disciplines that one graduated in. Much of the differences in opinion arise from these different standpoints. is it fair to refer to all of them with the same generic term ‘design’ or should we start looking for new words? The dilemma is much like when a political party splits and each splinter wants to be the real original party. we would need to settle this sometime soon?

design for liberation?

How does one design for liberation? let me explain. In the normal course of events, any profession creates dependencies. The expertise is intimidating and creates feelings of inadequacy in the recipients. How do we turn this around? Any act would have to be empowering and liberating. Transfer of capabilities too? Don’t take up design project but a training challenge? Change the ’structure’ to include and not outsource?