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Awareness

The
Humane Village
Journal 1



 

 

 

Awareness and a New Responsibility

 

Andrea Branzi •

Design must get back its identity as a great international culture, whose job is to come up with a response, if possible, to the cosmic problems of a mature, post-industrial society.

 

Alexander Neumeister •

We are facing a loss of existential orientation. An orientation which, in earlier times, was founded upon a spiritual and religious rooting, and which gave life its individual meaning within a grea-ter context.

 

Agneta Liljedahl •

On the doorstep to a new decennium and moreover a new millennium, our globe seems to be on the stage of collapse. Hunger, political disasters, economical break-downs are playing their evil games all around the world. This has happened before in the same period of time just before the turnover to a new century. It seems that time and conditions for the human race circles out of its own control, how ever much we try tokeep it in our hands.

So, where does design come in, in this recycling procedure? For the time being I see design without a structure, being a big mess, like everything else. But &endash; after these periods of chaos has always a new design concept for better living conditions in a new world been born. Though circumstances seem to be worse than ever, what can we do but hope for this wonder to happen again. If we work hard.

 

Stefano Marzano •

It is important to discuss the Issues, the Ethics and the Shared Values. We have to look at the abstract Vision, not at particulars, i.e. the political, the social or the economic act of design. Without looking at the large picture we will lose our sense of purpose. Thus the first question we must tackle is "What is design's sense of purpose?"

 

Rita St. Clair •

Designers create environments, create symbols, and create perception of power, wealth, religion, immortality and so on. This, in one form or another, will never change. The forms may change in each culture and in each time, but symbolism as a visual tool will always be evident. Our need to decorate and construct symbolic monuments, places of worship and meditation, as well as halls for celebration, are as important as the mere function of shelter and containment. Today in spite of these beliefs the Designer will also need to add another concern to the elements needed to produce successful design. The Designer will need to recognize in this and the next decade, that our most precious possessions are the earth, its air, its water, and all its natural environment. This realization will dictate where human energies and creativity of the design community will have to be directed. This must be so if we are to preserve the earth's natural elements, and if the earth and its living species are to survive.

 

Francoise Burkhardt •

Design appears ideologically out of step, tied to the past when functionalism was the order of the day. The profession as a whole still follows outmoded dogma; designers devote too little thought to the new aspirations of our own times. Design, moreover, is deeply affected by the crisis now gripping every aspect of society, and is not ready to call in question its own fundamental principles, even though it now faces an unprecedentedly threatening situation.

Peter Dormer •

Essentially we must rethink what people need and what nature can tolerate.

 

Thierry Chaput •

The very functions of the tertiary information technologies creates formlessness, neatly derailing the original modernist prescription for design that form follows function. We need a new aesthetic, an aesthetic that can comprehend the complexity, abstraction, and non-linearity that distinguish today's technologies from those that preceded them.

Alexander Neumeister •

The present, somewhat primitive playing with shapes is not the only possible dimension of design. In fact, this dimension is actually a dead-end road regarding the future of the profession. This is a task which, already in the near future, might well be handled by drafting assistants trained on the job, using computers with fancy 'designer software'! On the other hand, the demand for design

on quite a different level, and possible ways of professional contribution, could well grow in totally new directions.

 

Ezio Manzini •

During the last decade the environmental issue penetrated the mature industrial societies, leading to new policies, becoming a part of corporate programmes, introducing a new 'demand for environmental quality' in the marketplace.

The environmental reorientation of the system was imagined as a series of operations to be effected within a substantially stable social and industrial framework. A re-orientation which would not require difficult changes in lifestyles nor, in any case, changes in the overall development model.

In this cultural atmosphere the environmental issue has tended to be 'normalised'. In other words, it has become a political, economic and engineering theme to be treated in a substantially technical manner through an appropriate re-designing of the extant.

Faced with the evidence of the connection among the environmental, economic and socio-cultural crises, it becomes increasingly clear that the scenario of the 're-design of what exists' is not sufficient for the discovery of true solutions.

 

Michael Wolff •

We are faced with the unfamiliar experience of having our old secure view of the world collapse in front of our eyes and renew itself in exciting, frightening and challenging ways. Look around you at the way things are. If you think everything's fine, give updesign.

Tucker Viemeister •

Today the design profession is a prosthetic device. We prop our culture, we make it look good, but we keep it crippled. Techno-logy, ecology and society are demanding a new breed of designer &endash; holistic, eclectic, emotional and empowering. These new designers will go into the future, not only as scouts or pioneers, but as leaders who understand contradiction and diversity. Let's skip the world domination. Let's move toward a new utopia were everyone is capable of designing their own future. Let's create a world where individuals are free to explore their potential and pursue their dreams...

 

 

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© 199 4 The Humane Village Centre for Compassionate Design and the Authors

The Humane Village Centre for Compassionate Design is a not for profit organization.
Its objectives are:
• to promote the philosophy of design known as the "Humane Village" among designers, manufacturers and consumers through the publication of
material and the holding of seminars and conferences.
• to develop methods and advise corporations and consumers on issues related to socially responsible design;
• to promote and establish a network of interested parties and organizations.
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