My Design Beliefs

Before my arrival at RISD I knew very little about design. I knew I liked to paint, draw, and work with ceramic sculpture but other than that I was clueless. My past two years at RISD have taught me many different aspects and approaches of design. Being in such a design oriented community my knowledge and desire to learn more have grown exponentially. This class’s approach has forced me to really put to words my thoughts as a designer in the twenty-first century.

I think that like all things we designers are influence by other people, events, and even objects. These influences even outside of the design world come to influence our design thought process. During the past year I have paid close attention to the presidential election. As a first time voter I felt as though I could not vote without knowing the issues that our nation is facing and the candidates’ plans. I became more and more interested in the news in general. I now check CNN.com daily to keep up on the current events that our country is facing. As more and more people became laid off from their jobs and gas prices soared, the certain decline of the economy became more and more a reality. The economy and the plans to fix it became the central issue in the race for presidency.

This downward sloping economy puts constraints on what we as designers are able to do. Green design, however, seeks to fix some of the cracks in the foundation of our consumer based economy. Much of the worry of where our world is headed as we use up all of the natural resources is caused by the declining economy. Green design is necessary at this point in time. I suggest a modification of how we as designers think of green design. Often it is seen as making end products more energy efficient. I think that the overall system of production, use, then trash has to be re thought as a whole.

What if the end product, after we used it, naturally decomposed in a short manor of time and was reabsorbed into the earth? I propose that to just strive to produce less carbon emissions is not enough. As I have said before it is my belief that we as a whole, designers, and communities, must work together to create a circular system of stuff much like nature’s ecology system. This is a more broad and integrated way of looking at our role as designers.
Aside from my belief in green design, I have come to recognize my personal strengths and aspirations. I have come to realize through my work in classes and most recently in my work with IDCONNECT that communication is something I excel at. My best Ideas and projects have come from working and communicating with others. Without a supportive network and people to bounce ideas off of I as a designer become structurally weakened. I realize that as a professional the key to my success is the overall success of my team.

The reason I personally like Industrial Design is because I have always been fascinated with human interactions. All aspects of industrial design deal with human interaction, either human to human interaction or a human’s interaction with an object. I’m also interests in the psychological interaction between objects and people and how we can design that. My freshman year I did a series of fine art pieces based on an old ideology of beauty. All items were painted a gaudy gold color. The first item was a set of hand guards that shielded the back of the hand from the sun. The second was an oversized Elizabethan collar that sheltered the body from the sun. And the third was an oversized mirror which represented self reflection. These items explore the mental connection between objects instead of just their function. This area of design is brings the emotional truth of objects to the surface. Ideally as a designer that is also an area I would like to explore.