The guys here at cph127 have kindly invited me to guest blog.
My first reaction was to think, but what do I know about design? Of course, that self-judgement is based on a old-fashioned perspective on design, very similar to old-fashioned perspectives on marketing, publishing, retaliing and other industries. That perspective says, leave design to expert designers, our job as consumers is… well, to consume. It’s a paradigm that some of the most successful web businesses have started to undermine - look at what eBay has done to retailing.
Of course, this blog is largely about design as a collaborative process. Something where everyone has a part to play as co-creator. I was pleased to see another guest here, Chris Conley, describe himself as a facilitator. I’m biased, of course, because that’s how I describe myself too - facilitation is about getting people involved and encouraging participation in the ongoing process of creating our lives.
I was thinking about this when I read a good post by Aleah at Incite by Design. She’s worried about the isolating effect of everyone wandering round glued to their iPod:
Good design is argued in everything from new product sales to saving the world. I wonder, however, how design can be applied to bring people together rather to pander to the individual’s taste and preferences?… I am left to wonder what product designers, especially in terms of new technology, are doing to bridge the gap between individual needs and community connectedness. Even the blogging and podcasting culture is 98% narcissistic.Right now product design seems pretty rooted in the "Me" rather than the "We."
I like this notion of design for we, for the community. It gets away from design purely by one ego for another (of which I’d say FCUK here in Britiain is a high exemplar) and speaks to richer, if fuzzier possibilities…
4 comments so far
Welcome aboard Johnnie! After meeting you in Copenhagen I am pretty sure you’ve got a lot to say about design and innovation. For example getting your point of view on Eric von Hippel’s theories could be very interesting.
Welcome!
Welcome Johnnie!
I really enjoyed your workshop “Open Sauce” in Copenhagen the other week! Im looking forward to hear more about your views on how companies learn to “let go of the control” and manage (become managed by) customers.
Its great to have you in the team!
Thanks for the warm welcome guys, it’s a pleasure to think in such good company.
I think the me vs. we dichotomy neglects the fundamental nature of the human network. Everything any one of us does is for the benefit of the rest of us.
An interesting issue, but a better question might be how do narcissistic blogs, and iPod zombies contribute to our social network. I’m not sure I know they do, but they must, or humans would find no value in them.