What is Design? - Lecture 5 - 20-10-11

“We are all designers. All that we do, almost all of the time is design, for design is basic to all human activity."
Victor Papanek
This means that the most important factor about design is how it relates to people, and design is a problem solving activity that enables designers to determine creative solutions to communication problems.


Victor Papanek is the author of “Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change” and came up with The Function Complex, which consists of 6 factors:

• Method - how is it made?
• Use - does it work?
• Need - what do we need? Needs should not be neglected by the designer
• Telesis - using nature and society to gain certain goals
• Association - asking questions like, what gives a chair its chair-ness?
• Aesthetics - is it pleasing to look at?

This Function Complex is important for all designers, because everything links together, and all of the factors must be asked/answered when designing something new.

The Ten Commandments of Design outline some good points and factors that every designer should consider:

1. Remember, the most important thing about design is how it relates to people
2. Thou shalt endeavor to be a responsible designer and strive to make the world a better place
3. Thou shalt consider function; ‘What does it do?’, ‘Is it useful?’, ‘Does it do the job for which it is intended?’
4. Thou shalt consider audience; ‘Who is it for?’, ‘What id being communicated and why?’
5. Thou shalt consider the economic, cost effectiveness of manufacture with due regard to you client
6. Thou shalt not choose materials and processes that pollute the air we breathe, but appropriate eco-friendly ones
7.  Thou shalt not squander skills devising unnecessary gizmos and trinkets or consider fancy techniques that are not pertinent to the idea or concept
8. Thou shalt choose appropriate design methods and techniques that both solve the problem and are aesthetically pleasing
9. Thou shalt be self-critical and evaluate the political environment in which design takes place
10. Thou shalt always keep an ethical vision in mind and consider social consequences for the rest of society

When questioning the role of the designing, Mat Hunter, Chief Design Officer from the Design Council said: ‘Design is all around you; everything man-made has been designed, whether consciously or not.’ Therefore, the question isn't so much 'what is design and why does it matter?' but 'how can I use good design to make the world around me better?' 

Overall, I believe that design is not just designing what YOU want to design, but thinking of the world and society around you, and how your design fits in with it. You need to answer several questions to decide if your design is well-rounded for every part of The Function Complex. I have also learnt that everyone is a designer, every part of our society has been designed, and has gone through the same process to decipher whether the design would fit in.