Task 5 : Design for Life

Phillips Starck's Design for Life

In this television series, Phillips Starck wanted the to convey to the designers on the show I found were three lessons. They are to create objects with meanings, to create sustainable and useful products and about perseverance and passion in design. I feel that these are important lessons to learn as it reminds us designers to re-look, rethink, reconsider and redesign the products all around us and the impacts it create by our design decisions we made in the design process. Adam Buxton, the narrator of this television series, supports this by saying that Stark wants the designers “to question everything about product design and to learn how design decisions now will affect all of our lives in the future.” Starck asserts that “now I(he) expects from the young people new ideas, because we do not need to redo, redo and redo.” The current consumer market is overloaded with products, some are good, some are bad and then with some that are terrible and wasteful. Creating wasteful products will just only contribute to the ever increasing amount of landfills and pollution in the world. Moreover, it is impossible to sustain our current lifestyle that requires three and more planets compare to a single planet that we live in now.

Creating object with meanings is definitely not an easy task. Other than fulfilling the function and form of the product, designers should also look into the life cycle of the product, the story of its and its communication with its end users. Stark explains that “we are not speaking about the product, we are speaking about what is behind the product and the interaction with the product.” Starks wants designers to think deeper into the product design. For instance, considering the manufacturing process, the material selection, the transportation of the product and the packaging and identity of the product. It is like giving birth to a baby, giving it life into this world, giving him a name, putting clothes on him, thinking about the food he is going to eats, deciding on which school he will study at and so on. In order to create a meaningful and useful product, designers need to consider these design decisions in the design process. Stark also describe his ideals in a philosophical way by saying that “ you do not make good design if you think about it, you make good design if you speak about life, sex, flesh and sweat.” It is about creating designs that is invisible to the users and how will the product blend and be a part in the user's life. If the users have to think about the product in order to use it, it is a bad design as it means that the design was not entirely well thought out and thus creating another wasteful product and not considering the psychological, social and physical pleasures of the product.

Sustainability was another point that Stark asserted throughout the series. In creating a sustainable product, designers have to consider the whole design process like the manufacturing and transportation, and finding a more ecological and sustainable method. In discussing about the cheap price of a mountain bicycle in one of the series, Stark states that the only reason that it is made to be so affordable is because of human slavery where people are only paid one dollar for an entire day of work. If we as designers ignore and allow such an action to occur, we are also a culprit in this inhumanely act. The transportation method used also plays a great deal to the environment impacts it creates. The carbon emission that the airplanes, ships, truck and trains produce will also results in environmental consequences and as designers we are equally guilty of this ecological crime. However, I felt that Stark is an oxymoron when he said that it is not in this design philosophy to follow trends and styles, when in actual fact, he is aiming towards being more ecological. Furthermore, the aim of this competition was to rediscover another English style since Terrence Conran from the 1960s in this group of young designers, which greatly contrasts Stark's beliefs of not following design styles.

Throughout the series, I have also learned about having perseverance and passion in one's work in order to be successful. Seeing how the last two finalists endure and push towards the completion of their designs, reminded me now as a industrial design student and designer in the future to continue to be passionate and determine in my profession and works, for there will be success in the future especially now when I am doing my design studio projects. No matter how big or small the success is at the end of the project, it is up to me to decide and reflect upon the journey made and the lessons learned. I would like to end with a quote from Stark, “ If you are lucky enough to have a good idea, you have a duty to share it with the maximum of people.”