Post Professional Design

How to Create Jobs: A vision for Design Education for Australia in Contemporary times

Keywords

1. The new Craftsperson

2. Industry of One

3. Creative Practitioners

4. Research-Design Practice

5. Propositonal Practice

6. Post_Professional Design

7. Creating Design Leaders

8. Publicly funded design practice

Often – How we speak about design education has a very strong whiff of legacy thinking – where we look at ‘jobs’ in the way they were viewed decades ago – potentially in the 1980s.

We have a education where notions of ‘employability’ are often spoken of in the context of ‘design staff’ in manufacturing enterprises or in consultancies servicing these enterprises. These jobs are hard to come by – and why would an education provider train its graduates for a sector that will not employ them.

Similarly skilling up students – where these skills are only relevant in specific contexts of work/ work environments – may be fine, but if these skills are offered in place of other knowledge/ training and skills that would be more useful and appropriate in contemporary Australia – then we have a problem on our hands.

In effect the notion of training for a profession is dangerous – and an uncertain location for gainful employment. We are seeing around us a world of work that is post-professional in a context of enterprise that is post-Industrial.

The term Post Professional (varadarajan) refers to the end of specialization and the folding back of the notion of industrial design partially into a preindustrial and partially into a post Industrial paradigms of practice. Where multiple paradigms of creative practice coexist with the essentially Industrial – manufacturing complex – context of ID practice. In this last design is a function – not so much a practice – within the product development process of serial production. Often product development within serial production is defined by the imperatives of incremental change – and demand a notion of the ‘design job’ that is exquisitely procedural and largely cosmetic. The Pre and Post Industrial do not situate the designer within a corporate context and leave her free to be visionary, idealistic and propositional. Design is thus Proposed and not Justified.

We in effect need to have a progressive educational paradigm where the curriculum is reflective of the needs of work environments that current and future creatives will encounter.

First – Jobs have been disappearing. So more entrepreneurship has been called for from creatives!

Then – The times are tough and we must not forget that. Design graduates are doing it tough. Designers are doing it tough. Its nowhere near as dire as Europe – almost 40% youth unemployment in certain parts.

The youth unemployment rate in Europe, comprising workers aged 15-24, was 20.4 per cent in Britain in the second quarter of 2011, 27.7 per cent in Italy, and 29.8 per cent in Ireland.

In Spain where youth have taken to the streets to protest at the grim outlook for their economic future, the youth unemployment rate has soared to 45 per cent. And in Greece, the epicentre of the European sovereign debt crisis, it was 42.9 per cent in the same quarter.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/young-workers-hit-by-rising-unemployment-20120124-1qevx.html#ixzz1kLVV98KX

Now there are two forms the entrepreneurship could take: One will be in the traditional ‘aesthetic object’ sector. This has elsewhere been referred to in two ways: One, as designer makers where the focus is upon the notion of the designer as a new craftsperson, making one-off artefacts for contract or retail consumption.  Two, is where the potential of contemporary-computer enabled and sophisticated micro manufacturing technologies allows for serial production without the need for tooling. The liberation from expensive tooling has meant all manner of, potentially homewares, products can be produced by the designer – and in this way they become the “Industry of One”.

Hence Industry of One!

Second – Design practitioners have three modes of operation: as employees, as designer-makers, and as creative(design-research) practitioners!

Something on these sectors and the skill sets required in each.

1. Design for Industry

2. Industry of One

3. Creative Research Practice

Third – Globality and the Innovation sector!

Many of the multinationals have acknowledged the importance of ‘design thinking’. This has created a particular intellectual space within these companies – such as Nokia – where the focus is upon visualizing plausible scenarios and technological solutions that enable the scenarios. Designers are being recruited into these positions. I have seen this in India. We train students to be visionaries – today. We could do more to sustain the spirit of innovation with higher level opportunities and challenges for the students’ to encounter.

And so on to articulate a vision for, a space for, Industrial Design in contemporary society.

(Notes from the Research Project – The ID Ecosystem)

Stop being Mr Potatoheads, say new guidelines

Stop being Mr Potatoheads, say new guidelines.

More red meat for the girls. But no more junk food. Bu junk sex?

via Stop being Mr Potatoheads, say new guidelines.

EU and fish quotas: Who will protect these fish from our feeding frenzy? | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

Is this the end of food? Like peak oil we may be approaching ‘peak fish’.

via EU and fish quotas: Who will protect these fish from our feeding frenzy? | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Bloggingheads: Making College Cheaper – Video Library – The New York Times

Glenn Loury, left, of Brown University and Walter Russell Mead of Bard College debate about making college education more economically efficient.

via Bloggingheads: Making College Cheaper – Video Library – The New York Times.

Kenan Maliks review of Ornamentalism by David Cannadine

Yet another clipping -

Moreover, Cannadine observes, depending on context and circumstances, both white and dark-skinned peoples of the empire were seen as superior; or alternatively as inferior. British imperialists loathed Indians and Africans no more nor less than they loathed the great majority of Englishmen and were far more willing to work with maharajahs, kings, and chiefs of whatever colour than with white settlers, whom they generally considered as uneducated trash. Just as Jamaican peasants and East End costermongers were viewed as equally inferior, so Indian princes and West African tribal chiefs were often understood as the social equivalent of English gentlemen. Indeed, British rulers were often amused that lower class white settlers were unable to comprehend that aristocratic breeding cut across differences of colour. Lady Gordon, wife of Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the governor of Fiji, thought the native, high-ranking Fijians such an undoubted aristocracy. Their manners, she wrote, are so perfectly easy and well bred… Nurse cant understand it at all, she looks down on them as an inferior race. I dont like to tell her that these ladies are my equals, which she is not!

via Kenan Maliks review of Ornamentalism by David Cannadine.

via Kenan Maliks review of Ornamentalism by David Cannadine.

The Tyranny of Meritocracy – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic

But in the new aristocracy, it is rarely enough to just get born to the right parents; you also have to work very hard. �(Higher earning men are now more likely to work more than 50 hours a week than are men in lower earnings quintiles.) �Whatever the systemic injustices, it’s also quite clear to everyone . . . even parasitic leeches of investment bankers . . . that their salaries only come as the result of frantic effort. �

via The Tyranny of Meritocracy – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic.

The Bushfire Bunker Finished

Years ago – after the 09 BushFires – there was all this discussion about BUSHFIRE BUNKERS. Dierderek at that time posted – to say that he was building a bukner. Adn the days went by he sent me images of the bunker he was building. More recently there was a comment-query in my blog post of 2009 – asking if Dierderek had finished the bunker. Dierderek wrote to me soon after to ask if I would like to post up the latest images. So here it is.

This is Dierderek’s description: “The bunker has been finished for quite a while now and has settled into the country side very well. The Besser block air lock and smoke door went on with a minimum of fuss and we have practised sitting in it for a period of time. We have stocked it with food and water and sleeping gear (in case we lose the house). The metal file drawer is for insurance and personal effects. The sign is a personal touch and present from my Mother in law. I feel we have created an escape from a large fire and, at the least, i have not been complacent.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Endorses Tax on Bankers – NYTimes.com

I love the idea of a Robin Hood Tax!!

“There is still a powerful sense around — fair or not — of a whole society paying for the errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of messages not getting through; of impatience with a return to ‘business as usual’ — represented by still soaring bonuses and little visible change in banking practices,” he said in an article published in The Financial Times.

With the Church of England’s leadership in a crisis over its handling of the protesters, the archbishop’s remarks seemed to offer a belated attempt to lay out an agenda.

Dr. Williams supported a Vatican statement last week endorsing the idea of a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transaction and for a separation of the retail and investment operations banks that have relied on bailouts from public funds.

“These ideas — ideas that have been advanced from other quarters, religious and secular, in recent years — do not amount to a simplistic call for the end of capitalism, but they are far more than a general expression of discontent,” he said.

“If we want to take seriously the moral agenda of the protesters at St Paul’s, these are some of the ways in which we should be taking it forward,” the article said, but it urged the protesters to be “a bit more specific,” arguing the three proposals made by the Vatican should become a springboard for debate.

“If religious leaders and commentators in the U.K. and elsewhere could agree on these three proposals, not as a fixed agenda but as a common ground on which to start serious discussion, the struggles and questionings alike of protesters and clergy at St Paul’s will not have been wasted.”

via Archbishop of Canterbury Endorses Tax on Bankers – NYTimes.com.

How The TOFU Project Is Teaching Silicon Valley Values To Japanese Entrepreneurs | Fast Company

The goal is to expose the nine entrepreneurs on the one-week program to the ways Silicon Valley goes about innovating “and then bring those experiences back to Japan to spread to other entrepreneurs,” Kan says.

Among the stops on the trip: Lessons on design thinking from Adaptive Path and LUXr, learning about agile development from Pivotal Labs and product design from IDEO, and a prototyping session from Google+’s Bradley Horowitz.

Also on the docket: a workshop on pitching angel investors and venture capitalists at 500 Startups’ downtown Mountain View penthouse labs.

“You want to make sure you communicate confidence,” instructed Kandice Cota, the workshop leader and CEO of IP Franchise, a social game company, as Stanford Unversity’s famous Hoover Tower hovered in the distance, beyond 500 Startups’ floor-to-ceiling windows.

The TOFU Project is the brainchild of Lisa Katayama, a San Francisco-based journalist who grew up in Japan (and who writes for Fast Company as well as Wired, the New York Times Magazine, and NPR) and Tomo Saito, a designer and photographer who created Betabrand’s Japants cargo pants. Among its advisors are MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, RISD president John Maeda, and Kiva cofounder Matt Flannery.

via How The TOFU Project Is Teaching Silicon Valley Values To Japanese Entrepreneurs | Fast Company.

Why Microsofts Vision Of The Future Is Dead On Arrival | Co. Design

Why Microsofts Vision Of The Future Is Dead On Arrival | Co. Design.

I saw this video last week and as I mowed the lawn over the weekend I mowed angrily at the sheer waste and lifelessness of this ‘future’ that microsoft is seeing. Then it seemed like such a pretentious thought – elf righteous almost. So I didn’t post the long train of thought – and finished up the lawn edging with a whipper snipper.

Then thankfully someone else is taking a shot at Microsoft’s vision. Yes a decade or more after minority report. And almost as bad as Volkswagon 2028 – but they acn be forgiven for they are after all only a car company – no visionaries there.

See an interview of the vsion here

If you want to see the vision this is the link – in Youtube.

What do you think of Microsoft’s vision?

We have to change the world

Or so goes the sentiment in”design thinking” – and well its possible. Or alternately – let look back to see how we HAVE changed the world. From 2004 till now we (my colleagues and I) have shaped 321 minds and put them out into this city, Melbourne. Of these, lets say for the sake of our story, 100 are proactively idealistic and changing the world. We have in effect created the perfect 100th monkey phenomenon. Which means the change that we have been instrumental in effecting, is already a phenomenon. The question here is how do we see, touch and feel this change? (I would be keen to hear your responses to this question – in the comments section)

“What we’ve been talking about since my first day on the job two years ago is how artists can change places,” Landesman said – have a listen on ABC RN here (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2011/3336130.htm). He was talking about the role artists (which is all creative people – including Industrial Designers) play in a society and the economy. He went on to say that artists (Industrial and Fashion Designers) create events and works. People flock to places where a concentration of such works happen (Melbourne?) – and where the city acquires a reputation as a creative cluster. Where there are people – there are jobs: people eat, watch and go out spending on a whole load of other consumables. The service industry in Melbourne continues to grow. Melbourne is a creative cluster – one of the big ones. How aware is Melbourne of this creative ecosystem? How well does Melbourne support and nurture this creative ecosystem?

Below are a few additional/ useful/critical readings on creative clusters and Richard Florida.

Reading:

PDF download from here - http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/40782/12705583895CIs_dev_strat_Chapter1.pdf/CIs_dev_strat_Chapter1.pdf

Where does Melbourne rank among cities as a creative cluster: http://www.amazon.com/Whos-Your-City-Creative-Important/dp/0465003524

In 2009 I started a few different kinds of engagements with creatives (designers) – the ones that I had worked with in their formative stages. I had a hand in their development – and I decided that it would be good to walk with them as they took baby steps through entering creative practice – this was one intervention – careers curation. I have a few other interventions.

One was to speak loudly in the hearing of the people in the Victorian government (Lyn Kosky in the old days and then the Innovation-wallahs who supported the labour policy on innovation and more recently the people in the Bailleu Govt)  that DESIGN IS AN INDUSTRY and as such needs support like an industry. Everyone in this city agrees that Design contributes to the economy – as in a sector that employs many people. It is a sector, that is not in doubt. But can it claim status as an “industry” and then become eligible for government support – and development projects (a 100 hectare design precinct and incubator estate – with state of the art prototyping facilities – like China has in most cities, possibly also with a visionary like like Bao Fu Han leading it)? Instead we got a festival (not bad for starters) and an Industry support organization (modelled on New Zealand and 1970s UK) – not bad as mild commitment. But not necessarily anywhere near what cities, that wished to be leaders in innovation, were doing. Will this change? Probably not anytime soon.

The orthodoxy sees the situation in two ways: One, industry and the potential employers of designers need to be educated bout the economic benefits of design. This ignores the fact that contemporary society is ‘saturated’ with design – and anyone needing design help knows where to go – the internet. This was not the cse in 1960s UK and so the design council had a programme of workshops and training courses. Is it valid to spend resources educating potential clients to use designers? Why wouldn’t it be a better idea to seed designers to go off and do some creative activity. Like an arts council – only as a new age ‘design council’. Two, more damagingly another view is that designers need to be re-educated to fit into industry and workplaces. Damaging – because it superfluous – or even that these workplaces need fresh ideas not creatives trained to “fit in”. Hence these orthodoxies are fallacies. Have you heard me say this – Yes this has been the way my litany has run for a fair few years.

Still to move on.

Then there was an attempt to find out what the 321 people were doing. This last suddenly seems a very interesting line of inquiry to follow. What I would like to do is first have a group of people – who I can then chat to. If I can get an understanding of what they are doing – then I can get some ideas of what manner of support they could do with. Or I can propose that ‘creative insurgency’ with the willing ones. I can also add to this 50 additional people – the ones who came to us from overseas (mainly from NID in India) and walked some way with us. Right so I have 371 people.

Next I create a place – I tried a NIG network in 2008. It wasn’t perfect. I am trying facebook now – and it looks promising. I have about 200 people at hand.

Then I need projects! First I tested the ground with a ‘pilot’: DIY Pads. Then started looking further afield. I have been looking around and talking to agencies about projects. It looks like there are two projects that have potential for 2012. (If you want to know more about this – express your interest in the comments section.)

My goal initially was to find work for graduating designers, that became bigger and I was looking to figure out all the places where a designer could potentially work in Melbourne. Its now all that, plus – why not create work, workplaces and projects!

Campaign for the Public University |

Campaign for the Public University |.

The UK Campaign for the Public University is open to all. It is a broad-based campaign with no party or other political affiliation. It has been initiated by a group of university teachers and graduate students seeking to defend and promote the idea of the university as a public good. We believe that the public university is essential both for cultivating democratic public life and creating the means for individuals to find fulfillment in creative and intellectual pursuits regardless of whether or not they pursue a degree programme.

Of Rights and Resilience: Why Women’s Rights are Key to Thriving in the Age of the “Black Swan” | RH Reality Check

Welcome to the age of the Black Swan.

The tornado that nearly leveled the city of Joplin, Missouri in May was a Black Swan; so was the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in March; and the “hundred-year floods” that now take place every couple of years in the American Midwest.

A Black Swan is a low-probability, high-impact event that tears at the very fabric of civilization. And they are becoming more common: weather-related disasters spiked in 2010, killing nearly 300,000 people and costing $130 billion.

via Of Rights and Resilience: Why Women’s Rights are Key to Thriving in the Age of the “Black Swan” | RH Reality Check.

Two things about Japan

Japan is ‘awesome’ viewed from design eyes. In this we mainly get to see examples of Japanese aesthetics.

But what about ‘environmentlism’ in Japan, and ‘corruption’?

These two texts will send you on your way – and behind the facade of perfection in Japan:

Re Environmentalism: “What is often crystal clear to me is the Japanese are more than happy to be environmentally conscious as long as they are forced to do so by the government and when the larger issue isn’t directly in their hands (as is the case with the Kyoto Protocol). When it comes to making the effort on a daily basis and scrutinizing their lifestyles, the thought doesn’t even occur to most of them.” (More …)

Re Corruption: “There are at least two lessons to be learned from these tales of bureaucratic corruption. First, it appears that students of Japan– and academics especially– have been mistaken about one big fact concerning that country’s leaders. We knew that politicians were dirty, but we also believed that bureaucrats were unsullied by the grime of crime and corruption. We were wrong.” (More …)

Donations Lag for Pakistan

Is this going to change. If this is the worst disaster – then surely AID must flow.

Western Donations Lag for Pakistan Flood Victims – NYTimes.com

Getting more money from other sources, particularly from private donors in the United States, has been more of a challenge, aid agencies admit.

While the U.K. public now seems to be responding generously, “public response across other countries — in Italy, for example, and the U.S. — has perhaps been a bit lower,” ActionAid’s Taylor said.

Public opinion of Pakistan is seen as one factor in the slower response. Pakistani media reports also suggest that their public believes mistrust of the government in Islamabad is turning donors away.

AfriGadget

AfriGadget

This gadget was created to solve a real problem with biogas – getting the dung to the system quickly and efficiently. Motorbikes are the taxi’s of Africa so why not? Before I tell you about the above gadget I just want to remind you about the problems we have been having to solve to get the biogas to work at home.

World Comics

Home | World Comics

Grassroots comics are made by socially active people themselves, rather than by campaign and art professionals. They are genuine voices which encourage local debate. They are inexpensive and the technology is not complicated – pens, papers and access to a copying machine are usually enough.

What matters is a good story with local content, made for local distribution in places such as bus stops, shops, offices, clinics, schools, notice boards, etc. People are always interested in what their local activists and organisations have to say.

Cat Laine at BIF-4 | Business Innovation Factory

Cat Laine at BIF-4 | Business Innovation Factory, posted with vodpod

Fully Charged on Youtube

YouTube – fullychargedshow’s Channel

Robert Llewellyn is a writer, actor and Broadcaster of many years experience. He has most recently started two video podcasts, ‘CarPool’ which is on iTunes, YouTube etc, and now ‘Fully Charged’ which is also available on as many platforms as possible 

How Copenhagen Became a Great People-Oriented City (Video) : TreeHugger

How Copenhagen Became a Great People-Oriented C…, posted with vodpod

The Hannover Principles

The Hannover Principles William McDonough and Michael Braungart 1992

Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.

Child Labour in Indsutrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Industrial Revolution led to a population increase, but the chance of surviving childhood did not improve throughout the industrial revolution (although infant mortality rates were reduced markedly).[21][22] There was still limited opportunity for education, and children were expected to work. Employers could pay a child less than an adult even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was completely new there were no experienced adult labourers. This made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution between the 18th and 19th centuries. In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were described as children.[23]

Child labour had existed before the Industrial Revolution, but with the increase in population and education it became more visible. Many children were forced to work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders.[24]

Reports were written detailing some of the abuses, particularly in the coal mines[25] and textile factories[26] and these helped to popularise the children’s plight. The public outcry, especially among the upper and middle classes, helped stir change in the young workers’ welfare.

Politicians and the government tried to limit child labour by law, but factory owners resisted; some felt that they were aiding the poor by giving their children money to buy food to avoid starvation, and others simply welcomed the cheap labour. In 1833 and 1844, the first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in England: Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, children were not permitted to work at night, and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. Factory inspectors supervised the execution of the law. About ten years later, the employment of children and women in mining was forbidden. These laws decreased the number of child labourers; however, child labour remained in Europe and the United States up to the 20th century.[27] By 1900, there were 1.7 million child labourers reported in American industry under the age of fifteen.[28]

Espresso

Page – 3: The Design blog – Design trendsetter

Shmuel Linski’s ‘Espresso Solo’ flies right in the face of product designers who associate design aesthetics with utilization of materials that lends a smooth soft appearance. Willing to experiment with a variety of material combinations, this designer has crafted an espresso machine from concrete.

Design is …

I have spent the better part of the past two months in provocation – is design about designing really expensive things for rich people. The simple answer is yes – and the fact that we have a class of product called ‘designer goods’ attests to the fact that a category of overpriced goods exists. The main aim of this category for the marketing department is to have a line of products with big margins and small volumes. These products are to be sold through endorsements in design schools and museums. Alessi is a classic example of a manufacturing enterprise that used the route of the profession and the museums to locate its product.

Years ago I bought a Starck Juicy Salif in Amsterdam. In 1994 a friend gifted us the Alessi whisteling Kettle. So we have tow objects that are now less objects but more icons of postmodernism of the 1980s. In my time I have oggled at the Tizio lamp.

What does this prove – that I am a consumer of design obejcts? Possibly.

I said last week that in 1994 I made a promise to myself that I will not design objects or products. I have since worked almost exclusively in visualizing projects for social change – projects that to be successful had to prove their commercial viability. Each project thus had three stages:

A ‘design stage’ of visualizing the project

A ‘pilot stage’ of implementing the project in a limited fashion to test and prove its viability

A ‘commercialization stage of rolling out a large scale product service system

Each of these projects took the better part of five years to implement and complete. It proved to me the viability of a ideological position where I could have visions of an improved world and then go about making it happen. This for me was design – making things better.

A long time ago making a good looking product also could have been justified as having made a difference. But that does not satisfy me anymore. It would be escapism for me. I will try to respect others who do this – but cannot do it myself.

Patent Free Zone

Mark Whiting sent this thru to me today – it is certainly worth looking as in the context of technology and services beyond the ambit of the multinationals.

Opportunities In The Patent-Free Zone

China may overtake Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy this year. On its heels is India, and countries such as Brazil and Russia are not far behind. What does this mean for entrepreneurs?