book 5 – questionnaires

1Book 5, I t Must Expand Project – Quest ionnai res & Interv iews

Book

Quest ionnai res & Interv iews

05

It MUST Expand project

2 Book 5, I t Must Expand Project – Quest ionnai res & Interv iews

There is an inter im exhib i t ion in

February as part of the course, I

decided to use th is as an opportuni ty

for research, choosing 8 quotes f rom

di fferent designers. Asked people to

vote i f they e i ther d idn’t know, agreed

or d isagreed about each quote. The

resul ts are d isplayed in an infographic,

on the fo l lowing page. The resul ts are

a lmost ent i re ly f rom students at Grays

School of Art .

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The i t c lear that the major i ty of people

agreed with the quotes, some of the

quest ions had far more responses than

others, but at f i rst i t seems that the

resul ts are reasonably conclus ive. But I

can’t he lp but fee l that there’s more to

these resul ts.

The three ( top two and bottom r ight )

quotes with the b igger responses

agreeing could be considered the more

stra ight forward statements. They each

descr ibe very d i rect responses, broadly

expla in ing a s imple problem or s imple

solut ion.

The quotes that got fewer responses; I

fe l t that those quotes were perhaps the

more provocat ive unusual statements.

For example the quote bottom lef t f rom

Kather ine McCoy:

“Design educat ion most of ten t ra ins

students to th ink of themselves as

passive arb i ters of the message

between the c l ient/sender and

audience/receiver rather than as

advocates for the message content or

the audience.”

03


This quote is quest ion ing how design

educat ion funct ions, and accuses

students of not th ink ing and just being

passive in the i r work, and not analys ing

i t ’s effect . The responses to th is are

a lmost even but g iven the overwhelming

major i t ies on the other quotes, th is

quote seems to have spl i t responses.

The other quote that takes interest

is the only one that the major i ty

d isagreed. The statement f rom Nancy

Bernard:

“Design is at the bottom of the

capi ta l is t food chain. Audiences nei ther

know nor care who we are. And the

people who h i re us th ink what we do is

basica l ly stupid, even though they have

fun doing i t wi th us. . . as i f you d idn’t

know.”

Obviously th is is qui te a provocat ive

statement, i t ’s easy to understand why

people would d isagree with th is. But I

can’t he lp but th ink that there’s some

truth in th is, speaking f rom personal

exper ience, deal ings that I ’ve had with

var ious demographics in doing a p iece

of design for them. There has a lways

had to be a preface descr ib ing what

graphic design is and redef in ing the

br ie f . W ith in the media and then nei ther

graphic design or graphic designers are

ta lked about or even rea l ly ment ioned.

The impact and inf luence of design is

s ign i f icant but what Nancy Bernard is

say ing is that i t ’s not recognised as

such, I would agree with th is statement.

The last quote to d iscuss is the top le f t

by Delyth Morgan:

“Who you’re work ing for, who you’re

t ry ing to communicate wi th, and how

you choose to do that , what k ind of

tools you use – even the k ind of paper

you use is a statement and that ’s before

you even put anyth ing on i t . ”

This quote is the only one not to have

any ‘don’t know’ answers, i t a lso has

the largest number of responses and

the largest major i ty agreeing. So what

makes th is quote stand out?

I th ink the most obvious d i fference is

that th is is the only quote to advocate

being ‘green’ by ment ioning paper.

No other quote advocates recycl ing or

being green, they a l l d iscuss something

about the impact of des ign on society.

Is the reason as d isappoint ing as

people saw the word paper and agreed?

I hope not.

Compared to the others i t doesn’t a

part icu lar ly compel l ing argument, by a

wel l known person, part icu lar ly concise

or unique, i t wasn’t even as s imple as

i t was the f i rst quote on the le f t of the

poster therefore most people would see

i t , i t was s lap bang in the middle. So

i t does seem that i t advocat ing paper

choice is the main d i fference.

Is that the problem with design as Anne

Bush says (which, inc identa l ly got a

mixed response) :

“ I ’ve a lways fe l t a certa in unease

with the ways in which the design

profess ion has f ramed not ions of socia l

responsib i l i ty. Frequent ly def ined by

pro-bono designs for nonprof i t agencies

or the use of recycled paper and soy

based inks, the design profess ion, in

many cases l imi ts socia l responsib i l i ty

to acts of benevolence or good wi l l . ”

04


As part of my research I wanted to f ind

out some opin ions and t ry and gain

some advice f rom other credib le people

and organisat ions.

The f i rst batch of emai ls were sent to

the fo l lowing people:

MSPs for Aberdeen Ci ty:

Richard Baker – Scott ish labour

Lewis Macdonald – Scott ish labour

Al ison McInnes – L im Dems

Creat ive Scot land:

Creat ive Scot land – genera l enquir ies

Amanda Catto – Port fo l io Manager

Helena Ward – Port fo l io Manager

Design Counci l :

Design Counci l – genera l enquir ies

Rebecca May

They were contacted asking the

fo l lowing quest ions:

– How do you th ink design eth ics wi l l

progress and develop in the short and

long term future in Scott ish design

pract ice?

– Do you see any part icu lar negat ive

or posi t ive points about the impact of

des ign eth ics on society?

I received two responses f rom these

contacts, f rom

Hel lo Ia in,

Apologies for tak ing a whi le to get back

to you. As i t is coming to the end of

the f inancia l year, we have been rather

busy!

To let you know a l i t t le about my

background, I have a Masters in Design

f rom DJCAD, Dundee.

Having spoken to my managers, we

agreed that the quest ions you are

ask ing are rather complex, a lmost essay

sty le quest ions. We advise that you

break down the quest ions based on

speci f ic issues in design eth ics, g iv ing

more context to the quest ions and

consider ing the audience your designing

for too. Is i t just Graphic Designers

your pack is for? Or the wider design

community?

As you are creat ing a resource pack for,

I adv ise that you t ry to chat to as many

pract i t ioners as possib le ( f ree lance and

work ing in organisat ions etc) . Those

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involved in pol icy/research wi l l have

some answers around quest ions in th is

area, and wi l l prov ide a sol id base for

your pro ject , but you need to quest ion

who are you designing for, and what

pract ica l benef ic ia l in format ion do they

require. In depth interv iews may be a

way of hav ing a conversat ion around

the quest ions you have asked, and

wi l l a l low the opportuni ty to get a rea l

perspect ive on work ing pract ice.

Coming f rom a serv ice/socia l des ign

background (a l though I studied my

undergrad as a jewel ler ! ) I f ind th is book

usefu l ‘Th is is Serv ice Design Think ing’

ht tp:// th is isserv icedesignth ink ing.

com Al though focused on serv ice

design, there may be design methods

that could enhance the development

of your pro ject , part icu lar ly wi th those

indiv iduals you are designing for. From

your pro ject descr ipt ion, i t seems you

are in theory designing/prov id ing a

‘serv ice’ for designers wi th the output

being the k i t /pack!

Looking at examples of other

‘Toolk i ts’ such as Nestas Fashion

Design k i tht tp://www.nesta.org.

uk/news_and_features/resources/

assets/ features/a l l iance_fashion_

and_manufactur ingbrtoolk i t could

help in form the format of your own

resource pack/toolk i t , such as ‘Code of

Pract ice’ .

Cul tura l Enterpr ise off ice a lso have

advisors for those work ing in the

Creat ive Industr ies, ht tp://www.

cul tura lenterpr iseoff ice.co.uk/websi te/

defaul t .asp?menu=advice&page_

sel=advice&menu_2_sel=2&menu_3_

sel=0 but again I would recommend you

breakdown the quest ions you are ask ing

by being speci f ic and g iv ing context

around each one.

I hope th is in format ion and feedback is

usefu l .

I know what a daunt ing t ime your f ina l

year can be, so i f you have any other

quest ions fee l f ree to get back in touch.

Regards,

L isa

Lisa Murphy | Development Off icer

Creat ive Scot land

This response was somewhat helpfu l ,

but I rea l ised f rom the response that

I was possib ly ask ing the wrong

quest ions and people.

Though there are a lot of he lpfu l

comments and l inks to look at other

examples, L isa Murphy r ight ly points

out that I need to narrow my quest ions

more, and get more speci f ic . As wel l

as target ing more speci f ic people, l ike

designers, organisat ions and companies

that might be creat ing resources l ike

th is or that would prospect ive rec ip ients

of the f ina l product.

So the next stage was to contact

profess ionals and organisat ions, wi th

more speci f ic quest ions. I contacted

designers that I knew personal ly.

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Indiv idual des igners:

Asa Rodger – Graphic designer at F i f th

Ring Design, Aberdeen

Alex Baker – a photographer, des igner,

cartoonist and former archi tect , based

in-house at a internat ional miss ion

agency.

Mart in Parker – Senior designer/studio

manager at The Gatehouse - design &

pr int consul tancy, Aberdeen

David F leck – An archi tecture student,

a lso an accompl ished i l lustrator, on

p lacement at Glasgow 2014 Archi tects.

Malcolm Curr ie – Malky Curr ie is an

establ ished graphic designer, i l lustrator

and a l l round v isual communicator.

Based in-house at a internat ional

miss ion agency.

Alexandra Lofthoue – Graphic designer

at F i f teen Design, Nott ingham

Robin I re land – Manager of Pepperf ish

Creat ive Design Studio.

The emai l sent conta ined these

quest ions:

– Who is your favour i te designer and

why?

– What do you f ind the b iggest

chal lenge is as a designer?

– What do you f ind is the most effect ive

way to engage you on a topic you’re

less fami l iar wi th?

– What do you see as the posi t ive and

negat ive impacts of graphic design on

cul ture and society?

– Where would you draw the l ine on

a pro ject that you wouldn’t do due to

eth ica l reasons?

– What’s the most engaging piece of

design you’ve seen recent ly?

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Alex Baker:

1. Who is your favour i te designer and

why?

My favour i te would be Shepard Fai rey

of Obey Giant. He started gett ing rea l ly

wel l -known when I was in Univers i ty so

I ’ve been a fan s ince before he became

the g lobal brand. I ’m a lso a fan of David

Carson (behind Ray Gun magazine) who

was a lso seminal dur ing my vars i ty days

as was Vaughan Ol iver, the man behind

the look of the 4AD record label . I l ike

them al l for d i f ferent reasons. Shepard

because of h is pol i t ics (socia l is t , le f t-

leaning, counter-cul ture, protest ) and

strong sov iet-era aesthet ic (des ign as

c lear tool of mass communicat ion) .

Carson because of h is typography -

he makes fonts and type become the

design i tse l f . Ol iver because of h is

abi l i ty to evoke emot ion and memorable

moods - more an art ist than a designer

I suppose.

2. What do you f ind the b iggest


Finding a benef ic ia l symbiot ic c l ient/

designer re lat ionship wi th shared ideals

and aesthet ics

3. What do you f ind is the most

effect ive way to engage you on a topic

you’re less fami l iar wi th?

Make i t funny. Try to look for what

would make you laugh or th ink i t ’s cool

4. What do you see as the posi t ive and



Overa l l , graphic design is largely a

negat ive force in society. Before you

th ink I ’ve gone mad, here’s why. The

vast , and I do mean vast , major i ty of

graphic design is shal low, temporary,

superf ic ia l , eas i ly- forgotten and more

of ten than not the s l ick packaging

of poisonous adverts/market ing

campaigns. However, I would make the

argument that that ’s l ike shoot ing the

messenger for the message. Graphic

design is just a tool for communicat ion

- change the message and suddenly

i t becomes a more posi t ive force. The

c loser graphic design gets to art the

more last ing i ts impact. The ‘great’

examples of graphic design ( the ones

they’ l l keep for the museums) fu l f i l

that requi rement. In a nutshel l : graphic

design’s overuse and misuse has made

i t a negat ive force - we could do with

fewer f lyers and bi l lboards (a la Sao

Paulo) . However, i t ’s core purpose is

st i l l very posi t ive.

5. Where would you draw the l ine on


eth ica l reasons?

The c l ient . I t ’s a l l about the c l ient .

I f they stand for ev i l th ings or doing

th ings in an ev i l away then run. Run.

Run.

6. What’s the most engaging piece of


Gosh.. . recent ly? The T ideswel l School

of Food ( f rom the weekend). The

websi te’s okay but the i r v is i tor centre

and logo branding meant you could

immediate ly spot the i r products a l l over

the town and you were a lways cur ious

about what i t a l l meant.

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This response were very helpfu l A lex

c lear ly agrees with the reasoning behind

th is pro ject as he states in h is reply to

quest ion 4.

“Overa l l , graphic design is largely a

negat ive force in society. . . graphic

design is shal low, temporary,

superf ic ia l , eas i ly- forgotten and more

of ten than not the s l ick packaging

of poisonous adverts/market ing

campaigns.”

Though he makes the overarching point

that ,

“Graphic design is just a tool for

communicat ion - change the message

and suddenly i t becomes a more

posi t ive force.”

This is the main point that graphic

design is a tool , a powerfu l tool . I t

has been abused and misused by the

media.

Malcolm Currie:

1.Who is your favour i te designer and

why?

I ’m the epi tome of a 21st century

postmodern designer I th ink. I don’t

tend to pay attent ion to designers. I

just t rawl design b logs and th ink, oh

that ’s n ice I ’ l l n ick that for inspi rat ion.

Recent ly I came across a dude Tom

Lane http://www.gingermonkeydesign.

com/

Love h is stuff . The attent ion to deta i l

and doing everyth ing f rom scratch of ten

by hand is rare and impress ive.

I l ike Shepard Fai rey, Mi l ton Glaser

and George Lois. I love designers that

have a b latant agenda and actual ly care

about affect ing posi t ive change through

the i r work and inf luence.

2.What do you f ind the b iggest


When c l ients a v is ion and my own

c lash. The worst is i f they hate i t and i t

turns out we have d i fferent object ives.

But a lso, of ten I ’ l l produce a p iece of

work and my bosses/ c l ients are happy

with i t but i t might wel l be mediocre.

I t ’s great to have my stuff l iked but i t ’s

even better when work ing with a great

c l ient/art d i rector/ edi tor who is rea l ly

into design and rea l ly wants to push for

something rea l ly great. I t ’s somet imes

easy to sett le for something average

otherwise.




Give i t to me in a medium I en joy. I f you

put i t in a funny/pretty poster. Or in a

v i ra l v ideo that is worth watching cos

i t ’s funny or beaut i fu l ly done. Or maybe

i f everyone’s ta lk ing about i t I ’ l l fee l that

I need to get in formed. Or i f people I

respect or l ike th ink i t ’s important.




Big quest ion. At i t ’s best i t makes

beaut i fu l ar t commercia l ly v iable. I

guess with in a capi ta l is t system good

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work makes money for c l ients therefore

good work wi l l be out there and people

wi l l see i t who would otherwise not

engage with v isual ar t (see becks v ier

music inspi res art 2010 campaign, or

Absolute vodka) . Now those examples

are ideal because what are the th ings

that great design te l ls us is most

important in l i fe? Booze. Is that ok?

In i t ’s se l f des ign makes the wor ld a

better p lace, a more beaut i fu l , creat ive

thought provoking p lace. I ’m tempted

to say there are l i t t le negat ive impacts

of graphic design. However the negat ive

impacts of advert is ing are HUGE and

graphic design is a pr imary advert is ing

tool . Advert is ing creates a cul ture in

the west of depress ion, greed and

insecur i ty through i t ’s harmful messages

and manufactur ing needs in people that

the i r product c la ims to fu l f i l .



eth ica l reasons?

Because I care about what I do then I

pursue (end up in the r ight c i rc les of )

the k ind of work I l ike. Work ing for a

development char i ty I f ind mysel f doing

work for s imi lar c l ients. My wi fe is an

independent music ian so I do some

work in that f ie ld too. I de l iberate ly

don’t go af ter b ig mult i -nat ional

corporat ions who’s eth ics I d isagree

with. I ’d l ike to th ink I ’d turn down a

huge deal wi th Coca-cola or Nest le

but I ’m yet to have the opportuni ty ! I ’d

a lso be wi l l ing to turn down stuff that ’s

promot ing or condoning any k ind of

hatred or pre judiced. In fact I act ive ly

do the opposi te through pro jects l ike

The Narn ian Socia l is t Review. http://

narn iansocia l is t .com/



This,

And th is,

Malcolm Curr ie a lso makes some helpfu l

points as wel l s imi lar to Alex. I found

the p ieces pointed to in quest ion 6, the

most interest ing.

I f ind the comic very effect ive i t ’s so

s imple, b lack and whi te, as soon as I

saw i t I was gr ipped that the speaker

was going to fa l l . The power that the

people have, i t makes i t fee l so obvious

that the leaders don’t have u l t imate

power.


Asa Rodger:


why?

I don’t rea l ly have one, I l ike e lements

of each sty le, but prefer how the

problem was solved rather than who i t

was solved by.2. What do you f ind the

b iggest chal lenge is as a designer?

Inspi red work under t ight t ime l ines.

The creat ive process is hard and takes

t ime.




Image.




Posi t ive: Messaging del ivery, the power

to del iver messages with more impact

through graphic design. Negat ive:

t rends



eth ica l reasons?

I f I wouldn’t support i t by word, I

wouldn’t support i t by image.



Vira l campaign done wel l , c lean design,

inte l l igent market ing and strong

business model wi th USP, def in ing a

new market.

Asa g ives very d i rect answers, but not

a lot of in fo, he makes good and helpfu l

points about the advert in quest ion 6.

Robin Ireland:


why?

David Carson. A predictable choice

perhaps, but he made a b ig impact

in the 1980s and 90s (showing my

age now!) . I loved h is use of bold

typography and sty les that broke

f ree f rom the norm. I remember being

wowed by h is magazine designs and I

st i l l l ike them today.

2. What do you f ind the b iggest


There are lots of chal lenges! Keeping

up with current t rends is one. I ts so

important but takes t ime. I ts very easy

to re ly on t r ied and tested methods,

especia l ly when you’re busy and only

have short t ime scales.




I ’m natura l ly a v isual learner. So great

imagery a lways draws me in rather than


text . A l though a good headl ine wi l l get

my attent ion too!




Good design keeps th ings f resh and i t

inspi res. The negat ives for me are that

design of ten looks to shock or d isturb

in i ts at tempt to f ind something new. Or

the other extreme is that i t promotes

a fa lse rea l i ty where everyone should

be beaut i fu l and without imperfect ion

(perhaps more media dr iven than design

– but they work c losely together ) .



eth ica l reasons?

This is an interest ing quest ion.

There are def in i te l ines I would draw

on pornography or hate l i terature.

However, there are many grey areas

too. I th ink i f the design was to promote

something I fe l t uncomfortable wi th, I

would have to say no.



Looking back at David Carson’s work

again hav ing ment ioned h im above!

Love i t : - )

Robin makes the point f rom quest ion

4 that a negat ive is design that seeks

to shock or d isturb that i t shouldn’t do

that .

Summary:From these responses these

are the following points I ’ l l

take forward;

– That my thinking is on

the right track, they agreed

with approaches I ’m leaning

towards.

– To engage in a easy friendly

manner.

– To research the designers

they mentioned were they ’re

influences and inspirations.

http://v imeo.com/38785342

http:// t inyur l .com/6r5bpb7

http://www.dol larshaveclub.com/


The organisat ions I decided to contact

were ones that I had researched a l ready

and referenced due to the i r a ims and

object ives. They were the fo l lowing:

Adbusters – Pr imar i ly a magazine but

they descr ibe themselves as, a g lobal

network of ar t is ts, act iv ists, wr i ters,

pranksters, students, educators and

entrepreneurs who want to advance the

new socia l act iv ists movement of the

informat ion age.

GOOD – GOOD is a col laborat ion of

indiv iduals, businesses, and nonprof i ts

pushing the wor ld forward. Since 2006

we’ve been making a magazine, v ideos,

and events for people who give a damn.

Provokateur – An eth ica l

communicat ions agency that bel ieves

creat iv i ty and design can be powerfu l

cata lysts for change.

The Designers Accord – A g lobal

coal i t ion of designers, educators, and

business leaders, work ing together to

create posi t ive env i ronmenta l and socia l

impact.

David Berman – Author (Do Good

Design, expert speaker, des igner,

communicat ions strategist , and

consul tant , h is profess ional work has

brought h im to over 30 countr ies.

Design Can Change – Works on the

bel ie f that our industry can make

posi t ive change by work ing together.

Use th is resource as a start ing point to

help br ing our community together to

encourage susta inable pract ices.

MYOO – Formed f rom the heart of

“community” [kuh-MYOO-ni- tee] , MYOO

is about br inging people together to

protect the p lanet whi le, be l ieve i t or

not, hav ing fun.

I on ly got one reply out of these

contacts but i t was a s igni f icant one,

Adbusters repl ied say ing that my emai l

was passed onto the edi tors for the i r

comments.

I got a reply say ing that I could phone

Kal le Lasn, the co-founder of Adbusters

the fu l l interv iew is cont inued on the

fo l lowing page.

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Kal le Lasn (born March 24, 1942) is an

Estonian Canadian f i lm maker, author,

magazine edi tor and act iv ist . Near

the end of Wor ld War I I h is fami ly f led

Estonia and Lasn spent some t ime in

a German refugee camp. At age seven

he was resett led in Austra l ia wi th h is

fami ly, where he grew up and remained

unt i l the late 1960s, at tending school in

Canberra. In the late 1960s, he founded

a market research company in Tokyo,

and in 1970, moved to Vancouver,

Canada. For twenty years, he produced

documentar ies for PBS and Canada’s

Nat ional F i lm Board. He l ives in

Vancouver, Br i t ish Columbia.

He is the co-founder of Adbusters

magazine and author of the books

Cul ture Jam and Design Anarchy and is

the co-founder of the Adbusters Media

Foundat ion, which owns the magazine.

He reportedly started Adbusters af ter

an epiphany that there was something

profoundly wrong with consumer ism.

I t happened in a supermarket park ing

lot . Frustrated that he had to insert

a quarter to use a shopping cart , he

jammed a bent coin in so that the

machine became inoperable. This act

of vandal ism was h is f i rst (qu i te l i tera l )

“cu l ture jam” – def ined as an act

designed to subvert mainstream society.

In h is f i rst book Cul ture Jam, he argues

that consumer ism is the fundamenta l

ev i l of the modern era. He cal ls for a

“meme war”: a batt le of ideas to sh i f t

Western society away f rom consumer

capi ta l ism. His second book, Design

Anarchy, ca l ls on graphic designers,

i l lustrators and others to turn f rom

work ing in serv ice to corporate and

pol i t ica l pol lut ion of both the p lanet and

“the menta l env i ronment”, and embrace

a radica l new aesthet ic devoted to

socia l and env i ronmenta l responsib i l i ty.

I had the pr iv i lege of conduct ing a

te lephone interv iew with Kal le Lasn, the

t ranscr ipt fo l lows on the next page.

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What do you th ink is the most effect ive

way to engage people on a topic they’re

less fami l iar wi th?

I agree with you, I ’ve a lso been th ink ing

for many years now about what I ca l l

‘psycho design’ about the psychologica l

factors that swir l around graphic design

as wel l as product design. My own

th ink ing about i t is that for the last

few generat ions probably s ince the

2nd wor ld war, we’ve been going for

the g l i tz . Our c l ients have paid us for

these products that have th is nuclear

g low around them in the shelves and

in the advert isements. We’ve (graphic

designers) have been gui l ty of creat ing

th is fa lse aesthet ic that basica l ly just

se l ls more product.

Now th is b i r th of psycho design is a l l

about communicat ing d i fferent th ings

to people. Some of the examples

I ’ve used in the past, a hot water tap

that ’s designed r ight f rom the start to

be used less just by adding certa in

features to i t . You can design product

packages that remind people what’s

rea l ly involved in creat ing that product

in terms of the ecologica l factors. You

can take a whole f resh look f rom a

psycho design perspect ive at everyth ing

in the g lobal market p lace r ight now.

I f we can just come up with a new

aesthet ic that goes deeper than th is

o ld aesthet ic of just buy ing more or just

encouraging people to impuls ive ly buy

more products.

So I th ink there’s something incredib ly

fascinat ing here about th is concept

of psycho design. When i t comes to

i t , every product is d i fferent i f you’re

designing a new automobi le there’s a

certa in approach you can use which

is e i ther a door handle that has i t ’s

own approach or i f you’re designing a

landscape i t has got i t ’s own approach.

You know, I don’t know how to answer

that quest ion about what are the actual

factors that we have to bui ld in. But I

do know graphic designers are at the

ear ly stage of [def in ing] a whole new

aesthet ic.

In terms of the design of my pro ject

do th ink i t is better to take a more

provocat ive approach or a more

empathet ic one, to inspi re or in f luence

subvers ive ly?

I th ink the most important th ing is g iven

the fact that we’ve had f i f ty years i f th is

aesthet ic – a k ind of g l i tzy th ing – that

we’ve infused throughout every nook

and cranny of our cul ture. I th ink the

most important psychologica l factor in

our cul ture now is cogni t ive d issonance.

I th ink that the job of design now is to

wake people up, to g ive them a way to

look at a hot water tap in a new way.

To g ive them a new way of hoping into

the i r car, to g ive them a d i fferent k ind

of exper ience of dr iv ing where they

are constant ly being reminded at a

fundamenta l leve l . Instead of hav ing

some k ind of eco carbon emit t ing meter

that constant ly reminds you about what

your doing to the c l imate change.

So I th ink that the most important

factor is for designers to create

cogni t ive d issonance to put surpr ises

into the i r products, into the i r des igns

and to cont inual ly p lay th is k ind of

cat and mouse game with the people

who are us ing the product. I t turns the

whole exper ience into something much

more interest ing. I t a lso has a way of

gett ing people to s lowly start changing

the i r mind about how they l ive and


how they consume, how they basica l ly

t reat design. To me the b iggest th ing

is to create a new aesthet ic. At the

moment we have th is k ind of corporate

s l ick aesthet ic. We have to change that

into a s l ick subvers ive aesthet ic that

is producing cogni t ive d issonance and

narrat ing a cul tura l change.

What do you see as the dominant

ideology in western society?

… Oh gee! I th ink … I don’t know.

I ’ve been th ink ing about that a l l my

l i fe ! I ’ve come to the conclus ion r ight

now, as I ’m wr i t ing a book about

economics, and I ’m looking at the sort

of economic system that we in the

west have created. We’ve created a

k ind of neo-c lass ica l economics that

is so mathemat ica l ! So logica l ! We in

the west are the people who in the

ear ly days – the Greek days – came up

with laws of log ic. And for thousands

of years we’ve been th ink ing that we

can, we’ve a lways thought we can

f igure th ings out by us ing the laws

of log ic. In medieval t imes we even

thought we could prove the ex istence

of God by us ing the laws of log ic! In

the past we’ve thought we use a lchemy

to produce gold out of lead. The most

recent example of that is that we

thought we could imaginat ive ly package

der ivat ives and mortgages in a r isk f ree

way.

Al l a long we’ve basica l ly created

logica l systems that have created a

lot of mayhem – a lot of d isaster ! Now

f ina l ly wi th humanity h i t t ing the wal l

– th is human exper iment of ours on

p lanet earth is f ina l ly h i t t ing the wal l .

And we’ve suddenly got these c l imate

change t ipping points hover ing on the

hor izon, and f isca l ly, f inancia l ly i t looks

l ike we could be in a 1929 scenar io at

any moment! We’re suddenly h i t t ing the

wal l , to that quest ion you asked me,

we have to say – what got us into th is

mess?! How come we’re suddenly in

th is apocalypt ic scenar io?

I th ink i t ’s got something to do with

th is logic f reakiness of western cul ture

– that we in the west are logic f reaks!

I th ink that even a lot of des igners, i f

you rea l ly look at the way you design,

s i t t ing there in f ront of your computer

wi th your hand on the mouse and your

manipulat ing a l l these l i t t le th ings,

moving th ings around. You th ink that

somehow i f you move th ings around

enough and tweak a l l the l i t t le factors

that somehow you can come up with

the magical des ign that does what you

want i t to do. I th ink there’s something

fundamenta l ly wrong with that log ica l

way of th ink ing.

I can fee l now that input f rom Braz i l ,

which is a much more p layfu l and

spontaneous k ind of cu l ture. And

some Is lamic ways of th ink ing about

economics that are say ing wi ld th ings

l ike ‘ let ’s get r id of interest rates’ . I t ’s

l ike a l l of a sudden there’s a counter

intu i t ive non- logica l weirdo k ind of an

emot ional approach. These th ings that

are coming to the fore, and my fee l ing

is that for designers to start doing the

r ight th ing, they have to become much

more intu i t ive, much more emot ional

and less logic f reaky for us to solve

these larger problems of how to create

a sane susta inable future. You know the

whole g lobal cu l ture wi l l have to move

away f rom th is logic f reakiness into a

much more human emot ional k ind of a

resonance.


Something that I see – I ’m speaking

part icu lar ly about designers and the

consumer ist cu l ture created around

them – as a s igni f icant ideology is

possib ly one of apathy, that people

have fa l len as leep in a sense, sett l ing

into an easy way. Would you agree with

that?

Um …yeah! I would agree with that . I

th ink that i f you were fac ing these k ind

of ecologica l , psychologica l , pol i t ica l

apocalypt ic factors swir l ing around

us r ight now then i t ’s very easy just

to switch off . To keep s ipping your

lat te and ignore the fact that , as I sa id

before th is whole human exper iment

of ours on p lanet earth could suddenly

h i t the wal l , and then we could have a

500 year dark age that we’re suddenly

thrown into.

But the b igger th ing I th ink about,

especia l ly des igners, there’s one th ing

that I a lways want to argue with them

about. Most of the designers I ’ve met

– wi th a few except ions – are mi ld

people. Yeah, they have a certa in k ind

of apathy, but there is a fee l ing among

designers that you don’t rea l ly have a

lot of power. You basica l ly just have to

do what the c l ient wants – what your

corporate paymasters te l l you to do,

that you’re not a lways that b ig or that

important. That you can be a successfu l

des igner just by coming up with a n ice

new door handle for a car, or a n ice

new brochure for some company or

some nice s ign or come up with some

fancy dancy book or something.

But I th ink there are a few designers

now that are waking up to the fact that

designers are actual ly some of the most

powerfu l people in the wor ld! We are

the people who create the ambiances;

we are the people who create the code

of the media. We are the people who

create the fee l ing of interact ing with the

Internet; we are actual ly the people who

create the aesthet ic that we a l l l ive in !

I f we start th ink ing of ourse lves as

some of the most powerfu l people in the

wor ld – who are actual ly manipulat ing

these ‘under the radar’ tones and

fee l ings and ambiences of g lobal

cu l ture. I f we see ourselves as the

people who actual ly in some s igni f icant

way create th is g lobal cu l ture that a l l 7

b i l l ion of us l ive in. Then a l l of a sudden

we wi l l become much more empowered

and we wi l l rea l ise that we are some of

the most cr i t ica l people who have the

power to change the wor ld!

Analysis:

There are many points to take f rom

the interv iew, f rom the f i rst quest ion

Kal le Lasn ta lks a lot about what he

cal ls psycho design. He expla ins that

psycho design is design that a ims

to subvert and contradict , to design

th ings f ro the very beginning, f rom thei r

concept ion to a im to do good. To a im

for the psyche and change the way we

design. Becuase, he expla ins that s ince

WWII designers have been going for

the ‘g l i tz ’ , des igning to just look good

and not pay ing attent ion to i t ’s effect .

He uses the example of a hot water

tap that ’s designed r ight f rom the start

to be used less just by adding certa in

features to i t .

Kal le Lasn’s response to the second

quest ion bui lds on the points made

f rom the f i rst quest ion. He cont inues

to expla in another phrase, cogni t ive


dissonance, s imi lar ly he expla ins that in

order to push back against the media.

We need to inte l l igent ly d isrupt, not

for anarchy’s sake but to wake people

up, to cause people to re-th ink. He

cont inues to say that a new aesthet ic

a new sty le and approach needs to be

created.

He cont inues to expla in that a corporate

aesthet ic has been created, due to the

dominance to capi ta l ism and therefore

businesses. Graphic design has in a

way become a s lave to businesses. He

expla ins that in order to chal lenge th is

we need to get under the sk in.

To subvert i t des igners need to design

with in that corporate aesthet ic, but

wi th in i t chal lenge i t and contradict i t ,

to create a ‘s l ick subvers ive aesthet ic’ .

Th is is the most encouraging point f rom

the interv iew because that is exact ly

what I ’m doing, the sty le of the pro ject

is a c lean corporate one, but the

content is to chal lenge every designer

to th ink about what they create.

Kal le Lasn’s responses to quest ion

three and four run together, as we

discussed what the dominant ideology

was in society. He started by us ing

the phrase ‘ logic f reaks’ , expla in ing

that the west largely in f luenced by the

enl ightenment and is obsessed with

logic and v isual rhetor ic. Think ing that

for a g iven p iece of design there is a

per fect so lut ion, and i f the form, colour

and layout s i t in the r ight formula, i t

wi l l be a successfu l p iece of design. In

response to th is we need to be intu i t ive

and emot ional des igners.

Kal le Lasn agreed with my sent iment

that some designers have become

apathet ic, but he thought that i t ’s

maybe ore that people are too mi ld.

That designers just do what the c l ient

wants, and don’t th ink for themselves.

He concludes by say ing that designers

are powerfu l people, that we need to

rea l ise that we are the people that

create the aesthet ic of society. That we

create the code and enable the media

to communicate. I f on ly designers

would rea l ise the power they have, that

designers can change the wor ld.

Summary:From all of these emails,

contacts and the interview;

– That from the emails, it

was confirmed that there is a

market for this project.

– That in making it an easily

approached and simple design

is the most effective.

– That Kalle Lasn agreed

that the clean corporate

style of the project is the

most effective; as it connects

with what people know

best but subverts it and

offers an alternative way of

approaching design.

book 5 – questionnaires

Documents

t responses

i r work

t wi th

overwhelming major i

e i ther d idnt

t s easy

t s effect

th ink ing