‘Slow’ Design
Last year I read a book by Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slowness. In essence, Honoré advocates living a little more deliberately and less frenetically: doing (and enjoying) a few things well instead of obsessing over speed and quantity. Consider how life would be different if society was concerned more about Gross National Happiness than Gross National Product. Honoré provides insights into how to experience more depth in life and focus on things of greatest importance. He describes how Slow philosophy can be applied to a range of areas, including food, work, play, and raising children. I would like to suggest that Slow be extended to another area: design.
In proposing Slow Design, I’m not suggesting that we increase the time it takes to get products to market, but perhaps we can apply elements of the Slow philosophy and focus our creative efforts on issues of lasting value. We need to be working on the right things in the right way, and create more overall value. Slow Design engenders a new cultural perspective on design, more thoughtful consumption, and a shift in priorities.
Think of all the creative effort and resources devoted to developing products of convenience; items that make our lives just a little easier (or appear to make them easier, but actually make them more complicated). What is the real impact of all this effort? Is it genuine progress? Does it raise the standard of living for many people? It certainly generates profit for some, and employs manufacturing workers around the world. Perhaps this phenomenon is a natural result of a market (until recently) full of consumers eager to spend. But what about now? What should we shift out design efforts toward? The present is an ideal time to reflect and reprioritize.
Let’s focus on living with a purpose greater than consumption. Let’s pour our creativity into things of value, things of beauty that really enhance our lives, even improve the way we live. How much variety in injection-molded plastic do we really need? Our design priorities must include clean energy systems, better transportation, common sense agriculture systems, and cradle-to-cradle design, not consumer junk. So much of our creative capacity is wasted on wares worth so little.
What do you think of Slow Design? What past and present design priorities have been a hindrance? What do you think we should focus design efforts on, and how else might Slow philosphy enhance design?
Posted: May 26th, 2009 | Filed under: Design, Vision |
The following article about “slow design” was posted at core77 the 29th of April:
As technology gets faster and we get busier, it’s hard to find time for the small things in life. The Slow Movement’s been battling this for a while now, notably in the food world. Recently, they took a huge bite and went, gulp, global! Founded by Carl Honore, Geir Berthelsen, and Dale+Bang, the BETA version of SlowPlanet has big plans to grow into a multi-faceted resource for all things un-speedy. They’ve got some interesting things to say about design, notably a framework of six principles for slow design from their friends at the SlowLab. Here are a few; more after the jump:
1. Reveal: Slow design reveals spaces and experiences in everyday life that are often missed or forgotten, including the materials and processes that can easily be overlooked in an artifacts existence or creation.
2. Expand: Slow design considers the real and potential ‘expressions’ of artifacts and environments beyond their perceived functionality, physical attributes and lifespans.
3. Reflect: Slowly-designed artifacts and environments induce contemplation and ‘reflective consumption.’
4. Engage: Slow design processes are ‘open source’ and collaborative, relying on sharing, co-operation and transparency of information so that designs may continue to evolve into the future.
5. Participate: Slow design encourages users to become active participants in the design process, embracing ideas of conviviality and exchange to foster social accountability and enhance communities.
6. Evolve: Slow design recognizes that richer experiences can emerge from the dynamic maturation of artifacts and environments over time. Looking beyond the needs and circumstances of the present day, slow design processes and outcomes become agents of positive change.
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Thanks Evi for pointing out this article. Here is the link for everyone else:
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/slow_design_9655.asp
I like the idea of ‘reflective consumption’ instead of the once ubiquitous ‘conspicuous consumption’. I should keep closer tabs on what Carl Honoré is up to these days. In one of his recent slow planet posts he pointed to the UK Landfill prize, which identifies good examples of consumer junk:
http://www.enoughness.co.uk/
These types of devices can distract our valuable design efforts from more meaningful projects.
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Thanks James for bringing up the subject! (Found you via Treehugger). Thanks Evi for the excellent tip on the article on Slow Design principles!
ps: I love the idea of “reflective consumption” as an antithesis to “conspicuous consumption”.
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design and development needs to be updated, managed and allowed to grow in context of the space and time it is conceived. Design needs to move from the developed to the developing where the real design challenges are growing at a pace which if not understood now can lead to disasters and uneasiness which most of us practicing design faces today.
I come from the small hill state of sikkim in India which is undergoing a mass change under the leadership of its chief minister who wants to better the quality of life of our people which is defined by what the west has achieved. He wants to transform Sikkim into Switzerland, everything from the roads to systems. I have nothing but praise for what the swiss has achieved but to think about a similar system for my state may not be a great idea.
So yes “slow” design could be further developed for smaller regions. Bhutan is a neighbor and we have lots of things in common. although they are far ahead i think with their gross national happiness index and the idea of democracy. This is a country to look out for.
cheers!!
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Hi! I like your srticle and I would like very much to read some more information on this issue. Will you post some more?
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