/making_sense_and_meaning
(17_may_2022)
Some years ago, when 3D printers and the RepRap project appeared, people knew they were going to
change the future. Now we can print thousands of materials and the technology continues evolving
and improving. The question is: Can we use them to create hope for people?
.approaching_a_new_design_era
We live in a new era. Over the last few years we have seen how technology has advanced exponentially. New products have been created with the aim of making our lives easier, production and transport processes have been streamlined, practically everything has been globalised, and a parallel digital universe has been created. Much progress has been made in some fields such as health and science in general, we have seen the birth of mobiles and applications, 3D printers capable of anything, electric cars, etc.
Even so, the system in which we live has also brought a lot of inequality between first and third world countries, where some consume and others produce. Also inequality within the same countries, where poverty is still a big issue for almost all governments. We are consuming massively every day and we create a lot of waste that ends up on a beach or forming an island in the middle of the sea. We are in a hurry, we want everything at the moment and this is reflected in the way we shop, the way we work, the way we interact with people (instant messaging, social networks, etc.). The problem is that all this has consequences, and serious ones. Climate catastrophes, environmental pollution (atmospheric, light, noise...), temperature situations that do not correspond to the time of year and much more.
What role does design play in all this? How can design be used for the common good and for the planet? First of all, by taking into account where we come from, how we got to where we are and by looking at our environment to understand that we are not alone, and that even if our existence on this planet does not yet have a reason (and may never have a reason), we have to understand that we are not alone and that destroying the planet does not only affect the human race. We must take a cue from what has gone before us, and incorporate it into the way we design.
We must also bear in mind that design drives the way we act and interact with the outside world. Our whole environment is full of signs, objects that tell us what to do and what not to do. In my opinion, the way forward has to be to design for the positive. We should not create to limit and restrict, but to enable and allow.
Finally, we have to understand that, in order to make progress, any information and resources have to be shared. Initiatives that promote this way of acting, away from privatisation and patents, will be the ones that decide how the future should be: empathetic and disinterested.
In this article I will address these issues and some others about my vision of design and my purpose, and at the same time talk about how design and current trends can contribute to improve the future.
Hereunder, the whole paper: