I feel like if you had to assign a motto to those beloved (or at least admired despite intense moral dissonance) heroes and anti-heroes of dystopian fiction, it would be:
"Just because it was bound to happen, doesn't mean I have to like it."
I feel like that should be my motto for today. Or maybe this week. Possibly this semester.
Which may be a tad dramatic considering that no one has come to my house to burn my books yet.
If that happened, I think my new motto would become, in the succinct phrasing of Halo:
"Killing spree."
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Design for Society
I was tidying up the computer lab at work this morning, and besides the general disarray, one particular abandoned print reminded me of why I dislike design[ers].
The print was a report on affordable fashion. The line that initially caught my eye was:
"Affordable couture is a very important aspect of today's fashion society."
It continued to say that the recent downturn in the economy meant that designers should be concerned with finding ways to lower prices without tarnishing their brand image. In general, I agree with this statement. For design at large, it is possible to create comprehensive and effective solutions without inducing huge costs.
This is evident in the recent rise in "DIY design," especially around the Twin Cities, as clients primarily in the graphic and web markets provide more of their own material and influence, and rely on design firms for production or for idea polishing.
In addition, graphic designers and even architects are showing an increasing interest in their communities both globally and locally, offering services that would normally be cost-prohibitive to non-profits and charitable causes.
I'm sure this crosses over to apparel design in a way - in fact, clothing is considered one of the basic needs for which accessibility defines the poverty line. Affordable clothing is obviously an important societal concern. But affordable couture?
The thing is, Americans are considered impoverished if they don't own things like microwaves [1]. Just taking the bus to work for the average American costs about $3.00 a day. That is almost a third of the daily spending for the 80% of the world! Much of the world actually subsists on less than $1.25 a day.
So what I want to know is, is it really that important that "it is now easier than every [sic] for the ordinary woman to dress in the latest fashions while still maintaining a healthy budget"? Is it even true?
The author of this abandoned paper concluded by saying that "as we move forward I believe that all classes of society will be able to be a part of fashion trends and movements."
I believe that moving forward means that all members of society will be able to afford the basic essentials such as food, shelter, and clothing of any kind. A higher goal still is dignified access to these needs, where being able to afford food, shelter, clothing doesn't mean hand-outs or even food stamps, unsafe or inadequate housing, or secondhand cast-offs.
I'm not saying this is a necessarily inherent criticism of the design industry as a whole; like I said, there are many designers doing what they can to further these goals. But there are many more who go to work every day thinking about how to get people who are in the top of the world's financial bracket to buy things.
I am not going to say that I think there's a lot more social accountability in the engineering industry. Even if that were the case (it's not), I would likely end up working in industrial design or the automotive sector anyway, which is really a side of the same coin. And, I know that the priorities of the person doing the work are what make the difference in either design or engineering in terms of their professional and social responsibility. It's not really a huge career issue, and a lot of the efforts to change the situation of poverty happen outside of the workplace through great efforts like Urban Homeworks.
But for today, I feel a little better about switching my major.
----------
Really Important Aspects of Today's Society (and Ways to Get Involved)
-Dignified Housing
Urban Homeworks provides community development and dignified housing for low-income families in the Twin Cities. Volunteers work to refurbish homes - painting, drywalling, etc. It's a ton of fun and really rewarding as you get to see the project come together before your eyes in a neighborhood close to home.
-Food
Feed My Starving Children is another great way to get involved locally, and the work you do there effects people around the world. FMSC is dedicated to providing nutritious meals to starving children all over the world. You can help by volunteering to package this food at one of their three sites near the metro area (Coon Rapids, Chanhassen, or Eagan).
-Other Cool Causes and Efforts to Check Out
Invisible Children - Advocating on behalf of the child soldiers of Uganda
World Vision/Acting on AIDS - AIDS relief and awareness efforts
World Relief - Support for refugees of conflict, human trafficking, oppression
International Justice Mission - human rights advocacy for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression
The print was a report on affordable fashion. The line that initially caught my eye was:
"Affordable couture is a very important aspect of today's fashion society."
It continued to say that the recent downturn in the economy meant that designers should be concerned with finding ways to lower prices without tarnishing their brand image. In general, I agree with this statement. For design at large, it is possible to create comprehensive and effective solutions without inducing huge costs.
This is evident in the recent rise in "DIY design," especially around the Twin Cities, as clients primarily in the graphic and web markets provide more of their own material and influence, and rely on design firms for production or for idea polishing.
In addition, graphic designers and even architects are showing an increasing interest in their communities both globally and locally, offering services that would normally be cost-prohibitive to non-profits and charitable causes.
I'm sure this crosses over to apparel design in a way - in fact, clothing is considered one of the basic needs for which accessibility defines the poverty line. Affordable clothing is obviously an important societal concern. But affordable couture?
The thing is, Americans are considered impoverished if they don't own things like microwaves [1]. Just taking the bus to work for the average American costs about $3.00 a day. That is almost a third of the daily spending for the 80% of the world! Much of the world actually subsists on less than $1.25 a day.
So what I want to know is, is it really that important that "it is now easier than every [sic] for the ordinary woman to dress in the latest fashions while still maintaining a healthy budget"? Is it even true?
The author of this abandoned paper concluded by saying that "as we move forward I believe that all classes of society will be able to be a part of fashion trends and movements."
I believe that moving forward means that all members of society will be able to afford the basic essentials such as food, shelter, and clothing of any kind. A higher goal still is dignified access to these needs, where being able to afford food, shelter, clothing doesn't mean hand-outs or even food stamps, unsafe or inadequate housing, or secondhand cast-offs.
I'm not saying this is a necessarily inherent criticism of the design industry as a whole; like I said, there are many designers doing what they can to further these goals. But there are many more who go to work every day thinking about how to get people who are in the top of the world's financial bracket to buy things.
I am not going to say that I think there's a lot more social accountability in the engineering industry. Even if that were the case (it's not), I would likely end up working in industrial design or the automotive sector anyway, which is really a side of the same coin. And, I know that the priorities of the person doing the work are what make the difference in either design or engineering in terms of their professional and social responsibility. It's not really a huge career issue, and a lot of the efforts to change the situation of poverty happen outside of the workplace through great efforts like Urban Homeworks.
But for today, I feel a little better about switching my major.
----------
Really Important Aspects of Today's Society (and Ways to Get Involved)
-Dignified Housing
Urban Homeworks provides community development and dignified housing for low-income families in the Twin Cities. Volunteers work to refurbish homes - painting, drywalling, etc. It's a ton of fun and really rewarding as you get to see the project come together before your eyes in a neighborhood close to home.
-Food
Feed My Starving Children is another great way to get involved locally, and the work you do there effects people around the world. FMSC is dedicated to providing nutritious meals to starving children all over the world. You can help by volunteering to package this food at one of their three sites near the metro area (Coon Rapids, Chanhassen, or Eagan).
-Other Cool Causes and Efforts to Check Out
Invisible Children - Advocating on behalf of the child soldiers of Uganda
World Vision/Acting on AIDS - AIDS relief and awareness efforts
World Relief - Support for refugees of conflict, human trafficking, oppression
International Justice Mission - human rights advocacy for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression
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