Design Line: 9 – 15 December
This week, Design Line includes a call for biodiversity in emojis, designs for healthy homes from Ikea and harmful products from Amazon. Also featured is a spat about app monopolies, a collection of possible futures from MU Hybrid Art House and some much needed festive cheer from Studio Drift, Fels and more.
Coming soon, to an emoji near you (image courtesy of Lamiot, via Wikimedia Commons).
Emoji justice for aquatic fungi
Some fungi live in water – who knew!? Very few people it would seem, which was the point made this week in a new research paper published on iScience. Written by researchers Stefan Mammola, Francesco Ficetola and Matt Falaschi, the paper laments the lack of biodiversity in current emoji designs, arguing that plants, fungi and microorganisms are poorly served. “A good representation of the tree of life in social media can greatly help to disseminate the message that biodiversity is much more than just cats, dogs, lions and pandas,” argued Mammola. Humans have a tendency to care more about creatures who are phylogenetically similar to us (basically, those that look or behave like us, such as mammals), while struggling to connect with organisms whose biology diverges more radically – an issue that comes to the fore when motivating the public and funding bodies to support conservation efforts. The argument that emojis could help to address this, the researchers explained, had been inspired by a conversation with microbial ecologist Jennifer Anderson, who had mounted a strong argument for her own topic of study, aquatic fungi, to be represented in emojis. “If you are doing the important work of trying to save the 🐳, you can use graphics to help you communicate this in a very relatable way,” said Anderson. “If you are working to save the aquatic fungi, you first must let people know that yes, aquatic fungi exist, then describe in words what they look like – usually not like mushrooms.”
A monopoly toppled?
For the past three years, game developer Epic has been on the warpath, suing Apple and Google for what it claims are their illegal app store monopolies that quash competitors and charge unduly high fees for app developers selling through their platforms. While the 2021 suit against Apple did not go Epic’s way (the court rejected the claim that the tech giant operated a monopoly, although did order Apple to let developers offer payment methods in its app store that do not go through Apple itself), the suit against Google has turned out very differently. This week saw the jury in Epic v. Google find that Google had established its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service as an illegal monopoly – the company, jurors found, had illegally tied the two together, creating a situation that allowed it to “extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation,” Epic argued. The verdict is a sharp rebuke for Google and may have implications for the design of app distribution systems moving forward, although as yet the consequences are uncertain. Epic has not sued for monetary damages, but rather is seeking a court order that developers should be allowed the freedom to create their own app stores and billing systems on Google’s Android operating system (a means of skirting fees that the company charges). Attention will now fall on Judge James Donato, who will ultimately decide what Google’s loss should actually amount to.
Ikea’s working out how to encourage working out (image courtesy of Ikea).
Get hench on a bench at home
Picture this, you’re at home and have a quick half hour to spare – not enough time to wrestle on your exercise gear, go to the gym and head home again, but perhaps a big enough window to squeeze in a workout in your living room… if only your damned coffee table wasn’t taking up so much precious floor space! But what if that coffee table became an enabler of exercise rather than a hindrance? In Ikea’s newly announced Dajlien collection, the coffee table does exactly that, pulling its weight by acting as both a storage unit for work-out equipment and a sturdy, non-slip bench on which to perform bodyweight exercises. The collection comprises 19 products designed to encourage daily physical activity. While the multifunctional coffee table/bench seems a practical approach to this, Dajlien’s slippers, air purifier, ponchos and bluetooth speaker (all in soothing tones of pale green and yellow) seem to stretch the concept of daily exercise quite thin. Although, to Ikea’s credit, this collection is not simply a case of releasing all the gear with no idea. Its team visited homes in New York, Chicago, London and Shanghai to discover barriers to exercise. “Not everyone feels safe or comfortable going to a gym and at home we often deal with small space and time constraints,” says Sarah Fager. Ready to tackle these limitations, the products launch in January. It’s time to get your feet off your coffee-table and do a few dips and step-ups on it instead.
An exhibition that plots perspectives, identifies patterns and offers portals to new worlds (image courtesy of MU Hybrid Art House, exhibition graphics by Michelle Janssen).
The BAD award asking good questions
At the MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven, some intriguing questions are being asked: What can we discover about aliens by studying our own brains? How do zombies and design intersect? How can we reshape narratives from decolonised cyberfeminist perspectives? And, should we print architectural structures in space? Delving into these inquiries are the ten projects in Plotting Patterns and Portals: Mapping Life and Landscapes, an exhibition that opens at the gallery today. At the core of the show are the three winning projects of the Bio Art and Design Award (BAD) 2023 which awards teams of scientists and designers €25,000 to develop their research. Having run for 13 years to date, the BAD award has been responsible for cultivating much needed cross-disciplinary collaboration and allowed designers based in the Netherlands to develop research-led practices. While this year’s exhibition showcases works that are diverse in subject matter, the projects displayed are united by a curatorial exploration of narrative that asks yet more questions: Who tells the stories that shape the world? Who listens to them? And what happens when these stories are turned on their heads or approached from new directions? While exhibitions usually seek to answer questions, or provide visitors with a single narrative, this exhibition seems full of speculation and a healthy amount of uncertainty. A fitting approach for an organisation that, through its generous support of projects that push the boundaries of what design is, does not shy away from questions that don’t have clear answers.
The seeds for Dandelight are handpicked each spring in the Netherlands (image courtesy of Studio Drift, photography by Jonathan de Waart).
A holiday collection
Love it or hate it, this is the time of year when one’s mind starts to bend towards gift giving. As such, why not, we suggest, use the opportunity to direct some of that gift giving cash towards designers and makers? For those in London, this coming weekend sees the arrival of the Fels Ceramic Weekend on 16 and 17 December at its temporary gallery in South Kensington, including ceramics from designers and studios such as Studio Furthermore, Moe Asari and Arjan Van Dal. Or, perhaps, if you are feeling more speculative, you might be interested to note Marije Vogelzang's new online shop which features English and Dutch versions of her book Lick it, as well as some “sweaty cups” and “belly button blobs”. Vogelzang’s work is concerned with eating design and creating deeper, unusual, delightful and surprising relationships with food – the accessories featured on her shop are a nod to that philosophy. Finally, in a more romantic turn, you can turn your attention to Studio Drift’s third annual edition of its Dandelight design. Dandelight is an artwork made by connecting a battery to a copper stem and LED, to which real dandelion seeds have been carefully affixed to create a softly glowing, fragile light. This year’s version sees the lamp's battery covered in jute, with natural tones added to the base of the design: a delicate, hopeful shining light during this period of darkness for the Northern hemisphere.
When is a hook not a hook? When it's filming you (image courtesy of Marco Verch Professional Photographer via Flickr).
A prime spy
Amazon has received widespread criticism this week when it surfaced that the online retailer has continued to sell cameras designed as clothes hooks, despite currently being sued for, erm, doing exactly this. Earlier this month a US judge ruled that Amazon would have to face a case brought against it by a woman who has reported being filmed by a spy hook camera in the bathroom of her accommodation whilst she was an exchange student in the US. Amazon’s previous defence to similar cases brought against it is that it is not responsible for how the products it sells will be used – an argument the plaintiff argues is moot given that the product’s listing on Amazon claims one of the benefits of the camera is that “it won't attract attention”. This and similar products are billed as being useful for child monitoring or security, but the fact that these products can be found through search terms such as “bathroom spy camera” suggests unlawful intent. With the ever decreasing size and price of camera technology, this sinister side of tech and hardware design seems hard to get a handle on. Asking Amazon not to helpfully list numerous items such as this in response to search terms including “hidden spy camera”, however, seems like a small and reasonable ask to make of the retail giant.