Designing for a Changing World
Designing for a Changing World, a panel discussion curated by Map Project Office for Milan Design Week.
During Milan Design Week Disegno chaired Designing for a Changing World, a panel talk curated by Map Project Office to explore the complexities of designing amidst cultural, technological, economic and environmental shifts.
Hosted at Straf Hotel, the site of Map’s sibling studio Universal’s Space Between installation, the discussion featured panelists working in the realms of material sciences, carbon technology, fashion, and design strategy, all reflecting on the challenges and opportunities facing design practitioners today. Moderated by Disegno’s editor-in-chief Oli Stratford, the discussion covered the importance of long-term strategic thinking, the role of AI, the interplay between design and business strategy, and much more.
The speakers included Angus Dick, creative director of Map; Alistair Curtis, chief design officer at VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies; Chelsea Franklin, head of Advanced Concepts at Pangaia, a materials sciences and fashion brand which makes clothing out of more sustainable fabrics; and Andrew McKechnie, head of marketing at Airco, a carbon tech company that turns CO2 into aviation fuels and lifestyle products.
Stratford began the discussion by asking the panel how it feels to be a designer today, working at a time when established social, environmental, economic, technological and political paradigms are being challenged in multiple ways – both positively and negatively. In response, the panelists discussed how designers are taking increased responsibility for the impact of the products they create, and pushing themselves to not only reduce their environmental impact, but to also create designs that foster joy, connection and care for both people and planet.
To illuminate this idea, Franklin gave the example of Pangaia sourcing Earth-positive materials, such as creating insulation for jackets using materials made out of wildflowers instead of polyester, or else sourcing cotton grown using regenerative farming methods. Decisions such as these represent simple design shifts (even if the underlying material science and supply chains are far from simple), but can have a large impact inasmuch as they reduce reliance on petrochemicals and help promote healthier ecosystems and support the planet’s abundance. It is an approach that resonated with the work of other members of the panel, not least Dick, who argued for design’s capacity to naturally weave these kinds of positive decisions into projects. “Are you thinking about the broader complexities that are behind every brief? Are you just doing what you're being told, or are you looking at the bigger issues in the world?” Dick asked, listing the kinds of questions that designers need to ask themselves when faced with a new project. “I think if you can do that, you can immediately dial back to the opportunities, and use your optimism to help steer and guide these processes.”
“Are you thinking about the broader complexities that are behind every brief? Are you just doing what you’re being told, or are you looking at the bigger issues in the world?”
This attention towards encouraging more critically engaged work within the field is often tempered, however, by the commercial realities of working to a client’s brief and meeting shareholder expectations. Rather than having creative freedom to create objects, systems and experiences that position design as a hopeful mechanism for addressing environmental challenges, for instance, many studios and designers are constrained by the nature of project work, where priorities may be focused on short-term economic gain. “I think right now is a bit of a sobering time for a lot of people in the space, in terms of commercial realities,” noted Franklin. “Consumers are ever-wary of greenwashing claims, and there is more of a sustainability undertone across many brands, so what makes you stand out?” A key way for brands to separate themselves from the crowd, she suggested, is to focus on the science behind the products – a method she uses at Pangaia by communicating how the materials the company uses, such as an alternative leather made out of grape waste from vineyards, have been developed.
While design may not be a panacea for the issues currently facing society, the panel suggested that it does have the potential to highlight issues and provide a communicative framing that can be useful for consumers. McKechnie, for instance, emphasised the fact that design can help to visualise the research from the worlds of science and engineering that makes more sustainable products possible. “Design can play a really integral role in abstracting technology into something that is easy to understand,” said McKechnie, giving the example of Airco turning captured carbon dioxide into products such as vodka and perfume – designs that are not only desirable, but which can also serve to spark conversations about alternative means of production. “From a design perspective, we can visualise what a pound of CO2 looks like in different formats, and I think that helps to bring a conversation to the table about what the technology is capable of without getting into the technical aspects of it.”
The success of lifestyle products such as these have enabled Airco to also develop and scale low-impact fuels for clients including NASA and the US Department of Defence, but McKechnie pointed out that nascent technologies such as these can be difficult to visualise. Given that many businesses are working with advanced or experimental technologies in which physical products or outcomes will not be viable or commercially available for years, the panel explored artificial intelligence as one methodology through which design might be able to illustrate aspects of its long-term work in the here and now. “AI is an amazing tool for us to be able to communicate the potential [of our work] and imagine a world that we would like to see,” McKechnie noted – a sentiment in which he was joined by Curtis, who also saw the potential for artificial intelligence to advance human creativity.
Curtis, who previously worked as chief design officer of electronics company Logitech, compared the rise of artificial intelligence to previous technological transitions such as the widespread adoption of computers, noting that full fluency with the technology, and an appreciation for its value, would likely come through the emergence of younger generations of designers. “I think the next 10 years will probably the most creative I’ve lived through,” he argued, suggesting that AI will be “a huge unlock for the field” once its implications and applications were better understood. Nevertheless, this creative potential of AI was balanced against its potentially deleterious social impact. Dick, for instance, cautioned against artificial intelligence being used to replace creative jobs, with many industries now exploring the potential for the technology to take on tasks that would previously have been undertaken by humans. As such, Dick noted that the technology’s social impact might be steered towards more positive results if its uses were restricted to simplifying day-to-day tasks and bureaucracy, rather than steering creative processes. Map’s own work is focused on creating more human, nurturing relationships with technology, which Dick suggested arises through critical engagement with both its potential and limits. “We can shape the technology better in the future if we interrogate it better now,” he explained.
“I think the next 10 years will probably the most creative I’ve lived through.”
While the panel reflected on design as an effective means of bridging different disciplines, they also considered its potential to transform one field in particular: business. “I’m no longer really an industrial designer,” Curtis explained. “My role now is actually to help design the company.” In place of discrete products, this interpretation frames the work of designers (if it is to be useful and transformative) as being best served when given scope to reflect upon the values and systems through which companies determine what kinds of products they wish to create, and how they wish to create them. While Curtis acknowledged the difficulty of making such sweeping changes in large companies, he nevertheless advocated for redesigning a corporation’s systems to lay the groundwork for ongoing change. For example, during his previous work at Logitech, he started the process of ensuring that every product the company produces could be disassembled at end of life and also had its carbon footprint printed on its packaging – a first step towards finding ways to recycle components and reduce product emissions. In this vein, the speakers emphasised the importance of working collaboratively and focusing on iterative improvements, with Curtis illustrating how designers across VF Corporation’s brands are now working together to pinpoint the best materials to use in order to buy in bulk and reduce costs. In this regard, he highlighted the work of Vans, one of VF’s brands, whose new Old Skool 36 FM has a cupsole constructed with just two stitches, which allows it to be rapidly disassembled at end-of-life. “That’s a case of a designer saying, ‘How can I reimagine a Vans product?’” he explained.
While considering these commercial realities of design, the speakers also discussed the need to encourage consumers to invest in products at a higher price point in order to cover the research and development of more sustainable processes and materials. “People want more sustainable products, but there is a cap on what people are willing to actually pay for some of those things,” McKechnie said, adding that designers need to create products which are still desirable despite carrying a higher price tag. Meanwhile, Curtis advocated for focusing on longevity as a strategy to create a lasting bond between consumers and their products, whereas Franklin encouraged designers to consider their own relationships with their belongings in order to design with attention to a consumer’s mindset. “How we purchase and how we act as custodians of the products we own are starting to become key parts of how we shape our collections and seasons,” she said.
“How we purchase and how we act as custodians of the products we own are starting to become key parts of how we shape our collections and seasons”
Stratford ended the panel by asking how well suited design is to dealing with complexity of this kind, given that the field has often framed itself as offering discrete solutions to discrete problems. If the issues that face the planet today are complex and connected, and require engagement with socioeconomic forces that do not admit of simple solutions, to what extent is a “problem-solving” discipline equipped to support progress? In response, all of the panelists agreed that while design is often used to make information simpler and more digestible, any good design needs to be underpinned by a forward-thinking vision that acknowledges the intricacy of today’s world. “Designers can take on the idea of complexity by writing it into project briefs and roadmaps which look at that long-term view,” Dick said, explaining that he and the team at Map Project Office facilitated the panel discussion to provide an opportunity for the panelists to embrace complexity in order to drive innovation and spark joy. “We always have that design lens which shows that while there may be issues, within that comes great opportunity,” he said.
This article was made for Map Project Office.