It's been awhile

Yes, yes it has. Quite possibly the most intense three weeks of my life! But why bamaboozle with all at once? Instead keep checking-in and I'll drip feed you the best of what's been going on bit-by-bit.

But firstly, 'Collaborative Consumption, The Story of Stuff and the responsibility of waste now seems to be back in vogue and doing the social media rounds.

Yet decision makers seem to be doing diddly squat about it (If I'm wrong please, please shoot me back an example). Mac are a big offender but by no means the worst, for me the problem is much closer to home - the cafe next door still insist on serving my vege lasagne and salad in polystyrene.

We're working on it.

In the meantime, here's a little treat from Leyla. Beautful to look at, but would love to see a little more instruction on what the bloody hell we're meant to do about it. How do I make sure my phone and 'stuff' in general can be re-used.

Can design help save the world? David Berman

I went along to see Dave Berman speak at the AGDA conference "Can Design Help Change the World", these are some of my favourite quotes from from his somewhat hyperactive, but sensational and thought-provoking presentation.

The whole article will be published on Bindarri in the next couple of days.

“ Right now to 4 billion humans, the Internet is just a rumour. But in the next 10 years the majority of humans will have access. But the experience won’t be on a computer screen it will be on the small screen – the truly mobile screen. When we get there, will we use [small screen interactions] to convince larger and larger populations that they don’t really belong in our societies? That they have to be whiter, or taller or smell nicer? Will we use it to ‘trick’ them into buying more stuff they don’t need or will we use it to share ideas that really deserve to be shared?”

In Ghana, where 20% of pharmaceuticals are fake designers have worked with companies to create a labelling system. A parent of a sick child SMSs the product barcode for verification as to whether or not the product is legitimate – “It’s a beautiful, simple communication idea that saves lives.” says Berman.

“The design profession is an old one and we get to choose what its all about. Hoping that most choose to share the faith the world needs – democracy, telecommunications, hope and justice - it’s the stuff the world really needs, not selling more sugar water to children in Africa.”

Can Design Help Save the World? Andy Polaine

Can Graphic Design Save the Planet?

No.

Can it help?

Maybe…

How Can Graphic Design Help Save the World, hosted by the Australian Graphic Design Association, featured leading design thinkers including Jacqueline Gothe, Andy Polaine, David Berman and Rick Pryor to share ideas about whether we as graphic/designers can be part of a world-saving solution.

I went along to have a listen and was inspired to hear some incredibly insightful thinking on the topic of whether graphic design actually can save the world. Here’s a bit of what was going on:

Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine is a Germany-based practitioner of service interactions design. He has worked in Australia as well as in Europe on a range of projects and now runs his own consultancy Polaine www.polaine.com .

Andy Polaine is not convinced that graphic design can save the world, “instead, we need to reframe the question and think about what power we have to help save the world”, “this inspires a more indigenous mode of thinking, reframes the question of salvation, and calls upon designers to make a genuine connection with the world and work collaboratively within it” he said.

When he was a design teacher in Australia, Andy was surprised by the influence that European and American design had on his students, particularly given the richness of Australian colour and patterns, “It was as if the Australian landscape and culture were somehow ‘off-limits’ as a source of inspiration to students” to him this suggested a much deeper lack of connectedness or collaborative relationship between designers and the environment, culture and community.

Years later, Andy now notices a growing industry movement where lead designers are advocating a more collaborative and connected approach to their work. “The power of design is its ability to connect people and increasingly we’re seeing more work like that of David Lancashire that incorporates community, the environment and culture and having some great results” said Andy.
Saving the planet is a BIG wicked problem.

In the book, Designing Design Kenya Hara talks about how design tackles small, big and wicked problems. Climate change is a massively complex and wicked problem where by changing one part of the system there are intricate follow-on effects. Andy likens saving the world, and climate change in particular to a Vaseline-coated-octopus type of wicked problem, but says that designers are in a good position to tackle problems like these using creative right-brain thinking.

“Most wicked problems stem from many small acts of thoughtlessness ” says Andy. “At home in Germany, I did the right thing and took my old TV to the recycle depot and it was terrible and powerful to be confronted by the multiplier effect of my and others decisions – there were mountains of TVs”.

The feeling of terror and confrontation evoked having seen the multiplier effect of consumption is something that designers can use for a positive effect says Andy. Designers, and particularly graphic designers have the power to evidence the ‘mountains of TVs’ as a tangible way of communicating the consequences of small acts of thoughtlessness. Andy says that though often the last in the process of developing a product, graphic design is the first thing a consumer sees and its creators have a great deal of power to influence better buying decisions.

Service and Interactions design – designers influencing behaviour.
Service and interactions design seeks to influence decision-making processes further up the organisational chain. Essentially good service and interactions design works to build upon an understanding of how people experience the world, their interactions within it and how designers can become more powerful change agents.

Incorporating the elements of co-design, research and collaboration, services design signifies a major shift from traditional top-down processes and helps tackle wicked problems like climate change. Unlike processes common to government and business, service and interactions design and thinking is transdisciplinary and human-centred, blurring the distinction between ‘professional’ decisions and those based on personal values.

To demonstrate the benefits of good service design, Andy compared train travel in Germany to that in Australia. “In Germany train travel is a nice experience that people want to do, it is comfortable, you can enjoy a meal – and people do it in large numbers. This just isn’t the case in Australia: chairs are often slashed and uncomfortable; there is a lack of information surrounding timetables, platforms are inaccessible and information difficult to obtain. These are design flaws that put people off using low-emissions transport in Australia. Again, this is where design can be quite powerful – designers help us make small decisions that collectively benefit the planet in a strong way.
Let’s make the invisible, visible.

Minimalist design hides small, big and wicked problems.

“Where things are made, where things end-up and the whole system of global manufacturing and production is largely invisible to end-consumers. By designing in a way that makes them visible we nudge action” says Andy.

For example, the Smart Meter is a piece of design that tells you in money terms how much energy you are using and which home appliances are most energy intensive. You can set a price cap on the Smart Metre which when you’re close to exceeding sounds a warning beep so that you run around switching things off to make it stop. This design considers that people don’t have a clue what a kilowatt is or means, but certainly understands energy use as money lost and react to annoying sounds. Design has the power to catalyses processes of thoughtful action.

“The climate change debate has evolved from being about saving polar bears, to being about money. Powerful design goes beyond re-educating people and instead seeks to understand peoples’ behaviour and influences it by making the invisible visible” says Andy.

Which brought Andy’s discussion back to the need to shift our framework for thinking to one that seeks an indigenous understanding of the world and mimics its interconnectedness and collaborations.

“Design can help save the world by making sense of complexity. We’re accustomed to the consequences of our actions being pushed beyond our line of site, and it’s interesting to hear indigenous people talk about the process of interconnectivity – its network thinking, and not so utterly intangible anymore because we have the internet as a powerful metaphor for understanding how we interact and connect online” said Andy.

Design in its most simple form is about making complex problems, big problems and wicked problems easier to deal with and this is how graphic designers have the power to help change the world.

Check-out
http://thisisindexed.com
http://www.worldmapper.org www.polaine.com

Christian Dior toilet conservation

I don't have a lot of expensive things, but I do like good skin care.When it comes to putting things on my face, Christian Dior is my personal preference. Its well made, lasts a long time and to my knowledge is one of the better nasties. So when I accidentally dropped my Christian Dior foundation down the toilet, I was faced with a dilemma which goes to the root of what it really means to be a conservationist.

To loo dive, or not to loo dive?

Exacerbating the situation, the 'drop' occurred a day before bathroom cleaning day, and the waters were murky. Being a lady of eco-persuasion - I don't own rubber gloves - but Christian was sinking, and fast.

A lesser lady, a throw-away madam would cry, attempt to flush, or bin Christian and be back at the DJs make-up counter the next day. Tempting. But at only a week old, Christian had hardly even been used and I couldn't bare the thought of loosing him so young, and so embodied with emissions, it wasn't right by planet or pocket to send him to landfill so soon.

So, I went to the top drawer - the ender of all problems. My chopstick skills are dodgy at best so the sausage tongs would have to do.

Dilemma 2)
Is is okay to use a food preparation utensil as toilet rescue device? Was I prepared for splash back in the case of a fall?

Best not to think about.

The rescue was a huge success - I had faith in the strength of Christian's seals and that no poo water had gotten in.

Christian was rubbed down with a fluffy towel, and seemed sealed and in good condition. The next day, he again, was on my face.

This is a story about conservation.

To loo dive, is characteristic of not just an eco-leaning lady, but more importantly a quiet rejection of throw-away culture. 'Throw-away' that doubts common sense. Things like cleanliness and gingivitis are invented to make you buy more stuff and default to 'a new one' at the drop of a cosmetic product into a receptacle.

This week, I hope that toilet drops are picked up towelled of and reinstated; and that anything broken gets mended - not chucked, and that the bits of mould on bread get cut-away and become toast. It's Christian Dior Toilet Conservation.

Ever been guilted into liking something because its the 'right' thing to do?

Like when a little kid draws you a picture and its crap, and the last thing you want to do is jeopardise legitimate bill-reminding space on th fridge with stick figures? Yeah well some goes with enviro stuff, and I'm sure in any 'cause space' where people are pouring their guts into stuff which is beautiful in theory but in practice is well...shall we say, a little disappointing.

I just went to an eco fashion thing. And I LOVE what this North Shore middle-class warrior is trying to achieve, but after the show I was left wondering 'is this all there is?'.

Kezza-Anne Kennerly was there, as was that financial Ross guy, and a swagger of desperate housewifesque ladies whose children undoubtedly included the little boy modeling the clothes - far from being sexy, the poor year twelver looked like he was in desperate need of a hug, a sense of humour and a half-wedgie.

The clothes were ok, apparently the shoes were amazing. Not that I would know, as the cat walk wasn't raised and one of the models decidedly distracted from the shoes by drawing attention to her knees which were drawn higher and higher each step as though she was avoiding an exploding magnum-sized bottle of bubs skittling across the ground and threatening to bite her calves.

There was one dress I loved - recycled mohair, plain black above the knee, high waisted and finished with a voluptuous collar and set by large houndstooth patterning in bold purple, yellow and electric blue. You could see how much love had gone into the detail, beautiful lines, immaculate seams - I'm desperate to try on that dress, but shudder at the thought I could not do justice to something so wonderfully made, and fear feeling shitter a person for the my inadequacies in not doing it justice.

But there was only one. Unfortunately, which seems often the case in Sydney; sustainable, vintage and recycled fashion is treated almost like a charity case. As if by wearing it you sacrifice style for the feeling of doing the right thing - guilt trip, particularly on the North Shore.

But this is only a half truth. Had the show have been better produced, taken place in Surry Hills/Darlinghurst/Paddington and not been filled by 40 somethings and modeled by kids on the brink of puberty, I reckon it would have been judged not by it's honourable intentions, but instead on merit.

After a couple of bubblies, I raved the show to a St Leonards blond, extolling the usual pro-green diatribe, but somehow feel cheated and a fake. It took Kezza's husband to set things straight. She was admiring the 'greenness' of the clothes and the designer's vision when he piped-up "Kerry-Anne, your wardrobe alone probably contributes to half of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and supports the majority of sweatshops in Asia" - oh and how we all laughed.

Kerry-Anne, you were the star of the green fashion show, and I still feel guilty that I didn't quite like it.