4 ms·
"I don't think it's a different type of design." For some reason whenever I see articles like this on design, I think of conway's law. See, broadly, design is
by cam_l 10y ago
"I don't think it's a different type of design."
For some reason whenever I see articles like this on design, I think of conway's law. See, broadly, design is a process of questioning and understanding. This process is limited by and maybe starts to metaphorically resemble the structure of the organisation which produces it.
This is for some reason much more apparent where there is a social/political aspect to the design, rather than being purely commercial. Maybe a better design for a toilet to prevent injecting.. is a safe injecting room. ie. The problem as identified by the client is not 'people shooting up unsafely', the problem is 'our voters don't like these people hanging around'. The blue light somehow exposes the cold blooded rationalism of a council wishing to satisfy its benefactors at the expense of its inhabitants.In fact, it is just as important that it also illustrates this point, as it is as much about symbolism as utility.
So I guess while I agree with you, I still think it is worth drawing attention to the unpleasant designs for unpleasant clients..
- PeterisP 10y agoBut that is the whole point - the "society" intentionally wants to exclude certain activities and people, and thus makes systems, laws and also physical items and environment to make that desire happen. Blue light in e.g. macdonalds bathrooms is not actually intended to influence how people inject their drugs, it's intended to make so that the people who want to inject their drugs don't come there, to exclude them from their community. A safe injecting room would not solve that, I'd rather argue that the blue lights are a cheaper solution doing the same job as e.g. face control and bouncers throwing people out from some other types of estabilishments.