A conversation with a family friend over this weekend got me thinking. Is quantity sometimes better than quality? As both a designer and a design enthusiast I have long been a fervent believer in the pursuit of quality. Even in the low-end cheap markets of products I feel strongly that certain standards of quality are always applicable and that designers should fight their corner to prevent these standards being undercut. But that is the final product. When it comes to generating ideas and maintaining high levels of creativity suddenly quantity and frequency become much more important. Continue reading →
One of the most persistent drains when it comes to use of material resources in our consumption based economy is that almost everything we consume requires packaging in order to get it to us… … There is an opportunity for designers to address this problem and make things easier for consumers as well as creating a coup for sellers. The packaging could be made into a product in it’s own right. Continue reading →
A night out in a bar can throw up all kinds of surprising conversations. This last weekend I became embroiled (that is definitely the word) in conversation with woman I’d never met before on the subject of what design is. More specifically it is what designers do that was the main crux of the matter. My conversational partner was adamant – designers are focussed primarily on the aesthetic of things, they make them pretty, desirable. I find this view of design frustrating and mired in misinterpretation. But if it is still the case that the vast majority of people who do not work in design do not fully understand the remit of its range of professions then the blame for that lies largely with those professionals… and that certainly includes me as well. Continue reading →
Sustainable products themselves shouldn’t have to tell us that they are sustainable they should just be sustainable. Make your product the best it can be for the purpose it is intended for. As much as you possibly can use sustainable methods and material to make it, package it and transport it. But use the product’s marketing and branding design to tell us what it is and to effectively reach the broadest spread of your product’s potential market. Make it successful by telling us what it is: a brilliant and desirable product. Continue reading →
Undermining sustainable products by label and package
Aha, this is an ‘ECO Sponge’, I shall buy this and those tiresome eco-mitherers will stop bothering me!
Here we go again. More ‘sustainable’ products with the ‘Eco’ tag (one that I am growing to despise more and more with each passing day) emblazoned so proudly across its packaging. I feel that I am barely into any kind of stride with this blog but already I can see the danger that I will become a veritable stuck record. Packaging people! Continue reading →
