Sunday, August 31, 2014

Melbourne Writers Festival- Design Matters.

Design and the business of communication, was discussed yesterday at the Melbourne Writer's Festival in a conversation with Debbie Millman, an American writer and designer and Stuart Harrison, an architect and freelance design writer, both of whom run radio podcasts about design, and appreciate the candidness of conversation. 

The crux of the entire discussion was design's purpose in our contemporary world. 
This topic was perhaps one of the most interesting ones I have seen discussed at MWF because as a textile design student, I constantly ponder over the purpose of design and whether it is actually beneficial or if it is just a waste of resources? - Does it actually improve our quality of life? Does aesthetic matter? What is its direct effect on society?

I was so glad to witness two leading advocates of design answer the questions I have wondered over the last few years.  Millman and Harrison talked about how "the condition of design reflects the condition of our culture" as they discussed branding, sustainability, arts influence on design aesthetic and the ultimate subjectivity of design. 

My favourite moment of the lecture was when someone from the audience asked "Is design important?" a question for me that is not dissimilar to "what is the meaning of life?" as I think this is the question so many designers and artists ask themselves, and I think Millman answered it perfectly when she said that design is "the language that we use to understand the visual reality of the world" as it is ultimately "shorthand for reality, experience and humanity."
Thinking about it further, design started at the same time as civilisation, it is something we as humans do naturally, to survive and to improve life for ourselves and others, so inevitably it must be a reflection of our civilisation. 

As the talk came to an end my eye wondered around Deakins Edge, the lecture theatre that I have been lucky enough to sit in for many of the MWF talks. As the natural light filled the theatre, Deakins Edge seemed to contribute to the debate, as Harrison pointed out that as we had sat there, having a conversation about design and its effect on society, people walked past, allowing our thoughts to not be held in that room alone but rather with the world beyond it.

Because that is what design concerns itself with, the natural and the human world.

-A






*Mosaik does not take credit for any of the images used in this article

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