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WHAT DESIGN CAN DO FOR EXPLORATION
‘The The territories for T exploration are as endless as the problems we all make for ourselves on our crowded planet.’
We have created hundreds of similar multidisciplinary explorer teams with designers in a central role. We explored dementia, food, MPs, sexual health, unemployment, hi-tech start-ups, modern manufacturing – the list goes on. Some projects sunk without a trace. There are quite a few patents gathering dust and ventures wound down. Perplexingly, there are also plenty of brilliant ideas with no takers – like the hospital mattress that spreads colour when it’s punctured to spotlight the risk of human waste passing on infection. This great concept, which works, is still languishing in a University. Even with so much seed falling on stony ground, the average return on investment has continued up and is now around £28 for every £1 spent.
ON THE WINDS OF THE MEDIA Based on this experience I was intrigued to read recently about Mine Kafon – the exploration into low-cost mine detonation at the Eindhoven Academy by Afghan designer, Massoud Hassani. In this case it seems that the sum of the parts may be greater than any individual aspect of the current concept. A young well-spoken Afghan using design to restore safety in his homeland is a powerful and redemptive story. The fact that the design looks like a giant dandelion flower gives it visual appeal. No surprise then that everyone from MoMA to TED has blown the idea somewhat out of proportion on the winds of the media.
However, the hype does not diminish the relevance of the project. Instead it reflects rather poorly on indiscriminate media. It does not diminish either the designer or Design Academy Eindhoven. When I looked last on Kickstarter, Hassani had raised more than the team’s £100k goal. Who can say where this will lead and what good it may do? Maybe they have opened up a new and important territory for design exploration. Time will tell and a round of applause to the Academy and Hassani for daring to explore, even if this first attempt doesn’t work. It takes a certain set of qualities to make a really useful design explorer. You have to be intrepid, pushy and very nosey and keep scouting for new territories where, at least, some of the natives are friendly. You’ll never succeed where you are totally unwelcome, which also means you have to be good at making friends. Consider the cautionary tale of Captain James Cook (the one who sailed in 17th Century). He was completely unwelcome and uninvited to his last port of call in Hawaii and was eaten as a consequence. At the Design Council, we did some work on homeland security. In this case it was critical that we were welcome. I daresay the security services would not have tolerated an exploration without invitation.
OPTIMISM REQUIRED Design explorers need to be optimistic and see problems as opportunities. More often than not