{"id":90,"date":"2006-06-16T07:23:13","date_gmt":"2006-06-16T01:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/2006\/06\/16\/design-will-not-save-the-world\/"},"modified":"2021-06-12T03:40:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T03:40:13","slug":"design-will-not-save-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/2006\/06\/16\/design-will-not-save-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Design Will Not Save the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

I disagree with the notion that design as a discipline, and designers by extension, are somehow specially positioned to address the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problems. First let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s make some distinctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Puzzle Problems<\/th>\nWicked Problems<\/th>\nIntractable Predicaments<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Discover path to known and explicit end state<\/td>\nNeither path nor end state are known, and often not even knowable<\/td>\nThese are not problems and therefore cannot be solved, we can only hope to mitigate or cope with thier effects<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Engineering<\/center><\/td>\n
Design<\/center><\/td>\n
Public Policy<\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Engineering\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s methods, values and activities are optimized to solve puzzle problems<\/a>. However that which makes engineers good at solving puzzle problems also makes them bad at solving wicked problems<\/a>, which design\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s methods, values and activities are optimized to solve.<\/p>\n

By analogy then, that which makes designers good at solving wicked problems also makes them bad at handling intractable predicaments. Indeed it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost trite to say that design is a problem solving endeavour. However predicaments are by definition insoluble. Approaching a predicament from a design perspective then necessarily treats it as a problem. This creates an inherent contradiction which asks all the wrong questions and usually results in worsening the situation<\/a>. I wonder if such a contradiction also drives supply side thinking <\/a>likewise resulting in worsening solutions.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying designers should not engage. Indeed people are certainly not merely the sum of thier professional discipline’s methodologies. And so designers are also simultaneously citizens, parents, students, tax-payers, gay republicans, etc.–many of which are roles better positioned to help with mitigating the results of intractible predicaments than thier role as a designer. So I guess I’m questioning the design’s academically prevelent messiah complex. <\/p>\n

Actually I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go a step further. I am going to make a bold and contentious proclamation (and on the scantest of objective evidence too): Design solutions to intractable predicaments end in either failure or tyranny. <\/p>\n

ps.
\nI know at least one person who should have some good counter arguements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I disagree with the notion that design as a discipline, and designers by extension, are somehow specially positioned to address the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problems. First let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s make some distinctions. Puzzle Problems Wicked Problems Intractable Predicaments Discover path to known and explicit end state Neither path nor end state are known, and often not even knowable These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/parCYG-1s","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scoobr.com\/niblettes_old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}