Its arguable that in western cultures design is the most prolific generator of cultural artifacts. The breadth of what is affected by the domain of design is substantial, everything from alphabets to signs to clothes to furniture, interiors, buildings, parks, and cities is designed. Everything is packaged in design, and design does more than communicate what a thing is, it is instrumental in creating the meaning/value of the thing. Juliet said, “…that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet;” but I think most people would agree, a coke in a green can would taste funny. For better or for worse, a substantial part of what we call culture today is made by designers.
The problem is that design (or disciplines that design) is a specifically white, affluent, straight, European phenomenon. In fact, for the sake of brevity, I’ll refer to white, affluent, non-queer, male, protestant professionals working in disciplines of design as the Design Authority. The process of design, the designer client relationship, and the means of production were all created and controlled in service of this single dominant cultural power. Designer’s and their clients recognize other cultures as markets for design, but rarely ask them to participate. Conversely, when non-authorized designers create they are expected to be designers first, to subscribe to an existing culture of design, and to deny their own marginalized voices.
Try a little exercise: think about what makes traditional (ie, pre-colonial) Arabic architecture distinctly Arabic. Now think about what makes contemporary Arabic architecture Arabic (I’m sure I’ll be talking about Zaha Hadid later). What does feminine graphic design look like (hint: if you’re a man, you better not say “pink” or “spiritual”.) How is a Latino car different from a white car?
The problem lies not just in the typical socio/politico/economic mechanisms of subjugation (which are always at play) but in design itself. The markets and audiences for design are the same as for any cultural production. Yet while there is (limited and/or ghettoized) participation from marginalized voices in literature, theater, dance, music, film, art, cuisine, etc. those same voices are distinctly absent in design. There are only two reasons why this could be: Either design is culturally neutral and thus is well suited to all cultures or disciplines of design have explicitly implemented mechanisms of social and cultural exclusion.
Over the next weeks and months I plan on examining these issues in greater depth. As always, suggestions, criticisms, interpretations, and rebuttals will be more than welcome.
Critical Notes
Being a segment where I provide means by which you [the reader] are encouraged to remark, annotate, provoke, correct, rejoin, laud, or admonish the preceeding sentiment or incident. Communications impertinent to the aforementioned, including general threats of violence or love letters should be forwarded to me personally.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 11:47 am
From the computer of Scott
“In fact, for the sake of brevity…”
When have you ever done anything for the sake of brevity.
Okay, all kidding aside, I find this to be a very interesting topic from the point of view as a non-designer. As a kinda sorta student of history, however, I think your idea of a Design Authority to be a little simplistic and monolithic. Affluent, white society is, if nothing else, a thief of whatever they want from whatever culture they come across. Sure this stealing of ideas might be subconscious, accidental, and arbitrary, but everything from the columns, to domes, to number shapes, to letter design, to everything, was lifted wholesale from a non-white source. While I agree there is an exclusivity in the intentional shaping and crafting of what is called “design,” I think that minority groups have a voice in design in what could kindly be called inspiration and unkindly be called cultural cooption.
Scott
Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:08 am
From the computer of Noah E Miller
That’s a good point Scott, and I’m glad you brought it up. As a “kinda sorta student of history” who holds a degree in history I’d love to pick your brain about this.
Even within borrowed/stolen motifs there’s a cultural/historical break. Chinoiserie and English Arabesques are European code for Oriental or “exotic”, but no one in China or Iraq would claim them as representative of their culture. Similarly, any mixed case alphabet would be nonsensical to a citizen of ancient Rome. To that end, I think the hybrid cultural elements are primarily the domain of the colonizers. Despite English adoption of pajamas, colonial subjects were second class citizens and barred from the mechanisms of power.
I don’t deny that the design authority are thieves, but that’s part of the story: no matter how flattering this sort of sampling is, its not empowering. No one could say that Elvis was providing an outlet for the authentic African American experience and to date no African American has sold more singles than “Hound Dog” in America. That’s bound to be upset soon in the world of music, but I don’t see it in any disciplines of design.
Noah E Miller
Thursday, July 9, 2009 2:25 pm
From the computer of Nate
While I agree with your premise historically, I think your argument ignores that there are indeed many design movements today that are engaged in usurping the “design authority”. Now, you could cynically argue that a good deal of them are white empowered males that fall into the category of idealistic kids or cynical co-opters of culture, but when I look around in the acedemic and professional design and architecture circles I engage in, I see a pretty diverse crowd, and not always one that is merely imitating DA standards. The METROPOLIS publication Expanding Architecture for instance is full of examples of designers from all over the world engaging in non DA design projects. On the other hand, imitation of successful design is inevitable, and I would suggest desireable, even if it was originally inspired by a bunch of Danish or German or American men.
Nate
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