The Evolution of Consumer Rights, Social Responsibility & Design
This week’s reading from the book, Twentieth-Century Design (1997) under “The Design and Social Responsibility” by Johnathan Woodham focuses on the evolution of consumer organization and design throughout the early years to the post-war era. He continues to explain the main problems of the designer’s responsible role in relation to society’s economic dependence on business, manufacturing industry and retail sector.
Although the consumer rights in the United States have gradually evolved through the 20th century, it was argued that their significance in any widespread societal sense emerged after the end of WWII. During the last quarter of the 19th century, there were large population increase, significant moves from rural to the city, and dramatic improvements in transport and communication systems. The majority of the early steps in consumer protection were enacted in the area of food and hygiene. (Woodham, 221). However, by the 1920s, there was a rapid growth in sales of all types of goods, sustained by widespread advertising on the radio and in printed media. This led to attention and critical reactions to the commercialization of American life during this time period where you see the significant impact on societal change, the idea of knowledge and how people wanted to know more about the products they are purchasing. Due to this shift, the creation of many different consumer organizations, programs and institutions were to acknowledge the consumers’ rights and the responsibilities of large-scale producers. (Woodham, 226). The author reference other countries such as Sweden where they advanced their consumer programs (i.e. Swedish Society of Industrial Design) through research and product testing with kitchen tools in collaboration of the state, industry and the public.
The end of the Second World War, the consumers' voice was fairly muted in the wider context of consumption in the Western industrialized world, which was known to be called, “civilisation des gadgets.” (Woodham, 226). It was not until the 1960s that the consumer’s rights and the importance of individually came into the picture. This shift was brought through Vance Packard and Ralph Nader. This growing recognition of the consumer's voice in design allowed the right to safety, to choose, to be informed, and be heard.
Moving forward, one of the main problems in the design profession is having a more responsible role in relation to society’s economic dependence on business, manufacturing industry and retail sector. The concerns were certainly modified by the ideological drive of their employers. Design theorist, Richard Buckminster Fuller was highly critical about the American industrial design profession and expressed the concerns of wastage of energy in the Westernized industrialized contemporary world. (Woodham, 231). With the inessential use of materials and resources, he designed what was called, “The Dymaxion Bathroom” which was intended to create an extremely economical innovation in terms of cost and resources. This radical thinking stride young designers to explore alternative approaches to solve design problems and redirect design thinking in the commercially-centred society.
Viewing today’s current society, It has completely changed then what we saw between the 1920s and 50s. With the technological advancement that we have now, I feel like we will have this “obsolescence” regardless. For example, today’s current iPhones and cars are released every year. I feel that the majority of the products do not use the “green design concept” because designers are not aware of it as much and ignore it since we are so eager of the future’s advancement. However, I do see companies value their consumers and their overall feedback to release something annually. Without their voice, there is no improvement and constant production and consumption that is happening will not be rapid. As designers, we have to take the initiative to take the responsible role when designing for the good.
~ Word Count: 619
Discussion:
- Think of examples of products or services today that you consider responsible design and examples that are not.
- Do you think User Interface and User Experience related to the concept of Responsible Design? If so, why? Provide examples.
Work Cited:
Woodham, Jonathan M. “Twentieth-Century Design”, 1997. Chapter 10.
