Res: Criticism does the most good when it moves from talking about design to talking about society and world

“Creating a better world” is the fashion logo of nowadays designers. But I was wondering until now, how could a a designer, who is always regarded as the last link of the whole production, could change the world. And what does “a better world” mean, in design perspective. From some of reading I did recently, I got some answers.

The reading is about Peter Behrens. When he are committed the design of AEG, he was not satisfied by creating a stylist logo or an compelling poster. He started his design as an entrepreneur, from production and business perspective. He predict that in the industrial production era, the aesthetic of design and means of creation should be universal and impersonal. So he directly create the whole visual style of AEG company, and keep the style consistently in every product design, which is the first “branding”, which seem as a cliche for nowaday designers. And his innovative use of standardization in his AEG teakettles design is still seems far-sighted even in nowadays, at least for me. You might not able to imagine, when I bought my bed, mattress, and suit of bedclothes when I first came U.S., I was so impressed by how smart the system of the standard of size is. And I was even suprised that this concept of standard design existed one century ago, by Peter Behrens. It a pretty efficient way to organize the whole process of production and purchase, saving time and money. In this case, he start his design also as an enterpreneur, and as an engineer.

A designer could not create anything out of his time and environment. Only by proposing questions about the society and world, a designer could make his design meaningful, and then change the world.