4 Important Lessons from Art History
This is a great time to be a designer, especially one focused on interaction and digital products and services. Design’s role in technology products, systems, and services is growing every day, and it’s increasingly recognized as a differentiator for businesses working in this space. Companies are investing in design capability in a way we haven’t seen for a long time. But despite this rising prominence, modern interaction design practice often has a huge gap, one that we can understand by looking back to art and design history of the 20th century.
There is great value in looking at design foundations from the past which remain relevant and useful for the problems we are solving today. With that in mind, here are four things I feel modern designers can learn from previous eras:
A multidisciplinary approach to design
In the Bauhaus, which operated from 1919 to 1933, there was always a close tie between the worlds of art, design, architecture, manufacturing, and philosophy. The structure of the school was setup to encourage a high degree of cross pollination between practices. It was more than having them all in the same building, students were required to explore multiple disciplines as a way to express their vision as artists and designers. As a result you had architects working alongside philosophers, thinking about the impact of their designs in an entirely new way. The world view they developed was expressed as abstract painting, physical products, urban plans, buildings, and more.
Towards the last quarter of the 20th century this type of holistic design practice and education began to splinter. Much design education became much more specialized and production focused rather than future focused and integrated. Industrial design, graphic design, human computer interaction, and philosophy began working largely separated from each other. While benefits have come from this level of specialization, one of the downsides is that our work and outlook has become less holistic. Design became more associated with advertising and embellishment, rather than deeply integrated and systemic approaches.
Yet our world is becoming increasingly interconnected. The products that we make are connected to massive systems that impact not only the individual people who use them and the businesses that make them, but also aspects of behaviour, culture, policy, and more. Having more awareness of the broader impact of our design will help us design solutions with better long term outcomes. Approaching design in a holistic way allows us to see not only the broad impact of our decisions, but also how other aspects of our environments and cultures affect and are affected by our designs.
Using creativity to explore of the impact of technology on our relationships
How often do we as product designers explore the impact of technology on our feelings about ourselves and others? What would be the result if we did? Does Boston Dynamics have anybody thinking about the emotional and psychological impact of the design of their robots? What about the Google self driving car? How will that product make people feel when they use it or see it on the street? What is the potential future impact of such technologies on our culture and the shape of our society?
These kinds of questions were explored by new media artists over the last 50 years. Nam June Paik, a Korean artist who moved to NY in the 60s, explored the impact of technology using TVs as the medium of his work. He wasn’t interested in the technology of the TV itself, his art practice used the material properties of TV as a way of looking at how the effect it has on humanity and culture. He explored the emotional attachment to physical electronic objects and how it changes notions of self-reflection and identity.
Doing this kind of creative exploration is a critical aspect of being a great designer and it’s one that’s getting lost when we overly focus on specific deliverables. How can we use design to reflect on today’s society and the choices we make? Creating small exploratory pieces as part of your process can give you an opportunity to think more broadly and will enhance your ability to create great and compelling designs for the final product.
Critically examining and reflecting on design’s impact on society
Design is not just about solving a problem; it can be a real lever in changing society, both intentionally and unintentionally. Often, these societal impacts are not felt until long after the designed product has been out in the world. For example, very few people imagined the impact that the internet would have in such a short time. This type of speculation is usually left to science-fiction, art, and philosophy, but designers also have a great opportunity to explore future possibilities by creating new things today and reflecting on questions that emerge out of those things. The practice of using design to explore possible futures is often called Speculative Design, but has been known by other names and has a complicated relationship with new media art.
The Helpless Robot, a piece by early pioneer of robotic art Norman White, encourages us to reflect on social behaviour and crowds. The robot, a plywood and steel beam construction on a turntable, asks people for help to turn in a specific direction. If you didn’t do what it asks it gets more desperate in its pleas. In creating Helpless Robot, Norman wasn’t examining the robot itself — the robot and its underlying technology was a means to look the way that crowds act when they’re around something that’s asking for help.
How does your product or service call for attention? What does it need, and is it too needy? These types of questions emerge from White’s work and are applicable to much of the design work we do today. As makers of increasingly connected, ubiquitous, and personal products we should take the time to consider the social and societal implications of what we design. We can use our ability to create things as a way to explore these implications. Can you make something small and simple that helps you gain a better understanding of the personal and social impacts of your product? Try prototyping the frequency of those notifications by having somebody call you or tap you on the shoulder at the intervals you’re imagining for your app. How does it feel?
The field of speculative and critical design is rich with possibilities (not without criticism). Learning from the work being done in this area, and being aware of the pitfalls and biases, can help you create better designs for your projects. Using critical and speculative techniques in small ways to help break through creative block or find a new interesting opportunity for your product doesn’t have to cost a lot or fundamentally change your process. It can be something you keep in mind and use to push boundaries when appropriate. Try some simple reframing exercises to imagine your product or service from very different perspectives.
Thinking of design as subjective not objective
Design is not an objective act. It is (and should be) a subjective craft. The Bauhaus set out to reimagine the physical world according to their principles and beliefs. These principles informed what they taught and how they approached design. Agree or disagree with the views espoused by that group, they did an amazing job of giving form to their philosophy through their creations, be it painting, architecture, books, products, or posters.
As designers, each of us brings our own unique perspectives of the things that we design. We shouldn’t be afraid to put that into the products. This applies even to those of us who work with clients. Designing the right solution for a client doesn’t have to mean we remove ourselves as designers from the process. In fact, sometimes a person’s unique approach can draw a client to work with them, this is what prevents design from becoming a commodity. It’s important to recognize and be conscious of your own perspective, what it brings to the design and what biases it might introduce and stay open to outside influences that challenge your views.
The good news is that there are few barriers to bringing these practices back into our work as designers. Ask yourself a few simple questions about why you make certain choices, how the design makes you feel, and what impact it might have on people. Take time, even a small amount of time, to explore aspects of the problem space that might not be directly applicable, but can allow you see it from a different perspective. Create things that help you reflect on the human aspects of technology and the impact on culture and society.
Think about what is beautiful to you and why you feel that way. Everything we create impacts the future. Don’t let that power go unused! We should do our best to make sure that everything we make, down to its smallest microinteraction, helps to create the world that we’d like to live in.
