The Ethical Mindset Of Consumers And Designers
Design is highly susceptible to emotion which can be perceived in many different ways. This is especially true when it comes to whether a design is morally correct or not. It can come in many forms of design such as graphic, product or a system. The idea, that design has a lot of pressure put on it by how ethical it is or the morals that it holds came about whilst carrying out a report on what prosthetics could be like in the next 70 years. This brings up some of the current ideas that we have on some forms of design. For example, prosthetics becoming better than our natural limbs, fashion design only having aesthetic change or the issues that have come about with planned obsolescence. All of these have their controversies but also seem like they are necessary for today’s society.
Prosthetics
One of the earliest prosthetics to be found was a piece dating back to 300 B.C. which was found in Capua, Italy. It was made of bronze and iron, with a wooden core, apparently for a below-knee amputee. It would have been one rigid part giving it no movement only allowing the user to support their weight. It wasn’t until the mid-1500s that movement was introduced into prosthetics. Now looking forward to what prosthetic could become in the future, is an exciting and yet daunting prospect.
We are now at a point where robotics can almost replicate some of the most complex movements that the human body is able to do. The issues arise when prosthetics start to become better than our natural limbs. Should we accept that as part of human progression or will we have people cutting off their natural arms and legs so they can get a prosthetic that, for example, allows them to do their job better than they could before? It could get to a point where people become more employable if they have a prosthetic. In this scenario, we might actually get people cutting off their own limbs. Meaning we would have to have some sort of restriction on what a prosthetic can do, just like in the US where they have restrictions on the type of guns you can own and how you can use them.
This is very relatable to our own research project where we came up with a prosthetic that would allow complex surgeries to be carried out in countries where there might not be a qualified surgeon available through a wirelessly controlled arm. However, we found that even though our prosthetic was designed to do good we quickly realised that it would also be easy for it to have negative repercussions. This is where we have to sometimes take a moral standpoint either on the limits of what designers are allowed to create for the day to day user or by regulation on who can use it and how. This, however, does not prevent the progression of design just prevents it being used incorrectly.
Fashion Design
If we look at fashion design, in some aspects it has been a very stagnant in its development and progression. At least to the user all they are seeing is the aesthetic change. Should it be acceptable for the fashion industry to be so focused on how the next seasons clothing lines will look when the fashion industry is responsible for 8% of global climate change? Should they not be more focused on changing how the user uses clothing items and the production and waste process? It has only been recently that the big companies have been starting to make changes due to the building desire by consumers to become more sustainable. This desire has encouraged today’s consumers look past the label and look a what makes a fashion brand ethical. Consumers have also started to wise up to the half-hearted attempts by companies to make themselves look sustainable. Clothing companies now have to make more of an effort to give their products a story of high quality, positive impact on people and the planet in order to maintain an ethical image which consumers can stay engaged with. This shows that the pressure and power have started to shift from the governing bodies to the public as they start to look into the brands ensuring they are making sufficient effort to become as ethically sound as possible.
Patagonia is one brand that is heading in the right direction by going beyond just what their clothes are made from. They have so far rejected fast fashion and have instead pushed forward with high quality and long lasting products even offering a repair and reuse program. Even going as far as discouraging customers from buying clothes they don’t need. They are leading the way when it comes to labour welfare receiving an A grade in the 2018 ethical fashion report which is not easy with the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hugo Boss and Lacoste receiving C’s and D’s. This is reflected well in Patagonia’s mission statement.
“build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”
planned obsolescence
For years companies have been attempting to control the consumer market. This is often done through planned obsolescence which can come in the form of parts that have been purposely engineered in, to give the product a restricted lifespan. These are faults that the user may be able to avoid however the companies make them more susceptible to breaking. An example of this is the incandescent lightbulb which has experienced its own controversy. It was obsolescence that was internationally controlled by several of the top lightbulb manufactures. At the start, the companies were stressing the longevity of their bulbs stating they would last 2500 hours and by the 1940s they had managed to bring it down to their target of 1000 hours. This would force the consumers to have to buy replacement more frequently, bringing in more money for the lightbulb companies. It also created a massive amount of jobs for the local areas which would have been a lot less if lightbulbs did last for a long time. However, it did mean that the companies were having to blatantly lie to their customers in order to have a higher monetary gain than what they would have had. This creates a poor customer relationship, that negatively affects their buying decisions. This is a perfect example of money and profits getting in the way of product and design progression. and is something that can no longer be allowed to happen with the increasing danger of climate change. Many things have to change that in the short term may not be the most beneficial for our bank accounts but instead have an increased ethical change to a company that in the long term may actually be beneficial to the company and the consumer.
Product Quality
At this moment in time, higher quality products do tend to cost us more money and rightfully so if we are getting a product that works better than a cheaper equivalent. But paying that bit more gets you more than just a functionally better product. If the product truly is functionally better then it is more cost effective to pay more for the one product than it is for more frequent replacements. This, in turn, leads to less waste which will give us a better attitude moving away from the throwaway lifestyle that we live in. We would have to get rid of fewer items meaning we may put more thought into how we get rid of them. A perfect example of this is a men’s dress shoe and all daily shoes for that matter, these have the potential to last for years if it’s a quality pair. It may at first seem very overwhelming when paying upwards of £350 for a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes but these are shoes that will last for 10–20 years and go through several re-soles, outlasting most shoes that cost £40-£60 and being more cost effective in the long run. Now obviously not everyone can afford to pay £350 on just a pair of shoes but there are other ways to mimic this same system of spending more to save more, for example, installing better insulation in your homes or installing LED lightbulbs to save on your energy bills. These are examples of spending more to get a better functional product which is also sustainable as it lasts longer. If this makes us spend a bit more on a product then it should not stop us from spending a little more on a product that has been designed with sustainability in mind. This is where we need to find a balance between a quality product that people are willing to buy but also having a low impact on the environment.
It is clear to see that companies are still very much led primarily by monetary gain at the expense of ethics or sustainability. In order for us to make a positive change to the world, we need to start to value ethics, just as much as we value money. It can be seen that attempts are being made to change this with the likes of Patagonia leading the way. As well as that, consumers are starting to wise up to some of the ploys companies set up to try and get more money out of us like the use of planned obsolescence. With the power starting to shift to the consumers, companies will have no choice but to make these moral and ethical changes that we are starting to demand.
