A METADESIGN MANIFESTO
Re-designing Design, to Address Problems Beyond Design
The need to change everything is urgent. This means making massive changes at all levels. Design must become the solution, not the problem. But designers are not yet trained to re-design at the level of paradigms. Indeed, many are specialists, trained for maximising GDP. They will need to co-create new business models and lifestyles. They will synergise enterprise with entredonneurial approaches. The current economy of ‘things’ will become a synergy of synergies.
Can Designers Re-design Design?
Current education systems don’t make it easy for us to imagine better futures. Many of us find paradigm change unthinkable, because we were taught to focus on ‘important’’ bits of the jigsaw. Even children can see that everything must change. But ‘everything’ is big word. We need more than technical fixes — for example, electric cars may, even, worsen the paradigm of daily commuting. Designing beyond today’s ‘normal’ will mean re-inventing farming, clocks, homes, money, clothing, thermostats and design itself. Every time we confuse the ‘impossible’ with the ‘unthinkable’ we make small miracles harder to notice. Too much scepticism corrodes teamwork, so we must cultivate contagious optimism. This will help us to notice opportunities that, previously, had remained unnoticed.
The good news is that we are an adaptive species.
It is too long ago to remember the full, sordid story.
We distanced ourselves from our chimpanzee cousins.
When our brains grew we became the smartest of all Apes.
We burned trees, narrowed our diet and dumped toxic waste.
But this cleverness made half of all the other species disappear.
Factories & unit-based money systems continue to trash the planet.
Today, we must re-calibrate all our assumptions, belief systems & habits.
Designing Systems That Resemble Living Systems
The ‘undead’ (e.g. zombie) logic of money seems out to kill us. The antidote is to emulate living organisms, so this manifesto aims to grow, multiply & evolve.
It is an adaptive & joined-up framework that seeks unforeseen opportunities.
Adapting to change must include re-inventing our practices AND ourselves.
If we only walk on well-trodden paths we may, eventually, lose our way.
What works for one time or place may not be suitable elsewhere.
We need practical skills that focus onto the given task at hand.
We also need collaborative wisdom for the bigger picture.
So we aim always to walk the talk and talk the walk.
Beyond The Metaphor of a Toolbox
Metadesign is a toolbox for collective metamorphosis.
Metadesign is a superset of all possible approaches
Metadesign is not a subset of existing approaches
Metadesign is more sympoietic than allopoietic
Metadesign is comprehensive & transitional
Metadesign is polymorphic and adaptive
Metadesign emulates living systems
Metadesign belongs to everyone
Metadesign belongs to no-one
Metadesign is interoperable
Metadesign is relational
Metadesign is systemic
Metadesign is 4-fold
Metadesign is fun
