Improper Critiques?

I’ve been brooding for sometime on the mixed press ‘Design’ with a capital ‘D’ has been getting recently. In fact, truth be known, it was one of the triggers to get me blogging. I was so enraged for a brief 24 hours that I started this blog, wrote a ream of unedited piffle and then (thankfully) didn’t press the ‘Publish’ button. Essentially it began with a pretty poorly written piece by the well-respected and publicised Alice Rawsthorn (formerly Curator of the Design Museum). It was entitled ‘British Design: Not what it used to Be’. After scraping myself from the roof, reading, digesting and trying to grasp actually what her point was, Jonathan Glancey of the Guardian stepped-in. He did a good job of explaining what he thought she was actually trying to get at and then wrote a balanced response pointing out that the UK is beyond ‘firsts’ of things like the original Routemaster, Harry Beck’s tube map and the K2 phone box, and is actually at the heart of a global industry that is so much more important in shaping industries, behaviours and society in general (I hope).

Then, Starck happened. He came on our TVs, told us that there ‘ees only one, maybee two good dezigneeeers in Britain’ and oh, that we have ‘no soul’. He didn’t tell us who this great bastions are and exactly why we are soul-less, but nonetheless, he is le Saviour. I like Starck. Quite a lot. I don’t necessarily like the objects he creates and I think he is amazingly contradictory in the things he says relative to his actions, but I think he is a pretty cool ambassador for design on many levels, with an ability to hold an audience on a primarily visual subject with his own unique english.

What annoyed me though was how the BBC produced the show. Throughout the series Starck was obviously less and less interested in the ‘students’. I’m not going to get into a rant, but I think they did a terrible job of researching the subject matter and then obviously recruiting a reality show friendly cast. I’m not exactly sure how you get actual good design ‘talent’ interested in something like this, but it definitely wasn’t the model the BBC/production company used. I’m a big fan of the Beeb and think they themselves get too much of a hard time for what they do; they are quietly leading the field in so many things (cite iPlayer their history of motion graphics and their relationships with some amazing talent), but this was not good. On top of that, I was really upset that Adam Buxton has sold his warming soul to dodgy narration…

What am I trying to get at? Well I guess my beef lies with the fact that design as an industry/profession is being increasingly recognised for its importance in developing both business and societal thinking, but in parallel is being badly misunderstood in the media. ‘Design thinking’ is being banded about as the new post-recession saviour for helping businesses take a new tack or understand their consumers in order to better deliver Services and a great way to help public services innovate in how they deliver themselves (e.g. Participle). It is easier to celebrate or critique the more visually tangible works of design, than get under the skin of what is really happening. It’s no coincidence that the UK is now home to the design centres of some of the largest brands in the world (one of which I work for admittedly). Contrary to all the criticism, design in Britain is flourishing and at the centre of an increasingly global stage. But unfortunately all the media can do is look for which designer is creating a highly expensive chair for an obscure Italian furniture manufacturer (as per one of Richard Seymour’s most recent rants). Come on folks, looker deeper. See the bigger picture.

I love design. It’s so polarising and devisive.

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