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    Gustavo Maldonado
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    129 views5 pages

    Valorised Designer Nigel Whiteley

    Uploaded by

    Gustavo Maldonado
    q

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    The valorised designer valour, n. intrepidity: courages bravery: value, worth.—n. valorisation, fixing of price. vs. valotise, -ise, to fir the price of. - adj, valorous, intrepid: courageous. Hatin ealero, to be strong) (Chambers Twensieth Century Dictionary) One of the oft-cited features ofthe postmodem, condition is that the distinetion between theory” and “practice” has significantly slackened. Postmadem writers have made us realise that no practice is innocent’ that theory itself is a practice, and that every practice can be theo rited and has theoretical implications. Some hhave gone so far as to argue thatthe distinction between theory and practice has actualy cola edit is no longer even the case that they aze the reverse sides of the same eain, but that the coin itself is part of an arvane or counterfeit currency. The major technological developments ‘of recent years would seem to tnderpin postmo dem thinking: fundamental differences between the tools with, andthe physical environments in hich students engage on ‘practical’ design and “theoretieal” academic study have lessened as computer technology has transformed ezeative and working practices on the one hand, and information gathering and research on the ther. ‘The slackening of theory and practice is sympto- mati ofthe crumbling boundaries between iaciplines, areas and methodologies which were once thought of as separate, diserote and self- contained, giving rise to interdiseplinarity’, itself another symptom and characteristic ofthe postmodem condition. Design education has often ehanged in ‘an ad hoc and reactive way tothe changing conditions and idens, rather than through a Nigel Whiteley radical reassessment of needs and priorities. This paper, which draws on my own experiences as a teacher of design theory/history for, prim rily, practising students, attempts to follow through some of the implications of cultural changes and proposes that we need to develop, a model fora new type of designer with ‘understanding of values which is considerably deeper and more complex than has previously been the case ‘The idea thatthe distinetion hetween theory and practice has ollapsed seems to me an ‘ovetsimplification that does not sustain any scrutiny but Iam convinced that distinetians hhave blurred to the extent that we have more ‘of a continuum or spectrum. The ‘collapse ‘model posits an agglomeration in which theory and practice are fully de-differentiateds the ‘continuum’ model accommodates inter-connee- tedness and intordisciplinarity- including the interpenetration of theory and practice-but also accepis significant dilferences and even separa teness towards the ends of the continuum. ‘The distinctions are significant. A blurring is not the same esa collapee, and designers atll reed skills which are inculested only from ‘racising in the studio (or whatever) aswell ax sila which drive from theoretical or academic teaching. A sophisticated society needs sophis- ticated designers who need to be informed and critical as well ak practically ezeativ Different skills, with different qualities and ‘tacit knov- ledges eome from different ways of thinking and acting, and what needs to accu is greater ‘coherence across all the educational experience so that kills and qualities are made to work ‘constructively with—and even sometimes cone structively against—one another. Different types of skills ought to offer complementarity and ao comprehension in the pursuit of interdiseiplin- arty, not confusion, incoherence and incomprehension. Tis, regretably, not unusual to have ‘witnessed over the years examples of confusion, incoherence and incomprehension on one's professional travels Iwill deseribe some ofthe ‘current and recent inadequate models of edu~ cation Thave observed in various educational institutions before I then develop my own model. T should point out that these models seldom exist in as clear and unambiguous a way as [they are deseribed below. Institutions often hhave an amalgam of models which, indeed, is part of the confusion, incoherence and incomp- rehension in their particular educational provision. The formalised designer One of the enormous benefits of the blurring of theory and practice is that we ean no longer tolerate the streak of ant-intllectualism that still pervades some design departments. Most of us will have known design departments that are not only suspicious of ideas and concepts, but actually view academic, intellectual study as antithetical tothe activity of designing which they see reductively as al to do with wiitarian functionality, materials, methods of construc tion, form and proportion—an essentially formal notion of design derived from the Banbaus in particular and Modernism in general. A great ‘many such departments used to exist, but now ‘there are fewer although some of the dominant and domineering attitudes still Linger on in lunreconstructed or bone-headed staff. Historically, one of the problems has been thatthe academic study or theory’ that design students have reoeived has been woefully inadequate and, often, irelevant. In Britain from the 1960s until quite recently, students bad to study the history of art not even the history of design —which wae seen asa worth ‘hile ‘liberal’ intrnsieally-worthwhile pursuit. ‘The art history was largely formalist, fllowing the lines developed by Nikolaus Pevsner in his 1936 Pioneers of the Modern Movement book. Twas taught by staff who usually had 0 experience of designing nor any understanding cf their students? needs. The result was that ‘academic study was teen largely as a distraction from the serious business of designing —an instant ora waste of time. Regrettably, educa onal ‘rationalisation’ and badly thought-through modlarisation sil sometimes replicates = similar situation ~namely an academic ‘approach and syllabus perceived tobe imelevant and 2 distraction. The theorised designer The opposite ofthis model can be deseribed as producing the ‘theorised’ designer. This derives {rom the a commitment to the extreme post- modern ‘collapse’ of theoxyfpractice position, Design students ~ Iam not writing about students who intended becoming eultural theorists or design historians ~ are foree-ed a indigestible diet of Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault, Lyotard, Heidegger snd other contem- porary heroes. [No distinction ix made between those stu ying cultural theory degrees and the design students -the same intellectual complexity and degree of absteaction in the material being studied is presented to diverse groups of students with ther significantly differing needs. The rationale ix that students need ‘theory’ ‘beeauee “theory” explains all particular discourses. Setting aide the irony that theory, taught in this abetract and intellectualist way, iteelf eeomes a grand narrative, design students are usually unable satisfactorily to ‘mediate and cross-reference the theory in the abstract they are receiving, ancl the projects they are undertaking in the studio Twant to make it elear that Iam of the ‘opinion itis crucial that designers come to rovent theory In that sence, the influence of theary on design thinking has been both necessary and desirable Its benefits—most obviously ite deconstructions of power, authority, and vested interests are all to the good, and design eriticism which deals with just formal value or which fils to addness the politics of consumerist values is likely o be either naive or disingenuous. But there is a ‘doyenside tothe impact of theory on designers, anil we are becoming inoreasingly aware of theon’s limitations. Such limitations include loss of accessibility and eamprohensibility as theory appears in frequently difficult and eso teric language. Ironieally, given its polities, his ‘makes such writing appear elitist. On more than ‘one occasion Ihave heard theory eriticixed as ‘being a private language by means of which academies and tutors not only show off their cleverness, but also guard against wider access to ther elite and insular club. Thi may be ironie, but itis certainly not meant ironically. Like the ‘formalised’ designer, the ‘theorised' designer model ean be remote and irrelevant. The politicised designer Related tothe model ofthe ‘theerised’ designer is the ‘pliticised” designer. This is not ‘widespread! model but has a nicke position in the complementary and contextual studies sections of some design departments. The model has developed from Russian Constructivism and ‘Produetivist origins in 1917. In more recent times it was reignited by the Atelier Populaire’s direct political aetion of 1968 in Pars, and was presented direetly to the design world by the French Group atthe 1970 Aspen conference, Its Left wing credentials are, therefore, beyonel question, ‘The poliicised” designer model has different variants. The radial designer ofthe late-19608 became the responsible designer af the 1970s with the publication of Victor Papanck's, Design For the Real World, a book that introduced the m1 idea of designers assuming a socielly construe tive and interventionist ole in opposition to consumerist fores. The book's zepublieaton in the mid-1980s found favour with a new gene~ ration of designers who were inezeasingly becoming ettuned to environmental ‘grees? issues. The green- oF eco-designer ofthe 1980s has gone on to become the ethical designer of the 1990s who sees al design are integrally and intimately related to consuming, and hence to the Western social and politcal system, While T have much sympathy with this model, its application can be dogmatic and somewhat univalent and dualistic, expecially atthe “ark sreen’ end ofthe spectrum, resulting in both the strengths but also the weaknesses ofan apposi= tional, binary way of thinking. There ean also be an assumption that the design process and ‘consumers are rational: that people will act ‘correctly’ and make ‘sensible’ choices. Ths is part of the weakness of rationalism which ean be reductivist and simplistic. However, when one ‘compares ito the complacency and ignorance ‘ofthe model ofthe ‘consumerised designer, one is thankful for the degree of politcal awareness and social conscience, The consumerised designer ‘The most common model in design education is one usualy justified in terms of ‘professional’ ‘needs and ‘market realities, This model empha- sises‘elevaney’ and claims to be apolitical, seeking to provide the aspiring designer with the types of skills and methods he or she will need when working in business or industry. There is seldom any questioning ofthe need for particular types of products or even their envi ronmental, social, moral or personal effects and implications. The consumerist priorities of ‘redesigning, ‘emodellin’ and ‘revamping? are seen as ‘natural’ and desirable because they keep the economy dynamic and ensure ‘atively full employment and widespresd prosperity. The concepts of ull ost” 12 accounting or ‘life cycle’ analyses are not introduced with the result that each design solu tion is seen as self-contained and “innocent” — merely as more or less desirable in consumerist terms. The model is conformist following 3 “ie too’ mentality ~ and uncritcally upholds the status quo which means thatthe designer ‘becomes someone who adds tothe debris and ‘ephemera of society. The designer becomes a problem-producer rather than a problem-solver. ‘The ‘theory side ofthis model tends to ‘chew historical or ideological analyses in favour of ‘business studies'~how topiteh’ hove to draw up @ contract; simple design metho ology: marketing and presentation, for example which are justified as aiding professionalism. ‘These studies are generally presonted as skills which tho aspiring designer needs to acquire as part of her or his apprenticeship and training. In fact training isthe operate term for this model, because it provides little or no wider ‘context from which the student can critically review and reflect on design in society. Ii, therefore, gully of being the most ‘naturalised? of the models. The technologised designer More often than not closely related to the ‘con sumerised’ designer model is the ‘technologised” ‘model. From CAD/CAM onwards, the information technology explosion has transformed the design process, and it is now a eommonplace that the students work must be high-tech and ‘euting ‘edge’ i he or she isto be worthy of the term ‘designer’. Hence, many designers~and design ceducators—are techno-philes or

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