I consider myself a designer in training. No I don’t have a portfolio or anything, but I am going in that direction. But sometimes (or I guess often) when I read design blogs such as I get depressed. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I guess I just saw lots of ideas and energy that are not contributing to anything. The designers seemed more like artists. Then I saw this comment on Core77 that said it all.
danny gumballsAugust 4, 2009 01:00 PM
I think the reason for the lack of general support for these experimental designers lies in the relative uselessness of their products. If you want your products be more about esoteric meaning than actual function and use, then you are an artist. If that is the case, awesome, there is never too many artists. If you want to be taken serious as a designer, then address utility. Furniture is cool, inflatable stuff is even cooler, but we have crazy high health care costs, and internal combustion engine cars dominating the highways. Why not tackle the real design problems like cheaper and more useful medical products, and alternative transportation/energy. There are an abundance of talented designers currently working on these problems, and unfortunately are not flocking to these clubs. They are too busy billing hours to satisfy the needs of progressive corporations and government agencies who are making money by addressing real issues.
The world has problems and I think that designers should be solving them. Not creative crazy furniture.