the world is already full of stuff...

Design Discussions general design discussion
1

…why do you make/design more?

That question was the result of an interesting “quest for the best interview questions” over at the mocoloco blog (see http://mocoloco.com/archives/003541.php). By the way, my apologies if I’m starting a duplicate thread here, but i did a quick search and didn’t find anything similar.

I’m currently in student mode, and often find myself pondering the same question, especially pertaining to the fact that we are becoming increasingly aware of the implications often involved in “making more stuff.”

So I ask you all (and curiously await the discussion to ensue)… the world is already full of stuff, why do you design/make more?

2

To fight entropy?

You can always make “new” things out of old stuff…

3

Interesting…

Because there is still a lot of stuff out there which is badly designed, infuriating to use, ugly etc. And to agree with poopslush, to fight entropy. If we don’t create, consumers have no choices for things to buy, and this will lead to economic collapse. So I guess in that sense it doesn’t matter whether we are a designing good or bad, as long as we are designing. :smiley:

4

Because very few products satisfy our emotional or physical needs, and those needs frequently change.

5

The more you know, the less you need.

the inverse must also be true:

The less you know, the more you need.

“Stuff” drives the global economic engine. It’s in third place, right behind “air” and “water”.

6

So I ask you all (and curiously await the discussion to ensue)… the world is already full of stuff, why do you design/make more?

Why not?

We live in a world where people NEED product. If you’re going to question WHAT is being designed, that’s one thing. But questioning why we design/make more?

Do I need an ApplePhone? No. Do I need a new oven or refridgerator when it breaks? Yes. Well, that is unless I want to go back to living like my ancestors in the dark ages.

Humans will always need to create. Its our nature.

So I guess to answer your question of why I design/make more? Because I would be really bored otherwise.

7

I didn’t read the mocoloco thread when I first looked at this, and was thinking that this was more of a question about why create more when we are aware of the potential environmental impacts of more stuff rather than the motivation to create it. Did anybody else get that or am do I have some weird underlying guilt trying to surface?

8

IDiot, I also assumed that at first…


I think that is a very good answer.

I think it might also have to do with the fact that men can’t have babies… J/K

9

LMAO, I think you might be on to something there.

10

Add that to the Designisms!

11

Picking up on what IDiot said should we really be creating more from an environmental point of view? Should our personal and social needs really take precedence? There aren’t many things being designed with recycling in mind at the mo. So maybe we’ll pay for our self indulgence and look like villains too! Woop.