Amongst the bachelor projects in Object Design from summer 2020, one student encapsulated the current situation of young product designers with a list of provocative questions: What is the aim of today’s design? What is my responsibility as a designer? What does the world need?
The bachelor course in Object Design addresses students willing to ask themselves precisely these questions. The world is changing at a breakneck speed, and the world now is completely different to the one eleven years ago when the Object Design course was first started: the conditions of industrial production are non-transparent and occur on far-away continents, online shopping has revolutionised consumer behaviour, Fridays for Future have politicised young people, accepted social realities are in a state of flux, and climate change is the undeniably greatest challenge we currently face.
Our relation to industrialisation is deeply ambivalent. On the one hand the legacy of industrialisation is an essential source of know-how for approaches to materials, manufacturing techniques, ergonomics and functionality. For this reason the Object Design course starts from the fundamentals of product design. The workshops impart a wide range of production processes, both manually skilled and computer-assisted. The students practice their presentations by hand, in models and using drawing programmes. In real scenarios in tandem with partner firms, the students become familiar with external requirements and undertake design projects of increasing complexity – on their own, in groups and in interdisciplinary teams. A key focus is materials and their properties, so that from the word go commodities are understood as concrete and finite resources.
On the other hand we recognise the knock-on effects of industrialisation as catalysts of ecological and social instability and perceive its incompatibility with models of a liveable future. We are what we consume, so the saying. Object Design expands the operational scope of product design into fields that transcend industry – from small series for specific needs to the making of individual items for individual use. The students think and practice future consumer scenarios from sufficiency to circular economies: as consumers, as designers, as a society.
Within this process, the Object Design course consciously positions itself in social niche situations – precisely there where our graduates can assume responsibilities themselves. These hybrid niches are to be found everywhere: between existing job categories, established product genres, manufacturing techniques and material groups; between socio-culturally anchored patterns of thinking, behaviour and diet. In this sense the students are individuals who are given the scope to build on their passions, experiences and previously gained skills to formulate their own unique outlook.
Can Object Design and its claims provide students with professional perspectives? Our answer is “yes”. Global consumer society has reached a tipping point. Progressive approaches to resources, mobility, property, diet and inclusiveness are no longer utopias and instead constitute our reality. Governments and mainstream companies are evidently more willing than ever to take a stance and commit to a future-proof society. The need is for young object designers to professionally support them. And for object designers who can entrepreneurially realise their own visions.
Christoph Schindler
November 2020
