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Design Studio 01 - Fourth Session

Course Details

Name: Design Studio 01 - Session Four

Dates: 18 November 2024

Faculty: Jana Tothill Calvo & Roger Guilemany

Group Intervention

For our next collective design intervention, I switched to a different group and this time wanted to investigate the question, "what objects do people value and why do they value them?"

Specifically, I am approaching this question from the angle of consumerism and wondering what items people value and are willing to repair and hold onto long term rather than replacing often. I wanted to know what things are valuable to people such that they rise above the frenzy of the consumerism fray. I was hoping to determine what makes these objects stand out as important.

We went through many iterations of what the intervention would look like o the point where we ended up running a small discussion group that quickly go dubbed an "art therapy session".

In this intervention, the way we asked the question probably had a large impact on the answers we received, but for the most part, as I expected the things that people said they valued, formed a relationship with, things that meant something to them, were objects either related to experiences or activities, or with sentimental or emotional ties.

Why were the objects important to people?

  • for their emotional value rather than their monetary value
  • because of memories, the object itself was a conduit to another time, being, or place
  • because of the activity they allow someone to do, the experience they have using the object
  • for the monetary value, but because of what that high sticker price means emotionally rather than financially
  • because they belong to everyone and can provide a collective experience when shared
  • because the object is old, it is tied to legacy

I think for me, the next step in answer my questions of consumerism would be to examine how more mundane, everyday objects, the disposable ones, the unimportant ones, can start to be viewed as more valuable and worth holding onto, worth viewing with meaning and reverence.

Question

How can objects we view as disposable become treasured emotional objects that we treat with care and don't seek to replace, change, or discard?

Since working on this intervention and discussing the ideas I have with friends and family, both inside and outside of the program, I have even more questions along this line of thinking that I want to explore more.

Question

  • Why are our materials belongings so often linked to feelings of acceptance or belonging while not owning certain things can lead to feelings of exclusion or being ostracized by those in our communities.
  • If objects are linked to social acceptance then some more fundamental questions begin to come up:
    • Why do people judge other's social status by the material things they show the world?
    • Why do people exclude others based on that perceived social status from material belongings?
    • Why do people feel they will be excluded for not having the right things?
    • How can communities change to address this valuation based on ownership and display of material goods?

Individual Intervention

As a continuation of my first collective intervention, I wanted to test what a day without using my laptop or phone would feel like. I had many different reasons for wanting to do this, which I will attempt to summarize below:

  • Potentially extend the life of my phone battery by at least one 24 hour period's worth of wear
  • Disconnect from surveillance systems of cellular data and WiFi
  • Disconnect from the global network as a means of testing what a small component of degrowth/deglobalization might feel like
  • To experience what it feels like to fully disconnect for a day
  • To examine the subconscious habits surrounding these technologies that I have integrated so seamlessly into my daily life, I probably couldn't even list them all

In thinking through this personal intervention, I realized that there may not have not been a single day in approximately 10 years that I have not at least once during the day touched a smartphone. That realization felt scary and upsetting to me. Now I can say that at least once, there has been more than a 24 hour period where I did not directly use a smartphone or laptop. Somehow that feels freeing.

More will come as I fill out the process of this intervention more and reflect more fully on the experience.

Design Space Updates

Check out my Design Space. I am in the process of turning my physical design space into a digital one so that I can more easily update it. It is still very much in process, I am sure I will continue to reorganize it and update it going forward.

I will admit that I am missing the physical version of my design space, so it is possible that going forward, I will attempt to find a hybrid digital-physical version of this manifestation of my brain and how I see my design process in this course. For now, it is digital and will continue to be for a while.


Design Space

Reflection

Below is my audio reflection after the fourth session of Design Studio.