Victor J. Papanek: “Design for the Real World”

Ecology, Economy, Sustainability and Accesibility: predictions in the 70s for today’s needs

DS.WRITER:

Σοφία Θρουβάλα

Central Image Source: barcelonarchitecturewalks.com

Victor J. Papanek was -from the 60s- one of the leading innovators and instigators of contemporary ecological and social Design. His book, Design for the Real World (1971), remains to this day the most widely-read book on design in the world. With this book, Papanek is the first to talk about social justice and sustainability in design, some of the quality characteristics of good design today. Papanek taught in different universities, inspiring generations of students that dealt with the design-society polarity. The promotion of his thoughts on these issues did not stay confined to books and university desks but reached the most popular form of media at the time, the television.

Image Source: barcelonarchitecturewalks.com

In 1961, he made an informative television show about design that was broadcasted in the US. His sense of humour and wry approach to consumerism inspired many creators but also friends of design to rearrange their daily lives by changing their view of objects their use. The combination of his educational approach and his authority was far from the established perception of design and its instruction, and ultimately altered the way of creating, from conception to implementation. His ideas are thoroughly analysed in Design for the Real World, which was to become the manifesto of contemporary design, which is based on the fact that Design is essentially objects that function in everyday life and affect it "biopolitically", predetermining or enriching the environment. That is, it is a political tool that must be recognized as such and used accordingly for the well-being of each era, i.e. ecology and social change.

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When Papanek published the iconic Design for the Real World — Human Ecology and Social Change in 1971, he indeed initiated a shift in thinking about the function of design in society. In this book, design is analysed as something that serves humanity, as an inextricable expression of everyday life. To him, human culture was a particular expression of what Alfred North Whitehead called ‘life’s creative exploration of novelty’. As he used to say “design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple, choosing sides for a backlot baseball game, and educating a child”. With these words, Papanek wanted to emphasize the fact that design is neither just aesthetics nor just functionality but a part of everyday life, something that is shaped with it, but also produces reality itself. That is why “Design must be meaningful”, as he said (Papanek, 1985, p.6).

Through his work and this book, he tried to make it clear that the functionality of each design can only be part of the wider social, ecological and cultural context, inspired by the complexity of today’s everyday relationships between humans and objects. The separation between the utilitarian, socially functional object and the capitalist, mass-consumable object is necessary. That is, the product should satisfy a practical need and not aim to increase the consumption of goods. In the same book, the impact of multinational companies on all levels (ecological, economic, and health) is criticised openly for the first time, explaining how marketing and design in the context of multinational strategies mainly aim at successful overconsumption (the designer must be conscious of his social and moral responsibility).

Victor Papanek and James Hennessey, Relaxation Cube from Nomadic Furniture 1, 1973/2015 | Image Source: blog.julien-drochon.net

As Papanek claimed, designers should be ideologically autonomous and make their own choices, ethically and responsibly, without further inflaming each crisis that emerges. Design, he said, should be intense and radical in order to accommodate ecological needs and social developments. Thus, Papanek might have been the first to propose the lower consumption of materials and the reuse and creation of objects from sustainable and recycled materials as a unique solution to avoid modern emerging problems (Papanek, 1985, pp.346–347). In addition, in the mid-70s, he designed an innovative model for the car company VOLVO called the "experimental city taxi". It was exhibited at the MoMA in 76' as a specimen -one of the many- of real and necessary design. The “realistic solutions for Today” exhibit presented a car/taxicab specifically designed for people with mobility limitations. It offered the ability for passengers in a wheelchair to enter the vehicle without the help of the driver or a third party, while it made the need to store said wheelchair a thing of the past since the passenger could enter the taxi with it (watch the video from Volkswagen Group - Culture Χ Vitra Design Museum).

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The perceptive designer, before he died in 1998, predicted the design of the 21st century. Some of his speculations were the inevitable turn to ecological materials and the specialisation of many designers in the new sustainable forms of design, while, finally, all universities and schools will be teaching design as he envisioned it, that is, based on social utility and ecological methods through the use of technology. Now that all of this is crucial and the ecological crisis is a reality, the field of design is called to invest in creativity, resources and time for the reconfiguration of its good practices. It’s interesting how Papanek’s ideas can constitute a compass for a more sustainable and functional society, with his words being more than relevant today.