Don Norman Says: "The Way We Design Today is Wrong"

Designers have no power, designers have no say. They're very skilled, but they're in the low level, and middle level of the company. They very seldom get to say what the company should be doing.

This paragraph summarizes this text that was presented by Don Norman , in the video with the same title , posted in IDF Youtube Channel.

In this video Norman states what most of us already know: Designers have no power.

See why Norman urges Design Education to change urgently:

"In 1971, Victor Papanek, a famous designer at the time, wrote a book called Design for the Real World. And the very first sentence of his book was basically 'there is no profession more evil than that of design.'" Interesting start, but then he went on to say, "Well, actually, maybe there's another profession even more evil than design, and that's advertising." Why? Because advertisers convince people to buy the junk that designers are producing.

Now, that's very interesting. Now what did he mean by that? Well, look, I can give you a simple example. Take a cell phone, your mobile in the United States and in Europe. These can cost about a thousand dollars, which is roughly a thousand euros as well. These are expensive, and in order to make it, we've had to mine all sorts of exotic materials from countries around the world, destroying the environment in those countries. And when we produce it and manufacture it, we manufacture it in huge plants. There's a major company in China that manufactures almost all of the stuff that companies like Apple produce or design. They have a million employees. And so what do they do to the environment there with such huge numbers of people? And then how long does this phone last? They're really designed to be two or three years, and then you discard it and buy a new one.

And, oh, can you reclaim some of the expensive materials inside the phone? No, they're not designed for that.

It's very difficult to take it apart and to salvage the components, so they're often just thrown into big heaps.

I was in India, the city of Ahmedabad, and there, there's a big mountain of electronic junk in the city that is on fire, spewing poisonous fumes into the air. Why are we doing this? Why are designers designing stuff that destroys the environment in its making and destroys the environment in its replacement?

This is what Papanick was really angry at. That first of all, we shouldn't be designing these things. Second of all, we could design it with less difficult material, material that was easier to take out and use again and some other purpose, but we don't. We have these wonderful compound materials. We join wood and leather and aluminum and titanium and all this stuff together in a way that can't be taken apart. Even something like a milk carton that we all use, which is made out of cardboard, can't be recycled because it's covered by plastic. And to take the plastic off of it, yeah, there are some people who can remove it, but lots of the recycling places cannot separate the plastic from the cardboard.

Why can't we do better than that? So why don't designers change what they're doing? Well, here's why:

Designers have no power, designers have no say. What they're asked to do, most designers are great at what they do. They're very skilled, but they're in the middle level of a company, low level, and middle level. They very seldom get to say what the company should be doing.

And designers work in basically one of three places: they work in a university, or they work for a company as part of a design team, or they work in a design consultancy where they have clients.

Well, in a university, they're not doing anything; they're teaching. So actually, I think we can forget them for the moment. In a consultancy, you have to do whatever your clients ask you to do.

And if you want to be a leader in a company where you get to say what should be built, then you have to actually take a larger point of view.

We need to change design education so that people are understanding the nature of business, the nature of the world, the nature of world economics, the nature of trade, the nature of civilization for that matter: humanity-centered design.

So that we can say, look, this product may make us a lot of money, but it's evil for the planet, we must change it. We can't do that. But you have to be in a position of authority to be able to make that happen, and that's why we have to change design education.

Designers have a critical role in shaping our future, and they must be empowered with the right education, tools, and authority to lead the way. They can no longer afford to be mere observers or followers; they must become active participants and leaders in creating a sustainable and equitable future for all.

We need designers who are not just skilled craftsmen but also critical thinkers, problem solvers, and system thinkers. Designers who are passionate about creating products and services that serve the needs of people while also protecting the environment and promoting social justice.

We need designers who are not afraid to challenge the status quo, who are willing to take risks, and who are committed to making a positive impact on the world. We need designers who are true leaders, who can inspire and motivate others to join the movement towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

In conclusion, designing for sustainability is not just a choice; it's a responsibility. We can no longer afford to ignore the impact of our designs on the environment and society. We must take a holistic approach to design, one that considers the entire life cycle of a product, from sourcing of raw materials to disposal.

We must design for people, the planet, and prosperity. We must educate and empower designers to be the leaders we need to create a better future for all. And we must work together, across disciplines and industries, to make this vision a reality. The future of our planet depends on it."