NextD Journal I ReReThinking Design Special Issue, April 2007
Elizabeth Pastor |
Beautiful Diversion
Humantific, United States & Spain
Being part of the NextD team, I have had the advantage of reading many people’s responses to Nussbaum’s post. The diversity of thoughts and ideas is fascinating and makes one’s mind flex in meaningful ways. There are so many things to talk about in what Nussbaum wrote that it’s difficult to know what to choose. I have focused my attention on a small observation, which I have not seen reflected in others’ comments. What does it mean when someone from the outside comes and looks inside your space? Do they understand what is really going on there? How it works? Its history? Let’s take a personal context: Family. We can criticize a brother, sister, or parent, but when someone from outside the family criticizes them, we tend to jump at them. It’s an immediate reaction of protecting our family. It’s also a reaction to an external force intruding, who may interpret things without knowing the context and without having all the facts. This intrusion is a difficult one. Sometimes it can be enlightening, sometimes it can be misconstrued, and often times it can be painful. If we get past the painful part, the great thing is that it can lead to self-reflection, and hey… that’s not a bad thing. Now let’s consider this dynamic in the context at hand. I appreciate BusinessWeek’s and Nussbaum’s dedication to bringing attention to the contribution of design to the table, from an outside perspective. It’s bringing more focus on design to other disciplines. However, I also can’t help but question: Who has given Nussbaum the authority to have such a strong voice about design? He has little connection to design in his education or career path. To my knowledge, none of the people he cites as being part of his team have a design background. It is hard to know what you don’t know. Many comments on this special issue by veteran designers, academics and design thinkers point to the fact that most of the things stated by Nussbaum are not new. He, as many others, including designers young and old, simply have not been part of the design conversation that has been ongoing for decades. When was the last time you saw an economist blog of a major publication run by a designer? BusinessWeek’s “Economics Unbound” blog, for example, is written by a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. Nussbaum holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Political Science. The three fundamental questions that Nussbaum’s post points to for BusinessWeek are: Why not be consistent? Why not get smarter? Why not create a more meaningful and accurate discourse on design that brings the knowledge of both sides? Wouldn’t it make sense to have several editors, side-by-side, who represent the inside and outside perspectives of design? A more balanced representation of design by a design-educated professional in a blog about design seems… basic! Wow, what a concept… Please take it and run with it, BusinessWeek... Your readers deserve it.
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