Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I was SO excited when the first problem that designers chose to solve (or at least the first video…) was transportation.  I did a lot of flying this past year thanks to my parents’ current residence in Shanghai, and every time I got on an airplane, I kept thinking to myself, ‘why hasn’t this changed in the 10-15 years I’ve been flying?’  Literally.  The Delta plane I took to Shanghai could have been the exact same plan I took on my first international flight when I was 8 or 9.  The. Exact. Same.  There have got to be some great designs for more comfortable and spacious seating, tray tables and in-flight entertainment, not to mention storage for that our carry-on luggage and duty-free shopping.  Not to mention the fact that due to cutbacks, airline patrons are treated more like livestock than people.  A redesign of the way we fly could completely change the way people approach travel.  We wouldn’t grumble, thinking about the uncomfortable hours spent in an airport lounge waiting for a flight to depart, or the long, uncomfortable, cramped flight that awaits afterward.  We could look forward to being treated like people, relaxing in between meetings or on the way to a family gathering, rather than dreading the entire experience of flying.  And imagine what this could do for people who have a phobia of flying!  Maybe I’m advocating a design revolution taking us back to the days of the show “Pan Am” but would that really be so bad?

Watching the interviews with specific designers, I really enjoyed what Agustin Garza had to say.  He is very influenced by the past, as he explains through a pre-Colombian Mexican statue he keeps on his desk.  According to his bio, he travels widely to isolated cultures who survive and keep their cultures alive in extreme environments.  This kind of connection to the past is really inspiring, especially when so many cultures around the world are at risk of being forgotten.  He looks at design as a way to solve the issues of health, water access, and the environment that we face in the future and will certainly be looking back into history for clues to solve these problems.