30 Conversations On Design, Not Enough About The Natural World

As I was watching the 30 conversations about design I stumbled upon two that really inspired me. Let me first give you a little perspective on who I am. As one peer likes to say, I’m granola, crunchy, a hippie. I personally don’t like to be boxed into the peg hole of labels, but sure, I’m a bit of a tree hugger. What can I say? I guess it amazes me how far removed most people are from the planet they live on. So few people get outside at all, let alone appreciate all that this beautiful planet has to offer. I’m not nearly as involved as I could be. Not everything I buy is organic. I’m not vegan, heck I eat meat about once a week, but I like it. Even when I didn’t eat meat I never liked to say I was a vegetarian, that label conjures all kinds of ideas about identity.

I think that’s where the biggest disconnect lies with people in general. That you don’t have to exist at the polar ends of the spectrum. If you fee like helping out your planet, you don’t have to be a meditating, granola-eating, yoga obsessed Peta-supporting, dread-locked hippie! There are little things we can all do in our daily lives that can make a difference.

Two designers in these videos touched on that point. They’re Joe Duffy and John M Militello.

John M Miltello discussed how great things have already been invented and he sometimes feels the weight of the question, how can anything else good possibly be invented, hasn’t it all been done? He also touched on the solving the problem of design in transportation. We need to make less of a foot print but still do it with beauty and style. Why can’t we have both? There can be a balance. You can be vegan while still eating non fair trade chocolate.

Joe Duffy discussed the root of his inspiration in design and that it tends to come from nature. He takes imagery from nature and molds it into something clean and fresh, something marketable. He exists in both worlds, he sees the beauty that exists in nature but puts that beauty to work in functional ways in his daily work. He also discussed solving the design problem of package design. There’s simply too much crap that goes into product packaging. Does each individual group of metal parts in that book shelf really need it’s own plastic bag? It it really necessary for that squirt gun you bought for your nephew to come with three layers of cardboard?

All in all I liked how some of the designers were thinking big, outside of the box if you will, with their design solutions. And just remember, you don’t have to stick a label on yourself or let anyone else do it either. Autonomy rules!