Can a designer be the catalyst in achieving sustainable development? I’m not talking about just using ‘green materials’ or about thinking twice before passing the processed tree through ether or about configuring solar panels out of your old CD’s. I’m talking about the power of our ideas. The ideas and messages that we as designers conceptualize and create have far more potential green power what amelioration our material choices can bring about.
At the nexus of values, attitudes, needs and actions, designers have the potential to act as facilitators. We have the power to scream out an announcement from a billboard, tickle our audience, simplify a complicated system, and demonstrate a process. Its ability to construct, not destruct, its search for new options and opportunities, its ability to connect to powerful emotions, its optimism, is what makes Design a tool strong enough to convert tough CEOs. The services we design have immediate impact through direct social engagement. This is where we can influence our clients to build value-based brands which promote the flow of green materials and energy. These companies will in turn educate their customers on sustainability. This is strongly emphasized by Brian Dougherty. In the next 10 years every designer will be a ‘green designer’ to some degree according to him. There is a growing awareness that every decision we as designers make exerts an influence of some kind, whether intended or not.
Before my commute to work would cause an irreversible 120° tilt to my cervical vertebrae I am optimistic about this shift in the status quo towards sustainable solutions. By the power vested in me as a designer I now direct you to Think Green! The environment is not somebody else’s problem, it is our problem.
