This is entry nine of a ten-part series based on Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design. The Journal asked writers and illustrators to contribute to the project. Each writer wrote on one of Rams’ principles; each illustrator reacted to a writer’s essay.
Designers are not tree-killers or waste-makers. Rather, we are material utilizers, for better or worse. We create experiences, provide information, and promote interactions, whether it be in products, printed materials, or the spaces we inhabit. Rams was quite ahead of his time with his statement, “Good Design is environmentally friendly.” Today, environmentalism is all the rage. You’d be hard pressed to find a brochure, a piece of packaging, or even an iron that lacks a small statement or tiny leaf proclaiming its care for our world. Worse than that, big brands seem to tout their environmental concern – so much that there is almost a backlash to it.
But this isn’t what Rams’ principle was about.
We have so many options as designers today. The bright side of the trendiness of environmentalism currently seen in the consumer world is that we as designers are pushed a little harder to make conscious choices about the materials we use and decisions we make. For example, there are widely available and well-made recycled papers and plastics, as well as soy-based inks.
But this also isn’t what Rams’ principle was about.
The beauty of Rams’ ninth principle is that it interacts and relies on the others. Like all of them, it says one thing: good design is thoughtful. To be thoughtful, we must be asking questions, and the question for every project must be, “what is our environment?” This single question leads to many others. They provide a rubric for judging our work. In it, we set limits on what materials we use and how much, we decide the lifetime of a particular piece of work.
It’s important to keep an open mind when answering the question, too, because we are quickly creating new environments to work in. Technology is one example. The web is an environment completely encapsulated and directly effected by other, separate environments – be it a laptop or a mobile phone screen. One great example of good design on the web is Blackle, a black background version of Google. Why? Because it takes more power to create a light, white pixel than a black one [according to Blackle creators Heap Media]. Whether or not this applies to all types of screens, or calculating exactly how much energy it does save matters less than the thought behind it, at least for now.
In design, we aim to communicate. We have to ask ourselves, then, could there be a communication need that is inherently environmentally unfriendly? I’m not sure there is a definitive answer to that. Instead, I think Rams’ principle should encourage us to simply ask more questions within our work. We are in a new era of design, currently enamored with the environment, and quickly passing over the trend into a state of actual awareness. By paying attention to what surrounds our work, we learn more about our audience and can create something a bit more interactive and intentional.
Aaron Heth wrote on Rams’ ninth principle, Good design is environmentally friendly. Mr Heth co-hosts Read Between the Leading, a podcast for design education and discussion. He recently graduated from Savannah College of Art & Design’s design program and is freelancing in the San Francisco area. Jeffrey Bowman created the above illustration based on Mr Heth’s essay. Mr Bowman works under the name Studio-Bowlegs. He is currently enrolled as MA student at The University of Huddersfield, and has designed for numerous clients, including Urban Outfitters, Computer Arts, and Nike.
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