The Humanity of Design
“The new beginning inherent in birth can make itself felt in the world only because the newcomer possesses the capacity of beginning something anew, that is, of acting. In this sense of initiative, an element of action, and therefore of natality, is inherent in all human activities” (Arendt, 1958, p. 9).
“It is our very ability to design that determines our humanness . . At the most basic level, we as human beings are compelled to design – it is our calling as agents of free will, who through design intelligence, can act with design will” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012, p. 11).
We are all born to design. And yet, The Design Way tells us in its concluding chapters, none of us are born designers.
Instead, Nelson and Stolterman frame the identity of “designer” as a construction, a sustained effort to build character and competence. Viewed through Gee’s framework of identity, being a designer is not a static state derived from nature, but rather a process of “self-fashioning” negotiated through discursive (inter)action (Gee, 2000).
Nearing the close of a summer that has afforded me a chance to engage more fully in this process, I find this an appropriate moment to bring into sharper focus the character and competencies I hope to achieve over the course of my career.
If, as Arendt suggests, the capacity to create is a basic element of the human condition, what distinguishes the designer as moving beyond this shared state, participating in a unique tradition of inquiry and action? The dual practices of being in service and being responsible lie for me at the crux of what it means to be a designer.
While Nelson and Stolterman remind us that all paths to design expertise are necessarily unique, I find value in looking to others across history as lodestars for my journey. Two figures emerge for me as exemplars of character, seemingly dissimilar but united by a shared commitment to service and responsibility.
Washington: Responsibility in Leading Change
George Washington, as profiled in Stephen Howard Browne’s The Ides of War, was a man keenly aware of character as an active construction. Browne describes Washington’s qualities of “honor, probity, civility, courage” as attributes “most effective, most real when put to work in the business of life.” Indeed, for Washington, character “had to be forever in play, harnessed to the ends of something greater than itself” (Browne, 2016, p. 6-7).
We can find parallels here to the concept of the service relationship presented in The Design Way. A designer’s character is disclosed through the process of applying judgement (a form of knowledge inseparably linked to the ‘knower’) to effect change in the service of other(s). It is through the service relationship that action has meaning and gives meaning to life.
In midwifing change for and on behalf of others, the designer must assume responsibility for the outcomes of those changes. To this point, Browne outlines the moral commitment Washington was asked to uphold in enacting the beginnings of nationhood:
“I promise that in exercising my power to begin, I do so mindful of the moral obligations thereby imposed upon me, and I do so not for arbitrary or self-regarding reasons but because the beginning I envision is compatible with our collective welfare” (Browne, 2016, p. 23).
This commitment is one that I intend to hold at the center of my design practice, an ethical imperative to inform my character and guide my action in service of others.
Singer: Sustainable, Service-minded Leadership
Two centuries later, Washington’s design of nationhood long secured, we can find another (perhaps less likely) model of responsible, service-minded leadership in the C.E.O. of a cleaning supplies company.
Driven by repeated demand from readers of her blog Trash is for Tossers, Lauren Singer produces organic, sustainable cleaning products. In doing so, Singer works to design a world in which her services are not needed, claiming “I want my business to go away when everyone is making their own cleaning products” (Van Schneider, 2016).
This model of design parallels Nelson and Stolterman’s concept of service as being a relationship between equals, one that empowers others to achieve self-sufficiency rather than imposing dependency or artificial need.
Like Browne, Singer articulates the ethical obligations of effecting change:
“The first thing to do is ask, ‘Does what I’m designing or making or doing need to exist? Why am I doing this? Is this really necessary and is this important? And beyond me and what I’m making, what’s the impact of what I’m doing? Is this something that’s going to leave the planet and the world and humanity in a better place?” (Van Schneider, 2016).
Becoming / Being: Self Disclosure Through Action
Nelson and Stolterman frame design as a self-disclosive practice, arguing that “designers practice in a manner that is reflective of who they are as individuals and professionals” (Nelson and Stolterman, 2012, p. 240). Browne, too, finds acts of beginning to “reveal one’s character and make of it an object of public judgement” (Browne, 2016, p. 24).
My promise, then, is to engage in a career of design work that reveals a character marked by principle, responsibility, and service. Design is necessarily a proactive force – reconstituting sophia by uniting inquiry and action. In that spirit, I commit to harnessing my character-in-action to the goal of creating informed, sustainable designs that empower others to reach the fullest potential of the human condition.
Sources
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Browne, S. H. (2016). The ides of war: George Washington and the Newburgh crisis. The University of South Carolina Press.
Gee, J. P. (2000/2001). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-111 and 119 – 121
Nelson, H. G., & Stolterman, E. (2012). The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Van Schneider, T. (2016, March). NTMY – Episode 9 – Lauren Singer [Audio blog post]. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com/tobiasvanschneider/ntmy-episode-9-lauren-singer