Before today, I had only briefly been made aware of this push to redirect capital-D “Design” away from being a driver for increased consumption and commercial growth under the guise of helping our fellow humans and more towards “Post Anthropocene” Design (ie. where/when “human activities no longer exceed the planetary limits”). How this works in practice will take me much more time to digest, but this paper on “Considering environmental and ethical concerns in the design of interactive products" lays out the arguments and scene quite well and that is simply what I want to recommend you do today… read it.
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A PrinterNOx nitric oxide monitoring device with a red light showing above an “Alarm” light label
Anti-recovery medical device design
If you’re near a smoke detector in your home, go press the Test button now. Hear (or remember) that shrill tone that all but guarantees you wince in pain as soon as it starts going off? Now imagine that you’re a fragile, sick patient lying on a hospital bed (not to mention being a preterm baby) and are suddenly bombarded with that ear-piercing wail emanating mere feet from your head - that’s not detrimental to your recovery, no, not at all…
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Dymo label maker with label scraps on the table alongside scissors and a tape measure. Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
Why I'm re-branding from UX to HCD
ISO-9241-210 defines User Experience (UX) as “A person's perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated used of a product, system, or service,” but alas, the time has finally come for me to make a change in labelling what I do…
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