Thursday, June 7, 2012

Lets Get Together! Yeah Yeah Yeah...


Why don't you and I design? Lets get together, what do you say? We can make an impact in time. We’d be a crazy team and could achieve a dream. Why don't we make a scene? TOGETHER!

You know the saying about how one person can make a difference? Well what if a bunch of people (our fellow developing designer selves) decided to make a difference together? A difference in the way we design products and how people think of sustainability! This ideal unity could affect the apparel and interior design industries substantially, I mean we are the next generation to take over our fields after all. “Designers play a key role in creating sustainable solutions for clothing, and making ethical fashion appeal to the mainstream consumer.”  In the article Fashioning Sustainability: A review of sustainability impact of the clothing industry, many elements that have contributed to unsustainability in clothing design and suggestions on how to contradict them, designers being seen as a key contributor for the movement of sustainability. As designers we set the trends and are big persuaders of sustainability being “cool”  in all fields of design! Cosette M. Armstrong and Melody L A LeHew point our in their article, Shifting the New Dominant Social Paradigm in the Apparel Industry: Acknowledging the Pink Elephant, If designers are perceptive and open to the principles of sustainability, the concept of fashion may be used to attract attention, energy, and imagination around sustainable solutions. So as you see we can make a difference in some major ways  involving design, but first we need may need to clarify what it means to design sustainable and how we can go about doing that. 

 Sustainable design has seemed to adopt many definitions but the definition that I feel relates to designers the best is: “Theories and practices for design that cultivate ecological, ecological. economic, and cultural conditions that will support human well-being” (The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability, Ann Thorpe) How beautiful is the idea that we as designers are contributing human well-being? We are more than someone designing a new dress or a new office building, we are humans helping humans in the end with what we choose to create for them. We can design with sustainable morals in the materials we choose, the way we establish to create a product, recycling materials and products to create a new one, creating products that can be upgradeable by switching out panels or changeable elements like slip covers, and the list could go on and on. We can influence consumers to desire more sustainable product in the way that we design. We can make sustainability an even bigger trend than “Going Green”

 Lately “going green” seems to be the new trend and not just for produces of almost every product but also for the everyday consumer. Labels that mention anything about a product being green seem to appeal to consumers and thats because consumers care. It makes one feel good after purchasing a product that helped keep the world a little bit better than an ungreen product would. This trend makes apparel and interior industries hopeful that consumers will start demanding more sustainable products and an even more movement could emerge. As the “Going Green” trend is a good start ”We must go beyond the marketing and labeling of "green" products good for the environment and recycling as "feel good" or "only action" solutions. Society must examine environmental issues in the broad global context of finite and renewable resources. Shifting our balance to reliance on more renewable resources is a priority” (Beyond green: From issues to initiatives, Niemeyer, Shirley Francis, Charles A.) So to be proactive, once we can engage people to “Go Green” we can them captivate them to understand just how beneficial and substantial their want for sustainable products is. Once consumers understand this their demand will rise and we as designers can fill that demand with the products we create. 

Nike is a great example of a company of doing this by using their designers as the start to create sustainable products and encouraging customers to help in making the world “better”. In fact they are a great example that strives for sustainability in general with many commitments to strive for the best by creating value for their business and innovating for a better world (http://nikeinc.com/pages/responsibility) Below are a few videos that just make me as a designer smile with pride for the steps our industries are taking to promote sustainable designs. I am a huge Nike fan and just as a consumer I love that I can buy their products with an eased mind!


Now I would like to make it clear that I am not saying that designers are the ones to blame for the problems of unstainability over the past years but I am saying we can be part of the change we are wishing to see in our industry if we want to. I dont know about you but I plan on living on this planet for a while an would like to keep it as nice and life sustaining as possible! Therefore I am signing up to be an environmentally aware designer and you can join me! If you do we could make a difference together!

13 comments:

  1. Kaitlin, what a wonderful idea! I love the thought of us being able to start a trend ourselves. Trending items are what people tend to buy and once they buy a product they love-hopefully a sustainable one, they will look out for more of these in the future! I thinn you're off to an incredible start! Looking forward to reading your next blog post!

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    1. Thank you for your complements Hannah! Im glad that you enjoyed my ideas! I love what you said about how people by trending items and how once they fall in love with a product they would be more likely to buy another sustainable product. I believe that if we could start with a new line of products that are sustainable and satisfy consumers it would start the sustainable movement into action more than before!

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  2. Kaitlin,
    First of all, I think your blog is so well done and I love how your call to action is specifically to our classmates in the design field! I never really thought about the change that we could personally make until all the reading this week. Like in Professor Armstrong's article, consumers are putty in our hands and consumerism is the most crucial part to sustainability. If we could just make sustainability a hot trend, we could seriously make an impact! But then I question why do you think designers haven't already taken these steps? Do you think that choosing sustaining materials and production methods and still making an aesthetic pieces more difficult than we think? Or maybe the social paradigm shift that needs to happen hasn't been publicized effectively? I agree with you that consumers care and I believe that the challenge we face is conquerable. Like in Ann Thorpe's Designer Atlas, if we can be successful in our design for sustainability, we can enable the consumers because of all the control we have. So lets get together!

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    1. Hey, Jessica;
      Great job giving a high quality comment -- incorporating the course materials! You are asking great questions as well!!

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    2. Hello Jessica!
      Thank you for your comment! You bring some great questions to light! As far as your first question I do think that designers have already taken steps towards making sustainable design in several ways! My focus was really more geared towards us as we are learning design in our fields. I think that as a new generation of designers we can make the start of our career with a focus in sustainable design. I think that in the past it may not have been particularly easy choosing materials and methods of production as it might be today with all the research and technology emerging in out world to day. As far as a paradigm shift happening I do think that it could be more published as an issue! What do yo believe involving these issues? How do you think we as designers could impact our industries?

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    3. I agree! I think that if people were more informed of tbe issue, they would be more open and willing to buy sustainable items over others. I think that if our generation of designer could come up with successful products using sustainable materials and methods, we could make a huge impact! Like Hannah and you have been discussing, all we have to do is make a trend and soon enough it will be a much more sustainable world!

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  4. Hi, Kaitlin;
    You done an exceptional job synthesizing this week's course materials and research. Your research surfaced some quality sources as well. Watch your use of quotation marks (which should be used for direct quotes) and apostrophes. You have some mild grammar issues. Other than that, thanks for being a great example this week!

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    1. Thank you very much! I am glad I successfully filled the requirements for our first post! I was a little nervous in the beginning. I will watch my grammar and quotation usage for my next posts successfully!

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  5. Kaitlin,

    The questions you posed in your blog were very helpful with inspiring thought in your readers throughout your whole post. One question I greatly enjoyed was "How beautiful is the idea that we as designers are contributing human well being?" Do you see any ideas in the design field that are currently contributing to well being? Or is that a key focus in some of the companies in today's society? I also enjoyed your discussion on "feel good" or "only action" solutions. What do you think would be the best plan of action that designers could take to help steer consumers away from "feel good" to more sustainable solutions? Finally, I loved how you captured the demand for your cause in the last paragraph! You make me want to be a designer more focused on the world around me.

    Let's make a difference together, Kaitlin!

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    1. Hello Haley!
      Thank you for your encouraging comment! To answer Your questions I think any idea in the deisgn feilds reguarding sustainability are linked to well being! That is the underlining result I belive! I would like to say it is a key focus for companies developing sustainable prodcuts as well, Nike being a great example of that. As far as going beyond the trend of "feel good" consumer reactions I feel that if informed about what consumers are achieving when they purchase a sustainable product it will help move past the "superficial" asspects and develope into what would be a social paragim. thank you again for your nice comment!

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  6. Hey Kaitlin!

    Sorry it took so long to reply been having some internet issues. I loved your article though! The videos and citations were informative and concise. I love the idea of including all of your fellow designers in your quest for creating sustainable products. I'm curious of what other businesses take the time to create high quality and eco-friendly products such as your Nike example? I believe that the sustainability field is flourishing and am interested in what we can do as designers to better our future! In our readings it says that all of the spectrums must be influenced by demand in order to change. What methods would you suggest to publicize the need for quality products that are sustainable?

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