Design of different kinds ...

This theme needs more time, so let's unwrap the concept and see what kinds of design we find.

First, and best known perhaps, is Product Design.
Whole books are dedicated to this and some cynics or sceptics observe that recent practise is rather shoddy ... a cheap and cheerful teapot that fails in its primary function - to deliver tea to a cup without spilling it on the table or worse still on your lap or laptop is hard to fathom when a good potter can make a work of art that effortlessly enables the transfer with the aid of a steady hand and attention to the task.

Next, Service Design.
A smart phrase for common sense and a focus on the primary focus of any service worth its salt ... the customer! Any half-conscious customer will observe that the one delivering the service often manages to artfully manage you ... indeed trade unions are dedicated to the task of safeguarding the interests of their members, not against the customers but the tendency of business owners to drive down the wages and conditions of the workers ... customers often get caught in the crossfire of this battle ... whilst individuals take pride in finding ways to make their working lives more comfortable, putting their interests before both business owners and customers ... perfectly understandable if you reflect for a moment ... it's human nature isn't it?
The way the game is played is key to the basic conflict and its resolution.
Public services, of course, are rarely designed and in extreme cases the customer wonders why and how those elected and appointed to serve the people end up serving themselves and telling the people what to do ... sound familiar?

How about Experience Design?
This is the next big thing and already happening. What on Earth can you buy for the person who has everything? This problem is faced each Christmas by many people in over-developed countries ... even averagely wealthy folks face this problem, leading to the pointless problems and worries experienced at the festive season, plus Valentine's Day, Easter, Birthdays and all the other opportunities advertised by commerce to sell their stuff ... don't blame commerce for the problem please, that's their business and our national GDP score depends on it. Of course, deep reflection and stepping off the merry go round may solve the psychological problem individually, but if we all did it what would happen to the GDP, the profits of national and multi-national businesses, their shareholders, including your pension fund if you have one ... some economists propose a measure better than GDP, GNH or Gross National Happiness, tried out by the Buddhist King in Bhutan some time ago ... hmm maybe, but Bhutan is an economically poor country and the world is run these days not by national but multi-national economic entities, with unbelievable wealth with which to maintain their power. And corrupt all sorts of players drawn into the illusion that money is real ... whilst everyone knows you can't eat it or take it with you when you die .. it seems the human race has lapsed into a mass hallucination, madness really and not just recently ...

Never mind, back to the plot of the never ending story ... Experience Design! Perfect for our atomised individualistic times, a concept which at its best gives each of us, not just the super or average folks already inhabiting a self-created ideal world in their own minds, but humble people who spent their lives thinking of others before themselves ... if you recall yesterday's post you know who and how such a beautiful illusion may be created, if only for one day out of 90 years ... you think that's altruism, worthy of applause? Please let me assure you, such experiences serve not just the one receiving the full attention of the world in one small hall, in one small place but all of those present plus other players supporting, the warm glow spreading through one small Dale and far and wide, globally, through the ubiquity of social media .. from paranoia to pronoia, from despair to hope. .. who wouldn't want such a present next year?!