Design as a way of thinking
Design is not aesthetics. It is a method of thinking about how the world works.
When I studied interior design in Milan, I learned something that had nothing to do with furniture: design is a way of seeing.
A chair is not just a chair. It is an answer to the question: how does a person sit? What attitude do we want to encourage? How long do we want someone to stay? A restaurant chair in a fast food chain is deliberately uncomfortable — you have to move on. An armchair in a library is the opposite.
That is design: every choice communicates an intention, even if that intention is unconscious. Hostile design — benches with armrests so homeless people can't lie on them, pegs on ledges — is the most cynical example of this. It is design that says: you don't belong here.
In 2007 I wrote about Dutch design. What struck me then still strikes me now: the Netherlands is excellent in functional design (water management, cycle paths, logistics) but blind to its political dimension. We design as if design is neutral. It never is.
The choice to build a neighborhood without benches is a political choice. The choice to design an app with infinite scroll is a political choice. The choice to give an application form 47 fields is a political choice.
Design as a way of thinking means: asking every choice — who is this designed for? And who has been forgotten?