“Why am I Designing This?” Manifesto
by Jacques Zeevaart
It is time to address the elephant in the room...
Like many others, I became an industrial designer to “make the world a better place”. While that noble
pursuit has proven itself to be true in certain scenarios, this manifesto will not be about rainbows and
sunshine. As I have come to grow into a designer, it has become very evident to me that the most
prominent factors driving industrial design efforts are actually quite evil. Industrial design has a dark
side too, and I would personally like to make light of it rather than casting a blind eye.
The truth is that when you look at the world’s best-selling products, you are looking at the works of
master deceivers. “Successful” industrial designers make products that sell lies and make them money.
It has always been about convincing people that they NEED to buy another piece of plastic to live a
happier life. Whether it is the $800 Bluetooth-enabled wine opener, or the $5 Halloween decoration
that will inevitably end up in the garbage; it makes no difference. The sad reality is that designers make
a lot of things that do not solve legitimate problems and will outright lie about their products (like
marketing teams) just to make something profitable.
As we keep widening economic inequality and polluting our planet with products we can live without, I
am extremely saddened and frustrated by what society defines as “great design”. I am not saying that
rich people shouldn’t have nice toys, or that products shouldn’t be profitable, but I am saying that we
should re-evaluate why we are designing something. The message here is similar to the way people talk
about beauty coming from someone’s heart rather than their outward appearance. In the same way
that there are plenty of beautiful people who are absolute scumbags, there are also plenty of beautifully
designed products with bad intentions behind their existence. It is time as designers to reject projects
that do not reflect our morals and ask ourselves, “why am I designing this?”
“Why am I designing this?” is a question we should ask ourselves when offered to work on a design
project for a weapon that could potentially kill lots of people. “Why am I designing this?” is a question
we should ask ourselves when the product will most likely be used once before being discarded in the
landfill. “Why am I designing this?” is the question we should always ask ourselves. We can refuse to
work on certain things, and we should refuse to work on certain things when they are compromising our
values and harming the planet. Money is an inexorable and necessary evil that we all need to survive,
but we can choose to make money by making things with pure intentions. With that being said, it’s also
time to stop being deceptive in our designs and virtue signaling to certain markets to make a profit. If a
product is claiming to be “eco-friendly”, then it damn well better be made out of biodegradable
materials and have caused zero carbon emissions during its manufacturing. We can do better, we can
tell the truth, and we can design honestly.
Like many others, I became an industrial designer to “make the world a better place”. While that noble
pursuit has proven itself to be true in certain scenarios, this manifesto will not be about rainbows and
sunshine. As I have come to grow into a designer, it has become very evident to me that the most
prominent factors driving industrial design efforts are actually quite evil. Industrial design has a dark
side too, and I would personally like to make light of it rather than casting a blind eye.
The truth is that when you look at the world’s best-selling products, you are looking at the works of
master deceivers. “Successful” industrial designers make products that sell lies and make them money.
It has always been about convincing people that they NEED to buy another piece of plastic to live a
happier life. Whether it is the $800 Bluetooth-enabled wine opener, or the $5 Halloween decoration
that will inevitably end up in the garbage; it makes no difference. The sad reality is that designers make
a lot of things that do not solve legitimate problems and will outright lie about their products (like
marketing teams) just to make something profitable.
As we keep widening economic inequality and polluting our planet with products we can live without, I
am extremely saddened and frustrated by what society defines as “great design”. I am not saying that
rich people shouldn’t have nice toys, or that products shouldn’t be profitable, but I am saying that we
should re-evaluate why we are designing something. The message here is similar to the way people talk
about beauty coming from someone’s heart rather than their outward appearance. In the same way
that there are plenty of beautiful people who are absolute scumbags, there are also plenty of beautifully
designed products with bad intentions behind their existence. It is time as designers to reject projects
that do not reflect our morals and ask ourselves, “why am I designing this?”
“Why am I designing this?” is a question we should ask ourselves when offered to work on a design
project for a weapon that could potentially kill lots of people. “Why am I designing this?” is a question
we should ask ourselves when the product will most likely be used once before being discarded in the
landfill. “Why am I designing this?” is the question we should always ask ourselves. We can refuse to
work on certain things, and we should refuse to work on certain things when they are compromising our
values and harming the planet. Money is an inexorable and necessary evil that we all need to survive,
but we can choose to make money by making things with pure intentions. With that being said, it’s also
time to stop being deceptive in our designs and virtue signaling to certain markets to make a profit. If a
product is claiming to be “eco-friendly”, then it damn well better be made out of biodegradable
materials and have caused zero carbon emissions during its manufacturing. We can do better, we can
tell the truth, and we can design honestly.