Case for Design

During my research of the case for equality in design justice, I reviewed multiple sources that contended the basis for equitable design is the acknowledgement that 1) living/designing in any society means you will interact with multiple systems of oppression regularly and 2) all design is political in either it’s rejection or upholding of these systems. In essence nothing exists in a vacuum, and what we create will have social impact regardless of our intentions. As designers we are responsible for investigating our own culture and history within everything, and it’s important to be cognizant of whose historical narrative we pull our understanding of the world around us from to ensure the impact of our design is actively positive, not passively negative

“Design either serves or subverts the status quo.”- Tony Fry

While researching my case for design I also found this incredible, tonally disappointed coverage of the opening of the Austin Metro. The article does a really nice job of inadvertently pointing out all the ways in which the design process for the Metro just didn’t happen. It was also a very neat little case study in how the user is aware of when “shortcuts” are used to solve problems. “With Modest Expectations, Austin Opens Rail Line After Years of Delays” (Freemark, 2010, The Transport Politic)