what is your philosophy on design?
copyright © 2007 sean dreilinger
I’ve been given a list of questions to answer, so that someone very kind can write my bio on my behalf. Writing one’s own bio is much worse than nails on a chalkboard or pulling teeth, so I am most fortunate. Below is the first question I answered. I’ll be sure to ask it of everyone I know when next I attend a cocktail party.
1] What is your philosophy on design? What is your passion behind what you are doing?
Creating and living in a designed world is a profoundly human act. We are one of few creatures on the planet that has such a tight and recursive relationship with our own designed artifacts. We essentially create the environment that influences how we live and how we live influences what we create. Just as the creation of the microscope has given us germ theory and all the resulting notions of health, contagion, cleanliness and safety, designed artifacts large and small inform our understanding of what is possible and true in the world. When we design we create who we are and who we will become. I am passionate about doing design that illuminates the human qualities we yearn for most in each other–be that kindness, respect, honesty, courage, humour, charm or integrity.
I’m also quite passionate that good ideas manifest in the world. In my experience, the business world is both thoughtful and adept at considering “real world” issues such as sustainability, scalability, and accessibility….often times named more simply as profit, growth, distribution, return of investment, and market reach. Ideal partnerships between designers and businesses yield products and services that positively impact us all. The reality is that the difference in time and resources spent between principled design and disposable design is often times negligible. Thus, one of the greatest contributions I make to a company and to our world is to work with my clients to help them see the world they have the opportunity to create and the people they have the opportunity influence. The world that we imagine today is where we live tomorrow, these people that we influence: our friends, our neighbors, our kids, ourselves.
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