The term ‘Designer Object’ is hype created to sell aesthetically pleasing material culture, but it also implies that other objects are not designed. All man made objects and processes are designed. As Herbert Simon has told us anyone designs ‘who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones'.

In order to create the most elegant solution I prefer to take the latter definition of design. I describe my work as Behavioural Design. It is not a specific design discipline characterised by an end result. Instead my favoured process is driven by the fundamentals of people and their behaviour.

The objective of Behavioural Design is to look at how the lived environment impacts on people and then to use design to facilitate new behaviours and experiences. The solution to the problem may be a product, a service, or something else. It may involve a range of techniques and processes but the one constant is the behaviour of the person and the solution engendered by the design.

I am now experimenting with design that encourages environmentally friendly and socially responsible behaviour.

 

Writing:

The Structure of Design in Practice
Sustainable Through Behaviour