The Context of 'Low Product': How designers can help articulate a new social language, by Ann Thorpe

The Context of 'Low Product': How designers can help articulate a new social language, by Ann Thorpe

Franco Vairani, MIT Smart Cities

Will 'no product' become the new brand? John Hockenberry provocatively suggests that given the global economic crisis, 'no product' is now plausible. But how plausible given our society organized around economic growth? I'm talking here about consumerism as both the primary purpose of growth, and its principal driver—the high product context.

Reliance on continuous growth makes the economy unstable (it must grow or it collapses) as well as unsustainable (it strives for infinite growth on finite planetary resources). Tim Jackson provides a very accessible overview of this situation in his great new report, Prosperity without Growth?, in which he also proposes an alternative—a steady state economy. Enter the 'low product' context. Enter the Nomadic Prayer Space, knitfitti and the floating swimming pool. Before getting to the examples and the implications for design of a steady state economy, let's explore 'growth' a bit more.

Mounting evidence suggests that efficiency gains are outrun by new consumption. For example, my fuel-efficient car, far from cutting down on overall fuel use, provides savings that finance an extra holiday flight. And my personal electronics are 'greener' but I have many more of them.

(Via Core77.)