I was speaking to my 1st year students on Friday about where their research is taking them for the G2 project. A lot of the students are looking at the current financial crisis and how the coming years of financial struggle will have an effect on design.
One student has really focused in on a specific topic regarding the credit crunch and is looking at how "high-end" design will be effected however I am more curious as to how design will evolve over the next few years.
There is no doubt that the challenging economic environment is going to have a huge effect on everyone and everything related to design world wide. Economists say that with so many families in the UK in debt and negative equity, people will no longer be able to afford the luxuries we are so often used to buying.
When people stop spending, companies stop making money; simple. So in terms of products, gadgets and sophisticated developments in technology; what will we be being sold in 5 years time?
More importantly, are design and technology about to change they way they have evolved of the past decade?
I love this image (above). It illustrates just how much both design and technology have evolved over the past 20 years or so. And the image below shows how little time it takes for a designed object to become obsolete and aged.
In an ever changing financial environment with economic restraints, in what way will the ideas, thoughts and opinions of designers have to change in order to design for people who don't have the money to spend?
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