Design for a World We Want to Live in

OCTOBER 2024

A Guide to Understanding Complex Systems

Design is an inherently social matter. The intertwining of the material and the social reveals the profound influence of design on social structures, and does not absolve any designer of responsibility for the impact of their creations on society. This is true for the most complex problems a designer can think of, as well as for the seemingly simplest. The German design theorist Friedrich von Borries refers to this with a quote about Ludwig Wittgenstein's door handle and his obsession with detail in its design:

“You can think fundamentally and logically about the nature of the world and at the same time devote your full attention and effort to designing a door handle. When you think about the world, you have to think about the door handle at the same time. And if you do this, the questions you have about the world will also be answered in the door handle.”

My master's project addresses the inherent complexity of our world and the need to act within it as a designer. There are several takes on this challenge from a variety of disciplines, but what they all have in common is that they require a great deal of curiosity and caution - a trade characteristic of the design profession. One way to approach this complexity is to think of the world as a vast, interconnected system of myriad networks and interdependencies. The design and production of any product is part of these networks, be they material, social, natural or economic, and always has an impact on them. Through an in-depth examination of the seemingly simple product of a door handle as a symbolic and characteristic object, these networks are revealed, examined, critiqued, and contextualized. The project culminated in an exhibition consisting of illustrations and graphic explorations of the door handle from a historical, social, economic and sustainable perspective, while visualizing their networks and mutual references. This theoretical discussion is contextualized through the design and production of door handles that explore the spheres of the underlying networks. These objects take their inherent networks as a base for reflection and wonder, challenging conventional thinking and showcasing their beauty and history. They serve as a commentary on the present state, but at the same time explore ways forward for the profession of design.

A Guide for Moving in Complex Systems

Step 1: Observe

Immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world. Write down your observations. Test them and compare them with your existing knowledge. Gather all the information you can and take your time. Look around you and put yourself into the networks. You are not just a singular node in this network, you are completely defined by it. You want to change a problem, but it is also only defined by its network. Is the problem even what you thought it was?

Step 2: Cooperate

Look for all the perspectives. Decide why you are the one to help. Step back and give a voice to the others. Note what they have to say and connect them. Learn to look through a hundred different eyes. Be mindful of what you know, and what others might. You are not alone in this. Don’t forget, you are nothing but a node in a complex system.

Step 3: Analyze

Look at what you've collected, isn't it amazing? But now look at it from another perspective. How can you even do that? The collected looks a lot like you, should it be like that? Clear out the noise and clear out your bias. What are you looking for? Ask for help, why should you do it alone? Remove elements. Add them back. Look at the details. Look at the outsiders. What tells us what?

Step 4: Map

Draw together what you collected so far. Create links which nobody saw before. Find all the actors, or are they actants? Make lists. Make drawings. Visualize everything, how else would you talk about it? Draw the possible ways. Choose the possible vehicles. Make it chaotic, make it complex. Do it two times, do it three times. Do it again, but different.

Step 5: Scale

Look at the small details. Look at the new things you discover there and create another map for them. What is happening? What is moving? Make it big and get an overview of the whole. Are you beginning to understand? This is not the reality, but what is it? Maybe it's your reality. Ask yourself who here has the power and who doesn’t, and is this how it should be? Can you predict the future this way?

Step 6: Learn

Only now do you can really begin to learn. Whatever is concerning you, has it concerned others? If not, you are on the right path. If so, acquire the knowledge. Is there now anything else that concerns you? Probably. After you have learned all the new things, your path has changed, and you got new ideas, maybe it makes sense to start again so that the learning was worth it?

Step 7: Model

Now you are ready to design. Make models. We have learned what models can be. They don't have to be reality, they just have to convey something. Your goal is simplification. Watch how your model is being used. What did you want to say? What did you want it to do? Was there something you wanted to change? It might not make sense what you came up with. That is okay. Just try again. Make another model and use it to say something else about your problem. Your model is just there to give hope.

Step 8: Dream

Close your eyes and begin to dream. Everything you've done doesn't matter anymore. Things have changed. Do them again and do them differently. Mix the steps. Go forward, go backward. Nothing is linear, all points are connected. There is no definitive and there is no solution. There are only possible paths that you can imagine. You just created an actor-network. You begin to understand complexity.