HISTORIES AND THEORIES

Design on the Streets

GOOD WASTE BAD WASTE:

Looking at the design of our streets, which will more often than not be taken for granted, I have seen some little quirks and interesting things that the un-observing eye perhaps would not notice. 

Take the bends in these railings, for example. Why are they like this? I saw on a documentary once, that when the 1960s housing boom occurred just after WWII, there weren't enough raw materials around to generate everything from new, and so the stretchers that were used to carry soldiers on the front line were laid out to function as fences.

Juxtapose this clever recycling with this not-so-necessary appearance of bottle caps and a 2p coin in the tarmac of the Bus Lane nearby to Waterloo station.

 One can't be certain whether or not this was intended, but chances are that passers by, or the workmen themselves threw litter into the path of the tarmac roller, and the items got pressed into the road.

If we were to label this a form of 'participatory design' then surely we have to mark it as an unintentional and ill-choreographed one, due to the fact that it's messy and involves what is considered litter. If, however, more consideration had been taken in the bottle caps' placement, or someone had been aware they were there, Art could have been made. But instead we are left with a poorly tarmacked road.

MAKE SPACE STUDIOS:

('''E 'PACE STUDIOS)

I also have an issue with the naming of these studios on the rail-route into Waterloo station. In being titled 'make space' studios, surely they are suggesting that they've made a proud and creative space in London for Artists and Designers to work.

The fact that they are temporary structure portacabins does not imply that they are making a permanent space, but instead making use of it. They've been there for best part of five years now I think, and the falling-down of the letters only adds to the irony of the poorly named, poorly maintained studio situation- No wonder it's so difficult to be taken seriously as a designer; we don't set ourselves up to be respected. The trick to design is being thorough, and this is not a good example of this.

EBAY BUS:

This Ebay bus is genius. It's just a shame that there isn't more of them. I suppose the novelty would wear off if there was. I haven't since seen any brightly coloured busses to take photos of.

It's eye catching and promotes EBAY, which is great, and it takes Bus advertising to a whole new level. To be on a bus that goes toward Lewisham is great for the budget-hunting target-market too. It could be considered critical design, as it changes our standard perception of a Bus from a big and red form of public transport to a moving billboard, and the big blocks of colour are a different kind of advert to what one might expect on a bus, but it totally works. I suppose all advertising could be labelled participatory design, too.