Reading Response 8

In Artful Design, Principle 8.22 states: "Design is born of life, incorporates it, and is inseparable from it. Design is all around us, with all the joy and sorrow, grime, beauty, and imperfections of life." I recently read another quote which I feel like is very related: "The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” -- David Graeber, 1961-2020. I think both of these quotes get at something common, which is that what we think of as the world is nothing but the sum of various objects and systems which were, at one point or another, designed. Thinking of the world this way brings a bit of hope to the totally nihilistic point of view which is, in my opinion, usually pretty reasonable: as individuals we are very small, and have diminishingly little control over the world as a whole, but in that we have the capacity to design things, and in that the world is but a collection of designed things, we can maybe take solace that our influence is nonzero, and that there is still a reason to design things which create joy and meaning.

Regardless, I agree that life is beautiful, and worth living. I truly, deeply understand what Ge means when he says that "there is beauty in people, in what they do, in the kindness they show out of choice, not necessity" -- I'm overwhelmed by emotion when I think of how brief human lives are, how loss and pain and grief and violence are constant, sometimes meaningless, and unending, and how yet despite all of this we continue to live, to hope, to love, to wonder. There is inherent tenderness, I think, in every one of us -- in every single person there is a small inner person who just wants to be held, and understood, and loved, and thought of. I think the reason we are so fascinated by good design is because it can serve the deep needs of this inner person: good design makes you feel thought of.

I think this is what artful design is about, really. Artful design is about deeply understanding others, and making things which care for them, and for ourselves, because caring for others is something we do -- despite all the chaos and violence we are surrounded by -- because we are human.