Intro to The Stuff of Life by Design Blog

In the ‘90s, I threw a party where someone floated this question, “What do you know for sure?” Back then, I couldn't articulate anything with unwavering certainty. I don’t even remember my answer. It surely lacked conviction. But the question has followed me ever since and I often ask myself, “is this something I know for sure?” I have always looked at the world through a design lens. Design is a creative problem solving process. But there was still something underneath, something fundamental that I wasn’t capturing -- until COVID turned everything upside down. That’s when my understanding of Design came into crystal clear focus. Place. Design creates place – the physical parameters of it and our emotional tether to it. We live in a physical world and the tools, graphics, and systems that we use are design responses that reinforce our place. COVID changed how we move through the world and shifted our engagement from physical to virtual. Our ability to navigate a Zoom world still rests on our adaptability to a new grounding in virtual place. (Do we have the link that will take us to the place where the virtual meeting is? Do I know to have my camera and microphone on so participants there can here me from here?) We are in an ongoing state of transition and figuring out our Place. Traditionally, design is recognized as the process of creating a product or service that generates revenue from those who can afford it. Considering design from the context of Place reframes it as a universal human condition. We exist in concert and our place in relationship to one another is by design and ever-evolving. Whose is celebrated? Who has access? Who is pushed to the margins? Who has no power? Who has too much of it? Who is in control of it? Those realities are design driven. I have questions. I hope you do, too. Self-determined Sense of Place should be a fundamental right. By shining a light on the many ways,from historical to topical, that design shapes our place -- I believe we expand the understanding of our humanity and how to make changes. This I know for sure. Example of issues/articles to dissect: * "What Happened When the Homeless Moved Into a Liberal Neighborhood?" * "Why Tokyo's New Transparent Public Restrooms Are A Stroke of Genius" * "Turning Grief for a Hidden Past Into A Healing Space" * "Building Accessibility Into America, Literally" * "Confederate Battle Flag Comes Down in Mississippi" * "Why Did It Take the Pandemic to Show How Much Unpaid Work Women Do?" * "Instead of a Coffee Shop How About a Laundromat?"

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