A review by saraberkes
Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Victor Papanek

4.0

Reading a book written in 1970 is strange, especially when almost everything it’s saying (though not the language used*) is still relevant today. It’s also hard to believe that the argument made in 1970 wasn’t acted on—that all the things happening today in the world were predicted then, and in 50 years nothing was done. It’s a hard pill to swallow that this generation that was mobilized in the time this book was written, that believed in solving climate change and making a difference for low income communities is now the generation refusing to dismantle capitalism, voting increasingly conservative, and turning a blind eye to the climate crisis. How did that happen?!

Papanek’s points are still true now, he has lots of examples of really cool product designs for low income communities, he’s socialist, he’s pro-community engaged design, he knows designers caused societal and ecological problems and he gives good suggestions for how designers could start to undo the mess they’ve made and maybe if those things had been done 50 years ago, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.

*I do believe there’s an updated version of this book, hopefully with adjustments in the language. The language is 1970s wording for disabilities, POC, etc and is jarring to read