cover image Design for Society

Design for Society

Nigel Whiteley. Reaktion Books, $0 (182pp) ISBN 978-0-948462-47-4

First published in England, this stimulating study offers British and Continental perspectives on the ethics of design in the consumer era. Whiteley, who heads the Department of Visual Arts at the Univ. of Lancaster, first describes how marketing and abundance have created socially unnecessary products and damaged collective bonds, beginning in the United States in the '50s and in Western Europe in the '60s. He then traces the response of ``Green'' consumers, offering thoughtful analyses of issues like recycling and the growth of a slicker Green aesthetic. Surveying efforts at ``responsible design,'' Whiteley recounts the tale of Heineken Brewery's ill-fated World Bottle, intended for recycling as a brick for building houses, as well as efforts to design products for the Third World or the disabled. He suggests that feminist critics fighting gender stereotyping can influence manufacturers and designers only slightly until the broader society changes. Though the author is not against style, he proposes that good design must also take into account a product's social usefulness and environmental effects. Illustrations. (July)