“James…believes that much of today’s official discussion about design reflects a ‘new instrumentalism’, in which the focus is on design ‘in the sense of the micro-engineering of social behaviour, not the engineering of great artefacts and services’.

“Woudhuysen believes that the promotion of design and the creative industries all too often reflects government attempts to look modern. ‘Design frequently emerges as a cut-price way to solve problems that require much more substantial investment,’ he adds. Discussing the effects of design, he notes that ‘as with IT, it is difficult enough to quantify the effect of design on productivity. Evidence about its effect on morale is even less reliable.’

“‘Design as a political movement has come to substitute for many of the genuinely political movements of the past. It is a relatively cheap way of appearing right-on, and of achieving the unquestioned goal of social responsibility,’ he adds. ‘To exaggerate what design can do for the world doesn’t just inflate the egos of sanctimonious designers. It raises the wrong expectations of them – expectations which they are in no position to fulfil.’

“‘Instead’, he believes designers ‘should stick to creating great solutions to design problems, not ill-fitting and dogmatic Band-Aids that attempt to cover over gaping social wounds’.”

Nico Macdonald, ‘Better by design’, Royal Society of Arts Journal, August 2005

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