Design for Impact or Impact for Design?

I regularly hear designers say that what they really want to design is stuff that has a positive effect on people’s lives and makes the world a better place. Which kind of implies that the stuff they are making isn’t quite hitting the mark.

What would design that positively effect lives and makes the world a better place look like? Design for social good? Tesla-style, first-world-domination? Making day-to-day little things better? One way or another, everything that is designed has impact (good, bad or otherwise).

On a recent visit to an antique shop, my boyfriend Joel literally squealed like a little girl when he discovered a dusty old Nintendo video game console hidden under a pile of junk. I literally lol’d.

Joel’s overly-dramatic reaction made me stop and think about the long term effects of design. Design happens with the best of intentions, but it also means making decisions that will reach far beyond whatever is being designed at the time.

Whilst it’s not a particularly serious example, Nintendo obviously had an effect on Joel. And clearly, he’s not alone — in 2009, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was named the greatest video game console in history (so far).

Did Nintendo R&D have the foresight to think about the impact they would have beyond making a low-cost home entertainment system to trump Atari? Either way, although Nintendo’s legacy experience is largely positive, nothing is guaranteed.

Future proofing outcomes and anticipating unknowns isn’t an exact science (yet), but it’s necessary, so that what gets made doesn’t end up causing more harm than good beyond immediate use (just think about the impact of plastic bottles).

Designing for impact is a big responsibility. For all the good than can come from design, much of what is made comes at the expense of something else: resources, time, money, culture, attention, energy, or worst case, the well-being of people.

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