35+ Years of Design
hat a difference a mere half-decade makes. In 2015, when published its “30 Years of Design” journal (our ever-expanding compendium charting design’s evolution since our founding*), we were living in the relatively placid Obama era, the United Nations had just announced the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the future looked like a technoutopia where all of our smart devices would endlessly augment our lives and the wider world. If we’ve learned anything from history, it’s that utopian visions rarely play out exactly as envisioned. Over the past five years, we have witnessed the erratic presidency of Donald Trump, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the #MeToo movement, uncontrollable wildfires and a new coronavirus pandemic — in short, a whole novel set of briefs for those who believe in design’s fundamental role in shaping the world for the better. Gone is the unbridled optimism for technology, replaced by an increasing understanding that, be it Airbnb, Amazon or Uber, many of the disruptors that have catered to our individual wants and needs are also wreaking havoc on our cities, economies and social ties. There is now an understanding that, if design really can save the world, it’s time to re-evaluate our tools, change our methods and shift our practices to meet
