Transdisciplinary Design

Le Cose Belle Sono Lente

Posted on December 18, 2010 | posted by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgLMA73XhLY

It seems to me that the quickness installed by the Industrial Revolution, and later leveraged by technology and new media, has gotten under our skin more than we can actually acknowledge. Creative process, from humanitarian to critical design, requires time in order to arrive to a thoughtful solution that considers impact at different scales.

So, perhaps the first step towards “designing for behavior” is to start designing our own attitudes towards design; and still knowing the pressures of the market, the urgent social issues and the call for sustainability, force ourselves to step firmly on the brakes and take time to design with the ethics, simplicity and beauty.

“Le cose belle sono lente says the florist Fermo to Rosalba in the movie “Panne e Tulipane”, asking her not to rush to finish a flower bouquet for an urgent client and instead take a break to enjoy a cup of tea.

Maybe I’m nostalgic, but I agree with him; “beautiful things are slow”, they take their time. Design process, I believe, shares this “time” ingredient too, so that unexpected beauty can emerge and surprise us.