Milena Radzikow wrote: " I question whether the “banal” or routine problems in design aren’t, in fact, make work projects. They are routine (not particularly complex or complicated) because they don’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Do we need another dating app to make some tech startup a bit of money? So, if my client needs a website, does the world benefit in any way from their offerings? What about that re-brand project?"
Richard writes: I had in in mind really banal tasks even less complex than redesigns e.g. shoveling snow. In my case I also left out questions of objective worth (and I don´t detect that aspect in the discussion). As long as someone decided they want to deal with a "problem" or "task" that was sufficient validity. Most banal tasks are worthwhile inasmuch as they keep things tidy/orderly anyway. The point is the objective necessity of the task seemed to me in the discussion to be not pertinent (which is not to say the question is not relevant in a broader sense -see the next paragraph.).
We could ask do we need another design for a tap or a door handle or sofa. The answer depends on rather a lot: economics (new designs attract customers); personal ambition (I might want to design the ultimate sofa); wear and tear (machines break and new tools are needed and products get redesigned then**); the matter of retaining knowledge (if we don´t redesign things for five years we will lose the skill do it). This is a whole other discussion which I will dodge.
** The VW Polo (Typ 6N2; 1999–2002) was needed because the metal stamping tools wore out; VW took the opportunity to redesign the outer panels since they had to make new dies anyway.
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