The Post-American Design World

Joseph Coates
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Department of Visual Arts

What changes are happening with design worldwide, what are expected, and how are Americans (and perhaps American design educators) a bit ignorant (or oblivious) of it all or… scared or… in denial?

For this lunch we will discuss not so much what is happening over there but discuss ways to respond to the Post-American Design World coming fast upon us; How the U.S. designer can develop new ways of thinking about design and; How design education can play a role in nothing short of our survival as a democratic society in an ever crowded and complex modern planet.

Are design programs willing to engage in a more international awareness to prepare students for a more complex global design environment in a connected world? What is your program doing or planning to do? What is working and how do we get our (sometimes naive/oblivious) students engaged in the idea that, it's a big planet and designers can be a part of it? University budgets to cover art and design programs are often the first to be cut and the last to be increased. Where do we find the resources for an obscure subject such as graphic design that impacts the lives of so many world wide but is often misunderstood or lumped with marketing or fine art practice?

The world continues to come to the U.S. for education but China is building or has built hundreds of universities at a record pace. As the world middle class grows, more and more children from far away places will dream of a university education. How do educators in the U.S. work with students from other countries and address their design education needs?

Most of the world was devastated after the wars of the first half of the 20th Century. The collapse of old European empires, social structures, and start of the end of colonialism after World War I and the Russian Revolution; the economic turmoil and the rise of Fascism of the interwar years; and finally the devastation of World War II and the hot wars of the Cold War until the collapse of Communism.

In contrast to the devastation for much of the world with the end of empires and two world wars, the U.S was in good economic shape following World War II. For the second half of the 20th Century it was nearly fait accompli that the complex and free democratic society of the U.S. should dominate culturally, economically, and perhaps even politically should the Soviet state fail some day. Which it did. But 20 years after the end of the cold war, with China, India, Brazil and smaller nation states rising as economic powers, it is inevitable that the role the U.S. will play in its interactions with other actors on the planet will change dramatically in the half century to come.

The AIGA has an office in China and it and other organizations are active in macro planet collaboration and initiatives. More than ever, we know that the world has to act in unison to solve the interrelated problems of global climate change, the increasing food and water supply crises, energy price shocks, human disease transmission, and eco system destruction. We know design can play an important global role in adjusting to new ways of thinking and making and how sustainability in the design process along with renewable resource awareness are essential keys toward a New Design World.