Dsg-II - DesignSingapore Council

Chapter 1
Designing Singapore
Dsg-II
STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT OF THE DESIGNSINGAPORE INITIATIVE
Why Design Matters?
Design is the Original Idea in Everything
Solutions to everyday functions do not happen by themselves
or by chance; someone thought about them. For example, how
would you fasten sheets of papers together? In the 13th through
to the 19th Century, you would use waxed ribbons. In the early
19th Century straight pins similar to those used in tailoring were
used. Almost 110 years ago in 1899, Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian
inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics,
first patented the paperclip as we know it today. Who will design
the next paper fastener?
Design goes beyond invention. Design is about the things
we make, the places we shape, the illustrations we compose,
the human interfaces we configure, and the processes and events
we organise. It is material, visual, as well as a way of thinking.
The design process brings together art, technology, business, and
science, integrating a range of considerations that are crucial to
human potential, environmental sustainability, wealth creation
and innovation. Most of all, design is aspirational and visionary.
In an increasingly ideas-driven economy, design has become
an important enabler for transformational change to solve
problems, balance our priorities and interests, realise potential,
create new value and markets, and improve the quality of life.
Design Improves Life and Creates Possibilities
Designers are creators, inventors, and innovators. It took a
deliberate design decision to come up with an affordable $100
laptop. Computing technology and the Internet have been around
since the 80s. Social programmes to aid the underprivileged and
poor have certainly been around for even longer. However, design
is the process of reconciling and realising the vision to enable
children in the third world to be on par with their counterparts in
developed countries in the information age. The XO $100 Laptop
was conceived by architect Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT
Media Lab and designed by Yves Behar of Fuseproject.