Critique of HCD
OR
Decentering Design
Thomas Wendt
Surrounding Signifiers
@thomas_wendt
thomas@srsg.co
srsg.co

Design Facilitator
Strategist and Researcher
Design Critic
Author
Based in NYC
Research Interests: HCD,
sustainability, design philosophy,
co-operative and participatory
design, design ethics and the
politics of design
Thomas Wendt
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

HCD fails to recognize its own
paradoxes
HCD feigns political neutrality
HCD within capitalism is
fundamentally unsustainable
Premises
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
In a way, this talk used HCD as a platform to talk about sustainability.
I maintain an ambivalent relationship to this topic, as I make part of my living by teaching HCD. But I think we need to think more critically about the
things we do everyday.
Focusing broadly on “centricity” in general. More of a critique of centricity; HCD is just a convenient target.

“Practicing criticism
is a matter of
making facile
gestures difficult.”
Michel Foucault
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4-LGJ7e7OAhVJ1R4KHcOVDPAQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fredaccion.lamula.pe
%2F2016%2F05%2F04%2Fcinco-peliculas-para-acercarnos-al-pensamiento-de-michel-foucault%2Fmanuelangeloprado%2F&bvm=bv.
131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNE3qL9R4PaBFzANOa50w_DK0aGHgw&ust=1472842773590572
So the point of this talk is not to dismiss HCD but rather to call its flaws into question while still remaining open to accept its benefits.
This is not an anti-humanist talk

HCD fails to
recognize its own
paradoxes
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Abductive reasoning
Studies of the artificial
Wicked problems
Complexity
Participation
Origins of HCD
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
movement away from the original interest in complexity among the early design theorists

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4gM7m8e7OAhVJlR4KHf6vDdwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Falchetron.com
%2FGiancarlo-De-Carlo-767428-W&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNGN-ma0lCfhA0Cw8hU_XVdQtKoDWw&ust=1472844048049211
“Architecture is too
important to be left
to architects.”
Giancarlo De Carlo
Where Tim Brown got the “design version”
Anarchism, Participatory architecture for real human needs
Steelworks story. Vision for a participatory future in design.

But somehow we dumbed it
down to…
Problem + HCD = Solution
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Our scientific rationalism creeps in and we start looking at HCD as a means of pure problem solving.
Russell Ackoff on solving, resolving, dissolving, and absolving.

Problem-Solution Paradox
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
One cannot propose a solution without
understanding a problem
AND
One cannot understand a problem
without proposing solutions

Archaeology
Paradox
Context
Field
Themes
Frame Creation Model
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Frame
Futures
Transformation
Integration
Method for dealing with paradoxes.
Kees Dorst

Innovation is not inherently good
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

“The chief premise common
to both technology and
science is the notion that
there are no desirable limits
to the increase of
knowledge, of material
goods, of environmental
control; that quantitative
productivity is an end in
itself, and that every means
should be used to further
expansion.”
Lewis Mumford
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjQu76H-bfRAhVh3IMKHf_lDA0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcultura.elpais.com
%2Fcultura%2F2016%2F05%2F16%2Fbabelia%2F1463398051_720886.html&bvm=bv.142059868,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEpkm3ZcfJhbBiF6zsIR3QvKL4nkA&ust=1484150333852340
Hyper-rationalism leads to uncritical acceptance of innovation.
Mumford: classic techno-pessimist concerned with power structures in technical systems

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjl37fu46bRAhVFOiYKHRMzDRYQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Frebrn.com%2Fre
%2Fsuicide-nets-in-chinese-factories-that-make-various-technologica-540946%2F&bvm=bv.
142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEVbTtmzQ93rJIOuQ0Z_xht4v6iVw&ust=1483560529919466
Innovation has a cost
Foxconn manufacturing (not just Apple but also HP, Nintendo, Sony, and others)
Even the net (as an innovaiton) ignores the real problem

Human needs
≠
Market needs
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
The biggest HCD paradox of all.
These are usually not compatible and are often at odds.

HCD feigns political
neutrality
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjwkL6jjanRAhXGOSYKHRagDFwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcyberspaceandtime.com
%2FYGfwr5AL7T4.video&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHKJOBhHAPwD3fWOPybuVoPvXiHZA&ust=1483640340689596
“Designers
materialize morality.”
Peter Paul Verbeek
Wrote about this at length in Design for Dasein

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi5kvmR7KjRAhWJbSYKHUdMD_cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr
%2FLateStageCapitalism%2Fcomments%2F4gidxe%2Fstone_balls_to_knock_passengers_off_indonesian%2F&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHIjTbGu46j-
RqLHzChMC_7L0h4dA&ust=1483631455078080
These types of design get a lot of attention.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjEqsD27KjRAhUI7yYKHaqUBZwQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki
%2FLinkNYC&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEGnqLP0hJPFX0mtSd7stqh6Uyyow&ust=1483631689849652
But these types of designs are equally political.
Free wifi = sign in to collect data, auto log in, targeted ads
Designers made a political and ethical choice about what is important in an urban landscape. Ads, not community, social ties, culture, common good

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjx77vS7O7OAhVJlR4KHUqoAxoQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki
%2FBill_de_Blasio&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNG5zE1H909KO14tQTY7MP4UVK_apA&ust=1472842656619228
"One thing I know
about my fellow
New Yorkers, they
like things that are
completely free of
charge.”
Mayor Bill De Blasio
Irony is that they’re not free at all.
Costing us a sense of dwelling. I’m scared by this neoliberal acceptance of invasive advertising.

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Human
“People want free things”

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Human
Centricity forecloses on everything outside the center
Human becomes sovereign in a system of which we are only a small part.
We don’t think about community, social ties, culture, common good, dwelling

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Human
Everything Else
This is really what HCD espouses.
This is a political statement, and probably not one we want to make.

HCD within
capitalism is
fundamentally
unsustainable
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Humans want/need/desire
things that result in limiting their
own capacity to thrive.
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Fry, defuturing

Humans or Consumers?
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Who does HCD address? Humans or Consumers?

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjniZykyqrOAhUNySYKHULVBokQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com
%2F2016%2F06%2F28%2Famazon-expands-its-dash-button-program-to-50-more-brands-says-orders-taking-place-twice-a-minute%2F&bvm=bv.128617741,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHk53IK-_iuoOOZQ_6CIJrJffKjkw&ust=1470496941706454
This is what we end up with from companies we tend to associate with HCD. Things designed under the auspices of “human”needs”
These types of “modern conveniences” do not serve real needs; they instead serve to ensnare consumers in patterns of “convenient consumption.”

We are so alienated from our food sources in modern industrial capitalism that we rely on packaged garbage to feed us. So we might cook up some Kraft
Mac and Cheese for dinner.

The combination of sodium, carbohydrates, and artificial everything makes us dehydrated, so we turn to Gatorade to quench our thirst.

All this sweetened, artificial food packed with preservatives upsets our digestive systems, so we always need an abundance of Cottonelle toilet paper.

We use Clorox wipes to clean the kitchen, because anything less than clinical sterilization is unacceptable.

And since the wipes are conveniently disposable, we throw them away in a Glad trash bag to be shipped off to the landfill.

We put on some Loreal Youth Code after dinner to ward off any signs of natural aging.

Now it’s time to tend to the children, feeding them their own form of packaged garbage in the form of Gerber baby food.

And changing their Huggies diaper
And throwing the old one out in the Glad bag (it always ends in trash)

Humans or Consumers?
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Who uses this stuff?
Is this empathy? Is it deception?

“Centricity” is anti-ecological
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Ecology
=
study of the home, dwelling
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Home is different than house; it includes physical, social, and ethical dimensions of dwelling. Dash buttons do not encourage dwelling.
Capitalist HCD at scale is not equipped to deal with ecological concerns. It tends to treat the “home” as a source of material to convert into capital.

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjniZykyqrOAhUNySYKHULVBokQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com
%2F2016%2F06%2F28%2Famazon-expands-its-dash-button-program-to-50-more-brands-says-orders-taking-place-twice-a-minute%2F&bvm=bv.128617741,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHk53IK-_iuoOOZQ_6CIJrJffKjkw&ust=1470496941706454
A landscape like this is not home

“To separate ecological
problems from social
problems […] would be to
grossly misconstrue the
sources of the growing
environmental crisis. In
effect, the way human
beings deal with each
other as social beings is
crucial to addressing the
ecological crisis.”
Murray Bookchin https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiLl9-b-LfRAhUH7YMKHfjSC0cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacobinmag.com
%2F2016%2F07%2Fmurray-bookchin-ecology-kurdistan-pkk-rojava-technology-environmentalism-anarchy%2F&bvm=bv.142059868,bs.1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNGMm2q-
R4TKozVEBBaPZMUqTB-DCw&ust=1484150126292221
Social ecology.
HCD tends to see design problems as things needing fixing, rather than complex and systemic issues.

Rethinking Centricity
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Looking beyond HCD

It’s time for HCD to get its
shit together
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Designers = Revolutionaries
Decentering Design
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
“Serious ecologists must be revolutionaries.” Judi Bari

Designers = Revolutionaries
Balance human uniqueness with ecology
Decentering Design
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Bookchin

Designers = Revolutionaries
Balance human uniqueness with ecology
Determine how to bring about action
Decentering Design
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Like an addict hitting rock bottom
Holloway on the scream

Designers = Revolutionaries
Balance human uniqueness with ecology
Determine how to bring about action
Resistance must create desired futures
Decentering Design
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt
Graeber on anarchism

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book:
bit.ly/persistentfools
Thanks!