My Reflection on Humanitarian Design

Walking in late on Monday’s ID history lecture it was surprising that a picture of a kid in a refugee camp appeared upon the projector. It definitely caught my attention, because normally we see eye-catchy products on the screen. Listening closely to Dr. Bruce Becker’s lecture, I realized the subject was “humanitarian design.” This subject was so new to me because I have never thought of this type of field of design before. It was depressing learning about the numbers of people in the world who suffer from poverty and war. However, what was more depressing was that most of them are not able to experience what we design during our careers.

Most designers, including myself, think of profit or mass production when they design. That is normally what we are taught and also that is what people want. However, deep inside, Just like any other design student, my dream is simple. It is to bring humor to the world with my design solutions. This dream, however, goes along with how much money I earn and how famous I get during my career. I want to be rich and famous. I was thinking about this my whole life until I heard about humanitarian design.

When I thought of humanitarian design the first thing that came up to my mind is that it is boring, because all we can do is create something purely functional. Form studies or material exploration are all unnecessary aspects to think about. No extra money for the esthetics is needed. In humanitarian design it is just purely about function. This is what I had in mind about the subject of humanitarian design half way up to Dr. Becker’s lecture. However, as he said “what do you think you need if all of you guys were locked in this room for a long period of time?”my mind began to move. I suddenly thought about how painful it will be to be locked in a room with many people, no ventilation or air conditioning, food and water. Honestly speaking, it is already somewhat painful to be in that room during lectures.

It kept me thinking. It made me think of my dream of bringing humor to people in the world. Those people also include the people who are in third world countries and refugee camps. They also have the right to enjoy what designers, including myself, come up with. This lecture helped my perspective as a designer change. It is not about the money or fame that we get being a great designer, but it is how well you satisfy people with your design. Earning money and fame should not be an issue as a designer. Satisfying people and bringing them hope and joy should be a designer’s top priority. If that idea is set in your roots as a designer, then I think money and fame should follow automatically.