Portrait/Interview: Nuno Coelho
Design Theorist, Lecturer and Curator
Nuno Coelho is a London-based Design Theorist, Lecturer and Curator who works internationally. He has collaborated with his friend Anna Stewart on a number of projects.
In this brief interview, Anna asks him about his recent work and his predictions for future trends in design.
We met when you curated New Simplicity in 2011, an exhibition of rational and functional design objects, with work by Oscar Diaz and Jasper Morrison.
It seems that was the start of what is now quite a standard aesthetic.
What’s your response to this? Do you think a simple, useful approach is here to stay?
I think that a useful, simple and functional approach will be with us for a long time to come. However I do not think it is, or will be, the main aesthetic or design approach. At the moment there is such a plethora of different styles, approaches and aesthetic sensibilities that reflect our diverse, cosmopolitan and global culture. What seems to be a historical pattern is that every time there is an economical recession we find a trend towards frugality and a return to basics. This is possibly because it would be seen as ‘bad taste’ to promote ostentation and glamour when so many people struggle financially. But as we start to move on from a period of slow economical growth to a period of financial stability, there is a resurgence in design that appeals to our emotions and desires rather than focusing simply on the functional.
The biggest impact of simple design at the moment is happening online. There are several social media sites and online publications that are really pushing for a very simple, almost “no design” approach. The new social media site ello and online publication Medium are two good examples of this very simple approach to design and user experience.
You gave a workshop at Eindhoven recently about Psychogeography, our understanding and navigation of urban environments. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Psychogeography started as a radical critique of the pervasiveness of capitalism within cities and urban spaces. My intention was to re-capture some of the radicalism and critical thinking of the 1950s and 1960s and apply it to a contemporary context. In order to do this, I am in the process of developing a hands-on methodology – informed by Romanticism, critical theory, psychogeography and design thinking – that aims to rediscover and reimagine the everyday spaces in which we live and work. Ultimately it aims to be an explorative research methodology in which uncertainty and relevance are investigated through a new urban awareness.
I’m interested in the piece you are writing for Medium (open source news blog from the founders of Twitter) what’s your view on open source reporting? And is it more or less of a challenge to write a short, sharp piece of text than a normal magazine article of say 1000 words?
Open source is a very noble principle and concept, however, I have my doubts in terms of its actual feasibility. What I notice is that a lot of the people who promote and work within the realm of open source and collaborative design seem to forget their own ethos and principles once money or credits are involved. A truly communitarian, open source and collaborative approach still needs to be addressed. Perhaps we have to move on from our current neo-liberal ideals to have a proper open source, collaborative mind set. For me it is more of a challenge to write small pieces as it implies editing out a lot of information that is relevant.
You studied History of Design at the RCA and your academic work is informed by your knowledge of history and how political and social movements have brought about changes in technology and design. Have you come across any work recently that you think is genuinely inspiring, historically significant, even?
I don’t think there is one single work that I think is historically significant but rather I think we are living through a major significant period in history. There are several movements that, in fact, started a while ago, but are now coming to the fore. Those movements are for a more sustainable approach to design (and life in general) and for a new focus on collaborative, participatory approaches exemplified by the Makers movement. Within these two movements there’s a lot of really interesting and challenging work being produced, but ultimately, unless we radically change our current world view, these movements will end up being utopian manifestos rather than promoting massive change.