Learning Deficiency Reading

I found this article to be an easy read, as well as extremely relevant to designers as well as consumers. I didn't find out too much that I didn't already know because of this class and Issues in Design, but it was motivating and tied a lot of thoughts and aspects of life related to sustainability.

I could not help but relate it to my Consumer Behavior marketing class which I am currently taking. Last night I read an article from the Journal of Consumer marketing entitled "Mistaking a Marketing Perspective for Ethical Analysis: When Consumers Can't Know What they Should Want." Basically, it states that the needs and wants of the consumer that the marketing industry aims to satisfy are not always the same as what the consumer should need or want in their (or their environments) best interest. Like the article states, a good part of the so called "environmentalist" population is totally fine with driving an SUV due to the marketing strategy of such a product. Marketing feeds off of this lack of true knowledge, and plays into the self-absorbed material satisfaction we get from products.

Since graphic design plays a huge role in the marketing and possibly informational role for consumers, we must, as the article states, change consumers perception of the products and packaging they should be buying, in the best interest of both the consumer and the environment. I think that by education on sustainability, and relating ourselves to be on the same level as nature in marketing, we can change people's perceptions of things. Like the article states, we should use our power as students learning, and ability to design packaging, clothing, and products to start the "pedagogic shift" trend in education. This shift is key to spread the word to the world that we must change how and why we do things in a larger, less self-absorbed context. It also reminded me of the Buddhist teachings we learned about in the tea ceremony, about listening to others and the world in the present moment and not to be constantly absorbed in ourselves and our comfort. Because this was expressed in a ceremony related to tea, I have realized that tea is an excellent product to start designing packaging as a useful tool to be sustainable and to research.