The world is a complex place.
As a designer you will have to deal with a range of social, economic and cultural interests.
Think, for instance, of the square in front of the train station in Eindhoven.
One person may see it as a social space, a place to meet; another as a site that should be easy to reach by car, and a third may want to give it a cultural and economic function above all else. As a designer you will operate amid all of these forces and interests. Time and again you will have to consider the pros and cons. Because each design process will see you stumbling upon dilemmas in the fields of sustainability, aesthetics, user-friendliness, production costs.
You will find yourself facing ethical questions. How much energy will transportation cost? How do you feel about manufacturing in low-wage countries? Is your design healthy? Assessments for which no manual can be written. The situation will be different every time, and opinions on what is right and advisable will change with time. So as a future designer the main thing is that you have an immense interest in everything that moves people. Or as one of our tutors put it recently: “a designer should know a little bit about a lot of things”.
