At some point in a designer’s career he or she will be faced with the task of designing a piece that is a little more on the darker side of things. Ben Fullerton from IDEO, Rachel Abram from Turnstone Consulting, Jason Nunes from Small Media Extra Large and Liam Young from Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today all addressed this topic at their SXSWi panel, Design for the Dark Side.
Many times designers are asked to produce products that are focused on topics that may be considered taboo in today’s society. Death, suicide and eating disorders are all taboos that the society tend to turn a cheek to. The panelists opened up the idea of how a designer can handle a project when it is based on a darker side of the human experience.
One project that is referred to in the panel is one that is based on a dark topic, but it has resulted in a positive outlet for people dealing with a very tragic situation. PatientsLikeMe.com is a social networking site designed for patients that are terminally ill. At the site, patients are able to join the network and share their battle with other patients who may be experiencing the same thing or may be going through a different battle all their own. Patients on the site may be diagnosed with anything from mood conditions, AIDS/HIV or rare diseases.
Patients have the opportunity to track their treatment and many on the site will end up losing their battle. The panelists explain that though this may be quite a dark topic, the project that resulted has given thousands of terminally ill patients across the world a new community and way of support.
The Design for the Dark Side panel gave attendees the opportunity to open up their minds to projects that may be based on darker topics, but have the chance to touch many more poeple around them.
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I’m sorry I missed this panel. I would have loved to hear how such issues are being tackled by designers. In the ever darkening world we live in, I think it’s important to handle situations and clients needing dark design with care.
Do you think even in situations like these, is humor effective or as effective? I think laughing (or at least chuckling) at certain situations allows a dialogue to form without pressures of being perfectly politically correct.
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This is crazy, I had no idea of websites or online sites for people who are in these certain situations exsisted. To get that social interaction with someone that shares a common intrest with you is something we tend to just look past as something that just happens.
Do you think that giving them this communication tools help ease them and give them maybe something to look foward to? maybe even help extend the life by giving them some hope or maybe someone to bond with?