Studio chat with Ellen Lupton

Last Thursday, Ellen Lupton visited our graduate studio before her AIGA lecture.

I thought we had a great discussion around issues very relevant to our symposium.

• consider ends vs. means with DIYers
• consider who DIY is for — not ideal clients
• level of design expectations has been raised
• people want to make
• should we impose our values?
• providing tools to people who we don't want as our clients, but want to help
• design = education
• providing people with better tools
• fashion as analogy: couture vs target
• in participatory culture are these new templates a possible barometer for mainstream design sensibilities?
• skill vs. cultural impact
• tools
• disseminating knowledge
• empowering clients

possible debate:
are designers fearful of the empowered novice? or does it push us, as design experts, to do better?