Trend Setting

We were given the task to look deeper into our chosen chapter of the book and relate it in every way possible to design. No suggestion or idea was silly, it had to be wrote down. My chosen topic, as previously blogged, was a Case Study: Suicide, Smoking and The Unsticky Cigarette. At first,I found this quite difficult, I mean how do you really relate such strong subjects to design?!

Surprisingly, there was more relation than you may think. The first and main connection is that like humans, design also has a tipping point. Shown below is my brainstorming:

My next task was to go into detail on one section of my brainstorming and create an informative poster. I based my poster on Trends and how they relate to design. My final outcome is shown below:

The Tipping Point

This is my mind map of the book 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell

This is my mind map of the Case Study chapter 'Suicide, Smoking & The Search for the Unsticky Cigarette'.

When first reading this chapter in the book the main theme that stuck was Suicide. A strong language on this side of the world. Smoking is still a serious contagion, as we learn but for me it didn’t have the Stickiness Factor. When going into detail about this branch of the book, I re-read through the chapter and did my mind map, gradually as I went along, writing down as many of the the interesting facts and researchers as I possibly could – I wanted to learn and know more. What struck me most was Micronesia, a place that had been oblivious to suicide until the 1980’s when suddenly there were more suicides per capita than anywhere else in the world. It all started with one boy called Sima, hanging himself due to an argument with his father. Since this tragedy, others caught the idea (mainly males) and it soon became an incredibly expressive form of communication, loaded with meaning. Not only did this take me by surprise, another thing was that one boy, at the age of 11, decided he wanted to “try” hanging but didn’t actually want to die. How can you “try” hanging? Where did this idea come from? This thought of experimentation with such a serious subject matter is quite disturbing. The thought of young boys becoming so familiar with suicide and wanting to experiment with it is very terrifying. Suicide soon became a ritual of adolescence in Micronesia and a way of self-expression and communication for teenagers; boys killed themselves over the most minor of things e.g. fall outs with siblings, arguments with lovers, one even hung himself due to his parents not buying him a graduation gown, this seemed to be acceptable here due to suicide becoming imbedded into the local culture.

It’s just unbelievable that something so unthinkable, somehow became rendered thinkable and the danger of it all seems to be trivialized. How can this be? How can something so crude become so acceptable?

I ask, How can suicide become acceptable anywhere??

Think BIG!

Design. Used to be big. Now it’s small but getting bigger.

Why has this change occurred?
When the first designers set out to bring new technologies and inventions to the world, they not only had to bring their designs to life, they had to build all the facilities first e.g. factories and canals. Design was BIG. However, today the “most important” thing is to make your design aesthetic, ergonomic and as small as it can be. Obviously products still have to function and work properly but today the statement: “Design is about how things look”, is greatly followed. Design isn’t all aesthetics. It’s about understanding people, identifying opportunities, taking risks and having courage. Take Apple for example, it’s all about design. Its products look amazing and aesthetics play a great part but all of them have function and carry it out easily. Apple designers understand their users’ needs and wants, not just in America but all over the world, hence why the majority of the population own something produced by them. Do you own an iPod or any other Apple product for that matter?? If you do, think about this: Would you have bought it if it didn’t do what you wanted? Would you have bought it if it didn’t look as good as it does? What wins every time with Apple, is that if you look into buying an MP3 player for example, one of the first brands that comes to mind is Apple. So you look into a couple of other brands and their products and compare. A couple do what you want along with the iPod. No matter what, most people will choose the iPod above all the rest, simply for the name and the fact that it looks better. Apple has got the whole package sorted. Their design is BIG!


I’m a designer and until now I thought of myself as a designer studying in Scotland. I thought small. But think BIG – I’m not just a designer in Dundee, Scotland, I’m a designer on planet earth. Don’t just pull information and inspiration from the area you’re living in. Pull it from the world; be greatly inspired from all corners of the earth.

Inspire BIG. Think BIG. Design BIG.