Workview

What was supposed to be a short answer to my view on what work is got a little out of control...

I would define work as the activity through which sustenance and shelter are attained, and consequently, survival is allowed. In the ideal model of society, every person fills a necessary role such that the community is provided with the means for comfortable survival. In such a way, each individual does not need to have knowledge of or the resources for every facet of the local lifestyle. Each tradesman, if you will, is then also permitted to perfect his craft in such a way that would not be possible if he also had to manage all, or even some, of the others. This cycle should lead to a more content, friendlier society in which jobs have seasons and people depend on one another for not only support but companionship.

In our modern times, however, there is much more freedom in choosing your work, i.e. you do not have to simply fill your father's shoes, and so this system gets much more complicated. Not only is the community subject to fluctuation in population due to families moving to find "better" jobs but also the young population is literally sent away to increase their chances of such opportunities.That is not to say that no one should ever leave where they grew up- farm your field and deal with it- but rather that there is much less a sense of settling, because no one "does work" anymore, they "have a job". And we all know that if you have something, you can sell it, burn it, get a new one, barter with it, etc. The means by which people used to obtain commodities they needed has morphed into a commodity itself.

I would say that plenty of good work exists, but also plenty of bad work. Good work is such that it provides some value to society, other than financial efficiency. Work that exists to support an entity that manufactures goods nobody needs is not good work. (Especially if that work is to promote and force the sale of such goods.) Many of these types of jobs, as one might expect, offer little stimulus to the mind and such employees often find themselves questioning why they are doing what they are doing. Of course, the reason becomes readily apparent- to support a lifestyle that requires an adequate amount of income so that they might purchase and maintain all of the goods that they believe they need. The connection generally isn't made that such "bad" work only leads to more bad work because the culture of such large companies promotes itself through its network of employees. This is a whole other discussion, though.

In such a fashion, more particularly capitalistic economies, people are generally adverse to any education for work that is not conventionally marketable because the financial risk is too great. There is such a great divide between "Creative" and "professional" personalities that it is borderline unacceptable for either to participate in an activity that does not fall into their specific mold. An engineer who paints for personal enjoyment (and hence at the expense of time and money) is ostracized in the exact same fashion as an artist who tries to sell his work on t-shirts via the internet. However, I would argue that people who would tell you that having an art degree is worthless, because it means you can't get a real job, still on some level recognize its importance and value as they will, say, pay money for an album or to see a movie.

Design, on an individual level, offers a nice middle ground where artistic endeavors are not only encouraged, but knowledge of such principles is essential to the process. The community fosters this deep personal exploration and satisfaction and coincidentally, some of the most innovative and moving work comes out of our field. I think that a stable society is made up of people who enjoy what they do and so it is really the responsibility of each individual to make himself content. Designers certainly seem to have no qualms with their work or lifestyles, and even at times I myself can perceive many of them as annoyingly smug. However, the fact remains that they have committed themselves to human centered design, and so I think I can live with it. I like and want to help people- I see that as one of the most prominent driving forces behind my actions. Personally, I think that this path I have chosen to enter the design world will lead me to find and develop what it is exactly that I want to do in my life and so benefit society. (And do what I want all the time ;) )