photo credit: P.J. Hendrikse
真可惜我看不到這個展覽，而且今天才在Inhabitat看到這個訊息，覺得這件事真是太有意義了，忍不住介紹一下。
「設計」這個專業在一般人的刻板印象中，一直與「時尚」、「品味」等掛勾，是中產階級或有錢人才負擔的起的東西，在大部分的情況下，的確如此，一般人的確負擔不起比較經過特別設計的產品。這就是為什麼IKEA那麼受歡迎，因為消費者可以用相對較低的價格買到非常有設計感的家具。以空間設計專業而言，這樣的情況也是類似的，只有有錢人才請的起設計師，有些所謂的明星設計師更是只替金字塔頂端的人做設計。這個世界的邏輯很簡單，沒有錢，想都不要想擁有好的設計。正因為設計在大部分的情況下，是要有一定的經濟基礎才負擔的起，因此總體經濟狀況的好壞尤其會反映設計這個行業上，說直接一點，就是設計不被認為是基本需求。
但其實設計是無所不在的，廣義來說，許多非自然的東西都是人「設計」出來的，所以，設計不一定只跟有品味、不食人間煙火的中上階級劃上等號。一個願意為大部分人服務的好設計師，可以設計出更貼近基本生活的產品，可以為滿足生活中不可或缺的機能來做設計，設計，不需要只用來服務地球上少數有基本經濟基礎的人。
少數有強烈社會責任的設計師，已經開始選擇為顯然負擔不起設計費的人口服務，思考如何用設計來解決地球上大部分窮困人口的問題，Design for the other 90% 讓我們看到少數設計人才的努力。這個展覽的本身當然也點出了一個事實：世界上設計人才濟濟，卻只有極少數的設計人願意為金字塔底端的人服務，我們很容易為這樣的現象找理由，大部分的人一定會說：「設計師自己也得吃飯啊！」屬於中產階級的設計專業界的遊戲規則，的確會讓想做社會改革的設計師面臨兩難，但大部分的設計師恐怕根本沒有想過自己的專業貢獻如此的狹隘，因為當前的設計教育就是為中產階級所設計，大部分的設計學校從來沒有告訴我們，什麼是設計師的社會和環境責任。
跟我一樣無法親自造訪這個展覽的朋友，一定要到Design for the other 90% 這個運動的網站瞧瞧，可以看到許多有有創意又便宜的設計解決方案，Design for the other 90% 讓人很感動，許多設計師這麼用心的為貧困人口著想。
例如下面這個裝水的容器。在電視上一定看過非洲的婦女和小孩每天必須走好長的路去取水，他們多半都是用頭頂著裝滿水的沈重容器，對頸部的傷害很大，於是設計師發明了這樣滾筒式的裝水容器，用拖的就可以運水。
image source: http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/q-drum
還有可以過濾雜質的吸管。
image source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/13/design-for-the-other-90-lifestraw/
可攜帶的照明設備。
image soure: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/13/design-for-the-other-90-portable-light/
Design for the other 90% 網站：http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/
Inhabitat的報導：
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/13/design-for-the-other-90-closes-next-week/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/13/design-for-the-other-90-lifestraw/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/13/design-for-the-other-90-portable-light/
以下轉載紐約時報的相關報導，原文出處：
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/science/29cheap.html?ex=1189915200&en=3fa7b542f513b451&ei=5070
懶得看文章的話，可以看這則簡短的影像報導：
http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=15f568b60ac9c568d21a17fafca72c6f26afde32
May 29, 2007
Design That Solves Problems for the World’s Poor
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
“A billion customers in the world,” Dr. Paul Polak told a crowd of inventors recently, “are waiting for a $2 pair of eyeglasses, a $10 solar lantern and a $100 house.”
The world’s cleverest designers, said Dr. Polak, a former psychiatrist who now runs an organization helping poor farmers become entrepreneurs, cater to the globe’s richest 10 percent, creating items like wine labels, couture and Maseratis.
“We need a revolution to reverse that silly ratio,” he said.
To that end, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which is housed in Andrew Carnegie’s 64-room mansion on Fifth Avenue and offers a $250 red chrome piggy bank in its gift shop, is honoring inventors dedicated to “the other 90 percent,” particularly the billions of people living on less than $2 a day.
Their creations, on display in the museum garden until Sept. 23, have a sort of forehead-thumping “Why didn’t someone think of that before?” quality.
For example, one of the simplest and yet most elegant designs tackles a job that millions of women and girls spend many hours doing each year — fetching water. Balancing heavy jerry cans on the head may lead to elegant posture, but it is backbreaking work and sometimes causes crippling injuries. The Q-Drum, a circular jerry can, holds 20 gallons, and it rolls smoothly enough for a child to tow it on a rope.
Interestingly, most of the designers who spoke at the opening of the exhibition spurned the idea of charity.
“The No. 1 need that poor people have is a way to make more cash,” said Martin Fisher, an engineer who founded KickStart, an organization that says it has helped 230,000 people escape poverty. It sells human-powered pumps costing $35 to $95.
Pumping water can help a farmer grow grain in the dry season, when it fetches triple the normal price. Dr. Fisher described customers who had skipped meals for weeks to buy a pump and then earned $1,000 the next year selling vegetables.
“Most of the world’s poor are subsistence farmers, so they need a business model that lets them make money in three to six months, which is one growing season,” he said. KickStart accepts grants to support its advertising and find networks of sellers supplied with spare parts, for example. His prospective customers, Dr. Fisher explained, “don’t do market research.”
“Many of them have never left their villages,” he said
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