By Gabrielle Kennedy / 16-04-2009

There is more debate within the design world now than ever before.  Issues of environmentalism, art, production and limited editions are all subjects that invite strong opinions and stir divides.  How the government informs and entwines itself in those divides is the focus of Design Den Haag, an initiative of Ed Annink and at the request of the city of Den Haag.  The organization will from spring next year organize a total of five public events biennially in the field of design, architecture and visual communication.

Annink developed Design Den Haag to properly delve into the connections between design and government. “I’m doing this out of curiosity,” he says.  ‘We have the credit crisis, the food crisis, and a changing world.  I want to explore what impact this all has on the design and production process.”

Amongst many of the events Annink has planned for Design Den Haag is a political campaign workshop for Dutch and German graphic design students currently underway.  “We want to explore how much political context is actually being visualized,” he says going on to refer to Obama’s impressive campaign which managed to include a lot of content by employing various different mediums.  “It’s not just the visual side of things which is interesting,” he adds,  “but how we can best bridge the gap from content to understanding.”

Wrapped up in that is the acknowledgment that the address to where political messages are sent has changed.  It’s more multicultural, and there are more sub-cultures and local concerns.

Other planned events for Design Den Haag include a lecture next week in Milan called Design Why?, and an exhibition next year in Den Haag exploring the impact that production regulations have had since the start of the modernist movement.  “I want to know how much we can learn from that and if the lessons have expired or are still relevant.”

Annink’s motivation for starting Design Den Haag can be traced back to his book, Beautiful Minds, Beautiful Ideas.  “That was all about promoting curiosity,” explains Annink.  “I really think there are just too many designers, too many distributors and too many producers who are all doing the same thing.  Most designers are making things that people do not need and consumers end up with too much choice.”

According to Annink, design should be much more about bettering society.  Every idea should be innovative and every new design should contribute to a better quality of life.  “Design shouldn’t only be about money,” he says.

In short, Annink’s is an approach that sees design not as a final destination, but as part of the journey towards making society more comfortable.  “And to do that we don’t need the usual suspects turning up and talking about what we’ve all already heard and seen before,” he says.  “ I want Design Den Haag to be more about experimentation, the comfort and meaning of design for the consumer and the link between design and government.”

Which makes good sense.  Government, like design, exists to serve the comfort of the people.  And governments have a lot of power when it comes to creating and defining public space – power that is not always used to the best possible advantage of the people.  

“Of course there is misunderstanding and the government often selects architects that do work that is more about promoting the administration than doing what is truly good for society,” Annink says.  “As far as I see it, the quality of the choices made by the government could really improve.”

And it is Ed Annink’s hope that through Design Den Haag he can be instrumental in helping to find and achieve that improvement.

The workshop Political Campaigns is organized by Vide, Den Haag.   


Images: main political posters from 1919, (small from top) 1937, 1976, 1956.  The political campaigns workshop, Ed Annink at the political campaign’s workshop.

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