Back in 1999, lots of people were afraid of the Millennium Bug. They thought (or were being told by the computer industry) that at midnight on 31 December, all the systems would crash and our world, totally dependent on computers as it is, would come to a halt. That didn’t happen. Most of us also thought that the beginning of a new decade, century and millennium all at once would also magically make our sins disappear and ring in a New Age. That didn’t happen either.
Instead, it took until September 2008 for the Old Order to crash. While governments have been busy exercising damage control, I don’t see any attempts at solving the problems that caused the mess. Instead, we hope that by the end of 2010 we’ll be back where we were before it all collapsed. Nothing has really changed, and the whole thing could happen again, as if we’d only rewound the tape and had to experience the whole thing once more. It feels like a Terminator movie, where we’re frantically trying to prevent our own future from happening in the past.
As always, politicians have been busy ignoring reality and keep telling us that we can lower taxes and invest public money to create jobs at the same time. The people are actually ahead of their elected representatives and know that two minuses do not make a plus, certainly not in our balance books, and neither on a national or international level.
We’ve had a new government in Germany since the end of October. The coalition parties got elected on the promise of bringing change: radical tax reform, new labour laws, health reform, the works. ‘Yes, we can,’ they said, and voters believed them because they knew that we need radical measures to get us out of the mess. Nothing, however, will happen. Compromise between the two parties is preventing any new thinking, let alone actions. The political scene – the press, politicians, lobbyists and financial institutions – all seem to be afraid of even moving, in Berlin and in Washington alike. While the old system obviously broke, nobody wants to design a new one.
What is it that makes these people so afraid of the New? It cannot be the word alone: New Balls, New Potatoes, New Information, New Friends: all those mean fresh and unused, bringing hope, fun and life. New Ideas, New Address, New Shoes: those, however, mean change, learning, blisters on your feet. Most new things in our daily life are a nuisance, more often than not, as they are associated with extra trouble. The last thing we’re interested in is a new layout for our daily paper, let alone a new operating system for our home computer.
Unfortunately it is our job as designers to invent new stuff every day, or at least make much new ado about old ideas. Our clients, however, are not really interested in the unnecessary risks usually associated with anything new and unprecedented; and neither are we, if we’re honest about it. So we end up keeping what’s tried and tested, and repackaging it. I’ve yet to meet a client who would be willing to risk their job for a revolutionary but untried concept. Only advertising gets that sort of license now and again, because it can be new and daring without long-term damage.
There are aspects of our work that are actually well served by being afraid of the New. Designers always want to design ‘new’ and ‘experimental’ interfaces. I could never imagine anything worse than that. When we use a website or a computer, the last thing we need is having to guess whether the normal reading direction from left to right still applies or if hierarchies still run from top to bottom.
I would bet that a lot of people (mainly men) never enter into a permanent relationship because they would have to give up old habits. Not every partner appreciates the attraction of worn-out ‘favourite’ slippers, faded and wobbly ‘cuddly’ chairs, or brown-encrusted football-club teacups. Reforms are blocked in every household and office. Why change what has been working for a long time? We know that New Persil is identical to the old one, except for the packaging. We don’t buy it because of that, but in spite of it.
The old system obviously stopped working, but there are too many people and institutions who have too much invested in the Old Order to even think about radical change. I can only conclude that the crisis didn’t hurt enough, at least not the people who are in a position to change things. I am not holding my breath for the general election in the UK. Unless we can all overcome our fear of the New, for once.
Erik Spiekermann set up MetaDesign and FontShop, and worked in London from 1973 to 1981. A teacher, author and designer, he is a partner at EdenSpiekermann, which has offices in Berlin and Amsterdam.
