On Stage Design Indaba 2019: Alice Rawsthorn

“Very little design is actually great, very little of it is actually good, most of it is mediocre and an enormous amount of it is damn right bad,” says Alice Rawsthorn.

This is how the design critic and best-selling author started her compelling Design Indaba 2019 talk. Divulging into what exactly bad design is, Rawsthorn went through several famous examples where the design was not responsible, ethical or environmentally friendly.

In her talk she categorises bad design into eight different sectors: useless, pointless, lazy, thoughtless, ominous, untrustworthy, offensive and strategic. From this, she went on to dissect the dangerous sides of artificial intelligence to exploring how big-name brands are not treading lightly when it comes to controversy. Alice Rawsthorn is an award-winning design critic and the author of the critically acclaimed books Design as an Attitude and Hello World: Where Design Meets Life.