Preface

CHOICES is all about a desire to study the works of acknowledged designers in the light of the choices involved.

Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane begins with the end. Everything starts and ends with Rosebud, and the fascination of the plot stems from following the events that led to the final scene. Our protagonists here in the Choices seminar, the lecturers and their accomplishments, are also well known. Now they will be sharing with us some of the plot turns, coincidences, and choices behind their celebrated creations.

Designers have to face a vast number of choices. The physical, obvious ones are there for anyone to see: the materials and the forms. The most difficult and intricate choices are what you often fail to see.

Usually the designer is not alone making his or her decisions: the views of many other parties involved influence the number of choices left up to the designer. How do they influence and are we able to recognise this influence? How to choose for whom and with whom you work? How to balance between your own principles and extern all requirements – how far will you go? How about private life: does it influence your working methods and creations? Can you actually decide on the working methods, or do you just do what you have to?

Designers’ choices also influence the lives and environment of a great number of other people. The choices related to material, production technology and use affect the ecology and aesthetics of the world we live in. Designers make long-standing decisions that affect us all.

Among all the choices involved, it is difficult to identify the significance of intuition, contingency and the subconscious, but there is no denying it. In the end: what is the significance of the conscious choices?

I wish you a warm welcome to the seminar!

- Sari Anttonen, Designer, Seminar Chair -