More Pie a la Node

Steelcase is one of the major furniture companies in the world. They recently designed an update to the traditional school desk/chair unit called the Node. As part of the updated features, they also designed the chair much much wider, and built it to withstand a 300 pound high school student plopping into it. The photo on the right is from the Steelcase website.



I oftentimes struggle with the idea of designers as enablers. There are some who believe that it is the responsibility of the designer to reflect the culture and customs of its users. American kids are fat and it would not surprise me to soon see federal prohibitions on discrimination against obesity, similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Additionally, I think everyone should go to school, and to that end, that they should be encouraged and feel comfortable in school.

However, I worry that the gradual oversizing of all seating will lead to complacency with obesity. If you don't fit into a standard seat, there's a problem. Real and immediate, and a direct consequence of being unhealthy. I do believe that most people who are overweight wish that they were more thin. However, wishes do not translate into direct action and while many think lean thoughts, America as a whole gets wider and more unhealthy.

I believe in individual responsibility, but at the same time, I think that American culture has enabled this obesity epidemic. People make choices about what to eat and how much exercise to get, but our work and food and city environments strongly influence those decisions. Designers have a direct hand in the expression of material culture. It is worth stating my own belief in the matter that "if you build it, they will come," or in other words, if you start designing gun racks at restaurant entrances, you're going to see many more people packing heat to dinner. Maybe that's just a designer's conceit, and that really we are marionettes who dance on the end of the strings. I believe that we can jerk the strings back.