Welcome to Design Psychology
I’m Dr. Eleni Kalantidou, design psychology idealist, researcher, practitioner and academic. My work is about making impermanence the positive force behind how we think, feel and design. I have a high stake in my research, as a human being affected by climate change and the unpredictability that goes along with it. I write this newsletter to make present how we can respond instead of reacting to a world on fire. Many of the ideas discussed come from my book ‘Introduction to Design Psychology’, which sprung out of my need to confront my existential angst and be at peace with discomfort. Why is my book about design psychology and how it is connected to discomfort?
If you think of what makes us ‘successful’, ‘happy’, ‘normal’ and ‘comfortable’, is always by design. For success, we need to be part of a designed system only accessed by few that allows for the gradual assertion to a well-paid, esteemed job. For happiness, we must consume and be in step with what is trending – fashion, technology, Korean beauty - you name it. That is what makes us normal too. All the above, constitute a condition of designed comfort, a privilege of shutting the rest of the world out and pretending that it is always going to be this way – stocked fridge, full closet, air conditioning and running hot water.
The other side of the coin is discomfort. When we step out of our cool home in the scorching heat, get stuck inside because of a cyclone (if lucky to have a roof over our heads), live without electricity and water for days, we experience a reality that we usually negate. The reality of a one-off, other people, a future that will never come, a helplessness that we are not trained to confront. Then, it all goes back to ‘normal’, and we forget about discomfort. Till the next time. When is it going to be the next time? And what happens if the next time becomes the norm? How do we deal with the discomfort of a reality that is present without doom and gloom?
Right now, we reject discomfort. It threatens the dream of a good life. But are we living a good life? Are we successful, happy, normal, comfortable? Or are we numb in front of a screen, lonely, depressed, and angry with ourselves for not being enough? So many publications and podcasts talk about our inability to do something about climate change. Yet, what is not addressed is that our numbness is not necessarily our fault; it’s the systemic outcome of an impromptu design psychology that establishes change as the synonym of loss. In this newsletter, I explore what we actually lose in the process of resisting change and the numerous possibilities to live and adapt better by embracing unpredictability.
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Illustration: Skye Smith
