At thurdays Inter_Multi_Trans_Action symposium at Napier University, a great line up of speakers demonstrated how good a design event can be. While the number of design conferences expands exponentially, the chance to go to an event like this which a) retained some focus b) didn’t cost the earth and c) neatly avoided the design navel-gazing which can consume some of these events, came as a welcome opportunity to think and reflect without feeling like you were being preached to, or being asked to come up with the definitive answer of what design is.
The neat thing too was the title, and though the conference organisers suggested it was a flippant joke of sorts, it actually cuts to the heart of the “what discipline are we/what is our discipline becoming/is it art, is it design?” machinations which seem to frequently paralyse these events. By placing the focus on actions rather than the person or the body of work, the conversations were much freer, and liberating rather than constraining. And from now on, if anyone asks me what I do, I’m going to tell them that I’m an undisciplined designer.