Arriving in Taipei

 

Seeing Design

Coming to Taiwan, I knew that a large part of this program would involve learning about Taiwanese design and culture. Over the first few days, we have moved between markets, museums, design spaces, temples, shops, restaurants, and classrooms. Rather than only looking at finished pieces of design, we have been encouraged to pay attention to the systems and behaviors surrounding them.

A major theme I have noticed has been well-being, but not only in the sense of individual health or happiness. We have been talking about the relationship between personal well-being, community well-being, culture, and environmental sustainability. One of my biggest takeaways so far is that these things cannot really be separated. Design exists within all of them.

Day 1 — August 23: First day!

On our first day, three of my peers and I arrived in Taipei at 4:00 A.M. Walking through the market was one of my first opportunities to really observe how differently a familiar system can function. Produce, prepared foods, vendors, scooters, customers, packaging, signs, and people all occupy a relatively small amount of space. 

    

Food has also been one of the easiest ways for me to enjoy Taiwan. My three peers and I walked around and tasted bits of what Taipei had to offer. Our first time gathering as a cohort was over a very extravagant dinner steps from our hotel. 

Day 2 — August 24: Well-Being Beyond the Individual

The next day we met our peers at Nation Taiwan University and dove right into our workshop. We listened to a lecture on human-centered design and sustainability. We discussed three different ways of thinking about well-being: hedonic, eudaimonic, and social or ecological well-being.

Hedonic well-being is the easiest to recognize because it is about immediate pleasure and comfort. Getting a cold drink when it is incredibly hot outside, turning on the air conditioning, or scrolling through your phone can all make you feel good immediately.

Eudaimonic well-being is less immediate. It comes through things like purpose, learning, growth, and accomplishment. Practicing an instrument or developing a skill might actually be frustrating in the moment, but the long-term result can be much more meaningful.

The third level expands the idea beyond ourselves. Social and ecological well-being asks how our choices affect our communities, other people, and the environment.

Taiwan gives us interesting examples of the tension between all three. Air conditioning makes the heat manageable but requires energy. Scooters make transportation incredibly convenient but have environmental consequences. Fast food and drinks fit naturally into busy lives but create packaging waste.

Overall, I learned that the answer to sustainability is not simply that "people need to make better choices." If a sustainable option requires someone to constantly sacrifice their comfort, time or health, it probably is not a very sustainable solution for the individual.

It’s important to look at a flawed system and ask how the system itself might make a better choice easier.

Day 3 — August 25: Culture as Part of Design

As we continued visiting different places around Taipei, I started noticing how often old and new exist directly beside each other.

Visiting design spaces made this particularly interesting to me as a graphic designer. I was naturally drawn to typography, publications, exhibition systems, packaging, materials, and environmental graphics. Seeing the Red Dot exhibition was interesting because it presented highly refined contemporary design, while other spaces showed experimentation with materials and reuse.

    

One object that especially caught my attention was furniture made from recycled plastic. It made sustainability tangible instead of just presenting it as a message. The material itself communicated part of the idea.

That made me think differently about what cultural interpretation can look like in our own project. Taiwanese culture does not necessarily need to be represented by taking a traditional symbol and putting it onto a new object. Culture can also exist in behaviors, materials, routines, relationships, and systems.

During our brainstorming, I initially found myself wanting to jump quickly from an observation to a solution. The lectures have pushed me to stay with the observation longer. Who uses this? Why does it work this way? What environmental conditions influence it? What traditions are connected to it? What trade-offs are people already making?

our ideas were simple, but related directly to something from our lecture that I found important: sustainability should not always require an additional action.

What I Am carrying Forward

As a designer, I am used to looking at things visually. This program is pushing me to look beyond what something looks like and pay more attention to why it exists in the form that it does.

I think that may be where culture, sustainability, and well-being actually begin to intersect. Good design does not necessarily ask people to sacrifice one for another. It looks closely at the life that is already happening and finds opportunities for those things to support each other.