Millennium Studios: Making Design That Lasts Long After We Are Gone
This question of longevity has been addressed by artists over again, what do we want to live on long after we’re gone, ultimately, what do we hold important. Ancient monuments are cited in this conversation as our ancestors erected monumental landmarks out of spiritual motives. The gods were all important, so naturally our structures must be fitting.
I was joking with a friend about the nonsensical post-Fordist era and this unstable “headless chicken” of a market we’ve made for ourselves and we outlined something I think worth thinking about. It’s a design studio that takes years to make anything, and once it’s ready for handoff, our contract demands that all work must be guaranteed a life of 1,000 years. Whether that’s archiving a publication or creating durable, monumental works like Santiago Sierra’s SUMISION.
Of course proclaiming designers to be more considerate is nothing new (all versions of First Things First Manifesto) but my spin on this topic has a much more material focus.
It’s about preserving the things graphic designers are putting into this world, about securing future generations will benefit from what has been made. It’s not my intention to sound like a modernist either, I don’t believe in timeless design or the fake international style, that design can change the world if it’s just given one more chance. It’s more about what we hold important as people, if we really want this headless market to keep running in circles endlessly or if it should be put out of its misery.