Yrjö Sotamaa is architect and designer, Rector of the University of Art and Design Helsinki, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Finnish Institute in Japan, decorated with Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, member of the Scientific Committee of Humantec (Design for Humanisation of Technology, Italy), honorary member of the Finnish Association of Designers ORNAMO and the Royal College of Art (UK). He has played an important role in the development of cultural and higher education policy in Finland.
On this occasion, Yrjö Sotamaa was in Riga in order to give a lecture at the seminar “The Changing Face of Design”, held at the Academy of Art as part of the project “Development of Design Studies in Latvia”, within the Baltic Sea Region Phare Cross border Co-operation Programme of 2003. In this project, the University of Art and Design Helsinki is a partner of the Latvian Academy of Art. In spite of his busy schedule during the visit, Yrjö Sotamaa kindly agreed to an interview for Dizaina Studija. Also, he immediately became interested in the journal. To the suggestion that, in such a small country, publishing a journal with original articles on design is perhaps a somewhat risky idea, Mr Sotamaa replied that, quite the contrary, it’s important to tell about new developments, participate in various international events and exchange information, adding that you really have to be very alert, so as not to run out of things to write about.
“It all depends on how you define design,” emphasises Yrjö Sotamaa, “If the definition is narrow, then all the resources worth writing about will soon be exhausted. So, design has to be looked at in a much wider sense than is usually done. Thus, design is traditionally associated with material products, such as mobile phones, pens or tape recorders. Of course, that’s all part of it, but design should be seen in the context of the digital world: new models of business, where the internet is used to combine local production with the global market. I consider that design has great potential, for example in developing the image of whole cities or regions and in the branding of services. So, design is connected not only with material products, but with much larger entities.”
Dizaina Studija: But does this not relate more to the traditional design countries – such “giants” as Finland, Denmark, etc.?
Yrjö Sotamaa: No, I consider that everyone has an opportunity, but that you have to be very open towards everything new, and at the same time you have to perceive globalisation and the internet not as a threat, but as an opportunity for development. I think that, only if we take a broader look at design, can we talk about the existence of a design journal, for example, or about the development of design. That’s a serious thing, since in that case it applies to all of us, rather than simply to the traditional material products.
DS: Why has the concept of design attained such popularity?
Y.S: There are three main reasons. First, companies, regardless of what they’re producing or what services they’re providing, are competing in a very saturated market, where you can actually find anything your heart desires. In order to be successful in such a situation, you have to differ in some way. Design is a very powerful instrument for achieving such a difference.
The second reason is that, under the influence of the media and the internet, the world has become hyper-visual: the visual and the aesthetic has become very important. And design has the capacity for satisfying the consumer’s visual sensitivity.
The third reason is the added value of design. If we look at the luxury products market, then the added value from design constitutes almost 99% of the product’s real value.
Of course, we could name several other reasons, but most important in the end is design’s capacity for diversifying the range of products and services on offer.
DS: I suppose that Latvia will never experience a Nokia phenomenon. What should we do, where should we start? (A long silence, and we laugh. I try to alleviate the situation by adding that this really is a complicated question.)
Y.S: Yes, it is a complicated question. In my view, the Nokia phenomenon was possible only because of long-term investment in education and research, and due to those few people who were able to appreciate back then what an impact mobile technologies would have on the world. Since there were also people who considered that the world market for mobile phones might be about 100 000 sets altogether.
However, I do have one suggestion as to how design could support economic development here in Latvia. This is the field of tourism. A large number of tourists come to Latvia, and the market is comparatively large. If you could use design to offer these consumers products with greater added value, then this would certainly have a favourable effect on the economy. Of course, it would also be possible to create companies that combine local production, the internet and global marketing, which means that you’re no longer tied to the traditional markets. In this case, design is going to be the main element: how you’re able to develop the service to your customers, how you’re going to offer it to them, and what the product itself will be like. After all, Riga was once the largest city in the Baltic region, and the Duchy of Courland had colonies! So, why not?
DS: But isn’t design, in the end, some kind of short-lived “buzzword”?
Y.S: No, it’s certainly not some kind of buzzword, it’s a fundamental concept, a different way of thinking and solving problems. In this seminar, too, we emphasised that design is a very holistic way of thinking and thus also a new way of thinking. For example, an engineer is interested only in the functionality of the product or the technologies, while business people are “money-making machines”, but the design always has to strive to think in an all-embracing, holistic way – they have to consider nature, technologies, business, the market and even local culture. That’s very important.
Growing numbers of people and companies are capable of creating good design. And precisely because everyone can do it, that’s not enough anymore: the standard of design needs to be raised. This is a challenge for the educational system and for the companies themselves. Good is simply no longer good enough.
DS: We live in an environment where, in terms of education, design is regarded as part of art. Is that so?
Y.S: Design is part of art in the sense that, through art, students are given specific abilities. In that sense, yes, it’s part of art, but design is not art, design is something… You might say that art is a form of self-expression, while design is problem-solving. A newspaper, for example, is a good example of modern design. Newspaper headlines and the hierarchy of articles are “designed”, obtaining a very complicated and refined design product. Even the smallest details, seemingly unnoticeable, are important. If you change the typeface, for example, the reader suddenly becomes irritated. They can no longer read the paper as freely as before, and in the end the visual image of the paper also changes. You don’t really notice that it’s design. It’s not a luxury brand, it simply lets the product or the service serve you well and go to work.
DS: Is everyone really completely convinced that design should be understood as problem-solving? Many of us are used to the idea that design means having nice things to put on the mantelpiece, and so forth.
Y.S: Of course, there’ll always be a place for products based on art and craft and for this tradition. That’s one of the elements. But we’re talking about design that’s connected with the development of society, regions, countries, industries, business and services, and that’s not art in the generally accepted sense, but problem-solving, which also entails the capacity for working in multi-professional teams. Journalists, engineers, managers and others have to be able to collaborate, work together creatively. This is very different from the work of a single artist or craftworker, which, of course, will not disappear, but it will not be possible to make use of the great possibilities of design by working alone.
Aesthetics will always be en element of the end product, but it’s not the final aim, in the way it is in art and crafts.
DS: Tell us, how was it in Finland? Did the present design education also develop from an education oriented towards crafts?
Y.S: One of the elements of the formula of education is research. Imagine engineering or medicine – in the distant past, engineers built bridges that were not always safe. Doctors applied their cures, but their patients did not always survive. So they were learning from their experience, and designers, too, have been doing this. But in order to create the kinds of products we’re talking about, design must develop with the help of research, as has happened more recently in the professions I mentioned. So investment in research is very important in order to develop an appropriate education.
Education should create a closer link with reality – with society in general or with production. At the present day, even in the most developed countries, this link is relatively weak. Educational curricula need to be created that place considerable emphasis on the collaboration between production and education. This kind of approach would have a twofold effect: manufacturers would be better able to understand the essence of education and establish contact with the best specialists in the field, and students would have the opportunity to become acquainted with the way that companies work and think.
It’s important to teach people to work in multidisciplinary teams, rather than be “lone wolves”, creating design products on their own, in their own minds.
Many students have an inadequate understanding of the world around them. For example, teaching staff from Japan have told me that Japanese students know only Japan and Japanese society and culture. However, it’s important to get to know something else as well, since the companies you work for are aiming at the global market. There’s no denying that work in multidisciplinary teams and an understanding of business, as well as graphic skills and other knowledge, will, of course, be elements in a design education, but it must also include training in design thinking – in problem-solving and a critical attitude towards the product being created.
DS: How exactly did the famous Finnish design originate?
Y.S: It started even before Alvar Aalto. Of course, there are several elements, but one of the reasons why design has been so successful is its service to humankind, its contribution to solving human problems, its contribution to improving the quality of life and promoting social equality. Design has been part of our industrial development, and so it’s connected with the business environment. It’s also been an element in Finland’s development as an independent country. Design was used in order to express the values of the independent country. Thus, we may say that design is important for the country, for business and for the inhabitants. In actual fact, the idea behind business is to create better conditions of life for everyone, and this has been the main social mission of Nordic design. It has never been elite design, but has always been directed towards human needs in general.
DS: What came first – design or policy?
Y.S: In the Nordic Countries, design came first, because people lived in very harsh conditions, they had little resources and they simply had to be good designers in order to survive. Imagine the Eskimos or Lapps. Even today, if we compare modern-day winter dress with traditional Lapp dress, then it turns out that the traditional dress is superior, and that was achieved through skilful use of design, of the available materials, creating things that are suitable for the particular conditions and have a strong cultural identity.
Design came first, because it was a way to survive. After that, of course, we learned to use design for other aims, and manufacturing developed. Ours was a poor country, and the founders of the University of Art and Design Helsinki set out the aim of educating people who’d be able to help manufacturers create products for export.
The Nordic Countries are at the top end of various ratings and rankings in terms of competitiveness and the application of innovations. Why are these results so good? These countries have strong common values – equality, democracy and honesty. All this is also reflected in business and in the country’s concern for its inhabitants. These are elements of thinking and also of design in the Nordic Countries. And our success proves that this model is not such a bad one. Of course, you have to be very sensitive and develop your thinking all the time, but the basic model is very successful. And this does not differ very much from what Richard Florida has said, that “creative societies are those that can make use of the creativity of each individual”. The strength of the Nordic Countries lies in their ability to support equality in diversity.
The state should ensure that everyone has equal opportunities, regardless of who they are and where they come from. If you can ensure the involvement of the whole of society in the creative process, then you have the possibility of correctly and appropriately utilising the resources of the whole population. If this doesn’t happen, then conflicts arise in society.
Even if someone considers that they have nothing to do with design, every choice they make among various products indicates what are this person’s values, thinking and lifestyle: he or she “designs” it, by making their choice. And it can differ a great deal from the choice made by David Beckham’s wife, for example.
I consider that design is not fashion, but a way of improving human lives. For example, if my information is correct, Nokia has so far not created a single super-thin mobile phone, which is no more than a fashion product, since they consider that if they do that, the product will not really fulfil its intended function.