'Design for Life', a 6-part series which I would equate to 'Project Runway' with Industrial Designers instead of Fashion Designers, was probably one of the most interesting reality shows I've seen in a long time. The designers are pitted up against each other in weekly challenges and a number of them are eliminated each episode to reveal a single winner who gets a 6 month placement at Philippe Starck's design firm to gain a world of knowledge and experience and become a part of the "tribe".
To say the show struck a nerve with me would be an understatement. These young designers, some of whom are still studying Design, are thrown into the deep end and critiqued by Philippe, his wife and number 1 sidekick, who he claims he owes his success to.
The stress and trauma they are constantly subjected to and the lack of sleep, and delirious ideas they come up with as a consequence of this resonates with me. I see a lot of what they experience in my experiences studying Industrial Design and I suppose it makes me feel a little more at ease to know that these experiences are "normal" (for lack of a better word).
They're often shut down quite harshly, but in watching the whole series, you can see that it's for their own good and weeds out the weak minded from the strong willed. Each and every one of them are initially offended and deterred by the harsh criticisms they receive but in most cases, it only pushes them harder and the final products the two finalists come up with are impressive enough to say it's almost worth it.
The exposure to great resources they had to complete their designs makes you realise the varying facets of the field we study and how much variety of skill there is involved in being a success. Some students who were great "businessmen" as Starck described, would never make good designers, and others who were strong in their ability to do logo design and visual presentations, lacked the technical ability and engineering side of bringing their concept to fruition. It helps you realise the diversity of work involved in creating a new product from start to finish. No wonder we're all so drained by the end of the process.
Starck's constant reference to being "Creators" and not "Designers" reminds you theres more to the whole process than coming up with something visually stimulating rather than revolutionary. Overall, it was great fun to watch and admittedly, none of what they went through felt like something knew but condensed into 6 hrs of footage, it makes u realise all the hard work you have to put into an idea to make it work.
