SPOD #2 Don’t do it yourself!

"With the ideal of self-empowerment on its banners, a plague is sweeping across our land, leaving behind neighborhoods disfigured by crappy home improvements, families devastated by poorly cooked gourmet meals, and piles of barely used tools, leftover consumables, and unfinished projects. This peculiar misery reaches us under the familiar initials D.I.Y., which means "Do it yourself." The idea was well-intentioned, but its reality is uncanny." —Lisa Anne Auerbach

The open-ended publication series Studienhefte Problemorientiertes Design SPOD makes historical and contemporary reflections on the social and political dimension of design accessible. It is a collection of irregularly appearing texts that critically examine the practical, cultural, methodological and everyday functions of Design. The problem-oriented approach aims to link design to the contradictions, potentials and circumstances of reality.

Based on a critical examination of the possibilities and limitations of Design, alternative models of Design are outlined that contradict the established market-based design practice.