Open Design. Bas van Abel

       PREFACE

       BAS VAN ABEL, LUCAS EVERS & ROEL KLAASSEN

      Open design existed before the publication of this book, of course. At the end of the last century, it was defined as design whose makers allowed its free distribution and documentation and permitted modifications and derivations of it. More than a decade later, open design is developing actively and constitutes an influential trend in the world of design.

      Bas van Abel, Lucas Evers and Roel Klaassen represent different perspectives on design: respectively emphasizing innovation, sharing and design itself. They agree that open design brings these three qualities together in a natural way. Bas is Creative Director at Waag Society and is passionate about developing a wide variety of projects based on open design principles. Lucas is Head of the e-Culture Programme at Waag Society and is involved in projects at the intersection of art, science, design and society. Roel used to be Programme Manager and Interim Director at Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion and is a design enthusiast who worked on People’s Republic of Design, an initiative that has successfully stimulated the development of an open design culture.

       www.waag.org/persoon/bas

       www.waag.org/persoon/lucas

       http://nl.linkedin.com/in/roelklaassen

      Open design existed before the publication of this book, of course. The term first appeared at the end of the last century with the founding of the non-profit Open Design Foundation, which attempted to describe this new phenomenon.¹ The organization proposed necessary conditions for open design rather than attempting to comprehensively define it: open design was design whose makers allowed its free distribution and documentation and permitted modifications and derivations of it.² Around the same time, Reinoud Lamberts launched the Open Design Circuits website³ at Delft University of Technology for the purpose of developing integrated circuits in the spirit of open source software. The fashion industry was a notable early adopter of open design.⁴ More than a decade later, open design is actively developing and has become an influential trend in the world of design. Open Design Now looks ahead to the future of design. Using key texts, best practices and a visual index, we sketch a picture of open design based on the knowledge and experience of the present moment. In doing so, we seek to contribute to the development of design practice and at the same time draw attention to the importance of open design among a broad audience of design professionals, students, critics and enthusiasts.

      USING KEY TEXTS, BEST PRACTICES AND A VISUAL INDEX, WE SKETCH A PICTURE OF OPEN DESIGN BASED ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE OF THE PRESENT MOMENT.

      The three initiators of this book – Creative Commons CREATIVE COMMONS Netherlands; Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion; and Waag Society – represent three different but complementary perspectives on design. Sharing, design and innovation came together in a natural way in the (Un)limited Design project, which we began together in 2009. The first (Un)limited Design Contest EVENTS was intended as an open design experiment. Entrants could submit product designs on the condition that they shared their digital blueprints so others could modify and improve their designs or manufacture them using Fab Labs. Creative Commons licences allowed entrants to share their designs without relinquishing copyright. The contest elicited innovative and imaginative designs⁵ and led directly to Open Design Now.

       Open

      Digital technology and the internet have irrevocably changed our world. Millions of bloggers are providing serious competition for renowned media and news organizations. The entertainment industry struggles to capitalize on the vast growth of audiovisual consumption. A single individual with internet access can unbalance political relations all over the world. Writers and musicians no longer need printers, publishers, studios or record labels to take a shot at eternal fame. As equipment continues to get cleverer and cheaper, these developments are also affecting physical products and production processes. You can create a 3D design on your computer using free platforms like Thingiverse and make it freely available on a site like the Pirate Bay (or sell it on Etsy) so that it can be manufactured locally all over the world, digitally or otherwise, using a distributed manufacturing service like Shapeways.

      Although technological progress is the driving force behind these new forms of design, distribution and production, we must look for and develop more satisfactory forms of intellectual property rights in the near future. The Creative Commons licences were designed to give creative people the freedom to deploy copyright in a flexible manner. They allow