The ‘McDonaldisation’ of the world, this is how the American sociologist George Ritzer described the effects of the development of consumerist society and globalisation. All the inventions that have made possible fast communication and fast transportation have changed the economic system worldwide. As consumerism demands that goods are being produced, transported and consumed as fast and cheap as possible, the global market is focussed on efficiency, predictability, calculability and control through technology. This demand has lead to a rationalisation of global production, a standardisation of the products that are being produced and uniformity in the shops that sell them. This development has had many consequences. Globalisation has partly contributed to the spread of prosperity, as cheap production methods made it possible for more people to purchase goods.

However, it also has negative effects. Rationalised production, but also the packaging and transportation of goods all over the world, has detrimental effects on the natural environment, as it produces greenhouse gases that threaten to ruin the planet. Another effect of globalisation and the rationalisation of production: many traditional, local crafts companies have suffered from the worldwide trade of goods and along with their disappearance several qualities are in danger of disappearing. Currently there’s a large gap between the place where the designer comes up with his ideas, where the production subsequently takes place, where the user will enjoy his purchase and the place where the rubbish of broken products will end. Historical meanings of forms and decoration, local materials and craft techniques, they all might gradually loose their significance. Special skills might disappear, symbolic meanings might fade and knowledge might diminish.

Are the developments good or bad in the end? After all, for all lost entities, new ones will surface. Local habits might be interchanged for global or even universal possibilities. New skills will appear, other meanings will surface and we will gain new knowledge, for instance about who we are, about the value or non-value of cultural identity, about the value or nonvalue of locality, etc.
On many levels counter movements to globalisation are raising their voices, some with great success. Apart from the need to produce more sustainable products to counter the detrimental effects on the environment, people start to feel a growing need for local qualities. Look at the impact of Slow Food. All in all we face new challenges and designers might play a significant role in creating new visions for a better future.

text by Louise Schouwenberg