TL;DR: How little technology do we need to design?

20GB Photoshop files, 200 project folders, Final_Final_22.idml, 231 exclusive typefaces, 20 x 20 meter banners, massive 3D 8K renderings, augmented reality… Design and technological innovation are deeply intertwined. New tools open up new possibilities — while also shaping the aesthetics, processes, and standards by which we work. Bigger, more polished, newer, faster. But what happens if we reverse that logic?

In this course, we want to critically examine this condition from different perspectives and ask: How can we scale design down? How sustainable is design when it becomes obsolete, expires, or needs repair? What new aesthetics emerge from that? As a starting point, we will look at concepts such as permacomputing, low-tech, constraints, repair, reduction, and compression. https://www.are.na/alex-roidl/low-tech-8dzhpueo-fm

Together, we want to (re)discover systems, processes, and forms of design that make creative practice lighter, slower, more sustainable, more stubborn, more resilient, and more diverse — and perhaps even develop new principles and attitudes for designing in the present age of AI.