What if Designers were Better Explorers? by Erin Moore
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all images courtesy of Ahsan Iqbal, 2010
SVA student Erin Moore is working towards an MFA in Interaction Design and asks an important question about the world of possibilities when designers become explorers. She’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to return to the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan to document the lifestyle and stories from the people she meets from the region. Moore shares her perspectives with Core77 below.
What if designers were better explorers?
It is hard to say when I first decided that I wanted to go to Pakistan but I can tell you with certainty that several years ago, if you had asked me to pick Pakistan out on a map, I would have swirled my finger around in general circles somewhere north of India and east of Saudi Arabia where most of the “stan’s” live and said, “over there somewhere.” I only had a vague idea who it shared and fought for borders with and what it’s national flag looked like. I didn’t really know what languages Pakistani’s spoke, what they ate for breakfast, what their homes looked like or what a common surname was. But for some reason, I have always been intrigued by this nation I know so little about.
I believe it is this kind of curiosity that has always propelled people to explore. And I have seen that for westerners, the cultures of the near east, far east, middle east — are often uncharted territory. Like 16th century explorers did when confronted with the vast expanse of sea, we use our imaginations and stories from others to try to explain what we don’t have access to or don’t understand.
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