VOICESarah von der Luft
In order to stay relevant industrial designers need to embrace a broader context. It is no longer acceptable for designers to passively respond to customer feedback, manufacturers’ constraints and aesthetic trends. Because our work has political, economic, and cultural impact we need to be proactive and take the chance to redefine the terms of our work in the face of looming issues such as sustainability, urbanization, and globalization. In large part, this means that design needs to foster a critical voice while staying true to its objectives of function and form.
VOICE grew from the study of the visual style, influences, and impact of Twentieth Century propaganda. Despite being a contentious subject, propaganda provides broad insight in terms of utilizing design as tool to promote agency.
Sarah von der Luft was born to a pair of philosophy and theology students at Bryn Mawr in 1982 and graduated with a degree in government and public policy from Smith College in 2004. This single sentence of introduction omits all of the details, but is an excellent synopsis of Sarah’s existence. She has been designing and creating for as long as she can remember, but it was relatively recently that she decided to pursue a degree in design. That decision was one of her better ones.
Advisor: Fred Blumlein
