Description:
Whenever I work abroad, I’m always asked what makes Dutch Design so good. This is a problematic question, first of all because one could question it’s ‘good-ness’ (what are the criteria that form our ideas of quality?), and second of all, if one assumes that yes, it does represent one of the greatest design scenes in the world, there is not one easy answer to explain success. Countries with design cultures ranging from the embryonic to booming (from Romania, to Russia, to South-Korea) are looking for clues and patterns to create such a success at home. But the Netherlands does not offer a secret formula to be replicated: it’s an ecology where many factors like Dutch history, culture, education, business and government all play their role. For Do More Good CSK, a Michigan/Colorado based branding agency, I developed a compact 30 minute online talk on Dutch Design. The presentation tries to give novices to the topic an idea of this ecology: Dutch Design 101 presents Hollands background, current developments and possible future directions of design. It shows the holistic approach that is needed to create a successful support system, and the blood, sweat and tears and decades of work that go into it. Thanks to Joost Roozekrans for his contribution.