ACCIDENT OR DESIGN SIR,—Leslie Adrian wrote last week that 'the
whole trouble with the ColD is its close tie-up with manu- facturers and retailers.' It would have been much more to the point had he written that these close tic- ups are the real strength of the Coln, since it is only by stimulating simultaneously a supply of and de- mand for better design that improvements can come about. Moreover, it would be ludicrous for an organ- isation set up with the express purpose of improving standards of design in British manufactures not to keep the closest contact with manufacturers and distributors.
It is also quite mistaken and misleading to suggest that the Council of Industrial Design ignores 'fitness for purpose' in its judgments. As a direct descendant of the Design and Industries Association, the ColD from its earliest days beat the drum of function and usefulness so regularly that its critics complained, as many still do, that all the Council was interested in was a clinical, hygienic efficiency in design.
There should of course be no conflict between appearance and function and the Council's selectors try to assess each aspect equally and fairly. It seems to me quite reasonable that, having no expensive testing facilities of their own, the Council and the Design Centre should turn to all other sources of information about tests and standards whether en- tirely independent such as the reports of Which ? or Shoppers' Guide or rather less so, but none the less instructive, such as the reports of trade organisations or assessors with first-hand knowledge of an in- dustry.
Mr. Adrian also seems to make an issue out of the fact that manufacturers must pay for space in the Design Centre, but he does not mention that there is no charge at all for inclusion in Design Index which multiplies the exhibition about ten times and from which most exhibits are drawn. The Design Centre label, moreover, is applicable to any item selected for the Design Index and not only to those actually exhibited.
The final point I should like to make is that the ColD and its Design Centre are, with the DIA, almost alone in championing design in its fullest sense. The CoID's perfectly proper interest in the appearance as well as the function of things can surely only complement the admirable work of the consumer organisations. It would, too, be a pity if the consumer organisations' proper concentration on fitness for purpose were to give the impression that looks do not count at all.
PAUL REILLY
Council of Industrial Design. Director The Design Centre, SW I
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