DESIGN AND TOTAL FLUIDITY

摘要

Facebook probably thought it was being liberal and sensitive, maybe even prescient, when it introduced 58 "gender options" from which its US users could choose how to describe themselves. But the response was so stormy that those options were replaced with a free-form field where people could write whatever they wished. Given that our perceptions of gender seem set to become even more mercurial in future, we need design to devise new ways of helping us to express them. Some areas of design have done so successfully for centuries, specifically those like fashion and graphics that can be customised easily and cheaply by individuals to articulate their personal preferences or political concerns. Applying the same principles on a commercial scale can be more problematic, which may explain why the experiments in gender fluidity of fashion designers like Alessandro Michele, Gucci's creative director, are reflected in promotional activities, such as runway shows and ad campaigns, but not necessarily in the merchandising and retailing of their collections. Reflecting the nuances of constantly changing gender identities is even more difficult in other design spheres, notably in objects, which have long relied on uniformity to achieve the economies of scale required to make them affordable.