The exhibition displayed a diverse range of projects that demonstrate how designers can have a role in finding peace for victims to societal, environmental, and economical challenges across the globe. Projects ranged from student posters calling for awareness to architectural proposals reimagining border walls. All in which were designed with the intention to create ways for the affected communities to have durable peaceful interactions with conflicts, inequalities, armed standoffs, territorial disputes—challenges that often are responded violently and aggressively.
When standing in the exhibition space and reflecting on what peace looks like in the turbulent world we live in today, I thought about how much more will these design responses encourage nonviolent and peaceful exchanges in comparison to a pretentious speech from the officials or police stopping protesters with tear gas. Perhaps more designers should be included in strategies development at national and regional level because of designers’ natural instinct with creating beautiful things which usually boost interest of engagement. One example that I kept thinking about even after leaving the exhibition is the Teeter-Totter Wall by Rael San Fratello. Not only did this project incorporated conceptual meaning that sparks conversation into the final design (using seesaw to depict how movements and actions taken on one side of the border directly impact the other) it has also created an object that encourages interaction and engagement between people from both sides of the boring and unfriendly looking border wall.
What interaction design can take away from this body of work is understanding that like these works that are designing for peace, the future of interaction design should also emphasize on valuing community and humanity over finding a direct and simple solution that will get the job done but lacks engagement from its users.