Digital design in warehouses

Riding the DLR through London’s east last week, through the converted warehouses that are now trendy modern apartments or design studios, I began to wonder what happened to all the jobs that used to exist here. I could have just as easily been back in Melbourne too, or probably any developed western city with a design industry, it seems a common trend.

Most of these warehouses were once used for some sort of manufacturing — where things were made (designed) for construction or fashion. I guess most, if not all, of the jobs have been shifted to countries like China or India or to larger premises farther out of the city where labour is cheaper. While it’s not that important to recognise the exact original role of each of these warehouses, it creates an interesting starting place to compare the type of work popular now in these districts — design — to the sort of work that was originally being produced here.

The warehouses are still used for manufacturing by the design studio, though the outcome is very different. Rather than helping to build and shape the real world these warehouses are occupied by (digital) design studios that are constructing and shaping the virtual landscape. It’s almost like these districts were originally used to create the physical city and are now used for building the digital virtual version.

Something that began to bother me as I thought more about the differences was that the people that worked in these warehouses 50 years ago could walk through the district now and probably still see buildings they had helped to construct. In 50 years time can I wander through the virtual world and be able to see anything I built? Doubtful. Every website I’ve built can be deleted with the press of a button, there’s no need for cranes or explosives. In fact over the 10 years I’ve been designing websites I’d say most of them don’t exists anywhere except maybe on an old CD somewhere in my parent’s house.

While my websites probably won’t exist at all in 50 years time I think the one thing I will be able to get satisfaction from is the fact that maybe my design work helped to shape the culture of the Internet. Maybe I can look back at old photos, or read a history book, and remember the time I used a glassy beveled pink button and how it helped to shape and evolve the web 2.0 culture.