About Trust Design

Trust Design graphic by Yuhun Kim

The short version...

Trust Design is an international research project exploring the relationship between trust and design across a wide range of design disciplines and applications. The result of two years of exhaustive research by project director Scott Burnham, Trust Design has developed a thorough body of research, interviews, insight, writing and public contributions and commentary on the ingredients, conditions and “rules of engagement” needed to regain trust as basic condition for a functioning society. Some material is shared on this site, while other trust-related research appears in publications or as catalysts for public debates and discussions.

Trust Design is a project of Premsela, Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion.

To contact Trust Design project director Scott Burnham, please email:  burnham [at] premsela [.] org

The long version...

A recent survey conducted by the research firm Edelman revealed that 83% of consumers ranked “trust” as the number one factor they require to do business with a company and use its products and services. In a similar survey conducted in 2006, trust did not appear within the top 10 factors people seek in a company.

When the global financial crisis hit in 2009, trust catapulted from a personal thought during a handshake to a defining ingredient of our daily lives and business. Addressing the Davos gathering in 2009, then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledged that “This is a crisis, not just of credit. It’s a crisis of trust.” Echoing his statements later in the US, President Barack Obama declared in his State of the Union address that “We have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust.”

The deficit of trust has left us with an almost palpable desire for a greater sense of trust in the services we use, the food we consume, and the products we purchase.

In response, we must remember that design has a noble history of responding to society’s needs. Design’s response to our need for trust should be no different.

Our relationship with design and its functionality has previously been linear - did object x perform function y? If the answer was yes, we were content. But our expectations placed on design, and the impact of design itself, has changed. When the iPod first appeared it was celebrated as a revolutionary piece of design on which to play music, but in reality it altered how we purchased, navigated and interacted with audio entertainment. The impact of the iPhone and iPad have shifted our relationship with communication, information and media even more significantly. Similarly, the focus on sustainability has extended our definition of functionality from one of the immediate role of an object in our lives to the role it will have on the environment at the end of its life.

As the impact of design reaches more deeply into other areas of our lives and our environment, we in turn look to design to function with a greater responsibility. A greater sense of trust.

Trust Design was created to explore the relationship between design and trust, and how design as a discipline can respond to the crisis of trust in society. It is important that we perform a more complex and layered examination of the new expectations, the new functionality we require in design. Vital questions must be asked: what are the ingredients of trust? Can you design trust? Conversely - can you trust design?

Trust Design is a research project created to explore some fundamental questions regarding the connection between trust and design. By drawing on knowledge gained from a diverse range of individuals and practices, and employing experimentation, research and workshops, we aim to create a comprehensive, holistic response to some of the challenges facing design.

In addition to our research, Trust Design is a catalyst for new work, experimentation, thought and production dedicated to connecting design and trust. We are therefore very pleased to be working with the following partners:

Volume Magazine

Throughout 2011, Trust Design will be partnering with Volume Magazine to publish a series of special issues to explore the role of design and trust as it relates to themes Volume is exploring over the course of the year. Trust Design Project Director Scott Burnham will serve as Guest Editor for four special supplement issues published over the course of the year. 

Design Academy Eindhoven

A central goal of Trust Design is to engage with and function as a catalyst for new design research and creation. We are pleased to have Design Academy Eindhoven as a partner in the creation of new work exploring the relationship between trust and design. First and second year Masters students at the Academy are working with trust as a catalyst for a new trust-based approach to design, exploring new approaches to communication systems, means of production, publications, products, and new designs for public spaces.