Preface
The story that follows is an attempt to personify and clarify one of the most challenging situations we as designers find ourselves up against when we try to present or implement sustainable solutions. It is meant to inspire, provoke and possibly indicate tools and resources both internal and external that can help us resolve and effectively communicate sustainable solutions that necessarily involve a 360 degree vision and exploration. Based on the work by Paola Santagostino on the use of fables as an instrument for problem solving on many different turfs; “The use of imagery in a story is able to convey a message more incisively making it echo on an emotional level” and hoping to contribute a new approach to some of the problems faced by the sustainable design community.
THE KING OF BLUE AND YELLOW
Once upon a time in a far away land lived a king who could only see blue and yellow. One day the artisan of the kingdom brought him a bowl, a wooden bowl he had just turned on the lathe, he was so excited about the intricate patterns the shape and wood grain had created that when the king said “Could you paint it yellow?” he was deeply disappointed and frustrated. Think of it! Ruin the beauty of his work by painting over it!. The kingdom had become dichromatic, everything was either blue or yellow nothing in between for the king could only distinguish objects in these two colors and pretty soon the people of the kingdom began to forget that other colors existed. On...
