Designers in the Conceptual Age

The latest issue of Fast Company magazine sports a picture of Ambra Medda with the quote, "Designers are the new rock stars." Is this part of the rise of the Conceptual Age? For this to be true then design would have to be as common as a CD (or MP3) collection is to your average person. Are average people going to be showing off their latest designer items as prominently as they show off their music collections next to their entertainment system? I tend to think – No. For most of us design will be ubiquitous but not something that we are conscious of. The latest interest in design is a result of a move up in the hierarchy of needs and probably, more importantly, the need to sell more products. While design may be a conscious decision of the more affluent classes, the growing gap between the rich and the poor in America will still make price the driving factor in buying decision (you only need to look at the growth of Walmart to see this). Target touts design as being their selling point, but quite honestly, when I go in there I only see commodity goods at a higher price than they are at Walmart. If you truly want design you are still going to have to pay for it, like the $10,400 sofa that Ambra is sitting on on the cover of the latest issue of Fast Company.