Design for Life

BBC's Design for Life is a six part series following 12 young British designers that are competing for a 6-month place at Philippe Starck's design firm. As can be expected with any subject specific program that is aimed at the general public, Design for Life would be somewhat entertaining for those with little design knowledge, but somewhat underwhelming and mildly patronizing for people to whom design is a familiar subject. Tasked with "saving British design," these 12 young hopefuls do battle with the hope of becoming the next Philippe Starck, a point that is made painfully clear by the format of the show. The irony is that with a designer such as Starck at the helm, there is no change that his ego would allow any of the contestants to achieve such a title, by reminding them at every possible opportunity that only he may be the chosen one of modern design.

A distinct problem with the program is that whilst Starck has made his reputation based on creativity and outward thinking, Design for Life follows what must be one of the most well trodden paths of reality TV formats. Based loosely on the apprentice, each week the young designers must complete tasks set by Starck or face elimination, then head home and live with each other for the duration of the show. Because of this, BBC have managed to strip the creativity from what should have been one of the more interesting shows of the year.

Once you get down to watching it, one of the more frustrating elements of the show is that Starck seems unable to articulate himself in a way that would remotely make sense to English speaking viewers, let alone those with no design background or any knowledge of design terminology. The suspense over who will be evicted is not generated in the usual way of a reality TV show, but more because we have utterly no idea as to who the winners and losers are in the eyes of the all-mighty Starck. At the end of each show, everybody seems to be at a loss to explain why a certain person got evicted and what they might have done differently to gain a better result. Without the voice over of Adam Buxton, who is brought in to explain things that should be obvious to the viewers, this show would border on unwatchable.