Beforehand
Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal distinguished between calculations with the results already in—ex post—and computations done beforehand—ex ante—based on what will happen in the future. For Myrdal, initial disequilibrium, like what you get when you invest more than you save, would balance out later on, since economic activity and society with it would change. This is what makes it possible, in a world of timorous accountancy, to look ahead and take a chance.
Forward thinking ex ante comes to mind because the prefix “ex” almost always hinges us to a former state. An ex-spouse, an ex-champion, an ex-president still lamely called “Mr. President”. Something previous that´s hard to shake.
When Martí Guixé began with ex-designer a decade ago, some wondered if he’d left design practice altogether; condolences were even heard. Soon enough it became clear it was just the opposite: it was design that had refused to stay with him. Ex-designer denounced a way of design based on result-driven bookkeeping, ex post design. In contrast ex-designer was ex ante, betting strongly on change: ideas as products, impermanence, alleviation from old-school consumerism.
Lately Guixé has called a truce and now speaks of being an ex-ex-designer. I‘m not so sure. If ex-designer denotes ex ante design, beforehand design, willing to live with a bit of imbalance since a changing world will work it out, then maybe there’s no reason to close the book on ex-designer after all.
Jeffrey Swartz