Rawsthorn’s successor should be a designer

With reference to Alice Rawsthorn’s (pictured) departure, I hope the opportunity will be taken to appoint a more suitable person to direct this important museum.

Luqman Arnold’s remarks are not encouraging in this respect: the last thing the museum needs is an appalling self-promoting trendy like Nicholas Serota.

What it does need is the appointment of a practising art school-trained designer, and not the dreary succession of journalists, art historians and museum curators that has so far occupied the job, not one of whom has seemingly ever designed their way out of a paper bag.

It was a great disappointment to many designers that, when the Design Museum was set up, a designer was not appointed straight away, and the many blind alleys it has followed since are the result of a lack of true understanding of either the profession or the process.

Far too much importance has always been given to individual ‘hero’ designers and not enough to the team process that all serious design involves, resulting from an art-historical approach, which has consistently failed to illuminate the true role and function of the designer.

Richard McConnell, East Yorkshire HU13 0BH