The issue of a design "canon" is worth considering. For my part, I am going
to rummage through my library and put up some suggestions in the next few
weeks.
One important place to start is Victor Margolin's (1989) useful essay,
"Postwar Design Literature: A Preliminary Mapping."
In this important bibliographic essay, Margolin's (1989: 265) purpose is
"to present the many strands of design writing as they have developed since
the end of World War II."
This is a review of the literature in the best sense, and this gives rise
to an important warning. In developing a list of required readings, it is
vital to recognize that time is limited - even for a doctoral candidate who
knows that he or she must read, read and read more. One must be selective.
An excellent review of the literature on the different streams of design
writing must necessarily include a large number of books that do not
qualify as required reading today.
Some of the books that occupied much time and attention in the development
of design literature did not always command attention because they were
good. Some took up shelf space because they were the only titles in the
niche they occupied. In other cases, they were lavishly subvened and
promoted to help generate business for the firms that employed their
authors.
Wally Olins's books are a case in point. Mr. Olins had a great deal to say
from his post at the helm of Wolff Olins. Much of what he said was the kind
of thing one expects in an after-dinner speech delivered by the head of a
once-thriving design practice whose job is to drum up new business from
among the assembled CEO diners. Another example would be the books of
AnChris publishing in Oslo. AnChris was the wholly owned publishing arm of
the design firm Anisdahl Christensen, once Norway's largest design
practice. AnChris published only books of its two founder-partners and
these books focused on the work of the firm. These books were an
explanation of a thriving design practice. They focus on and feature the
work of Norway's first successful major design firm. In that sense, these
works are an important contribution to the history of design in Norway. As
a general contribution to the literature of design, these books have no
place on a required reading list - at least not unless one is writing the
history of design in Norway or a history of graphic design in Scandinavia.
Victor Margolin's book Design Discourse is definitely on my list of
required titles, and his bibliographic essay is required reading. Greater
caution is required in deciding which of the books discussed ought to make
a final list.
A second point must be kept in mind in developing a required reading list
for doctoral candidates in design. The mixed and variable state of
undergraduate design education means that many books that should have been
read by design students at the bachelor's and master's level will not yet
have been read.
In developing a list of required readings, therefore, one must ask a
fundamental question: "What books must an educated scholar read to
understand contemporary society and to play an appropriate role in a
contemporary postindustrial democracy?"
This list might possibly be considered a preliminary list to the list of
required readings in the specific field of design. It must be considered.
Here, one must attend to the classics. This list would include vital books
on political economics as Smith's Wealth of Nations, Drucker's The New
Realities, or De Tocqueville's Democracy in America. It would include
important books in intellectual history such as Boorstin's The Discoverers,
Manchester's A World Lit Only by Fire, or Waldrop's Complexity. The role
that information and communication play in contemporary industry - that is,
to offer an oxymoron, post-industrial industry - one must also read some of
the founding documents of thinking on this world. Innis's Bias of
Communication, McLuhan's Understanding Media, and Castells's trilogy on the
network society belong in this group.
The role that we play as human beings in this world is particularly
important when we design for others, and it is vital, therefore, to reflect
on what it means to be human. A short course in philosophy is vital here:
we have enough professional philosophers among us that I don't dare to
suggest which works of Plato or Aristotle ought to be considered. Among the
Greeks, I will suggest the importance of Sophocles's Theban plays and
Aeschylus's Oresteia, and I'd add that charming book The World of Herodotus
by Aubrey de Selincourt. In modern times, I would suggest Kierkegaard's
Fear and Trembling, and The Sickness Unto Death.
Who we are and how are form the themes of sociology and psychology, and
there are a number of key readings that demand attention. I will offer a
few suggestions in the final list. These books begin to touch on issues
that will crop up in design research, so the choices here are important
because they serve two purposes. The first is a sense of the self for any
serious scholar and researcher. The second is a glimpse into usable methods
and issues for outward-focused research.
This is a quick note rather than my complete view of a serious list of the
reading one must have accomplished to earn a Ph.D. in design. What is vital
here is an understanding of the nature - and volume - of reading expected
for a good Ph.D. This may be different if we're talking about the tracked
and focused kind of work expected for a professional doctorate (f.ex.,
D.Eng., D.Des.). For the philosophical doctorate, one must expect to have
read several hundred books deeply and skimmed or browsed many more. Some
one hundred fifty or two hundred of these should have been read during a
four-year undergraduate degree, and another hundred or so during a two-year
master's program. It is possible in far too many places to graduate with a
master's degree in design having read no more than twenty or thirty books
during a six-year education. This means a lot of catching up for a decent
doctoral foundation.
-- Ken Friedman
Reference
Margolin, Victor. 1989. "Postwar Design Literature: A Preliminary Mapping."
In Design Discourse. Victor Margolin, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management
+47 22.98.51.07 Direct line
+47 22.98.51.11 Telefax
Home office:
+46 (46) 53.245 Telephone
+46 (46) 53.345 Telefax
email: [log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|