Hello Richard,
I enjoyed your talk and very much hope that the UCI School of Design
becomes a reality.
You mentioned that the undergraduate level four specializations will be
offered including Design Studies about which you said, "Design studies
is a more classic focus, being somewhat akin in approach to art
history." I understand you were trying to be concise, but I wonder if
you and your colleagues discussed broadening the concept of design
studies to go beyond art (or design) history.
Victor Margolin (2002) proposed four topic for design studies, that are
quite interesting: design products, design discourse, design
metadiscourse, and design practice. The study of design products
emphasizes the interpretation of products through semiotics and
rhetoric, but also through methods drawn from structuralism,
poststructuralism, and pscyhoanalysis. The study of design discourse
emphasizes arguments about what design is and might be and is the locus
for design philosophy, theory and criticism. The study of the
metadiscourse of design studies is the place for reflection on the
entire field and how its different components operate in relation to
each other and would include historiography, critical theory, and the
sociology of knowledge. The study of design practice emphasizes the
people, processes, and organizations that are involved in product
planning and production as well as those organizations involved with
design policies. The study of design practice belongs to the realm of
social action that has traditionally been studied by sociologist,
anthropologists, psychologists, and other social scientists.
Margolin's four topics suggest a much broader conception of design
studies; A conception that opens up a number of doors for research using
a wide variety of research methods to address many different aspects and
branches of design. In particular, I would like to see social studies of
design practice take a more prominent role in the research and
curriculum of design.
Reference:
Margolin, Victor (2001) The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press:
Cambridge, MA
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Charlotte Lee
Doctoral Candidate
Dept. of Information Studies,
University of California, Los Angeles
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