Hello "discourse" thread,
What about considering also the notion of "practice-oriented" design, in which the designer looks not at artifacts but the "practices" of which they are a part. I think we can argue that practices encompass discourses, particularly as the cultural knowledge required to "subscribe" to a practice, be it i-podding or vegetarian cooking. Practices also encompass artifacts as the tools to carry out the practice, thus putting objects into discourse in a specific way.
Guy Julier provides a nice summary of Practice Oriented Product Design (POPD) (and an interesting case study of i-pods) in his article, "Design Practice within a Theory of Practice," in Design Principles and Practices: an international journal, v1, n2, 2007. And Guy has conveniently provided a link for downloading this article from his Leeds Met faculty page: http://www.lmu.ac.uk/as/artdesresearch/staff/guy_julier.htm.
Ann
Ann Thorpe
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Dept of Design, Development, Environment & Materials
Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Wates House, 22 Gordon Street London WC1H 0QB, United Kingdom
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book: The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability (www.designers-atlas.net)
& blog: http://designactivism.net
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