Dear all,
There have been numerous discussion of what design is on this list, and most of the time, it seems to me, these discussions tend to focus on defining design as an activity, or on the verb (to design) as opposed to the noun (a design). However, I have been for some time wondering about what is "a design" - e.g. the noun "design" we use when we say "what is the design of x" or "how should the design of x be changed" or "how does the current design of x influence this situation" where x is some kind of an object, artifact, or system, or circumstance, or whatever else might meaningfully fit that slot.
I also find that the design literature that I have found otherwise very enlightening about doing design, about the phenomenon of design or the field of design, about the qualities of good designers, about design processes, and about various methods and tools for designing and so on, does not offer many concise definitions or even less formal characterizations of what "a design" is, except one that says that "a design" is a specification of an artifact for an industrial mass production process (e.g. Baldwin & Clark 2000) - which is sensible and real for many uses, but in many ways not universally applicable in all interesting areas and circumstances of design.
Do you have some favourite definition or characterization? I have not yet found one that would be able to explain what "a design" is in a way that would be universal enough. So the real issue is probably: is there such a universal idea, or is "a design" some kind of a fuzzy, context dependent idea that often, at the fringes, needs a custom explanation?
To feed your inspiration:
when Victor Papanek says that
"All men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity. The planning and patterning of any act toward a desired, foreseeable end constitutes the design process. Any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself, works counter to the fact that design is the primary underlying matrix of life. Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple pie, choosing sides for a backlot baseball game, and educating a child." (Papanek 1971)
or Klaus Krippendorff says that
”It already has been suggested that design is an everyday activity. Planning a meal, planting a garden, decorating one’s home, writing poetry, and even voting for a political candidate fit Simon’s (1969/2001) definition of design as an effort to change existing conditions to preferred ones. But why do people not recognize these ordinary activities as design? The reason is historical. As elaborated above, design – industrial design, design as profession – emerged in response to industry’s need to expand its markets.
...
Artifacts designed to offer choices were unthinkable during the industrial period. Information technology not only values everyday design, it depends on it. To be fair, historically, systems of components that users could use variously have been known for some time. For example, musical instruments enable infinitely many compositions to be played, constrained only by what artists can do and connoisseurs are willing to listen to. Furniture is such a system as well, leaving ordinary users plenty of room for self-expression. Not all such systems are literally designed; language, for example, largely evolved and continues to evolve in use, and so does music. What these systems have in common is their designability. They exist not so much on account of professional designers, but on their ability to amplify design in everyday life.” (Krippendorff 2006)
or Nigel Cross says that
”Designing is something all people do; something that distinguishes us from other animals, and (so far) from machines. The ability to design is a part of human intelligence, and that ability is natural and widespread amongst the human population. We human beings have a long history of design ability, as evidenced in the artefacts of previous civilisations and in the continuing traditions of vernacular design and traditional craftwork. The evidence from different cultures around the world, and from designs created by children as well as by adults, suggests that everyone is capable of designing.” (Cross 1999)
What kinds of designs are created e.g. in these kinds of design activities? What makes the difference between a design and something that does not qualify as such? If we consider the idea that fire was designed (Nelson and Stolterman 2012:11) or that discourses can be designed, or that desirable futures can be designed (Krippendorff 2006:23-31) - is there some way how we can capture and explain the nature of those resulting "designs" with a fairly universally applicable, somewhat concise definition? What characteristics or features must "a design" have, or what does it typically have?
Cheers, Kari-Hans
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. Design Rules. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2000.
Cross, N. 'Natural Intelligence in Design', Design Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 25-39, 1999.
Krippendorff, Klaus. The Semantic Turn: a New Foundation for Design. Boca Raton: CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2006.
Nelson, Harold G, and Erik Stolterman. The design way: intentional change in an unpredictable world. Cambridge, Massachusestts; London, England: The MIT Press, 2012.
Papanek, Victor J. Design for the real world: human ecology and social change. London: Thames and Hudson, 1971.
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Kari-Hans Kommonen
Director, Arki research group
Media Lab, Dept of Media
Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture
mail: PO Box 31000, FI-00076 AALTO
visit: Hämeentie 135 C, 00560 HELSINKI, Finland
email: [log in to unmask]
mobile: +358 405010729
in Japan: +81 80-2396-2896
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