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Hi Lubomir,
Thank you for your kind words, but I feel you are being over complementary ;-). Some of the things I posted might appear radical on traditional views on design theory, practice and research, but many are uncontroversial when seen from other design contexts.
The current questioning of the amount of use and roles of traditionally 'associated information' (Design Studies and Design History) in design education is hardly even radical in any sense (not even close to the envelope!) . It is simply good conventional curriculum design practice. It is educational good form to have an ongoing question as to how much, why and in what circumstances one should teach directly via an historical lens and from historical examples OR abstract the material from history into well-tested theory that is ahistorical and independent of a requirement for subjective interpretation. Each works better in different circumstances and as disciplines and societies evolve these change.
When I read your post, I see it as being written, and written superbly well, from a position that sees design education and the formation of professional designers primarily through the lens and tradition of historical trajectory of design. The historical view has proven to be a great approach that has been the basis of the education of many successful designers and architects. It is also the approach that has recently (over the last 50 years or so) bred the idea of having 'Design Studies' to provide design students with some contextual information necessary for designing successfully.
It is hardly busting the envelope however for me to suggest there may be other perspectives than the history lens, or to suggest that many subjects viewed outside design history are actually being provided from an historical perspective, or that there are indications that in the evolution of design fields and the world that some other perspectives may now be better than that of design history. Or, that perhaps there may be indications that some previous practices based on the primacy of the history lens may be holding back development of the field. This is simply opening a window to shine light on the possibility of a different way of viewing things.
The envelope remains intact.
I will try to do better ;-)
Best regards,
Terence
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Dr Terence Love, FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM, MISI
PhD, B.A. (Hons) Eng, P.G.C.E
School of Design and Art, Curtin University, Western Australia
Honorary Fellow, IEED, Management School, Lancaster University, UK
PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks, Western Australia 6030
[log in to unmask] +61 (0)4 3497 5848
ORCID 0000-0002-2436-7566
==
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lubomir Savov Popov
Sent: Friday, 10 April 2015 12:05 AM
To: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subject: RE: Design Studies and Design History
Hi Terry,
You already have developed the reputation of a flamboyant and extreme thinker. You push too much the envelope, and I am afraid, you puncture the envelope all the time. No need to do that.
I completely disagree with three of your four examples. De Stijl is not only history, it is a presence in everyday graphic design. De Stihl informed and influenced the Eames (see the architecture of their house). Modernism is part of our design reality today, on par with Deconstruction.
In order to navigate the design field today, a graphic designer needs to understand the thinking of De Stijl just as he/she needs to study current design methods textbooks. It is one and the same thing. If a graphic designer hasn't heard about De Stijl, my question is: What did they study in school? How did they learn about design methods and techniques? Even the most simple of contemporary (artistic) design techniques have their roots in De Stijl.
If we talk about architecture, I venture to make a bold statement (let me be like you for a moment) that De Stijl has built the artistic foundations of modern architecture. Take the Rietveld-Schroder house as an example. Even Le Corbusier didn't manage to make such an elegant example of new treatment of space and surfaces, exterior and interior, furniture design, and color palette. De Stijl and the Russian Constructivist artists (not the architects) have made more for Modernism than Le Corbusier (who is my favorite, anyway). Le Corbusier managed to be more flamboyant in speeding his ideas through his writings. That is why we all talk Corbusier. (By the way, Corbusier can serve as an example of a prolific designer and a prolific writer to many design faculty on this list who believe that writing, researching, and making a doctoral dissertation is a waste of time.)
Bottom line: If a contemporary graphic designer hasn't heard about De Stijl and Bauhaus, something is not in order with his/her education and experience and at some point of their career, they will show that they might be good, but with a pretty low performance ceiling. You might like them today because they have made by chance a few interesting projects, but when the sociocultural situation changes, they might not be able to understand and to catch up with the new Zeitgeist.
Best wishes,
Lubomir
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terence Love
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2015 11:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design Studies and Design History
Hi Carlos,
You asked:
Would you trust a database designer that never heard about signal processing?
Or a graphic designer who never heard about De Stijl?
Or a product designer who never heard about Charles and Ray Eames?
Or an architect who never heard about Le Corbusier?
In order:
1. Would you trust a database designer that never heard about signal processing?
A. Yes. Database design doesn't need any knowledge of signal processing. I'd be certainly untrustful if they didn't know about entity-relationship models, but I wouldn't expect them to know anything about the history of such models.
2. Would you trust a graphic designer who never heard about De Stijl?
A. Sure - I pay graphic designers to produce graphic outputs that result in particular outcomes. They don't need to know history of design movements to do that. In fact, from experience it often seems that the kind of understanding of design that focuses on design movements and famous designers is an indication of a lack of ability to use evidence about effectiveness or be responsible for the outcome effectiveness of design outputs.
3. Would you trust a product designer who never heard about Charles and Ray Eames?
A. I've met many really good product designers who neither know about or are concerned about the Eames' work (or the work of other 'famous' designers). Some of the best design work is by expert users.
4. Would you trust an architect who never heard about Le Corbusier?
A. Dunno. Most people have heard about Le Corbusier. When I employ architects, however, I'm usually working on eco-design or vernacular housing. Personally, I would prefer any architect I employed to ignore anything they knew about Le Corbusier and with the work of other famous architects. Instead, I'd prefer they had a sound theory background on what works in particular circumstances and why in ways that they can reliably predict outcomes in different circumstances to those which the theories were developed.
All the best,
Terry
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