Hi, Klaus,
You wrote,
—snip—
if you ask a politician whether he or she is a designer, the answer is a clear NO
if you ask an engineer whether he or she is a designer, the answer is NO as well
even if you ask an architect whether he or she is a designer, the answer is most likely NO
i read that designers design products, politicians don't
terry wrote that designers write specifications, politicians don't
ken said once a politician is elected he becomes a designer, i wouldn't call a politician a designer unless he or she agrees to this designation, which i doubt any politician will.
—snip—
I’ve got to agree with you in one respect, yet I’ve also got to disagree.
If all responsible designations must be self-designations, it would be difficult to discuss the world around us. I recall the well-known politician Richard Nixon announcing, “The president is not a crook.” Many of us would see key parts of the Nixon career in a different light, but the fact remains that he was neither impeached nor convicted. Of course, we don’t accept self-designation as the only measure of some cases.
In a more reasonable light, I’d say that there are many people who do not self-designate as designers, yet who nevertheless design. That’s the core of Herbert Simon’s definition of the activity of design: “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
There are several more issues. One is the question of those who self-designate as design professionals, people who are paid to undertake design as professional designers. Another is the question of people who do not self-designate as designers, yet are nevertheless paid as professional actors to “[devise] courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
I agree with several points of view, including — but not limited to — my own. I have been interested for many reasons in comments by Mitch Sipus, Liz Goodman, and Ali Ilhan. Now you’ve raised an idea that I have not considered.
Is it is possible to recognize and designate someone as a member of any profession when they do not declare themselves to be such? Does their own self-designation matter if they do what self-designating professionals do when someone pays them to do so?
Simon’s definition includes almost all practicing professions and most professional practices. That virtue may also be a flaw.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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