Dear Don, David, and All
Probably an age-related effect…usually called “generation gap”?
It may indeed look as we are many, among the old-timers, “furiously” in
agreement with these following reminders that, fundamentally:
- we, in Design disciplines, are rather after “usefulness” of artefacts;
instead of primarily looking after objective “truth”, whatever that might
be; or being after immediate financial profit, the net return on
capitalistic monetary investment
- we shouldn’t indulge in devising “propositional” argumentation, nor in
convincing probable sales statistics; rather strive to prove and show to
ourselves and to others the usefulness of our designed artefactual
proposal;
- “evidence” of such claimed usefulness, not through verbal argumentation,
nor through potential sales figures; but rather through ‘revisions and
evaluation’ of prototypes, repeated until results are deemed convincing
“good enough” all along the projected use life of the proposed artifact.
The task, in my current view, we haven’t tackled yet thus far is how to
translate these particular foundational views above into training in design
disciplines; neither at the practical ‘making’ level nor at the higher
conceptual level around the entire artefactual phenomena. We have left
these reflective and implementation tasks to others, non-designers,
academic administrators and educational policy makers and funders, who
obviously have done – and still doing - it their way.
Perhaps it is about time we, aged, ‘furious and frustrated’ designers, no
longer haunted by career advancement, use this PhD Design forum to
explicitly devise more appropriate design pedagogical approach and
orientation, methods, and tools to leave to future generations of
designers?!
Just a thought
By François
From a sunny Sunday morning, in Rwanda Northern countryside
>
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