 |
 |
Dear Lubomir, Erik, Harold, Ken, Chuck, Birgit, Rob,... A good discussion thread has been growing... A key reason why the field of design needs to develop a special understanding about design that is general and universal, is to understand and develop its own place in the world. Also, while the 'traditional' design fields and activities continue to be important, many of the most pressing and interesting design problems are exactly such that require the application of abovementioned understanding - and the field of design should develop its competences in these areas in order to be able to serve the society in the areas where help is most needed. Design is special, and one of the specialities of design is its integrative nature. I feel that the field should embrace and develop this particular aspect and strive to educate designers into more diverse fields of activity. Therefore, I feel that it is important to specifically avoid constraining design into some particular arenas. However, each designer will always make their own decisions and judgements about where they want to and can operate, and others will make judgements about where their contributions are desired and trusted, so it is difficult for the 'field' to operate as an actor. Many of the things that might in theory be important for the 'field' or society may not seem crucial 'design issues' for most designers, who already have personally chosen to operate in some other kind of context. Maybe the 'field' should therefore try to become extremely receptive to new openings and new kinds of people that could deal with the challenges that the field needs to tackle. (I wonder who makes the decisions for the 'field'... University rectors? Research funders? What is the role of business?) But this specifically calls for a lot of tolerance for the field to listen to ideas about design that may be or come from the outside of traditional thinking. kari-hans ... At 20:11 -0400 16.7.2003, Lubomir S. Popov wrote: >Right now, a pretty good momentum is built for pointing the importance of a >general theory of design. This is probably the way of building a common >ground between information designers, architects, financial consultants, >entertainers, and so on.