Design theory

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Design theory encompasses methods, strategies, research, and analysis of the concept of design . It serves both the conception and the reflection of creative work. Design theory, like design, is influenced by the respective context. In contrast to other sciences, which can view their subject experimentally or empirically, design shapes and changes its environment and thus also what design theory looks at. Your statements therefore do not apply universally, but always with regard to a situation, a context or a point in time.

history

Many aspects of design theory take up questions from theories of architecture (e.g. Vitruvius ) or art theory (especially aesthetics ). Design theory in the narrower sense has only existed since design was seen as an independent discipline.

The essay "Ornament und Verbrechen" by Adolf Loos from 1908 is considered to be one of the first design-theoretical texts. Loos rejected the compulsive pressing of outdated design dogmas into the new production possibilities. This was countered by the Arts and Crafts movement with its artistic penchant for the decorative and its craftsmanship conception of design as a reaction to the emerging industrial world. In contrast, De Stijl avowed himself to the geometric-abstract, "ascetic" form of representation in her designs and a purism limited to functionality. This attitude is continued in the Bauhaus . For the first time, principles for a modern aesthetic that can be applied to all areas of design were established and implemented as a teaching program.

While the theories before the Second World War were closely linked to the concrete design, afterwards one devoted more to questions of industrial planning and organization. George Nelson , who was influenced by the Bauhaus, founded modern design theory in the USA. After 1946 , general design approaches for solving inventive problems were developed there, based on cybernetics . Similar procedures were created with TRIZ in Russia and systematic heuristics in the GDR. The Ulm School of Design was founded in Germany in 1953 , the aim of which was to make product design training more realistic and to combine theory with practice. With this attitude she turned away from the Bauhaus and stood for the design of everyday life as well as for design without formal borrowings from art.

The Design Methods Movement began with the Conference on Design Methods (1962) . Nigel Cross proclaimed design not as a science, but as an area of ​​"intellectual independence". In 1964 the first chair for "Design Research" was established at the Royal College of Art in London.

At the University of Industrial Design in Halle, Burg Giebichenstein, there was a theory and methodology department from 1976 to 1990. In this group, up to 25 scientists from different disciplines worked on the scientific foundation of the design and the computer application preparation. Horst Oehlke examined the function of industrial design and named the product functions. Rolf Frick described the "creative development process" based on the division of labor and methods for managing it. On this basis, Jürgen Albrecht classified the basic design tasks as a prerequisite for computer preparation for use in design.

Since the 1960s at the latest, disciplines such as design science, research and criticism have been complementing one another in the formation of design theory. Related new terms such as design rhetoric, design didactics or design thinking have also emerged since the 1990s. Today's debates in design theory are characterized by a pluralism of currents that come into play in the most diverse areas of application.

Positions

Among the many different positions, some see design itself as a form of knowledge, others examine its effects on society and vice versa. Many debates can be understood as an argument about a dominant term - such as "form follows function" ( Louis Sullivan and functionalism ).

The Bauhaus and representatives of the Ulm School, such as Dieter Rams and Otl Aicher , refer to the function as a criterion for good design. This contrasts with the anti-design of the 1980s, whose protagonists like Ettore Sottsass or Memphis strive for a higher weighting of emotions and affects.

This discussion will be continued by Gui Bonsiepe and Lucius Burckhardt . The latter turns against the excesses of planning and divides the world into relational spaces, "ambient spaces". Burckhardt describes visible products as part of invisible systems. The visible and the invisible are dependent on one another.

Horst WJ Rittel coined the term “wicked problems”. He derives their indissolubility from his theory of complex social systems, which complicate the process of planning and designing through a vast number of relevant and interdependent factors.

Wolfgang Jonas takes up this knowledge in an iterative and cybernetic design process that deals with the design of and in complex systems - social or economic. The concept of Design Thinking also relies on an iterative process that formalizes interdisciplinary methods for developing design solutions and innovations.

From a media perspective, Marshall McLuhan examines how media and communication processes shape society and the way we deal with things. Bruce Sterling refers to this when he describes how digital media and the Internet are leading to a new approach to connected products.

Against the separation of theory and practice, Richard Sennett understands design practice itself with the idea of ​​" making is thinking " as an epistemological form of knowledge and thus elevates the design process to science.

Points of contact with other disciplines

Design theory is linked to many other scientific disciplines, including arts, engineering, social sciences, history, and philosophy.

The question of the demarcation between art and design was repeatedly discussed in the art history discourse. Walter Gropius understands design theory as a continuation of art theory. In the context of the Ulm School of Education (Otl Aicher, Gui Bonsiepe, Tomás Maldonado) this connection is questioned.

From the field of engineering and medicine , particular mention should be made of ergonomics . Henry Dreyfuss brought ergonomics and design together back in the 1930s.

In economics , marketing in particular influences the design parameters.

From the field of philosophy , Martin Heidegger's concept of “handiness” should be mentioned. His investigations into handling things and tools can be seen as a forerunner of the user experience .

In sociology , the actor-network theory co-developed by Bruno Latour has proven to be influential. It describes things and objects as active and examines how they guide human action.

Representatives of systems theory who have dealt with design issues include Niklas Luhmann , Helmut Krauch and Wolfgang Jonas .

See also

Portal: Design  - Overview of Wikipedia content on design

literature

  • Otl Aicher , Bauhaus and Ulm , 1991
  • Jürgen Albrecht, Information Storage and Computer Support for the Design Process , TH Ilmenau, Dissertation A, 1984
  • Roland Barthes , Mythen des Alltags , 1957, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, ​​2003 (first time 1964) ISBN 3-518-12425-0 [excerpt from: Mythologies, 1957]
  • Gui Bonsiepe , On some virtues of design
  • Andrea Branzi , We are the Primitives , 1985
  • Lucius Burckhardt , Design is Invisible , 1980
  • Nigel Cross , Design Thinking , Berg, Oxford, 2011 ISBN 9781847886361
  • Rolf Frick , Methodology of Industrial Design , TH Karl-Marx-Stadt, Dissertation B, 1979
  • Tony Fry, Design Beyond the Limits , 2011
  • Walter Gropius , The Sustainability of the Bauhaus Idea , 1922
  • Hans Kaspar Hugentobler, Claudia Mareis, Franziska Nyffenegger, Ulrike Reichhardt, Philip Zerweck, Design Science and Design Research: An Introductory Overview , Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, 2010
  • Raymond Loewy , The Mayan Threshold , 1951
  • Adolf Loos , Ornament and Crime , 1908
  • Tomás Maldonado , New Developments in Industry , 1958
  • Marshall McLuhan , The Medium Is the Message , 1964
  • Abraham A. Moles, The Crisis of Functionalism , 1968
  • Maurizio Morgantini, Man Confronted by the Third Technological Generation , 1989
  • Claudia Mareis, Design as a culture of knowledge , 2011
  • Horst Oehlke, On the functional determination of industrial design , 1st colloquium on questions of the theory and methodology of industrial design, University of Industrial Design, Halle - Burg Giebichenstein, 1977
  • Dieter Pfister , Atmospheric Design. On the importance of atmosphere and design for socially sustainable interior design , Basel 2013, ISBN 978-3-906129-84-6
  • Dieter Rams , Ramsification , 1987
  • Horst Rittel , Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning , 1973
  • Michael Schulze, concept and definition of the work. Plastic design in architecture education, Zurich, vdf Hochschulverlag AG at the ETH Zurich, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7281-3481-3
  • Herbert A. Simon , The Science of Artificial , 1969
  • Bruce Sterling , Tomorrow composts today , 2005
  • Maurizio Vitta, The Meaning of Design , 1985

Individual evidence

  1. basic design tasks according to Jürgen Albrecht. Jürgen Albrecht, November 2, 2010, accessed January 15, 2015 .
  2. Stavros Arabatzis: Systematics of the design theories . Retrieved February 12, 2019 .