Melanie Kurz

Melanie Kurz (* 1976 ) is a German design scientist. Since 2008 she has been teaching as a professor for design theory and design history in the design department of the FH Aachen .

Life

Melanie Kurz studied product design and communication design at the Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Design . Her doctorate took place from 2005 to 2007 at the chair for design science at the University of Duisburg-Essen . Her professional positions include the Neumeister Design agency in Munich and the research and innovation center of BMW AG , where Kurz worked in the design division between 2003 and 2007 in the areas of design communication and ergonomics (interface design work group) and in the department for virtual model processes was. She then switched to ziba Design (later SIGNCE Design) in order to set up and expand the areas of design strategy and user interface design as Creative Director at the Munich location. In addition to her professional activity as a designer, Kurz accepted various teaching positions at the University of Munich . Since October 2008 she has been teaching and researching in the design department of the FH Aachen. In May 2019, Kurz was elected chairwoman of the Society for Design History (GfDg).

Work areas

The design scientist focuses her research on design-related aspects of design (design theory). In addition, her writings shed light on the respective role of design against the socio-economic background of industrial culture.

Fonts

Monographs

• Design dispute. Exemplary controversies about design. Fink, Paderborn 2018, ISBN 978-3-7705-6294-7 .
• Craft or design. On the aesthetics of the handmade. Fink, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-7705-5943-5 .
• Inspiration myths. On the history of ideas of human creativity. Fink, Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-7705-5760-8 .
• with Sidonie Wacker: bodies, surfaces, cuts. Lexicon for designers. Ludwigsburg: avedition, 2011, ISBN 978-3-89986-162-4 .
• The model methodology in the form-finding process using the example of automobile design. Analysis of the interactions between design and representation methods with regard to the systematic development and assessability of the three-dimensional form of artifactual objects in the creation process. Deutscher Wissenschaftsverlag, Baden-Baden 2007 (also dissertation), ISBN 978-3-935176-76-7 .

As editor

• with Sabine Fabo: Thank you for your purchase. Consumer culture from the point of view of design, art and media. Transcript, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-8376-2170-9 .

Prizes / awards

• Useware Junior Award 2002, presented by the VDI / VDE Society.
• Scheffel Prize 1996, awarded by the Literary Society Scheffelbund, meanwhile: Literary Society Karlsruhe.

Web links

• Brief presentation on the website of the design department of the FH Aachen.
• Review of the design dispute by Bernhard E. Bürdek.
• Short interview in SWR, article: Turn the page or wipe? from November 15, 2018 as part of the conference Transformations des Buchdrucks .
• Review of bodies, surfaces, cuts in: Slanted - Typo Weblog and Magazine from December 12, 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Publications by Melanie Kurz in the catalog of the German National Library .