Let’s start by explaining what I mean by design, which is not an easy task, as its meaning has changed dramatically over the centuries, and often been muddled and trivialized along the way. Even when used correctly, the word can seem confusing because there are so many interpretations of it. The design historian John Heskett summed up the confusion in the seemingly nonsensical, but grammatically accurate sentence: “Design is to design a design to produce a design.” Even so, design has had one constant role throughout history as an agent of change that helps us to interpret changes of any type — scientific, technological, political, cultural or whatever — to our advantage. What we now call design fulfilled this function long before the word was invented: starting with prehistoric scavengers molding lumps of clay into makeshift drinking vessels. Yet since the Industrial Revolution, design has typically been seen as a formal process applied by specially trained professionals, usually to produce something tangible, like an object or image. Not that this was — or is — an inaccurate description, but design has also continued to be practiced intuitively just as it was in prehistoric times. nytimes/2013/07/15/arts/design/Expanding-the-Definitions-of-Design.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 05:31:00 +0000
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