DESIGN2020
16 November 2010
-a response to “Design2020” vision committee questions By Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen •
The concept and definition of design is widening and changing, and opinions on the future nature, role and impact of design differ. Members are asked to give a few examples on how design may influence economic, industrial development or performance in the future.
The concept of design is widening and sometimes to an extent that it is watered down! Design is on the way to becoming everything and, as a result, the designer someone who can do anything. Not least from an educational perspective this is somewhat problematic. If the concept of design is to be of relevance it should be used to identify and describe a delimited part of a reality, of a practice. I hope that we can agree on a design definition which maintains that design has to do with designing, with interaction between people and thus with creating meaning. That design is a tool for making products, services and entire systems meaningful and accessible. This is the core of design and requires strong competences within e.g. material understanding, chromatology, visualisation and theoretic insight into the way people interact with objects, products and each other. To this should be added a before and after: A “design-before-design”/predesign where the primary ingredient is (scientific) studies of market, of users/people (lust, conscious and subconscious needs) and of the cultural/societal context. And a “design-after-design”/postdesign which comprises the experience and the emotions surrounding that which has been designed. These are phases that often overlap and provide the best result if they do. The important thing here is maintaining that what is essential about design is designing, whether materially or immaterially (e.g. computer games). At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that part of the power of Danish design is – and could be even more so – that the work of the designer is based on comprehensive user studies, vast knowledge of technology and market conditions. Hence, that the designer’s approach is cross-disciplinary. Being a professional the designer is the main player of the team creating the core creativity. In relation to predesign and postdesign he may be the main player but often times will not be. Anthropologists, sociologists, economists, psychologists and many other disciplines will take the lead here, although the designer should always be part of the team.