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Design Assumptions

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About Me

Matt Ward is a Lecturer in Design at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he runs the MA in Design – Critical Theory and Practice. His research focuses on the technological construction and negotiation of social space through design. Before his post at Goldsmiths, he worked for NCR’s Knowledge Lab, researching and designing wireless systems for domestic environments. He holds one international patent and has a further six pending on his work. Matt has acted as research affiliate to The Auto-ID Centre, MIT Media Lab and Interaction Design department at The Royal College of Art. Matt blogs at: Thinking about things

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Design Assumptions

The following is a ‘work-in-progress’, a continually growing list about the assumptions I have about the nature of design. The reason…

Assumption # 1: Design is always Ideological
Whether the designer acknowledges this or not, the design process is effected and influenced by specific worldviews that are shaped and molded by a wide variety of social and cultural factors. This means that design always responds to and is generated from, the context in which it‘s produced. So design is a product of the society it originates from. Now this seems a simple point, but it is important to make because it leads me to my second assumption.

Assumption # 2: Design is a World Shaping activity
Design is essentially a future orientated activity - as designers we engage in the ‘not yet’, the ‘soon to be’ and the ‘maybe one day’ (sometimes even with the ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’). Design is the imagination and production of the future, and a field that cannot claim autonomy from the politics of social change. So assumption no. 2 is that design is also a producer. This means that design has a double action – it is both, at the same time reflective and constitutive.

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Comments

Interesting thoughts Matt. Quibble: ‘design has a double action’ - I would say design IS a double action. Design is doing, if you’re not doing, you’re not designing.

Posted by Nicholas Marsh

If we look at the contempory social philosopher John Searle, who states that our society is ‘a socialy constructed reality’. This would agree with your comment that design has a double action of ‘refective and constitutive’. However it also suggests that design’s constitutive effect can strecth to that of creating a reality. So design, is in essence, creation. So what came first, the chicken or the egg? Design or reality?

Posted by The lesser known one

Matt Ward