1,721,069 research outputs found
Design and the transformation of cities
No full textThe relation between design and the city has changed considerably over
the last years. Quite a few factors have interacted to produce this change:
some are bound to the evolution of design culture and practice itself;
some are bound to the transformation of cities; and some are bound to the
transformation of social relations and their interaction with technologies.
In this context, the traditional disciplines of urban planning and
architecture have undertaken profound transformations, but in the view
of the author, the major changes occurred in the design that used to be
focused on the small scale, where we had a progressive expansion of the
territories of interest and application, which completely changed the role
that design can play in the transformation of cities.
The purpose of this chapter is to offer an overview of the evolution of
the relationships between design and the city. The author discusses the
main practices of design applied to cities from the early 1970s to the
present day. The discussion introduces the different practices of design
for cities as a consequence of the radical transformation of the design
discipline. Then, evolution of some experiences, like that of the Milan
“Fuorisalone”, is illustrated as clear representations of how the visions
of the city that the author described coexist and are connected with the
steady evolution of the culture of design
Design, Craftsmanship, Art: Liaisons Dangereuses?
No full textThe paper is the invited keynote address given at the opening of the “Imece 2009” Fine Arts & Design International Symposium, held in Eskişehir, Turkey, October 18-24, 2009.
The paper describes design as a mediation culture, in the middle of two complementary and contradictory dimensions. On one hand a concrete discipline, focused on the technical dimension of the product development, shaping the materiality of artefacts, using materials, dealing with technology and production. On the other hand a "creative" discipline, focused on the invention of new meanings, dealing with the immateriality of needs and desires.
Design is connected, with reference to previous and recent literature, with different factors and disciplines, suggesting the opportunity to look at it as an open and expanding field, and to examine some of the trajectories it is taking.
Its development is thus described in terms of progressive expansion from a “solid centre” – which could be described as linked with the traditional interest in giving shape to new products – to much softer peripheral areas, where a wide overlapping with other disciplines can be observed. This can be easily seen in the progressive shift from the interest in the tangibility of industrial products, to the interest in a complex combination of material and immaterial factors and qualities, which must be faced with a new “strategic” attitude.
Within this framework, the relation with arts and craftsmanship, as historical bases of the design culture, can be described at the same time as opportunities, and as problematic questions that should be addressed for the real growth of the design culture
Mappe dell'advanced design
No full textQuesta pubblicazione raccoglie i contributi del gruppo di ricerca omonimo formato al Politecnico di Milano all’interno del dipartimento di Industrial Design, Arte Comunicazione e moda.
Si tratta del cammino necessario per documentare alla comunità internazionale la tesi che l’intorno delle condizioni e delle pratiche che favoriscono e permettono il predisporsi all’innovazione continua sia un territorio problematico particolarmente fertile per il design.
Nel contempo si ritiene che le organizzazioni, le imprese ed i progettisti, possano trarre grande vantaggio nella comprensione di queste logiche e nella loro pratica sistematica come motore di innovazione.
Il volume è composto da due sezioni: una prima parte offre chiavi interpretative dell’AdvanceDesign, codifica basi teoriche, strumenti e pratiche; una seconda parte raccoglie studi ed esperienze di AdvanceDesign evidenziando il contributo di quest’approccio in alcuni settori specifici
The strategic role of design: The Italian case
No full textAlmost all the histories of Italian design tell us that design culture was born in a close relation between professionals and SMEs. Looking at this relation, we can read the story of the relation between design and strategy from a pretty peculiar perspective. Starting from those sectors today we would normally call “design-oriented”, Italian SMEs historically develop a symbiotic relationship with design, which becomes the engine of innovation: a driver which gives the opportunity to build their identity, and emerge in the domestic and in the international markets. This relation is almost always characterized by a direct link between entrepreneur and designer, in which the designer is not only asked to give shape to ideas, but rather to understand and interpret the needs, to anticipate desires, to build a “frame of meaning” around the market offer. The Italian entrepreneur is used to discuss with the designer the development of new products, defining market opportunities, and the possible solutions. In an under-structured context, where marketing (and for sure strategic marketing) is still missing, design plays a role of mediation in the relation between company and market, developing what we are used to call a strategic approach. In other words, in Italy design developed a strategic attitude from the very beginning, and did not become strategic after the meeting with marketing. The framework in which this happens is very particular: the entrepreneur usually operates within a confined space (the industrial cluster) in which his motivation to emerge is mainly linked to social legitimacy. This framework – to quote Weber backwards – builds a tension towards the creation of "beautiful and well made products" rather than a tension towards profit, which explains why design comes before marketing. This entire story happened in Italy in the absence of a structured presence of design within the university, which initially is not a "visible" player within the system. Only the profound transformations of the competitive scenario generated, in relatively recent times, a need for a specifically targeted research and education system, leading to the fast development of the design-system inside the university. If we look at it today, looks like it has been there from the very beginning, while its pretty recent birth is a sign of a profound change, carrying the need of more conscious approaches to design
Design and Organizational Change in the Public Sector
No full textThe demand of a new generation of public services is leading to a systematic exploration of what design can do for public organisations. If the rapid growth of service design practices spread the idea that design is not just focused on tangible artefacts, the effects of their introduction in public organisations are still underestimated. This article explores the ongoing trend of the adoption of design as a practice to deal with the innovation of public services through the discussion of three cases, in the light of the hypothesis that the introduction of design knowledge in public institutions should be reconnected to the management of their organisational changes. In particular in the analysis of the cases the authors discuss evidences in favour of a new interpretative framework in which the design of new artefacts (service, processes and solutions) can be described as a powerful yet implicit agent of change
Design oriented mass customizationfor sustainability. A sustainable approach for product development in the furniture sector
No full textIn the modern society, sustainability is a theme that nobody can ignore, and design is playing a remarkable role in this context; consequently, design for sustainability becomes a key concept in the process of product development.
Mass Customization (MC) is a well developed topic for couple of decades, which is generally described as a positive strategy to improve marketing requirements in a large scale production. In order to satisfy the customers, companies are trying to provide larger product variety and more product differentiation that somehow results to over production and over inventory. In this context, “Mass customization equals sustainability: the amount of products which are not sold corresponds to such a huge batch of energy without any use at all (Sergio Dulio, 2009)” then became waste. Therefore, MC will possibly be an approach for sustainability, while design oriented customization will support sustainability from design perspective.
The research pays close attention on MC case studies in automobile and furniture sectors as best practices, and then investigated into furniture sector aiming to recommend design guidelines and tools as sustainable solutions for MC product development.
For future discussion, MC could potentially reach “sustainable business (J.Pine, 2009)” and sustainable product development processes
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