Resign desearch : The Darwinian evolution of contemporary thought species

• From its origin as a craft, passing through the market reappropriation of the term during the 80’s, to the moment when many disciplines have adopted it as a generic creative strategy, design has taken many forms and has incurred a series of ideological transformations. In an attempt of making sense within the already established structures in the fields of science and academic practices, some authors suggest the creation of the area of design research through the methodology of systematic inquiry.This text (first) analyzes the evolution of design as presented by different design practitioners, design philosophers, and design theorists. After studying the etymological definitions for both Design and Research according to two contemporary scholars, I will depict my understanding of the contemporary academic design scene through a historical overview, thus taking an evolutionary approach to the concept of Design Research.The text ultimately concludes by counterattacking the position of systematic inquiry applied to design research by starting from the original statement of design: to provide with solutions, making use of the argument of the western-centered background of the scientific knowledge, and presenting cases that I have faced in my everyday design practice as part of a design collective.With Resign Desearch I try to address that Gestalt is a big part of design, a part that contains an ideological discourse that is as hard to leave out of design practice as it is to find it in scientific knowledge. This contextualization politicizes design research to the point of making it partial. As a matter of fact, it isn’t until the postmodern era that design found a way of coping with the market. Therefore I believe that there is room for creating a research discipline with a different character—more contextualized—than any of the other scientific disciplines.The interesting evolutional characteristic of design resides in the fact that the different forms it has taken since its origins are coexistent nowadays. The use of the term »Darwinian evolution« in the subtitle to this paper is therefore intentionally ironic. It tries to address that despite all the controversy around the different kinds of work within design (commercial, research, educational, social, etc.) there is room for all of them.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Design (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Design (hsv//eng)

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