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Out of focus - The limits of a borderline profession

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Author

Summary, in English

The elusive chimaera “design” has been, in turn, an idea, a plan, a purpose, a sketch, a process, the result of a process, the core of a profession and the core of emerging professions… As such, the concept of what design is, will remain contradictory and resist to being ever determined in the absolute: the limitations of design are those that are imposed by those who define them. On an abstract level, there is no fear and there are no boundaries; but then, stretching the term to verge on the all-encompassing for a political agenda, the design profession and its research community is already instrumental for disentitling it of relevance: positioning design as the panacea for all problems afflicting the world. If design and design research will ever mature, the reflections on it will have to be put into a context: if there can ever be a design science – as long as it remains a science of the artificial, linked to human activity – it will be irredeemably linked to a field of application. Otherwise, it will lead to cursory outcomes of shallow depth, promoting a process of mere scientification and aggrandisation.

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Pages

9-9

Document type

Conference paper: abstract

Topic

  • Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Keywords

  • industrial design
  • industridesign
  • machine design
  • maskinkonstruktion

Conference name

25th Cumulus Conference 25/10

Conference date

2010-06-26 - 2010-06-29

Conference place

Genk, Belgium

Status

Published