Part 2 of Making Meaning: An Introduction to Designing Objects focuses on how design can be progressive, through exploring radical ideas, futuristic aesthetics and by embracing social responsibility. It also looks at the realities of design practice through the eyes of experts in the field. The course begins by showing designers that have done work that is new, and breaks with the conventions of the field. It continues with an examination of how objects capture a sense of “now” by referencing contemporary social, cultural and technological advances. Reflecting on design’s uncomfortable relationship to ethics, the course reveals key ethical dilemmas designers face and helps parse approaches to them. It concludes by examining the working contexts of today’s object designers, how client relationships are formed and maintained and how independent practice can provide a counterpoint to working within corporate structures.
Making Meaning: An Introduction to Designing Objects, Part II
School of the Art Institute of Chicago via Kadenze
Overview
Syllabus
- Rules of Engagement: Exploring the Realities of Design Practice
- Finally we look at the main ways designers work, out in the world. Designers are either employed, working on commission, or working speculatively, and this session explores the advantages and disadvantages, and differences of each. We also hear sage advice from a range of experienced professional designers.
- Towards Socially Responsible Design: Ethical Approaches to a “Dangerous” Profession
- In this session we look at the ethical problems of object design. It aims to help you form an ethical stance on the key issues so you can practice with something like a clear conscience.
- The Aesthetics of Progress: Capturing the Zeitgeist in Object Form
- This session covers the way in which designers have looked to technological progress for design language to build into their work. It reveals why some objects look new, or even futuristic, while others quickly look dated.
- Radical Objects: The Challenging Landscape of Design’s Avant-Garde
- Design, like contemporary art, has a cutting edge - an avant garde. These are designers doing work that is new, and breaks with the conventions of the field. In this session we will explore this lesser-charted territory.
Taught by
Tim Parsons
