Tricky Design
The Ethics of Things
Published on 9. January 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-1-350-14305-0 (ISBN)
Description
Tricky Design responds to the burgeoning of scholarly interest in the cultural meanings of objects, by addressing the moral complexity of certain designed objects and systems.
The volume brings together leading international designers, scholars and critics to explore some of the ways in which the practice of design and its outcomes can have a dark side, even when the intention is to design for the public good. Considering a range of designed objects and relationships, including guns, eyewear, assisted suicide kits, anti-rape devices, passports and prisons, the contributors offer a view of design as both progressive and problematic, able to propose new material and human relationships, yet also constrained by social norms and ideology.
This contradictory, tricky quality of design is explored in the editors' introduction, which positions the objects, systems, services and 'things' discussed in the book in relation to the idea of the trickster that occurs in anthropological literature, as well as in classical thought, discussing design interventions that have positive and negative ethical consequences. These will include objects, both material and 'immaterial', systems with both local and global scope, and also different processes of designing.
This important new volume brings a fresh perspective to the complex nature of 'things', and makes an original contribution to debates in design ethics, design philosophy and material culture.
The volume brings together leading international designers, scholars and critics to explore some of the ways in which the practice of design and its outcomes can have a dark side, even when the intention is to design for the public good. Considering a range of designed objects and relationships, including guns, eyewear, assisted suicide kits, anti-rape devices, passports and prisons, the contributors offer a view of design as both progressive and problematic, able to propose new material and human relationships, yet also constrained by social norms and ideology.
This contradictory, tricky quality of design is explored in the editors' introduction, which positions the objects, systems, services and 'things' discussed in the book in relation to the idea of the trickster that occurs in anthropological literature, as well as in classical thought, discussing design interventions that have positive and negative ethical consequences. These will include objects, both material and 'immaterial', systems with both local and global scope, and also different processes of designing.
This important new volume brings a fresh perspective to the complex nature of 'things', and makes an original contribution to debates in design ethics, design philosophy and material culture.
Reviews / Votes
In the past forty years the focus of design has broadened considerably. It is about time we addressed the bad and the ugly as well as the good designers do, and this book does just that. A valuable resource for everyone interested in the role of design in society. * Rachel Cooper OBE, Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University, UK * In order to overcome the tragedies of the present, design must re-embrace the example of Metis, the Greek Goddess of wisdom and cunning. This challenging book indicates several paths to do so, by putting forward'tricky' research directions for design culture. * Ezio Manzini, Founder of DESIS and Chair Professor of Design at the University of the Arts, London, UK *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
14 BW illus
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-14305-0 (9781350143050)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2018
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€31.99
Available for download
E-Book
12/2018
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€31.99
Available for download
Persons
Tom Fisher is Professor in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Lorraine Gamman is Professor of Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK.
Lorraine Gamman is Professor of Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK.
Content
Foreword
Clive Dilnot, independent, USA
Introduction - Design's Tricky Ethics
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent, UK and Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK
Section One, Tricky Thinging
Chapter 1: Civilian and Military: Design Across an Ethical Horizon
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent University, UK
Chapter 2: Designers and Brokers of the Mobility Regime
Mahmoud Kesharvarz, Uppsala University, Sweden
Chapter 3: Trickery in Design: Cooptation, Subversion and Politics
Nidhi Srinavas, Parsons School of Design, USA and Eduardo Staszowski, Parsons School of Design, USA
Chapter 4: Guns and morality: Mediation, Agency and Responsibility
Tim Dant, Lancaster University, UK
Chapter 5: The Magic that is Design
Cameron Tonkinwise, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Section Two: Tricky Processes, Tricky Principles
Chapter 6: Designer/Shapeshifter: A De-colonial Redirection for Speculative and Critical Design
Luiza Prado de O. Martins, A Parede, Germany and Pedro J. S. Vieira de Oliveira, A Parede, Germany
Chapter 7: Making 'Safety', Making Freedom: Design and Contested Futures
Shana Agid, Parsons School of Design, USA
Chapter 8: The Nature of 'Obligation' in Doing Design with Communities: Participation, Politics and Care
Ann Light, University of Sussex, UK and Yoko Akama, RMIT University, USA
Section Three: Tricky Policy
Chapter 9: Designing Policy Objects: Designer as Anti-Hero
Lucy Kimbell, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 10: Tricky like a Leprachaun - Navigating the Paradoxes of Public Service Innovation
Adam Thorpe, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 11: Understanding Suicide and Assisted Dying - Why "Design for Death" is Tricky
Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK and Pras Gunasekera, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 12: The Quest for Purity, 'Clean' Design and a New Ethics of 'Dirty' Design
Jeremy Kidwell, University of Birmingham UK
Conclusion
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent, UK and Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK
Clive Dilnot, independent, USA
Introduction - Design's Tricky Ethics
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent, UK and Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK
Section One, Tricky Thinging
Chapter 1: Civilian and Military: Design Across an Ethical Horizon
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent University, UK
Chapter 2: Designers and Brokers of the Mobility Regime
Mahmoud Kesharvarz, Uppsala University, Sweden
Chapter 3: Trickery in Design: Cooptation, Subversion and Politics
Nidhi Srinavas, Parsons School of Design, USA and Eduardo Staszowski, Parsons School of Design, USA
Chapter 4: Guns and morality: Mediation, Agency and Responsibility
Tim Dant, Lancaster University, UK
Chapter 5: The Magic that is Design
Cameron Tonkinwise, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Section Two: Tricky Processes, Tricky Principles
Chapter 6: Designer/Shapeshifter: A De-colonial Redirection for Speculative and Critical Design
Luiza Prado de O. Martins, A Parede, Germany and Pedro J. S. Vieira de Oliveira, A Parede, Germany
Chapter 7: Making 'Safety', Making Freedom: Design and Contested Futures
Shana Agid, Parsons School of Design, USA
Chapter 8: The Nature of 'Obligation' in Doing Design with Communities: Participation, Politics and Care
Ann Light, University of Sussex, UK and Yoko Akama, RMIT University, USA
Section Three: Tricky Policy
Chapter 9: Designing Policy Objects: Designer as Anti-Hero
Lucy Kimbell, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 10: Tricky like a Leprachaun - Navigating the Paradoxes of Public Service Innovation
Adam Thorpe, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 11: Understanding Suicide and Assisted Dying - Why "Design for Death" is Tricky
Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK and Pras Gunasekera, University of the Arts London, UK
Chapter 12: The Quest for Purity, 'Clean' Design and a New Ethics of 'Dirty' Design
Jeremy Kidwell, University of Birmingham UK
Conclusion
Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent, UK and Lorraine Gamman, University of the Arts London, UK