Critical Design in Context
History, Theory, and Practice
Published on 23. February 2017
Book
Hardback
168 pages
978-1-4725-7518-0 (ISBN)
Description
Critical Design is becoming an increasingly influential discipline, affecting policy and practice in a range of fields. Matt Malpass's book is the first to introduce critical design as a field, providing a history of the discipline, outlining its key influences, theories and approaches, and explaining how critical design can work in practice through a range of contemporary examples. Critical Design moves away from traditional approaches that limit design's role to the production of profitable objects, focusing instead on a practice that is interrogative, discursive and experimental. Using a wide range of examples from contemporary practice, and drawing on interviews with key practitioners, Matt Malpass provides an introduction to critical design practice and a manifesto for how a radical and unorthodox practice might provide design answers in an age of austerity and ecological crisis.
Reviews / Votes
Matt Malpass introduces the boundaries of an increasingly influential subject area. Providing interesting examples, and making reference to interviews with key practitioners, a refreshing perspective is developed. This book is destined to become the definitive text of its type, and will be much sought by design researchers and practitioners alike. * Michael Hann, Chair of Design Theory at the University of Leeds, UK * Matt Malpass offers a much-needed introduction and overview to critical design, covering its histories, theories and practices in a delightfully straightforward and well-organised manner. Written in a clear and engaging style, the book presents a broad and inclusive approach to critical design. * David Gauntlett, Director of Research at Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, UK * Locating critical design as a response to the capture of (industrial) design by market logic, this book traces its historical and practico-theoretical antecedents as well as its salience among a plurality of like-minded contemporary design practices. * Alex Wilkie, Senior Lecturer in Design at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK * A text like this is long overdue. There has been a groundswell in interest in critical design for years. From globalism to materiality to the impact of social design, this project tackles some of the biggest problems in the field. Its ambitions are significant, as is its scope. * Elizabeth Guffey, Professor of Art and Design History at the State University of New York at Purchase, USA *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
31 BW illus
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
400 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-7518-0 (9781472575180)
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
Person
Matt Malpass is a Senior Lecturer on MA Industrial Design and a Research Fellow in Critical Design at Central Saint Martin's College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London, UK.
Content
Chapter 1: Introducing critical design
Challenging orthodoxy
Challenging colloquialism: the problem with critical design
What's so critical about critical design practice
Why study critical design?
Researching critical design practice
'Critical' in critical design practice
Industrial design as a discipline
The structure and approach to writing
Chapter 2: History
A forgotten history of critical design practice
An emerging critical design practice
Challenging hegemony
Anti-design
Participatory design
Unikat Design: adding nothing but the concept
Representative design
Design Interactions
Critical Design at the Royal College of Art
Synergies between precedents and contemporary examples of critical design
Chapter 3: Theories, methods and tactics
Design as a medium for inquiry
Post-optimal design and Para-functionality
Rhetorical use
Discursive design
The aesthetics of use and meaningful presence
Exploratory potential
Design fiction
Speculation and proposition
Constructing publics
Ambiguity
Chapter 4: Criticism, function and discipline
Design Art
Design art and society
Function in critical design practice
The paradox of critical design in commercial use
Modelling the field
Design at users
Directing critique through design practice
Chapter 5: Practice
Associative design
Speculative design
Critical design
Design practice as satire
The uses of narrative
Rationality and ambiguity
Towards a taxonomy of critical practices in design
The taxonomy as an analytical tool
Applications of the taxonomy
Chapter 6: Critical design practice and its disciplinary contribution
Summary
Challenging disciplinary orthodoxy
An extended role for industrial design: discipline, science and society
Bibliography
Challenging orthodoxy
Challenging colloquialism: the problem with critical design
What's so critical about critical design practice
Why study critical design?
Researching critical design practice
'Critical' in critical design practice
Industrial design as a discipline
The structure and approach to writing
Chapter 2: History
A forgotten history of critical design practice
An emerging critical design practice
Challenging hegemony
Anti-design
Participatory design
Unikat Design: adding nothing but the concept
Representative design
Design Interactions
Critical Design at the Royal College of Art
Synergies between precedents and contemporary examples of critical design
Chapter 3: Theories, methods and tactics
Design as a medium for inquiry
Post-optimal design and Para-functionality
Rhetorical use
Discursive design
The aesthetics of use and meaningful presence
Exploratory potential
Design fiction
Speculation and proposition
Constructing publics
Ambiguity
Chapter 4: Criticism, function and discipline
Design Art
Design art and society
Function in critical design practice
The paradox of critical design in commercial use
Modelling the field
Design at users
Directing critique through design practice
Chapter 5: Practice
Associative design
Speculative design
Critical design
Design practice as satire
The uses of narrative
Rationality and ambiguity
Towards a taxonomy of critical practices in design
The taxonomy as an analytical tool
Applications of the taxonomy
Chapter 6: Critical design practice and its disciplinary contribution
Summary
Challenging disciplinary orthodoxy
An extended role for industrial design: discipline, science and society
Bibliography