Why does the definition of design need to change?

Root of the Latin “design”. sign, It conveyed to Cicero’s friends a much broader and more nuanced set of meanings than we generally give the word today. These range from material and material (such as search) to tactical (to design and achieve a goal) to organizational and institutional – the systematic “labeling” of people and things (where the root “design” is visibly embedded). All these meanings share a great sense of imposition on the world, its institutions and events.

But in the 13th and 14th centuries, the use of drawing to directly depict construction began a linguistic shift, and this sense of “design” almost eclipsed all others.

The first snapshot of this transformation in progress is a parchment dating from 1340. Bent, crumpled and perforated with nail holes, it records the contract between the patron and three leading builders for the construction of the Palazzo Sancedoni in the center of the Senna. Beyond the basement, the manuscript records the legal and financial arrangements surrounding the construction of the palazzo; The top half shows an elevation-drawing of the as-yet-unbuilt facade, with annotations and dimensions.

Drawings necessarily recorded the idea of ​​buildings before 1340—they were traced on the ground, on walls, or eventually on movable surfaces. Such texts, however, are secondary and related to the construction process. But in the 1300s, the increasing economic prosperity of cities such as Siena led famous master builders to balance several projects together, so it became necessary to rely on the authority of the drawn document – “design” in many senses of the word. Then used – to control activities on the construction site. Indeed, part of Sansedoni’s role was to outline the role of a fourth, unnamed builder, who would remain on site to direct work while the three named signatories of the contract were busy elsewhere. In addition to this change, maestro The location of the building at Architector architect, who produces and records the design of the building – the authority given mainly by documents and drawings.

“The meaning of post-industrial design has diminished due to the diminishing of the planet’s finite resources, reduced stones are inseparable from the rare-earth metals that house the Palazzo Scienza or images like the iPhone.

Because of this, architects can sometimes take a proprietary attitude toward the word “design.” If there is any reason for such sentiments, the designers were the first to practice design in the modern way – as a systematic, drawing-based approach to objects and environments separate from their direct creation. But if architecture were the pioneer of design as a separate profession and course of study, it would soon have company. Architecture students at the Ecole de Beau-Arts in Paris at work PicturesAs described in their curriculum and as part of what we now call “the design process”, the factory chimneys far from Paris represent a larger shift in the economy of the physical world and the idea of ​​design within it.

At the beginning of the 16th century, drawings and models of wares traveled between Jingdezhen kilns in Europe and China, creating decorative shapes and patterns – which we now call designs – for specific markets. In the 18th century, English pioneer Josiah Wedgwood employed both artists and “master” potters to make prototypes and models. His aim was to allow a uniform wide range of pottery to be made—in Wedgwood’s own words, “to make such. machines of the Men It can’t go wrong.” But it not only eliminated the workers’ margin of error, but also stifled their individual expression. And it was the subsequent and direct mechanization of production that sharply separated the work of design from the work itself—a major consequence for the definition of design, as a word, and as a structure of our society.

While this concept of design is prevalent in our society and economy today, we can take an industry as an example. Henry Ford’s Model T’s simple 1907 design allowed gasoline-powered automobiles to become more than toys for the wealthy. But in 1924 at General Motors, Alfred P. Sloan’s innovation was to introduce new annual models as indicators and different price and condition points for mechanically similar vehicles from Chevrolet to Cadillac – a wasteful trade tour force.

So calling a handbag or a pair of sunglasses “designer” conveys superficial branding in lieu of material value, but we deeply recognize that “design” is one of the few activities that can at all address the complex reality of modernity. It’s no coincidence that companies seeking to create transformative and accessible products—Tesla, Apple, and IBM in their day—declare the beauty of surface finishes as a (supposed) manifestation of overall technological sophistication. Business value of style and status.