The End of Design was the public lecture accompanying my recent Masters Exhibition.
“Modern design has run its course. The challenges of our age demands a new design; in place of designing for desire we should design for inclusion, understanding and real world problem solving. The power of design thinking presents us with new opportunities for the future.
As Scotland’s top rated institution for research design, the University of Dundee is uniquely placed to set out a new vision for the future of design. In this special lecture, Professors Tom Inns and Mike Press – both internationally acknowledged writers, researchers and broadcasters on design – provide a provocative and visionary of design in the 21st Century.
Evidence of this new design is seen in the work of this year’s graduating Masters of Design students. The lecture accompanies their masters exhibition, providing vital contexts and insights into their work. Together, the lecture and exhibition emphasise Dundee’s unique approach to the research and practice of design. “
Lasting around an hour this video is a deep insight into The Master of Design Course at Dundee and the work at our Masters exhibition. It is definitely one to watch for the students who have gotten in touch with me as they are considering applying for the course – and other Masters students who are embarking upon a design journey.
It should not be missed – design against crime | service design | co design | social design | transformation design | product design | interaction design | design for well being | design for disability | design thinking | design management | interdisciplinary…the list goes on….
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Tom, who was my project mentor, recently shared his archipelago of design at a workshop in London. Lauren Tan documented the day really well, in particular her insights from Toms model.
Redjotter 
Great lecture Lauren – a shame about the sound and video quality – maybe we can get Tom and Mike to re-record a summary audio of this, that we could turn into digital feature (video/animation) to share with wider network. Some very key points raised that unfortunately get lost in the tech transition.
Nevertheless, loved Tom speaking about design (today and tomorrow) as “Communicating the intangible, accomodating uncertainity, synthesizing the future – and navigating complexity.” Oh, and of course Mike’s comments re. the Studio Unbound – “I learnt a few things that day I can tell you.” hehe.
Thanks for sharing! x
Is it the end of ‘design’ though? Surely its all just the beginning….
‘The end of design’ as a title is an attention grabbing trick. It suggests that design has no more value at all when clearly the agenda of these speakers is to demonstrate a re-orientation or a redefining of the activity they previously held to be design.
‘The end of modern design’ is a better qualified title but it doesn’t have the same headline impact, nor does it actually describe what has come to an end.
All new design is contemporaneous or ‘modern’ and this is distinctly different from modernist design. Modernism has been dead for quite some time now. So what has died then?
Social design is unlikely to replace the proposed version of design, not only because the proposition is flawed but because design has been given too much value overall.
Design is not responsible for the existence of things that have been designed. And design is not something that now has to adapt to more socialised environments or ways in which social thinking might be employed. Design is intimately linked to social thinking, it helps to give social products and environments expression but it does not provide the imperative (ie. the reason they exist) for those products and environments. Nor can design be responsible for imperatives that might be expressed within new or emerging social spaces.
Design is form-giving exclusively. It can be effectively separated from meaningful creativity. Suggesting that creativity is implicit in design is misleading. Many designers are creative and are involved in expressing imperatives and so design is often seen to be an all-encompassing activity but this view of design is not helpful in the long term.
Design has come to an end but it as an all-ecompassing activity that is has come to an end. Design really is over but not for the reason these academics suggest.
A.
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The end of design, humm.. nice words ;)