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Issue 5 | June 2017
Design Research & Practice Review
Issue 5 | June 2017
Design Research & Practice Review
Introduction
The design of physical objects is informed
by the culture that surrounds it. It is also
often a response to a perceived absence
of satisfactory solutions to a particular
problem. Conceptual design on the other
hand is an application of the skills of design
for the creation of objects which are driven
by the expression of a concept. This article
introduces the current form of conceptual
work that designers mostly engage in and
proposes to broaden the range of conceptual
work from mainly speculative to include a
more immediate form of enquiry. This form
of conceptual design, which is introspective,
can help put expression to issues
surrounding contemporary design practice.
It also argues that conceptual design should
be used to broaden the investigative tools
of all designers so that they may make more
informed decisions about how they practice.
Beyond critical design
There are emerging and established forms
of conceptual work that designers engage
in, the most notable of which is Critical
Design. The term, which was coined in the
book Hertzian Tales (2008) by designer
Tony Dunne, describes a practice where
designers use experimental products
and speculative narratives to explore the
potential of future technologies and how
we might interact with them. Dunne and his
partner Fiona Raby, as the practice Dunne
& Raby, have helped establish this type of
conceptual practice as both a scholarly and
professional pursuit through publication,
teaching and extensive exhibition. Critical
design has become the most visible aspect of
conceptual design practice to date and has
an important role to play in the way it shapes
and questions the future of design.
Critical design, however, has its natural
limitations in that it is speculative and
therefore concerned with the future.
Design history teaches us about the forces
that shaped contemporary practice and
speculative work informs us about future
possibilities. But how do we interrogate and
evaluate current practice and how might
that be a useful exercise? Conceptual work
need not be purely speculative, perhaps an
introspective approach could open up debate
around more pressing issues within design
and how design practice relates to current
culture in general.
An important area for critical introspection
is the way in which designers facilitate
the transition of new technologies to
commercial applications. In an interview in
2009, sociobiologist E.O. Wilson said “The
real problem of humanity is the following:
we have Palaeolithic emotions; medieval
institutions; and god-like technology”.
Using this statement as a starting point for
conceptual inquiry, how might we assess
the role of design in the society Wilson
describes? Taking the concept at face value,
where do designers stand in relation to the
propagation of the “god-like” technology?
As new technologies are developed and
are exploited commercially, designers
may be seen as exacerbating the lack
of understanding of those technologies
by facilitating their rapid exploitation.
Conversely, perhaps designers play a
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John O’Shea / National College of Art and Design and University College Dublin
Beyond critical:
The importance of introspective
conceptual design
Conceptual design is an emerging area of design research and practice which shares much
in common with conceptual art. Both are driven by the idea that the concept or question
behind the artefacts they produce is often more important than the artefacts themselves.
Speculative design is the most prominent form of conceptual work undertaken by
designers. This article argues that being speculative, and as such forward looking, it leaves
a deficit in our evaluation of current issues in design and their roots. A more immediate
and introspective form of conceptual design may allow us to make better decisions by
questioning and challenging current design culture and contemporary practice.
References
Auger, James and Loizeau, Jimmy. (2009) Afterlife. http://
www.auger-loizeau.com/. Available at: http://www.auger-
loizeau.com/index.php?id=9 (Retrieved 17/10/2016)
Dick Ahlstrom. (2015) Scientists ‘dismayed’ at Government’s
research policy. Dublin, Ireland: Irish Times. Available at:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/scientists-
dismayed-at-government-s-research-policy-1.2143322
(Retrieved 20/02/2017)
Dunne, Anthony. (2008) Hertzian tales: electronic products,
aesthetic experience, and critical design. Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press.
Dunne, Anthony and Raby, Fiona. (2014), Speculative
everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming. Cambridge,
Mass.: MIT Press.
Flusser, Vilém. (1999) The shape of things: a philosophy of
design. Trans., Mathews, Anthony. London: Reaktion.
Guixé, Martí. (2001) L’Ex Designer. Barcelona Available at:
http://www.ex-designer.com/ (Retrieved 11/11/2016)
Harvard Magazine. (2009) An Intellectual Entente.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Magazine, Available at: http://
harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/james-watson-
edward-o-wilson-intellectual-entente (Retrieved 28/01/2017)
Myhrvold, Nathan. (2016) Basic Science Can’t Survive without
Government Funding. Scientific American. Available at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/basic-science-
can-t-survive-without-government-funding/ (Retrieved
20/02/2017)
Popper, Karl. (1963) Conjectures and Refutations. London:
Routledge and Keagan Paul, 33-39
mitigating role by making the transition
from technology to utility easier to
comprehend. Has design played a positive
or negative role in human sociological
development? It could be argued that it is
a positive or a negative force, or indeed an
ambivalent quantity. Perhaps design simply
“is” and it’s what we do with it that matters.
In that case what have we done with it
and how can we evaluate its effect? The
goal of this article is not to answer such
questions but to argue for their importance
to our practice.
Parallels
A similar discussion is currently happening
in the field of science, a discipline that at its
core is about exploring the fundamentals of
nature. Basic research in science, research
which explores fundamental principles,
has become largely relegated in favour
of more commercially practical applied
research. The majority of science research
is now funded by private enterprise and
government funding for basic research is in
decline. In 2015, over 800 researchers were
signatories to an open letter in the Irish
Times expressing concern for the future
of scientific progress and the decline of
support for basic research. These concerns
are being raised and written about in
countries around the world. Similarly, one
could argue creative practice has recently
tended towards highly applied commercial
concerns. By making itself more applied
and focusing strongly on the service of
commercial interests, could design
similarly lose the ability to investigate
its own fundamentals?
In the 1930’s, philosopher of Science,
Karl Popper put forward his theory of
falsifiability, through which one could make
a clear distinction between conjecture and
scientific rigour. In so doing he created the
means to draw a line in the sand, to deal
with propositions that were unfalsifiable
and unscientific. This segregates philosophy
from the practice of science as a distinct
but unnecessary part of scientific enquiry.
Self-described ex-designer Martí Guixé
has defined design as being a creative
pursuit applied to commercial purposes.
As undergraduate students we learned the
more laconic definition of design as “applied
creativity”. With their rigid definitions,
Popper and Guixé limit the scope of their
respective practices and by limiting the
PAPERS
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Figure 1. Dunne & Raby, Foragers (2009)
Figure 2. Martí Guixé, “Autobahn Cookies” and “I-cakes”
(1997, 2001) Photo © Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat
scope of a discipline in this way the tools
available to practitioners are limited also.
In the grey areas between philosophy and
science and the blurred borders between art
and design there is still much that is worth
exploring about each of these disciplines.
But is it art?
The question of what differentiates
conceptual design from art assumes that
objects cannot contain dualities or even
multiplicities. Yet we often imbue objects
with attributes outside those the designer,
artist or producer ever intended, such as a
family heirloom, my favourite pen, the worst
(but most beautiful) juicer I have ever owned.
Giving form to intentional conceptual
ideas can be challenging for designers and
it requires a different approach to that
of typical design projects. The artefacts
of conceptual design do serve a practical
purpose, they are communication devices.
For example, their function may be to
communicate a proposition, question, or
argument. Their form and function, however,
may not be reciprocal in the way they
normally would, breaking a golden design
principle. Both form and function still exist
in conceptual design but rather than being
explicit functions of each other they can
perhaps be seen as independent qualities of
the same object. That is, however, also a very
literal reading of these objects; within the
objects there should be suggestions as to the
intended concept, thus form still does follow
function, but laterally as opposed to linearly.
An example of a conceptual design object
that follows this principle is the afterlife
battery by designers James Auger and Jimmy
Loizeau. The battery contains the captured
chemical potential of a recently deceased
loved one. This is communicated by the
epitaph-like inscription on the side of each
battery. Though still physically a battery, the
way it is employed is given deeper meaning.
For example, you may choose to use the
battery in a form of tribute to the one whose
energy is contained within it. As such, the
form of a battery, with which we are familiar,
belies its true function. It still has the
terminals, cylindrical form and dimensions
we associate with a typical battery but it
is something more akin to a ceremonial
object and ultimately it invokes questions
around afterlife and reincarnation and gives
tangible expression to the act of mourning
or remembrance.
It is important to note that conceptual
design objects do not rely on the suspension
of disbelief. On the contrary, the work of
the designer must be to impart a strong
sense of purpose to the object. The observer,
consumer or user must also be convinced by
the reality described by the object.
Integration
In his book The Shape of Things (1999),
philosopher Vilem Flusser argues that we
are entering a new epoch in manufacturing,
which is distinguished from the transition
to tools or the transition to factories, in
that humans will no longer be at the centre
of the process of making. The robot will
become the fixed quantity at the centre
of the process, which necessitates a new
industrial architecture.
This profound change in how we create
raises many serious issues around how the
role of the designer will change to meet
these new realities. How will the relationship
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Figure 3. Auger & Loizeau, Afterlife Battery (2009)
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of design, craft and art evolve as these
changes accelerate with seemingly ever-
increasing momentum?
The contribution of critical introspection can
help to inform developing issues, but more
importantly it may actually shape them too.
The important decisions that are made in the
present may have wide ranging implications
for the future of the profession of design as
this new model of production expands.
While critical design is borne of research and
careful narrative choices, speculation without
basis is idle. Introspective conceptual design
can fortify the narratives of speculation but
it should also contribute to the conversation
from which speculation might arise, and do
so in a similar theoretical language to that
employed in speculative design. Further
to informing speculation, and perhaps
most importantly, it should inform us in
the present of the debates and questions
surrounding our contemporary practice and
culture, by making them visible, tangible and
accessible. The importance of conceptual
inquiry should not be outsourced to the
ex-designer, it is too important not to be
integrated into the education and practical
toolset of current designers.
“The question of what
differentiates conceptual
design from art assumes
that objects cannot
contain dualities or even
multiplicities. Yet we
often imbue objects with
attributes outside those
the designer, artist or
producer ever intended,
such as a family heirloom,
my favourite pen, the
worst (but most beautiful)
juicer I have ever owned”
PAPERS
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