The post-design approach: using design, getting informed by it, and then go and see the bigger picture

Abstract

Interview für Doğu Kaya, Philip Jursch (Hrsg.), Constants and Variables. Perspektiven auf den stetigen Wandel im Design, Master-Thesis Münster School of Design, Münster, 2020, S. 94-99.
Über das Buch: Design ist immer abhängig von der Gesellschaft, in der es geschaffen wird – wenn sich die Gesellschaft verändert, wandeln sich auch die Anforderungen an das Design. Mit jeder technologischen Veränderung werden neue Expere­­mentier- und Arbeitsfelder für Designer*innen eröffnet, die ausgelotet und bespielt werden wollen. Unsere Produk­tions- und Kommunikations­prozesse entwickeln sich stetig weiter, dies macht es umso wichtiger darüber nachzudenken, wo wir mit all diesen Möglichkeiten eigentlich hinwollen. Constants & Variables nähert sich der Frage, wie wir als Gestalter*innen mit diesen ständigen Veränderungen umgehen können. Dazu wird zum einen der Umgang mit technologischen Entwicklungen in der Ver­gangenheit beleuchtet und außerdem ein Ein- und Ausblick in das gestalterische Arbeiten von heute und morgen geboten.
Dieses Buch ist nicht auf der Suche nach einer Antwort darauf, wie unsere Zukunft aussehen wird, vielmehr wirft es Fragen in den Raum, die helfen sollen die Gegenwart bewusster zu gestalten.
https://www.designmadeingermany.de/2019/164559/

Full text

!
1!
!
!
!
!
The!post-design!approach:!using!design,!getting!informed!by!
it,!and!then!go!and!see!the!bigger!picture!
!
Cornelia!Lund!&!Holger!Lund!
!
Interview!für!Doğu!Kaya,!Philip!Jursch!(Hrsg.),!Constants'and'Variables.'Perspektiven'auf'
den'stetigen'Wandel'im'Design,!Master-Thesis!Münster!School!of!Design,!Münster,!2020,!
S.!94-99.!
!
Interview!mit!Doğu!Kaya,!Philip!Jursch!
!
Q!What!can!design!do!for!society!in!the!future?!!
A!It’s!interesting!to!see!that!this!question!is!imposed!on!designers,!but!you!would!not!
necessarily!impose!it!on!engineers,!lawyers!or!craftsmen.!We!sincerely!doubt!that!
designers!in!general!have!futurological!skills.!But!since!the!beginning!of!design!as!a!self-
reflective!discipline,!with!movements!like!arts!and!crafts!for!example,!many!design!
movements!have!been!related!to!art!and!its!utopian!potential.!We!think,!what!qualifies!
designers!to!receive!this!question!is!their!close!connection!with!art!–!and!architecture!–!
and!therefore!the!ability!to!develop!utopian!scenarios!for!the!future!of!mankind.!!

!
2!
Q!In!recent!years!there!has!been!a!lot!of!discussion!about!artificial!intelligence!and!
robotic!colleagues!who!are!supposed!to!do!the!work!for!us.!Is!good!design!
predictable!and!automatable,!or!is!there!a!component!that!cannot!be!rationally!
described?!!
!
A!Your!question!includes!the!distinction!between!man!and!machine!and!this!is!
something!that!is!getting!more!and!more!difficult.!In!the!future,!we!might!not!be!able!to!
make!this!distinction!anymore.!There!is!an!interesting!project!from!Japan,!called!AI!CD!
»Artificial!Intelligence!Creative!Director«.1!!It!is!a!design!co-bot!that!works!together!with!
human!designers.!The!latter!are!feeding!the!bot!with!information!and!it!learns!how!to!
direct!the!creative!process.!Ultimately,!it!is!supposed!to!replace!the!designers.!And!if!
humans!can’t!be!distinguished!anymore!clearly!from!machines!then!the!question!is!
obsolete.!Robots!are!in!us;!we!will!get!increasingly!connected!and!entangled!with!them!
over!time.!!
Q!Which!interdisciplinary!developments!can!we!still!expect!if!we!look!a!bit!
further?!!
A!Designers!receive!more!interdisciplinary!work!every!day,!and!research!competences!
are!very!much!in!demand,!whereas!specialists!are!probably!going!to!be!less!needed.!
What!is!needed,!however,!are!“connectors”.!The!role!of!the!designer!is!going!to!be!that!of!
a!connector!for!cross-media;!and!the!involved!disciplines!will!not!only!be!those!very!
closely!linked!to!design.!There!are!many!students!who!have!studied!something!totally!
different!before.!And!they!connect!that!knowledge!with!their!design!studies.!They!are!
what!we!could!call!the!first!representatives!of!post-designers,!going!beyond!pure!design.!
It!actually!doesn’t!matter!what!other!disciplines!they!studied.!If!creativity!is!needed,!you!
usually!get!it!much!easier!from!designers!with!an!inter-!or!transdisciplinary!approach.!
This!ultimately!even!led!to!concepts!such!as!design!thinking,!which!is!more!a!creative!
approach!to!project!management!than!to!design.!Only!two!per!cent!of!the!people!at!
Hasso!Plattner’s!School!of!Design!Thinking!in!Potsdam!are!designers!and!the!rest!comes!
from!other!disciplines.2!So,!basically,!you!don’t!actually!need!designers!to!do!design!
thinking.!!
!
Q!Are!there!any!developments!that!you!believe!will!shape!our!working!
environments!in!the!future?!!
A!We!think!several!developments!should!be!mentioned!here.!The!first!one!relates!back!
to!Bruno!Latour!and!his!ideas!about!the!extension!of!the!field!of!design.!There!are!new!
areas!like!genome!design,!climate!design!or!olfactory!design.!And!this!exploration!and!
expansion!of!design!is!also!going!to!affect!our!business!models.!With!the!decline!of!
traditional!capitalism!and!the!rise!of!Neoliberalism,!social!and!economic!challenges!are!
coming!more!and!more!into!the!foreground,!touching!all!kinds!of!areas.!Green-washing!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1!Cf. https://vimeo.com/174554411
2!Cf. https://hpi.de/school-of-design-thinking.html

!
3!
or!social-washing!projects!are!an!attempt!to!at!least!create!a!sustainable!appearance.!A!
really!positive!example!of!eco-social!design!is!the!eponymous!MA!programme!at!the!
Free!University!of!Bozen/Bolzano.3!It!offers!a!good!approach!for!those!who!are!
interested!in!ecological!and!sociological!design!challenges.!!
What!is!changing!as!well!are!the!population!and!the!target!groups.!If!you!look!at!Sinus-
Milieus!and!Limbic!Maps,!you!find!nothing!about!the!real!society.!Our!society!is!
becoming!a!society!shaped!by!a!majority!of!minorities.!In!Germany,!those!minorities!are!
not!very!well!represented!in!focus!group!analyses!and!design!thinking!studies.!The!
challenge!here!is!to!develop!new!methods!and!tools!that!address!and!include!all!groups.!
And!the!last!development,!which!we!would!like!to!mention,!could!be!the!emerging!
neural!marketing.!It!can!be!seen!as!a!new!tool!in!cognition!science!to!help!designers!
understand!what!and!how!they!will!be!designing!in!the!near!future!–!and!to!use!this!for!
manipulation!purposes,!of!course.!!
Q!What!effect!has!technology!had!on!the!design!field?

!
!
A!The!technology!that!dominates!the!design!field!can!be!described!as!the!result!of!
financial!and!political!interests.!We!have!to!ask!who!is!developing!these!technologies,!
with!whose!money!and!to!what!ends.!We!should!look!at!the!people!in!Silicon!Valley!and!
see!how!they!treat!their!children!and!what’s!important!to!them.!If!Steve!Jobs!forbids!his!
children!to!use!the!iPhone!because!it!is!a!waste!of!time,!maybe!that’s!a!sign!to!rethink!
our!attitude!towards!a!certain!use!of!technology.!An!important!publication,!which!we!
would!like!to!recommend!here,!is!the!magazine!The!Funambulist.4!The!magazine!is!
coming!from!a!background!in!urbanism!but!also!includes!architecture,!cartography,!
fashion!design,!sociology!and!many!more!disciplines!and!their!technological!
developments.!It!also!has!an!activist!background,!and!with!this!mixture,!The!
Funambulist!shows!a!post-design!orientation.!There!are!many!articles!on!design!
concepts!such!as!social!design,!political!design,!resistance!design!and!speculative!design.!
The!Funambulist,!however,!approaches!these!trendy!subjects!in!a!very!un-trendy!way.!It!
clearly!doesn’t!use!those!subjects!to!create!hype!but!to!help!us!understand!our!
transforming!lives.!!
Q!Our!smart!devices!are!always!with!us.!What!are!your!opinions!on!human-media!
hybrid?!!
A!Smartphones!and!smartwatches!are!still!external.!The!next!step!will!be!that!this!smart!
technology!goes!inside!the!body!to!get!vital!data,!not!only!physical!but!also!psychological!
data!on!a!cognitive!and!emotional!level.!Facebook!and!some!other!huge!companies!are!
already!developing!tools!to!get!inside!our!bodies.!They!pay!billions!of!dollars!to!achieve!
that,!and!they!don’t!do!it!for!nothing,!that’s!for!sure.!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3!Cf. https://www.unibz.it/
4!Cf. https://thefunambulist.net/
!

!
4!
Q!What!do!you!recommend!to!young!designers?!!
A!We!would!recommend!not!to!over-estimate!design.!And!instead!to!try!to!understand!
the!concept!of!post-design!and!to!realize!that!design!is!not!only!about!learning!skills!and!
gaining!design!competences,!but!also!increasingly!about!working!strategically!in!an!
interdisciplinary!environment.!We!think!that!these!interdisciplinary!working!principles!
and!the!ability!to!see!(and!question)!the!bigger!picture!should!be!firmly!implemented!in!
design!studies.!!
We!recently!did!some!research!on!the!fashion!design!scene!in!Dakar,!Senegal,!and!only!
one!out!of!all!the!designers!our!research!team!met!had!a!formal!design!education.!
Everyone!else!came!from!another!discipline,!and!many!of!them!had!already!left!design!
for!yet!another!discipline.!What!happens!here!is!that!design!is!developed!with!a!
connection!to!other!disciplines!and,!later!on,!other!disciplines!profit!from!the!connection!
to!design.!One!example:!one!ex-fashion!designer!we!met!in!Dakar!had!studied!economy,!
then!successfully!shifted!to!fashion!design!to!finally!leave!fashion!design!for!a!more!
socio-political!work!at!an!NGO,!empowering!women!in!local!textile!industries!in!Africa.!
This!is!an!exemplary!post-design!approach:!using!design,!getting!informed!by!it,!and!
then!go!and!see!the!bigger!picture!–!and!act!in!it.!!
!
Cornelia!Lund!is!an!art,!film!and!media!theorist,!and!curator!living!in!Berlin.!She!has!a!
long-standing!academic!career!as!researcher!and!lecturer,!teaching!design!and!media!
theory!at!various!universities.!Lately,!she!has!been!project!curator!of!“Connecting!Afro!
Futures.!Fashion!x!Hair!x!Design”!at!the!Kunstgewerbemuseum!Berlin.!
Since!2004,!Cornelia!and!Holger!Lund!have!been!running!fluctuating'images'
(fluctuating-images.de),!a!platform!for!media!art!and!design.!They!are!the!editors!of!
Audio.Visual!–!On!Visual!Music!and!Related!Media!(2009),!Design!der!Zukunft!(2014),!
and!lundaudiovisualwritings.org!(2017).!Cornelia!is!also!co-editor!of!The!Audiovisual!
Breakthrough!(2015),!and!the!online!platform!Post-digital!Culture!(2015-ongoing).!
Holger!Lund!works!as!an!art,!design,!and!music!researcher!and!as!a!curator!and!dj.!
After!deputizing!the!position!of!chair!of!design!theory!at!the!University!of!Pforzheim!
from!2008!to!2011,!he!began!his!duties!as!professor!of!media!design!at!the!DHBW!
Ravensburg.!In!addition!he!runs!the!music!label!Global!Pop!First!Wave,!dedicated!to!
non-Western!pop!history,!especially!Turkish!pop!music!of!the!1960s!and!1970s.!!
!