MEANING IN DESIGN 3 DESIGN CULTURE burcak@tetrazon.net

MEANING IN DESIGN

3DESIGN CULTURE

burcak@tetrazon.netwww.tetrazon.net

WHAT IS DESIGN CULTURE

DESIGN CULTURE is;

t h e s t u d y o f t h e i n t e r re l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n d e s i g n

a r t e f a c t s , i n a l l t h e i r m a n i f e s t a t i o n s , t h e w o r k o f

d e s i g n e r s , d e s i g n p ro d u c t i o n ( i n c l u d i n g m a r ke t i n g ,

a d v e r t i s i n g a n d d i s t r i b u t i o n ) a n d t h e i r c o n s u m p t i o n .      

Design and Culture have always been closely

interrelated.

In many instances design is flaunted as a measure of culture, as a

reflection of cultural behaviors and visions of a society, rather

than belonging to part of cultural context of the society.    

Chicken-Egg debate

Commonly known,

Culture is referred

to as a pattern that signifies human activity manifested

by the arts, music, sculpture, theatre, dance, film,

fashion, design, food and architecture.

Traditionally;

Cultureembraces complex ways of living, value systems,

traditions, beliefs and habits; including knowledge,morals, law and customs, acquired by

those within that Society.

D E S I G N C U LT U R E

can simply be defi ned as the “visibi l ity”

of creation and the “acceptance” of the

society towards design organization.

At the beginning

of 20th century

design activity

was quite a

single/personal

practice ( l ike

arts…)

Few des igners dec lared themselves around

“des ign mani festos” .

The organizat ion and ideo logy of des ign rested

l imited in these groups.

Bauhaus design metal workshop: Marianne Brandt, Christian Dell, László Moholy-Nagy, Hans Przyrembel,

Wilhelm Wagenfeld and others

FEW ABOUT

EARLIER DESIGN MANIFESTOS

1889 The Arts and Crafts of Today, William Morris

1909 The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, F.T. Marinetti

1914 Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, Antonio Sant’Elia

1918 De Stijl Manifesto

1919 Bauhaus Manifesto, Walter Gropius

1919 Das grüne Manifest (“The Green Manifesto”), Leberecht Migge

1920 Down with Seriousism, Bruno Taut

1922 Manifesto of the Painters’ Union, Taller de Grafica Popular

1923 Topology of Typography, El Lissitzky

1923 The New Typography, László Moholy-Nagy

1933 Charter of Athens, Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne

BEGINNING OF DESIGN CULTURE

Throughout its history, design culture signifies the business

approach and organization, in other words design consultancy

and institualisation of design. This evolution to

“professionalism” originated the design culture today.

Design consultancy, that means “whole service” in design process, found in advertising first.

By the 1920’s an array of specialist activities are seen in USA. This model of “whole service” was consolidated in 1930’s while it did

not take shape in Europe until the early 1960’s.

BEGINNING OF DESIGN CULTURE

Raymond Loewy Associates

The design studio founded in 1929. In 1938 it employed 18 designers, in 1941 there

were 56 and between 1947 and mid 1960’s it expanded from 150 to 180 empoyees.

Loewy himself combined a background in engineering with illustration and he sought

to coordinate all aspects of design provision from product origination to its styling and

brand identity.

In 1950s – 1960s design studios of famous designers become more common and accepted. But the

institualisation of design consultancy was still shadowed by their name.

Left to Right: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom

During 1950s – 1970s “design” was demanded mostly for technical aspects and

mass production. The “Fordism” impact on every levels of production

shaped the preferences in design.

Fordism

is a modern economic and social system based on

industrial mass production. The concept is used in various

social theories about production and related socio-

economic phenomena.

Fordist production Just-in-time production

PRODUCTION PROCESS PRODUCTION PROCESS

Mass production of homogeneous goods Small batch production

Uniformity and standardization Flexible and small batch production of a variety of product types

Resource-driven Demand-driven

Vertical and horizontal integration Quasi vertical integration sub-contracting

LABOUR LABOUR

Single task performance worker Multiple tasks

High degree of job specialization Elimination of job demarcation

Vertical labor organization More horizontal labor organization

SPACE SPACE

Functional spatial specialization Spatial clustering and agglomeration

Spatial division of labor Spatial integration

Homogenization of regional labour markets

Labor market diversification

STATE STATE

Regulation Deregulation

Rigidity Flexibility

Socialization of welfare privatization of collective needs

Centralization Decentralization and sharpened interregional/intercity competition

Subsidy state/city Entrepreneurial state/city

National regional policies Territorial regional policies

IDEOLOGY IDEOLOGY

Mass consumption of consumer durables Individualized consumption

The consumption of society Yuppie culture

Modernism Postmodernism

socialization Individualization

The spectacle society

The chief growth area for design practice during the 1980s was not in design for manufacture, but in design for the service sector in general and the mediation and

distribution of goods and services in particular.

This changement of mentality in design perception started at

Retail design, packaging and corporate identity, annual report design events and exhibition design were the real boom areas.

Thinking by a populist understanding, cultural identity in 1990’s permanently converged Design and Culture into

one cultural fusion, and became universally communicated as measure of cultural success.

So The design cu l ture is reshaped i tse l f through a

growing structure re lated with many other fi elds and serv ices.

The design culture includes the study of the production, mediation,

circulation and regulation of design.

Design culture is about processes, people, relationships, flows, fluxes and vectors.

Impacts of

Design cu l ture

Global Design Culture Neo-liberalism mostly involves the competition of monopolies.This is not just between products or services for market share but between brands.

This case, priviliges orienting “design culture” through the brands. Design can be legitimized throughout the brands…

Concurrent Design Culture The rise of branding in design, create a linear system of development. In a corporation, departments worked in a chain of command. Different departments take the responsibility of developing a different part of the product.

Departments of same corporation concurring while the corporation concours with other brands.

Intensive Design Culture Design studios may be physically distanced from both their productive infrastructure and their consumer bases.

Creative clusters and creative quarters are formed in creative cities. 7/24 design lifestyle…

Local Design Culture Being designerly capital on specific locations. Such locations could be the Parisian fashion system, the Milanese furniture scene, Barcelona’s designscape, Montreal as design city --

Local design culture allows for the dignity of the specific. Running after even lost authenticity…