The Idea of Design

Victor Margolin, Richard Buchanan

MIT Press, 1995 - Architecture - 285 pages

The essays, selected from volumes 4-9 of the international journal Design Issues, focus on three themes: reflection on the nature of design, the meaning of products, and the place of design in world culture.

The Idea of Design is an anthology of essays that addresses the nature and practice of product design and graphic design in the contemporary world. The essays, selected from volumes 4-9 of the international journal Design Issues, focus on three themes: reflection on the nature of design, the meaning of products, and the place of design in world culture. The authors are distinguished scholars, historians, designers, and design educators. The diversity of their work illustrates the pluralistic and interdisciplinary dimensions of the idea of design in contemporary culture.

Contributors
Rudolf Arnheim, S. Balaram, Richard Buchanan, A. Cheng, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Yves Deforge, Clive Dilnot, Alain Findeli, Jorge Frascara, Tony Fry, Rajeswari Ghose, Takuo Hirano, Martin Krampen, Laus Krippendorf, Tomas Maldonado, Victor Margolin, Abraham Moles, Victor Papanek, Gert Selle, Ann Tyler, Barbara Usherwood

A Design Issues Reader

Contents

• Wicked Problems in Design Thinking: 3
• MoholyNagys Design Pedagogy in Chicago 19371946: 35
• Fine Art or Social Science?: 44
• The Future Isnt What It Used To: 56
• Sketching and the Psychology of Design: 70
• Martin Krampen: 89
• The Role of Audience in Visual Communication: 104
• The Power of Punctuation: 113
• Product Symbolism of Gandhi and Its Connection with Indian: 127
• The Gift: 144
• On the Essential Contexts of Artifacts or on the Proposition that: 156
• Rajeshwari Ghose: 187
• Design History and Marginality: 204
• A Personal: 219
• A Cheng: 227
• Gert Selle: 238
• The Idea of Comfort: 248
• Barbara Usherwood: 257
• What of It in a Post Industrial Society?: 268
• Sources: 281

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Idea of Design; Design issues reader, ISSN 0747-9360; Design issues; Mit Press
• Editors: Victor Margolin, Richard Buchanan
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: MIT Press, 1995
• ISBN: 0262631660, 9780262631662
• Length: 285 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / General; Art / General; Design / General; Design / Graphic Arts / Commercial & Corporate; Design / Graphic Arts / General