Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements xiii
CONTENTS
1 Introducing critical design 1
Cha\lenging orthodoxy 4
Cha\lenging colloquialism: The problem with critical design 4
What's so critical about critical design practice 7
Why study critical design? 8
Researching critical design practice 1 o
'Critical' in critical design practice 10
Industrial design as a discipline 12
The structure and approach to writing 13
2 History 17
A forgotten history of critical design practice 17
An emerging critical design practice 18
Cha\lenging hegemony 19
Anti-design 21
Participatory design 24
Unikat Design: Adding nothing but the concept 26
Representative design 28
Designing interactions 29
Critical design at the Royal Co\lege of Art 31
Synergies between precedent and contemporary examples
of critical design 33
Conclusion 38
3 Theories, methods, and tactics 41
Design as a medium for inquiry 41
Post-optimal design and para-functionality 44
Rhetorical use 4 7
Discursive design 47
The aesthetics of use and meaningful presence 49
Exploratory potential 51
Design fiction 54
Speculation and proposition 56
Constructing publics 61
Ambiguity 62
Satire 67
Conclusion 69
4 Criticism, function, and discipline 71
Design art 71
Design art and society 73
Function in critical design practice 78
The paradox of critical design in commercial use 84
Modelling the field 85
Design at users 87
Directing critique through design practice 88
Conclusion 89
5 Practice 91
Associative design 92
Speculative design 100
Critical design 107
Design practice as satire 113
The uses of narrative 115
Rationality and ambiguity 116
Towards a taxonomy of critical practices 117
The taxonomy as an analytical tool 120
Applications of the taxonomy 120
Conclusions 121
6. Critical design practice and its disciplinary contribution 123
Summary 123
Challenging disciplinary orthodoxy 128
An extended role for industrial design: Discipline, Science and Society 131
Notes 133
Bibliography 137
Index 148