What is Design Theory?

Abstract

Against the backdrop of visual culture studies, the field of design theory refers to a basic dispositif and as a sign of this faces an at least threefold challenge: (1) design practitioners still look on its emergence with skepticism (Mareis 2011, 29); (2) there is still no shared understanding of which methodological attributions, epistemological approaches and scientific-historical positions can be used to develop the discipline (Romero-Tejedor/Jonas 2010); and (3) to this day there seems to be an—almost—insurmountable hurdle in helping design-oriented projects gain acceptance as specifically design-theoretical academic qualifications. This observation results in the need for three conclusions too: (item 1) the union of theory and practice should in future be pushed much more emphatically: bringing these together is necessary not only in the basic teaching of design but also within research; (item 2) a design science should also agree on a canon of design theory literature and a set of interdisciplinary research methods that refer back to it (cf. Edelmann/Terstiege 2010); and (item 3) since design theory seems to lead a shadowy existence within the international higher education teaching of design, it is vital that its essentiality is centrally established in order for it to be understood and then communicated—a point at which the following explanations begin, by wanting to address in detail and exemplify the thus briefly outlined discourse on the topic, in particular to explicate a design research that is guided by theory. To this end, suggestions should be made as to how works of design theory that are trying to solve this problem might look. This sketch is based on scientific-theoretical remarks that illuminate the field of design science as design research in the design theory discourse under discussion. Paths are also being taken that offer up an amalgamation of their milestones: an appeal should be made for projects that, within an adequate research framework, inhabit independent, design-theoretical and therefore also design-aesthetic positions. These fulfill the requirements of traditional scholarship, but at the same time differ from it in essential aspects. This results in the creation of works that operate on the notion of the aesthetic in the sense of Baumgarten and Hegel, and which therefore favor them, so to speak, in their specific character (Menke 2008). It is therefore necessary to conceptually develop the idea and areas of design theory in order to connect further method-centered explanations. Finally, reference is made to the detailed contouring of the subject design theory, as it can be described with a focus on a particular school of thought.

Translated from German by Alexandra Berlina. This translation was made possible with funds from Department III of the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. The particular thanks of the author goes to the Dean of Faculty, Professor Dr. Johannes Geilen.