DESIGN YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

Levanova Natalya Alexandrovna
Design studio LEVANOVAdesign, Moscow, Russia (117336, Moscow, Garibaldi st., 15, www.levanovadesign.com), Candidate of Law, levanovadesign@gmail.com, 8-985-211-40-50

The author examines the essence and concept of design as a type of social activity, its place and significance in the life of society at different stages of its development, the conditions and reasons for the emergence of the profession of designer. The theoretical problems of design as a science are highlighted in a historical retrospective. The activities of modern designers and the possibilities of design in various areas of social reality are analyzed.

The main conclusion is that design should be considered as an independent synthetic type of creative activity along with art and architecture, accumulating and applying knowledge from various fields in practice and requiring representatives of the relevant profession to take a responsible approach to the results of their work.

Keywords: design, design theory, design history, social significance of design, environmental design, behavioral design, design today and tomorrow.

Being human is a design strategy directed against nature. Willem Flusser

In October 2015, the XXIX General Assembly of the World Design Organization (WDO) approved the Basic Regulations, which defined the guiding principles, structure, methods and goals of its activities. Among the latter, nothing less than the creation of a world was proclaimed, in which “design improves the quality of the social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of society” [1, art. 5]. The same session also defined industrial design as a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation, is the foundation of business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative products, systems and experiences. Given these points, the phenomenological approach of Willem Flusser to the analysis of design and its role in the fate of humanity no longer seems so "eschatological".

Having emerged in the era of industrial revolutions as a type of social activity at the intersection of art, science and economics, design has long been considered only from the point of view of its aesthetic and economic functions as a means of improving the quality of manufactured products, and, consequently, increasing economic profit. With the development and movement of society from the industrial age to postmodern culture, design, among other things, has gained a socio-political force that has a powerful influence on the formation of modern society and culture. Great minds of the past and design theorists wrote about this in their writings, but today, even in the professional design environment, understanding the global role of design in society and, as a result, awareness of the full responsibility of the design profession, unfortunately, is not a “common place”. This trend also indicates that design is not just an independent type of socially significant activity, but, in a way, a carrier of social changes, a kind of “all-culture”, striving “to merge religion, philosophy, morality, poetry, music, painting, sculpture and architecture in a single indivisible whole" [3, p. 20]. Today, design has penetrated into all spheres of society: from everyday life to politics, and the area of ​​its “influence” is constantly expanding and diversifying. “The art of design is the art of living, in which all the talents of all mankind must be brought together.” [3, p. 20]

The fact that recently a large number of higher education institutions have included various specializations in the field of design in their educational programs, not to mention the creation of numerous design schools and courses, speaks of the growing popularity of the design profession and the expansion of its scope: from traditional product design and interior design to sound and behavioral (attitudinal) [2, Chapter I] design. This trend also indicates that design is not just an independent type of socially significant activity, but, in a way, a carrier of social changes, a kind of “all-culture”, striving “to merge religion, philosophy, morality, poetry, music, painting, sculpture and architecture in a single indivisible whole" [3, p. 20]. Today, design has penetrated into all spheres of society: from everyday life to politics, and the area of ​​its “influence” is constantly expanding and diversifying. “The art of design is the art of living, in which all the talents of all mankind must be brought together.” [3, p. 20]

What makes design such a universal and comprehensive phenomenon and what is its essence and purpose? The answers to these questions include definitions of design ranging from Herbert Read's "highest art form" and Gio Ponti's "way of realizing artistic potential by creating a world of new and beautiful things" to John Gloag's "service in the system of industrial production" and "a new cultural phenomenon, the only whose purpose is to make a profit by production” by Philip Ashford. If you analyze the semantics of the English words design and to design, it becomes absolutely clear that the type of activity that is meant by them has existed since time immemorial. The ancient Greek word techne (art, craftsmanship) denoted a type of creative activity distinct from crafts, music and medicine, and did not imply its division into design, art and craft. This continued until the Renaissance, when distinctions began to be made between them, and artists received a higher socio-cultural status than designers and craftsmen. In the first art school, the Academy and Company of the Arts of Drawing, which opened in Florence in 1563, art and design began to be taught separately. Other schools followed suit or focused on teaching art and architecture while ignoring design.

Historians associate the emergence of a new profession as a designer (design artist, production artist) with a period of rapid industrial development. The English artist and writer William Morris becomes the first theorist of decorative and applied arts, a designer in the modern sense of the word. The product models he developed were then manually translated into material and replicated by workers. His works on design theory, cultural history and aesthetics are classics of design literature. The emergence of a new creative profession in our country is associated with large-scale social transformations and the establishment in 1920 of the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKHUTEMAS), which trained master artists for Soviet industry. In the 1930s, industrial design also arose in the depths of the US military-industrial complex, which was considered “as a reserve for restoring a healthy economy in the country, and as a sphere of ideas for creating a healthy lifestyle for Americans” [3, p. 14]. For a long time, economic, administrative, corporate and form-creative problems overshadowed the need for social and philosophical scientific research in the field of design, which was closed to broad public discussion and solving social problems. However, “design, perceived as the art of a decorator in the mass production of goods, is too narrow, a cramped container for what was born as a means of creating a new world, a new way of life: without luxury, wastefulness, greed and irresponsibility” [3, p. 20].

In the 60s of the last century, a special Laboratory of General Theoretical Problems of the Department of Theory and Methods of Artistic Design of VNIITE was created in Russia, uniting re-specialized artists, architects, engineers, applied workers and sculptors. This structure existed for only four years and left behind scattered materials stored in archives, but it set itself ambitious tasks, in particular, in the first part of the Laboratory’s Scientific Research Program, the need was declared to form a scientific basis for design activity and create a new science - design theory [4, c. 1], the scope of research of which included four groups of problems: sociological, socio-economic, aesthetic and methodological.

It was planned to conduct research in several areas: general theoretical problems of design, history of domestic and foreign design, artistic design techniques, terminology, problems of composition and shape-formation. The areas of research in design theory defined the entire society as the area of ​​consumption of things, production and design. In addition, it was said about the need for two theories of design: specific and general. The subject of the first was the so-called “piece” design, aimed at designing individual objects and their ensembles, the second was supposed to focus on the design of the “future” as a comprehensive, total design of the subject environment.

The Scientific Report of the Laboratory on the methodological problems of design theory posed the problem of determining the essence of this phenomenon and analyzed its differences with such areas of social activity as engineering, architecture, art and science, with which design is closely related, but to which it is not identical, since “this is a new field social activity, which in the near future will take place next to the spheres of science and art” [5, p. 9]. This position differed significantly from previously prevailing ideas about technical aesthetics as a production art. It was about the creation of a still non-existent science as an integral theoretical system that integrates knowledge from various fields - humanitarian, natural and technical, since design practice is extremely complex, comprehensive and synthetic in nature, unites the most diverse elements of social reality and must take into account the very heterogeneous requirements - from cultural and aesthetic values ​​to technological production requirements.

While Soviet scientists were busy creating new science, in Europe, from the late 1950s, there was a growing trend to produce more and more goods. The development of science and industry, the involvement of new technologies in design and the growth of consumer demand led to a technological boom in the 60s and 70s. It was a time of ambitious projects, when designers did not think about the long-term nature of their operation and did not address issues of environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources.

At the end of the 20th century, there was a crisis of overproduction and, as a consequence, an environmental crisis; Social and political instability led to anxiety about the fate of humanity. The appearance of the world-famous monograph by the American sociologist A. Toffler “Futuroshock” made a revolution in the minds of readers and influenced the orientation of many scientific studies devoted to the transition from an industrial society to a post-industrial one. Being a powerful social force, design entered into dialogue with philosophy, political science, cultural studies and sociology. The principle of “symmetry of ignorance”, which formed the basis for the development of methods for consumer participation in the formation of professional ideas and design attitudes; the spread of “do-it-yourself” methods aimed against materialism and activating the creative initiative of the population; social design, in particular, of youth subcultures as opposed to destructive youth movements; designing rituals, traditions, ceremonies and saturating them with designer-thought-out subject systems have become new realities and tasks for designers and have led to the need to rethink the capabilities of the design profession. [cm. 3, p. 45-66]

Back in the first half of the last century, the Hungarian artist and design theorist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy wrote in his book “Vision in Motion” that design is not a profession, but a worldview, and that, in the end, all design tasks come down to one great task - design for a life that, in a healthy society, will inspire members of every profession and calling to contribute to the common cause, since it is the connectedness of all activities that gives culture its quality. That is why design and the profession of a designer should be considered not simply as a function of a certain specialist, but as a generally accepted position of resourcefulness and ingenuity, which allows individual projects to be considered not in isolation, but in connection with the needs of the individual and society [6. With. 42]. No matter how we define the essence of design, we can confidently say that it always brings with it changes that entail consequences in all spheres of society: from economics and social issues to politics and culture in general. Because of this, designers must, with full responsibility for their activities, be aware of the impact of their results on the lives of individuals and the existence of society as a whole: will they bring benefits or add to the list of, at best, useless, at worst, harmful, things and processes.

In one of his essays on the problems of design and its future, the German philosopher and photographer Wilem Flusser argued that our world is moving in its development from the possession of things to the consumption of information. As a result, in the future, “an increasingly large part of society will be occupied with the production of information, “services,” management and programming, and less and less with the production of things,” accordingly, “life in an environment that is acquiring an immaterial character will acquire a different interest” [7, p. 115]. If we compare these thoughts with the development of design, we can say that design is also moving in this direction. Of course, object, interior, clothing design and other types of “material” design will continue to exist, changing in accordance with the requirements of the time, but the fact that the interest of new generations is shifting towards “information” design is undoubtedly. Modern youth care about emotions of a different kind than those that previous generations sought to receive: things as such are shifting to the periphery of human interests, and this cannot but influence design, which, while still remaining at the intersection of technology, art and economics , acquires new types and specializations. “The new man does not want to act and possess - he wants to experience. He desires to gain experience, to learn and, above all, to enjoy.” [7, p. 117] “In a situation of immateriality, it is necessary to produce immaterial information and receive pleasure from it. Information production is a permutation game with symbols. The pleasure of information is looking at the symbols. In a situation of immateriality, it is necessary to play with symbols and consider them. Program and have fun with programs. [7, p. 120]

No less significant for the development of design is the issue of ecology. If in the era of the industrial world “the transformation of nature into culture” was considered progress, today it is quite obvious that as a result of human consumption of this culture, the “waste” of this process returns to nature, becoming part of it, and it is no longer possible to ignore this fact. In this regard, the areas of environmental (sustainable) and behavioral (attitudinal) design become particularly relevant.

For example, in 2013, nineteen-year-old design engineer student Boyan Slat, having discovered during a vacation in Greece that there were more plastic bags in the water than fish, organized a non-profit foundation to clean up the ocean from plastic waste, The Ocean Cleanup. He initially raised two million dollars through crowdfunding to create a huge floating structure to clean up large garbage patches from the ocean. By 2018, he had more than thirty million dollars to build a prototype, conduct initial testing of the system, and begin advanced research in the Pacific Ocean.

Back in the 1920s, American designer, engineer and architect Richard Buckminster Fuller campaigned against the environmental damage caused by industrialization and devoted his career to developing practical solutions to reduce it, particularly prefabricated storage systems. In the '60s and '70s, he campaigned to mobilize a global movement of "integrated designers" who were willing to set aside their commercial interests to build a better future.

Founded in 2005 by Bianca Elsenbauer and Fabio Franz in Tyrol, Italy, design group Brave New Alps undertakes social design projects that address social and political tensions in local communities. In 2012, the group registered as a cultural non-profit organization to use the legal and organizational system to promote eco-social design. The work lab they created trains local people in carpentry and other skills in an attempt to improve life in the region.

Design research agency Forensic Architecture, based at the University of London, helps victims of climate and war crimes, investigating human rights violations with lawyers, scientists and archaeologists, notably the deaths of 63 migrants left to die on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The agency reconstructs such incidents by creating digital models and animations that can be used as evidence by official investigations.в.

Russian designers are also talking about socially responsible design today, emphasizing that in order to be socially responsible, it is not necessary to take responsibility for all of humanity at once. A socially responsible designer takes care, first of all, of the area in which he works, carefully models the experience of another person and does everything in his power to improve this experience. “Whether we like it or not, conversations about the social responsibility of design will not stop until the words “design” and “responsibility” themselves become synonymous, and the need for these conversations disappears. This will happen when the traditional order of questions for a designer is “What to do?”, “How to do?” and for what?" will be reversed." (Kirill Evdakov, creative director of the Krasnodar advertising agency "Rutorika")

Since 2010, the Creative Association of Curators TOK has been operating in St. Petersburg, a public organization engaged in projects in the field of art, social sciences and design. The main goals of the association are the inclusion of modern artistic and creative practices in various social spheres, introducing the wide audience of St. Petersburg to the works of modern Russian and international specialists in the field of art, and establishing cultural ties between different cities. TOK's activities are aimed at developing and implementing projects based on the study of cultural processes in modern society. One of the main ideas of the organization is the combination of theory and practice and work at the intersection of art and social sciences.

Of course, all designers without exception are not required to dive into the field of behavioral design by creating special non-profit organizations. Most of them continue to study and practice material design on a commercial basis. Some express their concerns about cultural, political and environmental issues on their own, while others enter into collaborations with artists, politicians, economists, scientists and representatives of other professions, making their contribution to solving various social problems. Among the latter, in addition to the worsening environmental crisis, one can also name refugee problems, rising poverty, and the spread of prejudice, intolerance and extremism. At a time when traditional social systems and institutions are no longer as effective, and the life of society is constantly changing under the influence of increasingly complex and influential technologies, designers are creating projects aimed at combating climate change, filling the gaps in health care and social services, supporting victims natural disasters and man-made disasters.

All of the above speaks of the increasing importance of design in the life of society and the change in its relationship with other areas of creativity, including art. And this, in turn, means that the responsibility of modern designers to society, as specialists who design the living environment and participate in the organization of various social processes that influence worldviews and cultural codes, is higher than ever before. And the science of design will have to ask questions more than once about what design is and what its purpose is in the life of society.

Bibliography

1. International design organization. Constitution and by-laws. Gwangju, 2015.
2. Alice Rawsthorne. Design as a worldview. Zurich, 2018.
3. Mosorov A.M., Mosorova N.N. Design theory. Ekaterinburg, 2004.
4. Kantor K.M., Genisaretsky O.I., Shchedrovitsky G.P. "Main directions of research on general issues of technical aesthetics." Moscow, 1965.
5. O. Genisaretsky, G. Shchedrovitsky “Methodological problems of design theory.” Scientific report on topic 0047(1), VNIITE GKNT. Moscow, 1966.
6. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Vision in motion. Chicago, 1947.
7. Vilem Flusser. About the state of things. Small design philosophy. - Moscow, 2016.

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