3 search hits
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A file that has nowhere to end
(2023)
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Hagar Ezzeldin
- ‘A File That Has Nowhere to End’ is a text that was developed during BS projects at HBK
Braunschweig 2022/2023. The text accompanies an artist book and both are part of Domestic
fantasies(3) body of work.
The text revolves around the studio and artistic experiences from the personal point of view. the
first part of the text contemplates my artistic and collective work in Egypt over the past two years.
That unfolds into the studio experience between Germany and Cairo afterwards.
Highlighting the questions which brought out after my visit to documenta15, tracing the time
spent in the studio and transferring it into physical forms of knitting and arm knitting. These works
was processed while discussing the different meanings of creativity, craft and knowledge over my
calls with my mother. Finally I contextualize these questions accordingly to the readings of Annie
Albers, Yazan Khalili and Katja Praznik.
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Design and Unsustainability (Design Exclusion) – Structuring sustainable design approaches for socially responsible practices (Design for equal usability and accessibility)
(2023)
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Rihan Hamdy Rihan Hussein
- The world exists in a socially unsustainable state. Conditions of social inequity in meeting human needs have exceeded the limit. This state has taken place in the same society and across different populations, and its results have become classic wicked problems. Such conditions ‘are a result of the assumptions of utilitarian philosophy underlying mainstream economics, which is indifferent to the risk of very bad outcomes for some individuals in the present or everyone in some alternative futures’ (Dresner, S.: 2008, p. 4).
This state has been inextricably linked to design. Simply, it could be acknowledged that there’s a correlation between the state of design (design paradigm, studies and research guiding design practices) and the state of the world through recognizing the role of design in meeting human needs. The foremost intent of design is the satisfaction of human needs (Margolin, V.: 2002, p. 25). Accordingly, the socially unsustainable state of the world implies that there’s a defect in the past and current design practices; and that the current various forms of design paradigm, studies and research don’t do a good job in guiding the practices to be sustainable.
Unfortunately, in the dominant system – production for the market, most professional design practices serve via commerce and commercialism (Chick, A.: 2011, p. 70) whose primary purpose of design for the market is creating designed things for profit (self-interest). Actually, design is shackled to other goals and values rather than its real ones; ‘increasingly design, as a service, acts on instructions rather than taking action in the original sense’ (Fry, T.: 2009, p. 25) or according to its own theory. It lost its free will and its ability to control. Driven by serving the commercial brief, it ‘serves an instrumental mode of making that brings things to being without knowing what the consequences will be’ (ibid.: p. 26).
This study has examined the phenomenon ‘the correlation between design and the social unsustainability state of the world’ to discover deficiencies in the past and current design practices behind this state, and accordingly, put forward suitable elaborative approaches for avoiding the recurrence of this phenomenon.
The study has proved and acknowledged that unequal design practices or not deeply considering the dynamic diversity of people’s contexts characteristics in design practices (design exclusion) is a verified main cause behind this phenomenon. This has been achieved via collectively evaluating the interaction effectiveness within individual-designed thing relations of access and use through which equitability could be achieved, or via evaluating how equitable accessibility and usability of designed things are across people.
The dominant design paradigm driven by serving the commercial brief is most fundamentally formulated as a reduction of variety. It adopts the average case model (the average user or the standard environment) or targets specific people, groups or societies. Inflexible design models lacking a variety of actions to fit the diversity and dynamism of interaction contexts in the system of meeting human needs create troubles in such a system. Treating all contexts as the same leads to excluding to varying degrees many people from benefiting from the mainstream designed things, and consequently, their needs aren’t partially or completely met. Exclusion by design ‘represents the extreme reaction to poor design which leaves many frustrated or facing difficulty, even if not excluded’ (Clarkson, J.: 2007, p. 178). Many individuals, groups and societies have been vulnerable to design exclusion regarding usability and accessibility, and consequently, their needs haven’t been met.
Evaluating (describing, analyzing and interpreting) the phenomenon according to the proposed cause has helped add new verified and generalized theoretical knowledge (knowing – what, how and why) to the body of knowledge. It may be of value and may contribute to the growth of scientific knowledge and thus achieve a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the phenomenon. This knowledge is represented in the accurate anatomy of the individual-designed thing relations of use and access, the deep clarification of the dynamic diversity of people’s contexts, the accurate descripttion of the socially unsustainable results of our current design paradigm (design exclusion), and the confirmation of the proposed cause related to design practices behind the phenomenon.
In light of this knowledge, for projecting the phenomenon future and trying to control and adjust it, the study has worked on structuring and establishing new suitable elaborative approaches – the design for equal usability and design for equal accessibility approaches as main parts of the equitable design approach – for supporting the optimal model of sustainable design. Both approaches challenge the conventional design paradigm adopting the average case model or targeting specific people, groups or societies, and work to ensure inclusiveness and practicality. For each approach, diverse paths have been introduced to ensure that all people find what is useable and accessible for participating in daily life activities, achieving tasks and satisfying their human needs. Also, for each approach, some fundamental keys have been structured and established for raising awareness needed to promote its message within the design, business and decision-making communities.
This structured and established projective knowledge (knowing – what should be done, and how) may be of value and applicably useful in helping avoid design exclusion, and tackle the pressing and complex problems of a world made socially unsustainable. Also, it may contribute to the growth of scientific knowledge, which in turn guides the new design practices to address the agenda of sustainability regarding social equity in meeting human needs – equity within generations – and pave the way for shaping humans’ future in a socially sustainable fashion.
Together, the theoretical and the projective knowledge may provide effective knowledge that may be of value in refining the design theory, and enable us to think about design in new ways and guide the new design practices to produce socially sustainable design.
According to the applied procedural method, this study follows the descriptive, causal and projective normative studies. It can be classified according to its nature and underlying motivation (purpose of study) as a theoretical (basic) and projective study. For data collection, it has relied on the indirect observation tool; and for processing the data, it has used the qualitative analysis method inductively, deductively and abductively.
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Leben - Design - Identität. Ein designtheoretischer Erklärungsansatz von Selbstmarketing und dessen empirische Bedeutung in der Praxis
(2023)
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Bettina Anna Heinecke
- Dem Wunsch, das Ansehen der eigenen Person gezielt zu beeinflussen, kommt nicht zuletzt aufgrund der zunehmenden Diversifizierung unserer Gesellschaft ein großes praktisches Interesse zu. Neben einer Fülle an Beratungsdiensten der Personalentwicklungsindustrie sowie mannigfachen Seminar- und Workshop-Angeboten finden sich in zunehmender Weise Websites und Bücher der Populärliteratur, die vor diesem Hintergrund an entsprechende Zielgruppen gerichtet sind.
Da sich Marken auch als Ergebnis eines Gestaltungsprozesses herausbilden, also letztlich designte Produkte sind beziehungsweise Design einen wesentlichen Aspekt im Markenbildungsprozess darstellt, muss es erstaunen, dass der überwiegende Teil wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten im Bereich der Marketingforschung zu verorten ist. Dem Design als unabdingbares, nonverbales Kommunikationsmittel, kommt in der vorliegenden wissenschaftlichen Literatur keine tragende Rolle zu. Diesem Forschungsdefizit widmet sich die Dissertationsschrift von Bettina Anna Heinecke an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig. Dabei steht die Frage, welche designtheoretischen Erklärungsversuche zur Beschreibung von Selbstdesign herangezogen werden können, im Zentrum der Betrachtung. Zudem wird der hohen praktischen Relevanz der Thematik durch einen empirischen Teil Rechnung getragen. Die auf einer umfangreichen Literaturrecherche und dem Grounded Theory Ansatz aufbauende Arbeit identifiziert neun Lebensbereiche, in welchen Individuen sich selbst designen.
Die empirischen Ergebnisse einer im Rahmen der Untersuchung durchgeführten Primärerhebung weisen darauf hin, dass Selbstdesign in zentralen Lebensbereichen erfolgreich dazu genutzt werden kann, das gesellschaftliche Ansehen der eigenen Person in gewünschter Weise zu beeinflussen. Spannenderweise belegen die multivariaten Gruppenvergleiche aber auch, dass dies nicht für alle Ausgestaltungsmerkmale wie durch die theoretische Fundierung postuliert geschieht. Zudem deuten die Ergebnisse auf zahlreiche nichtlineare Zusammenhänge hin und bereiten somit fruchtbaren Boden für wissenschaftliche Anknüpfungspunkte und vielversprechende praktische Ansätze, zielgenau zu beeinflussen, wie die eigene Person im gesellschaftlichen Umfeld wahrgenommen wird.
