Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

The history of design goes back just 150 years. Design first became an important artistic-technical discipline, then a strategy (design thinking) and finally an epidemic. In my paper, I develop the thesis that design often makes false promises. The promises of design - and this is probably the reason for its great success - are more often associated with economic promises of success and less with intellectual rationality. This is certainly also due to the fact that we have irretrievably lost the most cultivated rules for ‘good design’ (“Good Design Is Good Business”). So when we talk about our future, we should expand our capacity for ‘reflection’ and think about ‘restriction’. We can only save ourselves from the onslaught of ideas (ideas consuming themselves faster and faster) by setting up the right barriers to market access. In my study I outline the reasons, first experiences and the perspectives for a legally regulated innovation and design impact assessment.