Intro to Design position paper

The position paper provides an opportunity to choose theme from the field of design in the broadest sense
– taking into account the discussion at the start of this course on how design can be defined – and discuss its value
for your own creative practice. The paper should demonstrate aspects in the practice of design that position your
own work in terms of value: for instance as ethical, social, commercial, etc. You can also write a manifesto.

At this stage your writing can be speculative and provisional and although we greatly appreciate substantiating your argument with references, footnotes and captioned illustrations, we are interested in this first instance to hear of your personal, original opinion about design as an open, widely-designed practice and discourse.

Instructions:

This assignment is the beginning of a theoretical discussion between you, the designer in
training, and me, your recitation leader. It is an opportunity for you to explore how you
understand the practice of design as a whole. What is it? Why does it matter? And finally, How
should it be done and thought about? Beyond fulfilling the formal requirements, the paper will
be most helpful to you as a way to frame a discourse on design. The more detailed and thoughtful
your paper, the more specific feedback I will be able to provide. The level of depth of our
discussion will depend on the depth and detail of your writing.
At this point, your thesis can be provisional and doesn’t require definite proof or
argumentation. Try to simply pick a theme, method of analysis, and object, and explore each in
whatever detail you can. Some example questions to guide you: What does the material analysis
of cars reveal about design? What does a psychoanalytic understanding of social media tell us
about design? What does a phenomenological study of guitar playing tell us about design? What
does an economic analysis of the Nike factory and its workers tell us about design?How do you define design for yourself, your own practice and/or your role as user and consumer? What part of the entire design process holds your interest and how does the part relate to the rest of the process? What is the role of material and/or techniques in design that you admire? How would you distinguish in your own (or somebody else’s) practice between designing objects, systems and services? What type or manifestation of design to you dislike and how would you propose to change improve on or displace it? What is the role of chance or failure in design that you admire? Does design need to be produced in copies/batches/mass in order to exist (in contrast to art that can be admired as a single, autonomous work)? Whjat might be the role of movements and trends? Is design a waste of time, when there are political and environmental battles are waging?

DO NOT analysis iPhone.