Phenomenology studies all aspects of the world as they subjectively appear to us, not ‘as they are’, objectively. An ontological approach, in Heidegger’s terms, studies the coming-into-being type of ‘existence’ that is enhanced by our interactions with these phenomena.
Published in Chapter:
Rediscovering Design Education as a Social Constructivist Foundation for Innovative Design Thinking
Johann van der Merwe (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa)
Copyright: © 2011
|Pages: 24
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-617-9.ch011
Abstract
Design has been described by Bruno Latour as the missing masses, and tellingly as “nowhere to be said and everywhere to be felt” (2005: 73). Traditionally, not only objects, but design’s presence in general has gone largely unnoticed by the public, but that is changing, due, in considerable part, to the ubiquitous presence of computing technology. Design, as representative of unnoticed and neutral objects, is no longer feasible, but design, as a participative presence in the lives of its users, is fast gaining ground in our complex society. Designers are no longer fully in control of the design process, meaning design practice, and as a result design education must change to adapt to the increasing pace at which different social groups are evolving new ways of communicating and living.