Economics of Design

Remarks on the Economics of Design
Form and context / Explicating implicit knowledge / Experiment / Ornamentation, veneer / Sustainability / Formal sequence

The following remarks on the economics of design focus on the processes of artistic creation within industrial design, i. e. features of the results of design not visible or quantifiable. This includes processes of creation and of knowledge as well as  experiments and mistakes. Various theoretical questions concerning the economics of design are discussed referring to the project "New Veneer" of the design-group "bkm" in cooperation with the company "RoHol". The following points, discussed in detail in due course, serve as a first attempt at establishing an economics of design:

- Design can be regarded as a process of optimizing source materials and surroundings

- Design does not take place independent of conditions, but as a process of adjustment, in which form is created in interaction with the
context of the problem

- Design is a cooperation of architects, designers, experts and commissioners exchanging general and subjective knowledge
 
- Design involving experiments and methods abridges the process and reduces the possibility of mistakes

- Design increasingly coincides with production, therefore developing sustainable solutions for specific problems instead of general
solutions with high expenditure of energy

- Design is not a process of ornamentation by craftsmen wasting manpower, because decorations can be produced by industry  

- Design as a creative reaction to mistakes, problems or social and ecological topics can evoke new ethical attitudes of consumers

Extract from "Remarks on the Economics of Design" by Gert Hasenhütl

Publisher
bkm design working group, 2009

Material samples
RoHol, bkm

This booklet was published on the occasion of the exhibition “New Veneer” in the context of the Vienna Design Week 2009.

Financed by bmukk. MA7

The publication is available at:
info@bkm-format.com