Description
An original exploration of the role of aesthetics in contemporary design, uniquely combining philosophical aesthetics and cultural analysis of design.
As a product of human ingenuity, design functions as an artificial interface through which we meet the world. While the ubiquity of design seems to render it imperceptible, when we truly reflect on design, we see that it is inextricably entwined with our experience of the world. In Design Aesthetics, Mads Nygaard Folkmann provides an engaging introduction to the field of design aesthetics and its role as a concept. Engaging with sensual, conceptual, and contextual considerations of design aesthetics, this book investigates design experience in tandem with design practice, objects, and perception.
Part one of Design Aesthetics lays the theoretical foundation by differentiating between sensual, conceptual, and contextual dimensions of design aesthetics and clarifying what “aesthetic experience” means in relation to design. The second part of the book consists of studies in implications of design aesthetics for design practice, design objects with embedded technology, and the construction of perception of aesthetic qualities in objects. In its focus on design aesthetics, the book is intended for everyone working with design—design students, designer researchers, and designers—as well as students and researchers in aesthetics in general.
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
I Theory
1 Aesthetics 23
2 Aesthetics and Design
3 Design Aesthetics: A Framework 57
4 Aesthetic Experience in Design 109
II Implications
5 Negotiating Aesthetics in Design Practice 151
6 The Post-Material Aesthetics of Digital Objects 199
7 Aestheticizing Perception of Design 243
Coda: Too Much Aesthetics? 287
Glossary: A Quick Guide to Design Aesthetics 295
Notes 301
References 331
Index 357
