Design thinking has been changed during the history. The notion of design was connected only with artists and architects since the early Industrial Revolution of 1730-1840. The Industrial Revolution gave rise to the standardized mass production. The design of the things of mass production was not the most important for the manufactures (History of Design Styles, 2003). They were much interested in the function of the thing. Usefulness was more important than the esthetic beauty.
Despite the most important benefit of the Industrial Revolution, namely the possibility to produce large amounts of products more quickly and cheaper, people feel the problem of the industrial design. Charles Cockerel, the architect, highlights that problem in the following words: “the attempt to supersede the work of the mind and the hand by mechanical process for the sake of economy will always have the effect of degrading and ultimately ruining art” (History of Design Styles, 2003). The Arts and Crafts Movement, founded in 1850 after the Prince Consort’s Great Exhibition, made manufactures think over the industrial design. The Prince Consort’s aim was to impel manufactures to use design in their works (History of Design Styles, 2003). The Arts and Crafts Movement was the first step to the new design thinking. This movement failed because of their past vestiges. Their designed productions were not mass and only rich people could afford them such a luxury.
The attitude to design has changed considerably with the technological development. George Hazelrigg points out that “design is no longer just multidisciplinary, it is omnidisciplinary in that any and all disciplines may be involved in the solution to a particular design problem” (Maier, 2008, p. 34). The scope of design thinking and design research has been expanded from the early Industrial Revolution. Design was associated with art in past decades. Today it is the inseparable notion of the mass production. People have been accustomed to have the so-called ‘designed’ things, the things that are unique and inimitable. Design was interpreted much deeper than nowadays. The notion of design has become a buzzword nowadays and it refers to any area of an everyday life. There is the design of a room, the design of a car, the design of a watch and even the design of computer programs. These are different kinds of design and different rules are used in these areas.
The appearance of the engineering design has attracted much attention to a pure function. Taking into account three basic elements of design according to Richard Buchanana, namely logos, ethos and pathos, they play an important role for production of any artifact nowadays (Buchanan, p. 96). Technological reasoning is the most important in the engineering design. The customer is much interested in the design making the thing more useful and convenient to exploit.
Design has been researched mathematically. Newton and Descartes pointed out deterministic behavior of machines using mathematics. As far as the main role of machine has been reduced to its function, the design of such machine has been restricted to a math problem (Maier, 2008, p. 34). Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that function is not so influential in the industrial design and architectural one as in engineering design. Although the function of the bridge has been the same for decades, but there are so many different bridges in the world. The design of bridges, houses and automobiles has been changed considerably although their functions remain the same. There are many static things that are not connected with functions at all as far as they do not do anything. People hang pictures in their houses understanding that these pictures are not functional for their household. They do it due to aesthetic delight.
The notion of design has been rethought nowadays. It has been connected with user interaction. Peter Wegner stresses that “user interaction is not deterministic and therefore not algorithmic and not functional” (Maier, 2008, p. 35). A new concept has been introduced to the area of design that is known as affordance or “Artifact-User Affordance” (Maier, 2008, p. 35). The notion of affordance differs from the notion of function. Affordance depends on the physical characteristics of the artifact while function remains the same. For example, a human being may use a log or a chair for sitting. Their function is the same but their affordance differs due to the level of their quality and comfort. The thinking about design has changed since the early Industrial Revolution. Although the function of many things surrounding us has remained, their affordance has been changed considerably. The early Industrial Revolution was oriented at the mass production and function while modern industry aims at the higher affordance of artifacts.
From the above said, we may conclude that modern design thinking has been broadened and absorbed different areas of a human life. Any kind of design consists of three elements, namely technological reasoning, character and emotion. Technological reasoning was connected with the mass production during the early Industrial Revolution while character and emotion were associated with architecture and art. Nowadays, these three basic principles are connected with every object of modern industry. Technological reasoning has been broadened to a new notion of affordance playing an important role in the design thinking in the present time.
Reference
Buchanan, R. (n.d.). Declaration by Design: Rhetoric, Argument, and Demonstration in Design Practice. Web.
History of Design Styles. (2003). Web.
Maier, R. (2008). Rethinking Design Theory. Mechanical Engineering, 8 (09), 34-37.