Design thinking between rationalism and romanticism—a historical overview of competing visions

Abstract

This article presents a longue durée history of design thinking with particular focus on recurrent ideological tugs-of-war between two competing visions: Enlightenment ideals of logic, rationality and civic order against Romanticist ideals of artistic creativity and social change. Drawing on design history and cultural studies, the authors present a broad overview of more than 200 years of developments in European and North American design thinking, from the rise of design as a profession to the formation of a science of design. The article contributes to the history of design thinking by presenting the influence of specific, sociocultural configurations on design culture. 1.1 DESIGN THINKING BETWEEN COMPETING VISIONS Design is becoming increasingly important in all sectors of society, but not important in the same sense. “Everything is design”, boasted the famous American architect Buckminster Fuller in 1960, and current academic debates seem to repeat his statement, often claiming an all-embracing role for design. In Fuller’s sense, design is the rational master discipline of modern life, providing coherence to the planning of its material as well as immaterial aspects. This mode of thinking runs as an unbroken thread through design thinking since the Enlightenment. However, slogans such as “less is more” (associated with the architect Mies van der Rohe), “design is thinking made visual” (attributed to the designer Saul Bass, see e.g., Bass & Kirkham, 2011) or “design is art with a purpose” (used by many, e.g., O’Nolan, 2009) reflect other popular understandings of design as a process of form-giving with both functional and artistic purposes. In various ways, these articulations of design culture can be seen as rooted in Romanticist ideals. The idea of design as rational planning activity often clashes with artistically oriented approaches. This shows for example when increased academization of design schools leads to the marginalization of artistic and manual crafts skills. In this article we present an overview of the history of design thinking as it has moved between contrasting visions and conflicting ideological positions, mainly focusing on developments in Western cultural history that have contributed to the two formations identified above. In doing this we simplify and reduce complexity so as to present an overview and clarify an argument. We do this to create a framework for continued reflection on the nature, quality and potentials of design culture and to suggest that developments in design thinking might be better grasped in light of what we see as recurrent ideological clashes. 1.2 OPPOSING VIEWS IN DESIGN THINKING Until the 1700s, no definite, conceptual separation existed between artistic production and the technical crafts. Design did not exist in the modern sense of the word. The concepts Ars (art, from Latin: skill, craft and Greek: just) and Techné (from Greek: craftsmanship; Harper 2015) had overlapping meanings, in the sense that both had to do with mastery of skills. Art was predominantly seen as a unity of truth, beauty, and goodness and as such endowed with both a functional purpose and the power to heal society and transcend ordinary life to experience the symbolic and spiritual world (Shiner 2001). This changed gradually, as a new design concept emerged in the mid-eighteenth century with the early industrialization of society. Here the word “design” gradually came to be associated with mechanical production for mass consumption based on the combined aim of continuing traditions of good craftsmanship and drawing on the transcending forces of art.