bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Design and Self-reproduction: A Theoretical-Political Perspective
Authors: Fransoni Alessio 
Published: December 2023

AbstractArt, in the strictest sense, and industrial design, are associated with many other phenomena, activities, and objects in lists that constitute the field of visual studies. From this subsumption, the traditional hierarchical preeminence of pure or fine art over industrial design, and the corresponding disciplines that deal with them, seems to be reversed.As the means of recording and disseminating images of everyday life have further developed – and the visual domain of private and social spheres has been able to disproportionately expand its audiences – a self-reproductive function has gained space over the merely utilitarian, aesthetic, or symbolic function, meant in a traditional sense. It is precisely for self-reproductive purposes that the privileged ‘prop’ is not a work of art but a product intended for use.On this basis a design theory which takes this function into account can adopt a decisive task: it can offer a contribution to the delineation of a general political theory of visuality, that is completely different from a theory of the social use of images.Coherently with these aspirations, this essay puts four different objects through an ‘extended’ analysis: a type of 6th-century Attic kylix, the cradle of Napoleon’s son (1811), a cardboard cot of the 60s, and a ring light used for selfies and vlogging.The perspective unbarred by these broadened analyses is different than that which can be delineated on the basis of traditional classifications and forces a different set of questions the object needs to be asked.
Digital Objects’ Aesthetic Features. Virtuality and Fluid Materiality in the Aesthetic Education
Authors: Manera Lorenzo 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe growing and ubiquitous presence of digital objects raises issues of interest from the points of view of both Aesthetics and interaction design. In fact, such issues concern the perceptual dimension that defines our relationship with digital objects, the reconfiguration of the sensitive experience that their development implies, their hybrid ontological status, and their possible role in developing innovative forms of aesthetic education combined with design thinking.In the contemporary debate, digital objects are intended – on the one hand – as designed objects that incorporate and employ digital technologies [1–3].On the other hand, they are interpreted as virtual bodies, interactive digital images that become a phenomenon of the binary representation of an algorithm which interacts with a user [4]. Within the former perspectives, digital objects display a quality that broadly belongs to technical devices, meaning their openness to forms of interactivity, and their sensitivity to contingency. In the latter, the features of intermediacy and virtuality are considered the defining characteristics of digital objects. The growing complexity of digital objects is, in fact, re-defining the relationship between materiality and distance, provenance and pertinence, suggesting an interactive conception of agency that allows forms of aesthetic experience in which imagination, sensibility and intuitions can be displayed within relational structures. By showing the results of a research project focused on digital materials and their transformation, which involved children aged 8 to 11 years old, this contribution aims to discuss the possible role that such objects can play in developing new forms of aesthetic education.
Objects, Things, Hyperobjects. A Philosophical Gaze on Contemporary Design
Authors: Scarpitti Chiara 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThrough an applied research project in the field of contemporary design, the essay identifies and illustrates the passage of three philosophical transitions: the idea of the object as a design project (Flusser, Sottsass, Mendini) – first transition -, crosses over to the realm of the thing (Heidegger, Bodei, Rigotti) – second transition – until it reaches the notion of the hyperobject (Harman, Morton), – third transition – involving human and non-human entities.Through reclaiming for design the possibility of becoming a trigger for divergent thinking, the object acquires new human and dialogic qualities. The transition from the object-function to the object-thought [1] transforms the meaning of the product to the extent that it is no longer a passive element of dialogical discourse but rather the triggering actor of that same process of confrontation. In this perspective, the object transforms from an exclusive commodity with normal function into a thing full of meaning and expressive possibility. Such objects are connected to the individual and the intellectual relationship they establish. From a posthuman perspective (Braidotti), they are narrative subjects of a reflection increasingly striving for a pluriverse coexistence beyond humankind itself. (Haraway, Caffo).The last transition, to the hyperobject, is illustrated through a design experience at the boundary between these three value transitions. The final hyperobjects designed have their primary meaning to interrogate and raise awareness around diverse relationships – with ecosystems, beyond the human – unhinging an outdated idea that sees the object forcibly relegated to the world of practical and tangible consumer commodity.
Liberating the Imprisoned Soul of Dorian Gray: Cultural Affordance as Design Tool to Rediscover Cultural Values
Authors: Sicklinger Andreas , Ajdari Alireza 
Published: December 2023

AbstractDesign needs to recognize cultural content as embedded values to trigger meanings beyond functionality; these values can be discovered and reinterpreted for the contemporary society. In this context affordance will be declined into cultural affordance as a concept and framework within which meanings could be better detected, resonated and understood. Some examples from Iran and Egypt are given to explain the theoretical framwork, while in the continuum some tools for detecting those meanings are introduced as well: interactivism, storytelling and reflective translation as intrinsic memory keepers of tradition and culture of a given context. The article aims to conclude with some manifestations which could shape the direction and scope such a concept. The scope of discussion is to go beyond a naming of mere heritage and assigning artistic value to them.
The Extraordinary Everyday. The Post-Crafts in the Historical City
Authors: Trapani Viviana 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn the 1980s, Anna Maria Fundarò, founder of the Sicilian design school, carried out a study on the craft activities still active in Palermo’s historic centre, for reactivating a new and specialised material culture through design. Fundarò’s vision anticipated the concept of “design for the territory”, which is now widely applied in the design community, especially in relation to local contexts rich in traditional knowledge, non-formalised design. At the same time, since it is connected to new technical opportunities and sustainable strategies, artisanal and neo-artisanal production (newly supported by the digital manufacturing) is currently part of an innovative and evolutionary scenario regarding this discipline. Starting from a consideration about the renewed relationship between traditional productions and design, the paper focuses on the cultural and narrative processes of artefacts whose masters are craftsmen, still operating in certain urban historical environments; the paper emphasises the capacity for design to activate new and extraordinary meanings, through processes of deconstruction and re-contextualisation. In order to verify the relevance of Fundarò’s methodologies and lines of research, many work spaces, materials, techniques and products have been detected and surveyed; during this documentation process in the historic centre, today mainly devoted to tourism, many artisans have been interviewed, involving them and their artisan skills and know-how in the project itself. The experience was greatly affected by the outbreak of the pandemic and the heavy restrictions it entailed. Several of the on-going projects acquired a strong relational and storytelling connotation when exploring new domestic and autobiographical aspects.
Archives and Processes
Authors: Zanella Francesca 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe discipline of design is today marked by a profound transformation of design processes and methods arising out of the comparison with scientific research methods (from biotechnologies to artificial intelligence), calling into question even the formal dimension of the object which has been the fundamental characteristic right from the origin of industrial product design. The conceptual and creative process benefits from this comparison, and also from an analysis of the system of objects and reference models. In this way, research, with the connection between different fields, and the relationship with the past, and therefore with the various repositories of artefacts and traces of experiences, represent two fundamental elements. As a result, it is important to enquire, both from a historical and operational perspective, into the role not only of collections but also of archives as tools, objects, spaces of collection, stratification and the exchange of traces, that is, of segments of the work of the designer, but also of the laboratory, and therefore closely connected with the process.Within the conference processes section, therefore, it has been considered necessary to reflect on the role of the archive which, for the discipline of design, represents its origin, since, to different extents, it brings together and preserves the traces of processes and, thanks to the different structures and compositions of each archive, imposes a constant questioning of what is design; in this paper, such reflection will be made on a limited sample of specific ‘Personal Archives’ or ‘Personal Papers’, focusing on the 1970s, to highlight themes and methodological approaches.
Design Through Body Memory for the Regeneration of Urban Areas
Authors: Anzani Anna , Capitani Giulio , Guglielmi Eugenio 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThis contribution stems from a reflection developed in a field that lies between interior architecture and psychology and will touch on the relationship between memory on the one hand and perception, sensory experience, creativity, and the relationship between people and inhabited spaces on the other. Special attention will be devoted to the role of design in urban regeneration and its dialogue with the historic city. Lazzaretto Nuovo in Venice will be presented as a case study on which rearrangement concepts will be proposed, in the perspective of its possible reinterpretation through interior and spatial design.
How to Use Strategic Design Process to Address Complex Challenges
Authors: Carella Gianluca , Melazzini Michele , Zurlo Francesco 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn recent years, new market rules have forced changes in how companies relate to their customers. It is necessary to create new solutions precisely adapted to customers’ needs. To do this, companies must expand their boundaries and adopt a transdisciplinary approach. In this panorama, the adoption of Strategic Designmeant as an approach to creating innovative product-service systems that characterize the company and its market positioning - appears fundamental and decisive. This paper deals with a practical case of application of the Strategic Design approach from a company operating in a non-traditional sector. The aim is to show the fundamental steps the company took in order to develop a new strategy thanks to the adoption of Strategic Design. As a result of adopting Strategic Design, the company created a new offer comprising a coherent and innovative product-system. This paper presents the positive implications emerged for the company from its adoption of Strategic Design.
Exhibiting Design as a Process
Authors: Bulegato Fiorella , Scotti Marco 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThis contribution explores the idea of exhibition formats, both physical and digital, dedicated to design and focused on narrating the experience of the design process. It begins in particular with the analysis of a selection of exhibition models to define the story of Italian industrial design – later simply “design” – as a process and not as an individual product, looking into museums such as the permanent collection of the ADI Design Museum in Milan, as well as opportunities for reconstructions or exhibitions beyond the confines of physical space which rely on the forms of digital archives. In this regard, the two selected case studies shed light on the possibilities offered by the combination of heritage digitisation and data interoperability technologies used to build archives. By making it possible to search a gigantic volume of information relative to materials that belong to different conservators – from institutions to individual users –, these solutions extend the possible construction of new and renewed storylines centred on reconstructing the design process. The cases studied here involve two recent research studies finalized towards two archives: the project to reconstitute the Ettore Sottsass Jr. Archive based on the materials conserved at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, conducted by the Università Iuav di Venezia in collaboration with Centro ARCHiVe, and the case dedicated to the Griffo typeface, which retrieves and expands the material preserved at the Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione.
Archival Projects. Tools and Methods for Promoting the Corporate Culture Starting from Historical Brand
Authors: Dellapiana Elena , Filippini Ali , Remondino Chiara L. , Tamborrini Paolo 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn the contemporary informational/digital landscape, the attention dedicated to data analysis has necessarily place the accent on the impact they have on design process. We no longer speak only of formal design, but of its communication, or even more about the way in which this good will reach the final consumer. In this scenario, the need to manage the methodological/design process by virtuously involving both the material and immaterial aspects, connecting, evaluating and re-evaluating existing knowledge, research and business in the best possible way, is clearly evident.The proposal intends to present and discuss the research “MaToSto - Communicating and promoting entrepreneurship starting from the historical brands of the territory” which has seen a precise methodological structure aimed at promoting and qualifying the heritage of the historic Turin brands, to define criteria, tools, and project outcomes aimed at their enhancement also from an entrepreneurial point of view.From the set of 25.000 company trademarks, registered from 1927 to 1970 at the Turin Chamber of Commerce, the researchers started a project using the organizational, creative and visual tools typical of big data analysis, including: a quantitative research on defined product categories, the implementation of a processing method, data filtering and selection for visualization purposes, a taxonomic analysis on figurativity to hypothesize a classification based on tags useful for archival research, and – nevertheless – useful to drive impactful heritage marketing actions.
Imaginative Object and Mimetic Object
Authors: Mecacci Andrea 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe mimetic and imaginative dimension of the object defines the very essence of objects and their use. Their interaction is seen in an exemplary way in that specific object with which every human being begins their relationship with reality: the toy. The aesthetics of the toy thus makes it possible to ascertain how mimesis and imagination cooperate and/or conflate in the constitution of the object. To investigate this dialectic, the essay examines Alma Siedhoff-Buscher’s toy Bauspiel: Ein Schiff in which imagination becomes the center of the child’s user experience. Leaning on a number of theoretical considerations on the toy, from Plato to Benjamin, the essay seeks to emphasize the aesthetics of toy as a space of creative freedom even in its opposition to the mimetic declination of the object understood as the adult’s ideological interference in the child’s world. Imagination, expressed in play, thus becomes the configuration of a possible world that, in Siedhoff-Buscher’s perspective, the mimetic object would seem, on the contrary, to deny.
Air as a Design Tool: Raw Material, Infra-material Space, and Transformative Matter
Authors: Ambrogio Francesca 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe paper highlights some issues in relation to air and how it is used in different forms of project planning. Air, a protagonist to be explored in the multitude of possibilities it offers to design, is initially analysed as a primary element by determining its role within the strategic processes activated by nature. Secondly, defining it as a material having its own entities and specific autonomy capable of expanding and enriching contemporary design possibilities.The goal is to define possibilities, potentialities and characteristics of air by investigating it through the use of three specific lenses: air as raw material; air as infra-material space –material among materials–; air as transformative matter –air that gives form–.The methodology used presupposes a specific literature review and a critical analysis of case studies, in order to be able to cluster them into thematic areas useful for interpretive reconstruction.From these premises, the interactions with air-related design are investigated through sensory perceptions. The path, steeped in suggestions, lays foundations for defining role and possibilities of air within design culture through the relationship between case studies, objectives, and the identified areas of intervention.
Evasion Design for the Novacene Era Design and Production of Cultural Imaginaries
Authors: Ciaramitaro Mario , Costa Pietro 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn this paper we discuss the use of evasion design, an overlooked expression from Superstudio, as a tool for shaping the future and understanding the Novacene Era. We propose evasion design as a tool to orient RTD (Research Through Design) activities for future exploration in educational and business environments, where a team not only needs to understand what a future scenario might be, but also needs to create a public discussion around its inherent values. Evasion design is here presented and explained in its differences from speculative design, but also in its sharing qualities and purposes in expanding the design practice. The result is a framework that combines both the potential of an alternative visual-based imagery and a guiding conceptual approach in rethinking the narrative of the future. By hybridizing codified methodologies of speculative design and the approach of evasion design, the paper shows the results of several workshops, conducted at institutions and universities, where the hybrid process is implemented through a specific methodology.
Envisioning Technological Artefacts Through Anticipatory Scenarios and Diegetic Prototypes
Authors: Stepanovic Mila , Ferraro Venere 
Published: December 2023

AbstractFacing global challenges and managing technological and scientific development require to imply critical reflection at all levels of transformation to create more thriving societies. This paper addresses the issues behind designing in complex societies. It introduces a novel approach to generate scenarios, envision, and contextualise the not-yet-existing technological artefacts through storytelling and prototyping, to anticipate the possible ethical and societal implications of technological development and mediations in social-human-environment-technology assemblages and interactions. The authors describe the critical approach with the Protocol for designing consciously and an Envisioning tool exploiting the Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) films as a trigger for critical discussion among the design researchers and practitioners. The Protocol and Envisioning tool aim at supporting the design researchers and practitioners adopt pluriversal perspectives and deal with the complexity, to deliver consciously designed artefacts. In this paper, authors show how the critical approach can be implemented in design and research projects and discuss the benefits and purposes of introducing such an approach in the current design research and practice.
Feeling Through Technology
Authors: Spence Jocelyn 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThis chapter aims to encapsulate the core elements of the keynote presentation on experience and interaction designs, primarily those using augmented reality, virtuality, or a mix of physical and digital elements. My interest is not in creating cutting-edge technology, but rather in seeing how people react, engage, think, move, and feel when they engage with designs by myself and colleagues.The contribution I make is to use performance theories and practices in design, especially design for mixed reality experiences, so that I can bring specific tools to bear on the creation and analysis of those designs. ‘Performance’ can be the kind practiced by professionals. It can also be the behaviours of people who take on the role of audience member or bystander. It can also be ‘performance’ in the ways that people ‘perform’ their everyday lives.Performance often aims to be thought-provoking, but (aside from Bertolt Brecht and those who use his politically minded Verfremdungseffekt) it virtually always aims for an emotional response through engagement with the aesthetic choices that have been made. This chapter provides a basic theoretical grounding and a specific example of how performance can lay out a richer design space for personally meaningful experiences.
Seaweed Fabrics for Fashion Design. A Field Research Experience
Authors: Franzo Paolo 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe essay addresses the reasons why fashion design is manifesting an increasing interest in the marine environment as a context where to identify new materials for fashion, focusing on the particular case of seaweed. Through a field research, which involved MA fashion students at Università Iuav di Venezia, it is possible to demonstrate how an object such as seaweed fabric is not only a response to the need for new sustainable materials for fashion, but it is also interpretable through the framework of new materialism in a posthuman perspective. These fabrics, perceived as vibrant, represent a stimulus to redefine fashion design and its relations with environment, territories, people, and bodies. In the experimentation with seaweed, nature becomes raw material for constructing aesthetic and cultural imagery in a multispecies landscape.