Design, ingenuity and imagination

Invention in design means putting into practice a technical/scientific idea that is the result of ingenuity. But it is also the pure capacity for imagination, capable of «altering the sensibility of the human race» (Kubler, 1962), acting as much upon the product’s functions as upon the meaning. And indeed, invention in design is a process that is not in the least ingenuous or visionary, but the outcome of a highly sophisticated process, capable of selecting forms and technologies to obtain the maximum expressive result with the minimum exhibition of formal effort, and of stereotyping itself in formally essential objects. This is why innovation, for design, cannot be resolved only as a “muscular” display of innovative technologies, of use more for simplifying realization processes than for creating new functions or new languages. The designer’s activity is in fact mainly that of serving as a mediator between art, technology, and society, interpreting not only functions, but also the meaning of discoveries in inventions of “sign mediations” and of new “social garments” (Zingale, 2012). Starting from these assumptions, the paper proposes a classification by categories, in which innovation in design is read as the result of a technological transfer process; as a spontaneous or even random activity; as the ability to apply “simplexity” by making the complex simple; or as a reaction to limitations and scant resources, by offering a vantage point that, without denying the potentials offered by recent innovations, aims to reaffirm the more humanistic and less technocratic dimension of our inventive capacity. This inventive capacity is not played out in the aesthetic dimension alone, but can join this imagination to define new uses, functions, and languages. Starting from here, the designer can and must set off again – while keeping his or her role well in mind – to configure a new humanism

The near (bio)future in design

The paper joins the debate on the emerging prospective in design in the near future that will be “bio”. The world has gone through 3.8 billion years of research and development, with failures and successes, in search of the most effective and affordable solutions to facilitate our daily life. This is especially true today, since we realized that energy resources and raw materials are starting to run-out and that they will not be enough for the population in the near future, The planet could literally implode, ceasing to be an "earthly paradise". Human people have therefore always observed Nature, using it as a source of knowledge and inspiration, but with different approaches. Starting from these premises, the present article explores how innovation can be inspired by Nature. Nature, that in this context is deemed to be the model, the measure and the “mentor” from which designers can learn through a fully informed, responsible study of its biological and biomechanical processes, with the ultimate objective of improving human activities and technology to allow full resonance with Nature itself. Today, technology allows us to reproduce natural systems and biofabricate living systems. Everything appears possible today, but we should probably ask ourselves if this is really necessary, as we did when the possibility of replicating and genetically modifying the living being opened up? How can we avoid running into "technological blasphemy"? What role can design play in this

Experience of Material Tinkering from Waste in the Year 3-Year 5 Primary School Age Range as an Introduction to Design and Sustainability

A possibility increasingly experimented in the field of design to improve end-of-life sustainability is integration of agro-waste into materials. Design can “upcycle” waste, offering perceptive and aesthetical acceptance to objects produced from it. On-field experimentations can foster awareness over the possibility to modify objects lifecycle, avoiding a “use-and-throw” perspective, and exploring the identity of materials in their prospected field of application. This will be aimed at creating a bond between user and objects, based both on function and on affection, also considering the modifications the material can undergo over time, making it adapted to different uses. This practice can have a significant educational value: in particular, this study moves from an experimentation carried out at July and September 2017 by design and materials engineering researchers, with several groups of 15 children, age 8-11, at Museo dei Bambini-Explora in Rome, investigating their “experience” and “creativity” on the topic. Conclusions are also drawn on possible modifications of the step-like procedure to introduce students of all ages to the knowledge of experimental method through the production of DIY bioplastics from waste. This “trial and error” procedure allows reflecting from a play-like point of view on aspects essential for the success of this operation, such as mode of coloration, effect of texture, possibility of obtaining curved or complex shapes, mechanical workability, optimal cooking and aromatization. The consequence of the exercise is customizing materials obtained from waste, with the idea of teaching how an expressive and functional success of the objects produced can make these “resilient” over time, therefore inherently sustainable. This would lead, through a combined and simple teaching of elements of experimental procedure and sustainability, to an awareness of their respective importance in design. The tool for this result is the development of DIY materials. The significance of this experience, which could be applied also in other age ranges, appeared to be to communicate the role of design to improve the perception of materials by transforming them into valuable objects. This proved to be better explained in the challenging case of waste, hence a substance bearing no longer any emotionalor functional relation with us, with which this “bond” needs to be rebuilt through an experiential path

Experience of Material Tinkering from Waste in the Year 3-Year 5 Primary School Age Range as an Introduction to Design and Sustainability

A possibility increasingly experimented in the field of design to improve end-of-life sustainability is integration of agro-waste into materials. Design can “upcycle” waste, offering perceptive and aesthetical acceptance to objects produced from it. On-field experimentations can foster awareness over the possibility to modify objects lifecycle, avoiding a “use-and-throw” perspective, and exploring the identity of materials in their prospected field of application. This will be aimed at creating a bond between user and objects, based both on function and on affection, also considering the modifications the material can undergo over time, making it adapted to different uses. This practice can have a significant educational value: in particular, this study moves from an experimentation carried out at July and September 2017 by design and materials engineering researchers, with several groups of 15 children, age 8-11, at Museo dei Bambini-Explora in Rome, investigating their “experience” and “creativity” on the topic. Conclusions are also drawn on possible modifications of the step-like procedure to introduce students of all ages to the knowledge of experimental method through the production of DIY bioplastics from waste. This “trial and error” procedure allows reflecting from a play-like point of view on aspects essential for the success of this operation, such as mode of coloration, effect of texture, possibility of obtaining curved or complex shapes, mechanical workability, optimal cooking and aromatization. The consequence of the exercise is customizing materials obtained from waste, with the idea of teaching how an expressive and functional success of the objects produced can make these “resilient” over time, therefore inherently sustainable. This would lead, through a combined and simple teaching of elements of experimental procedure and sustainability, to an awareness of their respective importance in design. The tool for this result is the development of DIY materials. The significance of this experience, which could be applied also in other age ranges, appeared to be to communicate the role of design to improve the perception of materials by transforming them into valuable objects. This proved to be better explained in the challenging case of waste, hence a substance bearing no longer any emotional or functional relation with us, with which this “bond” needs to be rebuilt through an experiential path.  Keywords: design education; material tinkering; sustainability for childre

Ensino de materiais para o design. Pesquisa sobre metodologia didática dos materiais em design e desenho industrial

This paper presents and advocates a method for teaching about materials in industrial design courses. The method has been developed by the authors in the academic sphere while teaching over the last six years on a number of degree courses – both the three-year basic programmes and the two-year specialist ones – at four Italian places of learning: the Politecnico di Milano, Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Palermo and ISIA (the Higher Institute for Artistic Industries) in Florence, which is now recognized as being equivalent to a degree course. The research has a focus on a specific area of the design field which has until now been undervalued, and not sufficiently expanded upon by teaching programmes, as it has always been seen as something which is simply there to be exploited. However, it has become more prominent in recent years, thanks in part to rapid technical and scientific development and the access to numerous new materials with unprecedented capabilities.Key words: design, materials, creativity, experimentation, teaching methodology.Este trabalho apresenta e defende um método de ensino sobre materiais em cursos de desenho industrial. O método foi desenvolvido pelos autores no âmbito acadêmico, ao longo de seis anos durante o ensino em uma série de cursos de graduação – tanto em programas de três anos do básico como no de dois anos da especialização – em quatro lugares italianos de aprendizagem: o Politécnico di Milano, Universidade de Roma La Sapienza, da Universidade de Palermo e ISIA (Instituto Superior de Industrias Artísticas), em Florença, que agora oferece curso de graduação. O foco específico desta pesquisa inscreve-se no campo do design e envolve um aspecto que não é frequentemente tratado. No entanto, o estudo sobre materiais tornou-se mais proeminente nos últimos anos, em parte graças ao rápido desenvolvimento técnico e científico e a entrada em cena de novos materiais que possibilitam recursos sem precedentes.Palavras-chave: design, materiais, criatividade, experimentaçã

Alginate Materials for Circular Fashion: from Consumptive to Regenerative Systems

With growing attention towards environmental issues and impact of current production systems, research on new materials and processes has broadened significantly, with particular interest for the fashion field, one of the most consumptive industries on Earth. As renewable and circular resource then, algae and its derivatives as sodium alginate, started to be a focus of many design researches and projects. The research, aimed at fabricating and cataloguing a palette of sodium alginate material samples in order to showcase its potential for the textile field, providing a contribution to the growing community of researchers operating in the field of bio-materials. The collection was the result of the combination of both traditional and innovative manufacturing techniques, and explored the material from the technical-productive point of view, as well as from the aesthetic-perceptual one, with the aim of contributing to its diffusion fostering a shift towards regenerative circular production

From Science to Design: the Design4Materials virtuous cycle

Despite the large number of innovative materials developed in laboratories worldwide, their application in new mass-produced products is complicated. Design can reduce the risk that the research developed in scientific laboratories could fail to be properly exploited and triggering a beneficial cycle linking Science to Design. This paper present the Design4Materials, an italian network founded by the laboratories of leading schools of design: MaterialdesignLab|Sapienza Rome, Madec|Politecnico di Milano, HybridesignLab|SUN Naples, Soft Surfaces and Polisensoriality|Poliba Bari. After presenting the different skills of the network members, the authors describe the capabilities and the goals of the network and the main results developed like the project that define characteristics and identities for an open material, starting from a research of the IIT of Genoa. The Design4Materials aim is to play a leading role on design-driven innovation process, responding to society’s changing needs and developing a ‘circular’ methodology of innovation from a design standpoint

Comunicare il design

The paper illustrates the experience of the Design School of Sapienza University of Rome, carried out around the theme of “design communication” from 2001 to 2011. An example of this, was the organization of many events such as the eight editions of “Roma design più” - an event that open the design to the public with a rich program of exhibitions, seminars and workshops. Roma design più took place in symbolic places f the city of Rome, but also invested the network of commerce and Institutes of Foreign Culture in Rome. Other good example was also the editorial activity developed with the Rdesignpress publishing house, condensed in a series of specific texts on design - such as the ‘Antologia del design italiano. 20.01-20.11’ and the 60 issues and 15 years of activity of the magazine diid. The communication and enhancement of the design promoted by the Sapienza School of Design has highlighted some aspects of design that are very different from those that we are used to know such as the lively excitement, the widespread and polymorphous creativity, able to generate innovation precisely because it is free from market schemes and constraints or of fashion

IL RITORNO DEI MATERIALI NATURALI: NUOVE TENDENZE AUTARCHICHE

La crisi economica ha generato diverse tendenze 'autarchiche' che coinvolgono il progetto con l’utilizzo di materie primordiali, di base e disponibili in natura. Questi materiali di grado 'zero' possono crescere, trasformarsi e rigenerarsi anche in vitro. Si tratta di materiali vivi, di organismi biologici con una sorprendente espressività e 'potenza' di prestazioni, che si fanno portatori di una nuova etica, di autenticità e valori democratici, perché fatti con materiali abbondanti in natura, commestibili o a partire dagli scarti agricoli e rifiuti. Dietro il comune denominatore di estetiche del "primitivo" e dell' 'imperfetto', c’è un processo inversamente proporzionale: a maggiore sofisticatezza tecnologica corrisponde paradossalmente una no-form che esprime una perdita di senso della composizione, del valore della forma

Re-thinking the relationship between design and materials as a dynamic socio-technological innovation process: a didactic case history

A relação entre design e ciência está profundamente enraizada e em constante evolução, resultando na nova abordagem do Bio-design, que oferece aos designers a nova possibilidade de interagir com os processos de produção e participar da fase de projeto do projeto. material, estimulando e direcionando a inovação. . Daí a necessidade de repensar a relação entre design e materiais como um processo dinâmico de inovação sociotecnológica, a fim de incentivar a implementação de novos materiais no mercado em um prazo adequado e por meio de aplicações coerentes. Essa abordagem é ilustrada aqui por meio de três experimentos realizados no MaterialdesignLAB que envolvem novas categorias de materiais (orgânicos, vivos, em crescimento) que mostram como o design representa uma ferramenta para mediação e inovação e desempenha um papel fundamental no fornecimento de significado. em um mundo assim. Muitos problemas para resolver, mas até cheios de oportunidades de armadilhas para criar novas ideias disruptivas.The relationship between design and science is deeply-rooted and under constant evolution, resulting today in the new approach of Bio-design, that offers to designers the novel possibility of interacting with production processes and participating in the material design stage, stimulating and directing innovation. Hence emerges the need to rethink the relationship between design and materials as a dynamic socio-technological innovation process, in order to foster the implementation of new materials on the market in an appropriate timeframe and through coherent applications. Such approach is here illustrated through three experiments carried out within the MaterialdesignLAB involving new material categories ‑ organic, living, growing ‑ that show how design represents as a tool for mediation and innovation, and plays a key role in providing meanings in such a world with many issues to be resolved, but even full of opportunities to catch in order to create disruptive new ideasLa relación entre diseño y ciencia está profundamente arraigada y en constante evolución, lo que resulta hoy en el nuevo enfoque de Bio-diseño, que ofrece a los diseñadores la posibilidad novedosa de interactuar con los procesos de producción y participar en la etapa de diseño del material, estimulando y dirigiendo la innovación. . De ahí surge la necesidad de repensar la relación entre el diseño y los materiales como un proceso dinámico de innovación socio-tecnológica, a fin de fomentar la implementación de nuevos materiales en el mercado en un marco de tiempo adecuado y mediante aplicaciones coherentes. Este enfoque se ilustra aquí a través de tres experimentos realizados en MaterialdesignLAB que involucran nuevas categorías de materiales (orgánico, viviente, en crecimiento) que muestran cómo el diseño representa una herramienta para la mediación y la innovación, y desempeña un papel clave para proporcionar significados en un mundo así. Muchos problemas por resolver, pero incluso llenos de oportunidades para atrapar con el fin de crear nuevas ideas disruptivas