The Intrinsic Logic of Design

In the context of increasingly complex technological and economic developments, such as e-commerce, social media, and new production technologies, the social significance of design continues to grow. These developments have inevitably been accompanied by certain highly charged questions, concerning such issues as fair working conditions, sustainable development, and the upholding of personality rights-questions with which designers are now directly confronted.
Yet how are we to research these social aspects of design ("social design") and shed light on the conditions of their emergence? The present research project takes this question as the starting point from which to examine the particular rationales underlying various methods and procedures in design. The Intrinsic Logic of Design project investigates the development of eight projects pursued within the Design Department of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and thereby gives an impression of the actors involved in them. The research project's hypothesis is that these various design processes are all governed by their own, intrinsic logic of creative production, which can be reduced neither to standardised design methods nor to established procedures in other disciplines. In unfolding the complexity of these singular design processes-or intrinsic logics-the book aims to contribute to the development of both research into design methods and design theory.