Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Cultural affordance of products: coverage within industrial design education
Razzaghi, Mohammad; Ramirez, Mariano
Type:
Year:
2009
Editor:
Clarke, A, Ion, W, McMahon, C and Hogarth, P
Author:
Series:
E&PDE
Section:
DESIGN AND EMOTION
Page(s):
483-488
Abstract:
Products are regarded as possessing not only physical properties but also subjective qualities such as culturally-based user preferences. To communicate these cultural aspects, products must "afford" conversation with their intended users using some type of language. Being initiators of product creation, industrial designers are supposed to facilitate the communication of the products' physical and non-physical attributes to users in a self-explanatory way. In this paper, the authors argue that if the cultural affordance of products is deemed to be important, then industrial design education must accordingly cover this topic in the curricula. To that effect, we examined the courses of study for industrial design from 39 universities worldwide, to determine if the relationship between culture and design is convincingly addressed within the training of designers. It is found that the majority of industrial design curricula suffer from a relative lack of subjects related to the links between culture and design. This paper concludes with propositions to integrate and enhance cultural affordance within the curricular structure of industrial design degree programs.
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