Metadesign. Letting the Future Design

5/19/2018 Metadesign. Letting the Future Design

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METADESIGN. LETTING THE FUTURE DESIGN1

Carlo Franzato

METADESIGN

LETTING THE FUTURE DESIGNProf. Carlo Franzato | [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Carlo Franzato

RESEARCH PROBLEM

In the literature metadesign is intended as a design process that precedes

further design processes.

It is frequently translated as the design of design (Giaccardi, 2005;

Celaschi, Deserti, 2007; De Moraes, 2010; Vasso, 2010).

Even if this expression appears efficacious, it demands for explanations to

avoid the risk of becoming a sibylline aphorism.

Some questions emerge:

Is metadesignas the first term of the expressionan essentially

different process from the process of designas the second term? Is a further design process indispensable to the metadesign one?

Is metadesign really previous to design?


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Carlo Franzato

STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION

1. Metadesign in the Latin tradition

2. Metadesign in interaction and open design

3. How use and time concepts change facing new technologies

4. Consequences on the concept of metadesign


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Carlo Franzato

METADESIGN IN THE LATIN TRADITION: MENDINIS 100% MAKE UP

On the left, sketches for the100% Make Up collection, developed in 1992 by Alessandro Mendini for Alessi.

On the right, one of the 100 interpretations of the same vase: the version with special decoration by Philippe Starck.


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Carlo Franzato


My experience editing magazines gave me an interest in seeing design and

architecture as a bit l ike conduct ing an orch estra. Basical ly, [ that is] wo rking

wi th other authors , wel l known or un know n, on a prec ise, strong metades ign,

leav ing big g aps in w hich the authors co uld f ind space to express themselves

freely. I often had these experiences, in d ifferent fields and I contin ue to have

them . They give the pleasure of su spense, of how the design w il l turn ou t,

because I dont always hold the last card, the cards are held by a lot of

different people (Mendini apud Appiani, 2007, pp. 25-26).


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100% Make Up is useful to stress some characteristics of metadesign in the

Latin tradition.

It is speculative, deriving from a deep reflection that evokes new

opportunities for designing.

It is interpretative, since that reflection has to be discussed and evolved

with the contribution of other actors within an organization, the creative

system or the society;

It is actually designed, resulting in propositions expressed with the

idiosyncratic design language. It is open, letting and fostering other people to design.

It is unpredictable, being not known its design consequences and cultural

resonance.


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Carlo Franzato

METADESIGN IN INTERACTION AND OPEN DESIGN

John Maeda, reactive graphics, 1995. ( John Maeda) Maedas metadesign technique allows generation of visual experiences thatinvolve

the viewers in the creation of the form by responding to their inputs in real time (GIACCARDI, 2005, p. 343).


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Carlo Franzato

http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/is a non-profit suborbital space endeavour based entirely on sponsors, private donors and part

time specialists. Since May 2008 they have been working full time to reach our goal of launching a human being into space and to show the

world that human space flight is possible without major government budgets and administration.

http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/


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Carlo Franzato


Metadesign represents a cultural shift from design as planning to design

as seeding. By promoting collaborative and transformational practices of

des ign that can sup por t new modes of hum an interact ion and susta in an

expansion o f the creat ive process, metadesign is developin g toward new

ways of und ers tanding and planning with the goal of produ c ing more open

and evolving open systems of interaction (Giaccardi, 2005, p. 348).


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HOW USE CONCEPT CHANGES FACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES: LEVY

Technology, even the more advanced, is bricolage, re-use and deflection . It

is no t poss ib le to use withou t interpret ing, metamorpho s ing. The being of a

proposit ion , an image or a mater ial device is determin ed only b y its us e, by

the interpretat ion of w ho b rush es against i t .

[] No technical advance is determinate a priori, before to be tested by the

heterogeneous co l lec t ive, by the com plex network in wh ich i t h as to c irculate

and that eventually it should be able to reorganize someday (Levy, 1992, pp.

203-204, authors translation).


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HOW USE CONCEPT CHANGES FACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES: CASTELLS

What characterizes the current technological revolution is not the centrality

of knowledge and informat ion, but the appl icat ion of such know ledge and

informat ion to kn ow ledge generation and inform ation

process ing/communicat ion d ev ices, in a cum ulat ive feedback loop between

innovation and the uses of innovation (Castells, 2010, p. 31).


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Carlo Franzato

HOW TIME CONCEPT CHANGES FACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES: CASTELLS

Over the classical view of the time as a succession, new technologies impose

the virtual time, a time of the now and of the eternity, disconnected from the

space.

The whole ordering of meaningful events loses its internal, chronological

rhy thm , and becomes arranged in t ime sequences d epending upon the soc ia l

con text of their ut i l ization . Thus, i t is a cultu re at the same t im e of the eternal

and o f the ephemeral. It is eternal because it reaches b ack and fo rth to the

wh ole sequence of cu ltural expressions . It is ephemeral because each

arrang ement, each specif ic sequenc ing, depends on the con text and purposeunder whic h any given cu ltural constru ct is sol ic i ted. We are no t in a cultu re

of circu lar i ty , bu t in a univ erse of und if ferent iated tempo ral i ty of c ultural

expressions (Castells, 2010, p. 492).


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HOW TIME CONCEPT CHANGES FACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES: LEVY

Levy goes beyond, foreseeing a knowledge era that abolishes the time delay

(2011, pp. 155-157). Levys collective time has no objective references, such

as the clock or the calendar: new technologies allow assuming many

subjective time references that collective time composes. Each individual has

his or her time reference and, consequently, his or her velocity, without being

isolated since asynchrony is a property of collective time.


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Carlo Franzato

CONSEQUENCES ON THE CONCEPT OF METADESIGN

In the literature metadesign is intended as a design process that precedes

further design processes.

It is frequently translated as the design of design (Giaccardi, 2005;

Celaschi, Deserti, 2007; De Moraes, 2010; Vasso, 2010).

Even if this expression appears efficacious, it demands for explanations to

avoid the risk of becoming a sibylline aphorism.

Some questions emerge:

Is metadesignas the first term of the expressionan essentially

different process from the process of designas the second term? Is a further design process indispensable to the metadesign one?

Is metadesign really previous to design?


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Carlo Franzato

CONSEQUENCES ON THE CONCEPT OF METADESIGN

Metadesign is not a present and finite process, but a continuous and restless

one.

Metadesign is a speculative and interpretative design process that opens new

opportunities to design with unpredictable consequences.

Metadesignas the first term of the expression design of designcould be

interpreted as the projection of design. It does not lie in the same layer of

design and so neither in the same time reference system, even if it is strictlyrelated to design as its propulsion.

While design is for the future, metadesign is for letting the future design.


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Carlo Franzato

THANK YOUProf. Carlo Franzato | [email protected]

https://unisinos.academia.edu/CarloFranzato

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carlo_Franzato
mailto:[email protected]://unisinos.academia.edu/CarloFranzatohttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carlo_Franzatohttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carlo_Franzatohttps://unisinos.academia.edu/CarloFranzatomailto:[email protected]

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Metadesign. Letting the Future Design