Design Anthropology

Design Anthropology brings together leading international design theorists, consultants and anthropologists to explore the changing object culture of the 21st century. Decades ago, product designers used basic market research to fine-tune their designs for consumer success. Today the design process has been radically transformed, with the user center-stage in the design process. From design ethnography to culture probing, innovative designers are employing anthropological methods to elicit the meanings rather than the mere form and function of objects. This important volume provides a fascinating exploration of the issues facing the shapers of our increasingly complex material world. The text features case studies and investigations covering a diverse range of academic disciplines. From IKEA and anti-design to erotic 21st-century needlework and online interior decoration, the book positions itself at the intersections of design, anthropology, material culture, architecture, and sociology.

Alison J. Clarke is Professor of Design History and Theory, and Director of the Victor J. Papanek Foundation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria.

List of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Materials and Design, Susanne Küchler (UCL, UK) 2. Objects in Sociology, Harvey Molotch (NYU, USA) 3. The Anthropological Object in Design: From Victor Papenek to Superstudio, Alison J. Clarke (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria) 4. Valuable to Values: How "User Research" Ought to Change, Maria Bezaitis (Intel Corporation, USA) and Rick E. Robinson (University of Colorado, USA) 5. Poetic Observation: What Designers Make of What They See, Jane Fulton Suri (IDEO, USA) 6. Prototyping the Social: Temporality and Speculative Futures at the Intersection of Design and Culture, Jamer Hunt (Parsons School of Design, USA) 7. Consuming IKEA and Inspiration as Material Form, Pauline Garvey (Maynooth University, Ireland) 8. "Erotic Needlework": Vernacular Designs on the 21st-century Market, Nicolette Makovicky (University of Oxford) 9. Functioning Forms / Anti-Design, Vladimir Arkhipov (Independent Artist) 10. Coloring Cars: Customizing Motor Vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert, Diana Young, The University of Queensland, Australia) 11. The Internet, the Parliament, and the Pub, Lane DeNicola (Emory College of Arts and Sciences, USA) 12. Interior Decoration: Offline and Online, Daniel Miller (UCL, UK) 13. Designing Financial Literacy in Haiti, Erin B. Taylor and Heather A. Horst (Western Sydney University, Australia) 14. Stirring the Anthropological Imagination: Ontological Design in Spaces of Transition, Arturo Escobar (University of North Carolina, USA) Index