The Future Cultures of Design

Prof. Kees Dorst

Discussion 'on the value different cultures can bring to the design professions'. 1

'cultural roots of the design professions are defined by Western thought'. 1

'Modernist design has lost its original ideological grounding. It has now become more of a stylistic preference than a way of constructing a better future world'. 2

'The impact of Modernism has been huge: through Modernism the Western cultures have lost their own ornamental languages, and Western designers have lost the very ability to create ornaments.' 2

Conflict between creating good modern design & being faithful to cultural tradition. 2

'In a complex world, we need all the richness of the different human expressions in the world cultures to feed into our design repertoire.' 3

'We need to understand that ... the way values are seen and created within a culture must be the basis for construing of design within that culture.' 3

Design as a child of Western thought. 3

Descriptors of Cultural Difference; Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation / 'face'. 5

Cultural Codes & Value Systems: Shamanic, Indian/Tibetan, Chinese/Japanese, Revelation Religions, Western Scientific. 8

'Chinese/Japanese tradition seeks harmony with the world: it sees the world as the dynamic operation of opposite forces (like Yin-Yang), where the attainment of balance is a key goal.' 8


Source: Dorst, K. (2008), The Future Cultures of Design, UTS
http://www.keesdorst.nl