And why design is really about communicating solutions.

Published in Domus Magazine (Jun. 2013, p. 98–105), Louise Schouwenberg’s “Why Design Doesn’t Need to Perform” is a well articulated response to Timo de Rijk’s article “This Mine Sweeper is Life Threatening” (NRC handelsblad, Feb. 2013) and yet it is more than that.

While arguing against a strictly functionalist criteria in which a designed work is judged according to its usefulness or its ability to solve problems, Schouwenberg outlines the role of design and designers today:

“Design solves fundamental problems. Design represents how people want to live. Design possesses the power to embellish, facilitate and discipline our behaviour. Design can wave a moralistic finger, design can incorporate critique, and design can represent sheer fun. Design reflects who we are in the here and now, as it represents our age and the social, cultural and technological context in which it is born and functions. …