Design is no longer just an action with the ultimate goal of “creating a product”; it is a way of thinking and serves as an important bridge in the transfer and transmission of cultural heritage.
When i talk about the concept of design culture in a very simple way, i'm dealing with a whole of practice and meaning that has been shaped as a result of the material and spiritual production processes acquired throughout human history and by being intertwined with social values.
This culture in question is not limited to aesthetic concerns, but also appears in different forms, from social and economic fluctuations, technological breakthroughs and changes, and even interactions on a global scale, to individuals' desire to express the creative side of their inner world in a concrete way, and its impact is wider than one might think.
Unlike in the past, design is no longer just an action whose ultimate goal is to create a product; it is a way of thinking and serves as an important bridge in the transfer and transmission of cultural heritage..
It would not be wrong to say that the widespread and diversified communication opportunities, the changing generation and braver people have blurred certain disciplinary boundaries. This is important in terms of showing that the concept we call design has gained a multidisciplinary character and that different factors affecting different layers of the work come into play during the reshaping of the concept defined as design culture.
The emergence of design and where design stands today
Design, with its form that ends in production, has existed since the earliest periods of human history and was associated with meeting a need and giving meaning to something at that time. In the historical line extending from primitive cave paintings to today's mass and rapidly produced high-tech objects, the social and economic structure of the period, and even how society viewed the world, directly affected design.
In today's sense, design is not a concept that can be embraced by only one business line or profession. Today, design touches architecture, engineering, and even social and physical sciences, albeit marginally, as a function. Although these disciplines do not seem to be related to each other, they find common ground thanks to the concept of design, and perhaps make design open and suitable for multiple readings both while producing and consuming.
The relationship between consumption-oriented and mass production and design practices is evident not only in how products look but also in how they are consumed. In today’s postmodern consumer society, design has become a symbolic value-producing tool rather than a product’s usage value.
However, concepts such as sharing and circular economy that we have begun to think about and talk about more have caused us to redefine what design is, and these definitions have also forced us to develop new perspectives and even find new perspectives.
How has the digital revolution affected design culture?
As in many areas, the unpredictable and continuous technological revolution experienced in the digital world has also strongly changed the basic components that make up design culture.
This transformation, which began with design and modeling programs running on desktop computers, was followed by the proliferation of 3D printers. In the very near future, the cheapening of the use of artificial intelligence and the related expansion of artificial intelligence tools vertically and horizontally in almost every sector, are interesting and unexpected in terms of bringing with them dangerous thoughts such as questioning whether the experience and skills traditionally considered necessary to design are really necessary.
Globalization is also increasingly blurring the line between the local design culture of individuals forming a society and a kind of standardization. While multinational companies that are starting to exist in more and more geographies are trying to create their own universal design language, the opposite behaviors of being individual and acting collectively are constantly being tested.
The relationship between brands and design
As one of my own areas of work and as I have thought about many times a day, corporate identity is also a holistic, multifaceted and comprehensive design product. There is also a direct relationship between corporate identity and achieving brand loyalty.
As I mentioned before, Apple’s minimalist design philosophy and Mercedes-Benz’s products with a trustworthy appearance are practical examples of how brands transform into the design language of corporate culture.
The constant tension between the creativity of the designers who create a product and the commercial goals of the owner of the logo on these products, from the spark in the mind to its being put on the shelf, reminds us that it is time to rethink traditional governance models.
Transformation of Design
The effect of artificial intelligence, which seems dangerous at first glance, such as redefining the role of humans in design, is also remarkable in that it carries the potential to deepen the interaction between cultures.
The future of design culture now depends to some extent on how technology evolves and how cultures interact with each other. In this process, people who design as a profession or who design something simply because they are curious or have an inclination will have to shape the final products they produce by considering not only the formal dimension of design but also the sociological, political and even ecological issues they live in...
All images are created by Imagen3.
