Design Interrupted

About the series

Design in Flux

Today, the study and practice of design are in great flux. We are amidst the biggest socio-economic transformation since the 1750s, experiencing the fifth Industrial Revolution. There is a growing pressure to transition economies driven by extractive, wasteful and polluting logics towards systems designed to fit the planetary limits. Such transformation requires the design of new types of products and services, as well as new systems and approaches to large-scale changes.  

At the same time, design as a practice area is also changing. It is shifting away from a more rigidly defined practice of professionally trained designers creating graphics, objects and spaces towards a practice that is loosely defined, fuzzy and seemingly omnipresent. Many have been calling for democratizing design and recognizing the efforts of non-professional designers. Design thinking, methods and practices have entered many contexts, including governance, jurisprudence, sciences and activism. The design community has been grappling with the ever-expanding definitions of what design is and who a designer is.

Design Interrupted - Conversations for the 21st century world 

This talk series invites design professionals, students, academics and anyone interested in these challenges to a series of conversations. Each event features a scene-setting lecture by a leading practitioner and thinker followed by open discussion. Three themes give focus to the series: digital, societal and material transformations. What is design’s role in these transformations? How do we generate new know-how to support the needed transitions, and what examples already exist that we can learn from? What stands in the way of progress towards equitable, diverse, and sustainable lives, and what is the role of design in removing such blockages? What are design and designers in this new context?

Department of Design at Aalto University invites you to join our conversations to explore what design is, can and should be in the 21st Century. 

The talk series is funded by the Kone Foundation.

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 Emīlija Veselova

Emīlija Veselova

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Past Talks

In the background a woman standing inside of a kitchen with open shelves. In the foreground, a yellow banner with text in English "Design Interrupted. Upcoming talk: 17.10.2024 17:00-19:00, Marsio Stage, Otakaari 2, Espoo. Mathilda Tham (PhD): Earth Logic fashion and design: How can we organise our understanding of design for maximum agency to make urgent change?"

Earth Logic fashion and design: How can we organise our understanding of design for maximum agency to make urgent change?

Talk by Mathilda Tham (PhD) on enabling new though and action in design through Earth logic to address pressing sustainability challenges.

Events
Cover image that states "design interrupted, upcoming talk on 21.11.2024. 17:0-19:00, Kieran Long, Civic Objects and the Work of the Imagination"

Civic Objects and the Work of the Imagination (external link)

Kieran Long explores how design exhibitions and events can go far beyond celebrating the work of designers to engage citizens’ imagination.

Events
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