Static and in motion – How Finnish design culture changes through the work of sustainability-oriented designers.
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
Location:
P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2018 Menge
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Authors
Date
2018
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
128
Series
Abstract
On the surface, it appears that Finnish design and design culture are closely related to the notion of sustainability. Simultaneously, there are a variety of angles how design, in general, is perceived – reaching from ‘design as a solution for everything’, ‘design as a strategic tool’ or ‘(good) design as something natural’ to a less positive view on the topic, such as ‘design as a main reason for issues in the world’. Thereby, it is of interest to explore how these topics are connected to the motivations of designers to have sustainability as a focus in their work. Hence, the two main angles of the thesis are: - How (Finnish) design, designers, and design culture are perceived. - Why and how design professionals working and living in Finland are motivated to implement sustainability in their work as designers. It will be examined which different approaches to Finnish design culture could be created through researching these angles. Can the context of design and sustainability be perceived differently? The thesis researches, analyzes and explores Finnish design and designers through the lens of design history and culture. Literature of these areas provides the background for discussing the individuals’ angle – the designers’ motivations to sustainability. Studying the motivations is based on empathic design research. Besides other methods from this field, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the designers’ ambition to implement sustainability in their work. The results of analyzing the study in relation to the research about design and design culture provide a different perspective on how design and design culture are perceived in Finland. Design could be a tool to transport messages, which is one of the findings of the thesis. In the case of the interviewees, the message is the notion of sustainability and their understanding of it. It is presented in a way, that does not force people to take on a certain behavior. As a final step, it is discussed, which effect ‘design as a tool for communication’ has on how Finnish design culture is perceived. The approach could provide a middle ground between the two angles of observing Finnish design culture as rather traditional or innovative, and on a broader scale between perceiving ‘design as a solution for everything’ or ‘design as a main reason for issues in the world’. The notion of ‘taking action’ is more important than only talking about sustainability and changes in Finnish design culture – which is another finding of the thesis. The conclusion gives prospects, how the findings of the thesis could be developed to subsequently help further discussion about the importance of sustainability. The thesis has three main chapters. The first chapter concentrates on the field of design, designers, design culture and how these areas are perceived. The second part focuses on exploring the designers’ motivation to implement sustainability in their work. The methodology and methods utilized, as well as the analysis of the study, are described in this section. As the fields of design culture and the motivations of designers within this culture are related, these two sections build the foundation for the third section. It discusses the results of the study – the notion of ‘design as a tool’ and its impact on the Finnish design culture.Description
Supervisor
Berglund, EevaThesis advisor
Berglund, EevaKeywords
design culture, Finnish design culture, motivations to sustainability, design as a tool for communication