Design as Inquiry

Prospects for a Material Philosophy
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-3-0356-3144-9
Verlag: De Gruyter

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Format (B × H): 168 mm x 224 mm

Reihe: Board of International Research in Design

This book examines design as a mode of philosophical inquiry, proposing that design gains critical relevance when it engages the material and technological structures that shape everyday life. Rather than offering solutions, it foregrounds design as a practice of questioning—one that reframes problems, visualizes tensions, and materializes ideas to make them thinkable. Through this lens, design becomes a method of understanding the world rather than transforming it through predetermined visions. The book argues that the real power of design lies in developing tools: tools that construct alternative worlds for reflection, and tools that help us perceive the existing world anew. In doing so, it positions design as an intellectual practice capable of expanding both our conceptual and material horizons.

• Design as a practice of questioning
• Tools to reflect and understand
• New volume within BIRD series

Autoren/Hrsg.

Franke, Björn

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Design Design: Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Design Design: Einzelne Designer
• Geisteswissenschaften Design Modedesign, Stoffe, Schmuckdesign
• Geisteswissenschaften Design Produktdesign, Industriedesign

Über Autor(innen)

Björn Franke ist Designer und Designtheoretiker und derzeit Senior Lecturer in Designtheorie und -praxis an der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.

Björn Franke is Senior Lecturer in design theory and practice at Zurich University of the Arts.