The Double-Faced Design (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In this presentation, I have chosen the theme of design, which has become a popular phenomenon in different contexts today. For the practical nature of design draws attention to cardinal issues, while at the same time, with due sensitivity, design theorists and designers are nurturing solutions that connect with currents discourses such as overproduction or even sustainability. In the light of all these aspects, I see design not as an inherently bad or inherently good tool or function, but rather as an opportunity, capable of offering apparent, temporary, partial or real solutions to problems, both in action and in thought, at the individual or social level.

During my presentation, I highlight the various terms of design, I also mention definitions by Herbert A. Simon and Victor Papanek as well while Herbert A. Simon’s words are leading my research: „Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones. The intellectual activity that produces material artifacts is no different fundamentally from the one that prescribes remedies for a sick patient or the one that devises a new sales plan for a company or a social welfare policy for a state.” (Simon, 1996: 111)

I connect the issue of design with the visual culture’s characteristics, and I bring some Hungarian examples to demonstrate, what kind of contemporary trends are dominate the Hungarian design scene.

Herbert A. Simon (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Zsanett Lengyel is currently a PhD researcher at University of Debrecen. She has teaching experience (since 2020), and she has received 5 degrees in various field right now (Fintech Management, design theory, mediation ect), and gave more than 40 paper presentations as a young researcher during previous the years. She is a design and art theorist and manager, and her side researches focuses on design theory. In her dissertation, she's dealing with Hungarian cultural industries through digital transformation.