The focus of design has been widening to include “society”. Designs that have given shapes to artifacts, such as visuals, products, architecture and the environment, have extended their scope to form new connections with people and new forms of work resulted from them. In line with this phenomenon, activities whereby “one creates the society in which one desires to live in” are springing up everywhere in Japan. Let us turn our thoughts to the resulting design, where citizens, not designers, create society. Lecturer Takeshi Sunaga After graduating from the Three Dimensional Design Department at Tama Art University, he worked at the GK Industrial Design research facility. He ventured away from …

As the co-creative environment where a group of people can demonstrate creativity collectively grow and improve, the need for individuals to bring out originality are becoming ever so important. What kind of innovation drives vision? And the art-thinking behind it? Focusing on the practice of the strategic design firm, BIOTOPE Inc., we discussed the front line of design thinking with Hiroshi Tamura, a visiting professor from Kyushu University. Lecturer Kunitake Saso He graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of law, and completed his master’s course in Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. After working at P&G and Human Value Company, he was involved in the launch of new …

Rather than criticizing design, reality should be criticized through design. How can that type of design be made possible? As long as design is a response to reality, it encompasses a sense of interpretation and assigns value to the status quo. For that reason, design is a tool to critique reality, through “things” rather than words. We heard from Shintaro Miyazaki of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland as he guided us through cutting edge ideas in design across the German-speaking world. Lecturer Shintaro Miyazaki Born in Berlin in 1980, Shintaro Miyazaki is a researcher at University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. He is also …

The pathways of design today are not the “Evolution” of technology, or the “Processes” that smooth the interaction between people and objects, or the “Structures” that keep people from harm. What kind of human input is required here? This is precisely the question that needs to be asked. Design and technology, music and culture – we look at these, dissect these and make connections between them. We look at what emerges through a process of editing by asking questions. This was the theme to be discussed by Kei Wakabayashi, who had recently published Sayonara Mirai 2010-17 (Goodbye to the Future) (Iwanami Shoten, 2018). Lecturer Kei Wakabayashi“WIRED” magazine was launched in …

At Kyushu University’s Faculty of Design, we are tackling the foundations of the study of design with the objective of the systematization of design. How should design be taught now? We welcomed Yutaka Yamauchi as a guest speaker at the first Study of Design Fundamentals Seminar, and held a discussion about the culture and opportunities inherent in service design. Lecturer Yutaka Yamauchi (Associate Professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Management) Associate Professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Management, and holds additional posts with the Department of Economics, the Graduate Schools of Economics, and the School of Design. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Kyoto University’s …