Sound Art is a field situated in a nebulous place between music and art. As a source of inspiration to sound design, its role is analogous to that of the visual arts in relation to graphic design. The issue of sound art’s definition is discussed by musician and writer Alan Licht in the seminal text Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories (2007; revised as Sound Art Revisited in 2019). Licht does not (can not) settle on a single definition for what is an incredibly diverse range of practices undertaken by creators from both fine arts and music backgrounds. However, he does give four basic criteria for what constitutes sound art, …

In recent years, various sounds have become the objects of design. Acoustic design of musical instruments and concert halls has long been conducted to satisfy the human aesthetic desire to listen and play good sound. These are sounds and places intended to be appreciated, but other sounds have also become the objects of design; for example, the sounds of the environment in which we live, the sounds of auditory signs to convey information, and the sounds of machines such as motors, engines, and doors opening and closing, and so on. The purpose of design varies, for example, to ensure that the sound plays its proper role, or that people are …

For a good design, it is necessary to know the problem to be solved by the design, to know the solution to the problem, and to know whether the solution was appropriate or not so that it can be utilized in the next design. All three of these are related to the psychology and physiology of the user. The subjective evaluation is answered by words (including numerical values), but since it is not easy to grasp these in a reproducible form, various efforts have been made, including how to analyze them. For example, if the size or shape of a window changes in a certain space, how much space is …

In management design, Frederick Taylor’s (1911) “The Scientific Method of Management” stands as a guiding beacon. The trajectory of management history has since grappled with how to inherit and transcend this philosophy. The genesis of modern industrial design witnessed the segregation of design and labor, along with the subsequent isolation of designers and workers. During this era, design encompassed not only the product’s form, but also the orchestration of the labor involved in its creation. Consequently, modern design requires a focus on both the product and management design. Achieving this requires modern design philosophy to dispossess the craftsmen of labor management and downgrade them to laborers. Taylor posited that craftsmen …

Plato introduced the concept of humanism in technology through Socrates’ dialectic. In one well-known passage, Socrates hears an oracle from the Delphic priestess proclaiming, “Socrates is the wisest man in Athene.” Doubting this claim, Socrates sets out to meet those considered wise—statesmen, poets, and finally, artisans (χειροτέχνης). This passage is where Socrates’ famous “knowledge of ignorance” comes into focus. But, men of Athens, the good artisans also seemed to me to have the same failing as the poets; because of practicing his art well, each one thought he was very wise in the other most important matters, and this folly of theirs obscured that wisdom (Apology, 22d-e). Socrates acknowledges that, …

In his essay “Creating a University” (Kogei News 1, Vol. 39, 1971), Shinji Koike, the first president of the Kyushu Institute of Design, reflects on the tension between specialization and broader perspectives. He writes: The more specialized a person becomes, the more they are respected as an academician. But the more they broaden their perspective, grounded in a deep human foundation, the more they risk being dismissed as a dilettante. Here, Koike expresses concern about traditional engineering education, where each specialized field evolves independently, causing a division between nature and humanity. He argues that the role of a designer is to create the best possible plans for improving life by …

A person’s self-awareness begins in infancy. Reddy (2003) argues that infants sense that others are paying attention to them and that they are the object of that attention, and that this awareness leads to the representation of self and others in their minds. Infants gradually learn to share attention with others through such sensations as pleasure or pain when others pay attention to them and by vocalizing to draw attention to themselves. In other words, infants come to know their own existence through others (Tomasello, 1999). We can sense the existence of our own mind. However, although we understand that the minds of others exist, it is difficult to accurately …

Today, the terms “music design” and “composition design” are often used to describe the field. However, looking back on history, music and design have not always been so easily associated. Rather, music and musical works have been discussed mainly within the category of art. Nevertheless, there are many issues that can be considered from the framework of design at various levels, such as the structure of musical works, the act of creating music, and the environment in which music functions in society. In this section, we will look at tonal music that originated in Western Europe, that is, music with a key such as C major or A minor (for …

The Good Design Award, created in 1957 as the Good Design Product Selection System by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, was initially limited to industrial products, as its main purpose was to promote the development of high-performance, high-quality, and non-imitative Japanese products. In 1997, a major turning point occurred when the Good Design Award was expanded to include other categories such as “Ecological Design,” “Universal Design,” and “Interaction Design.” Furthermore, in the 2000s, “design thinking” began to be used in business and other areas. As a result, in 2008, the Good Design Award changed its “industrial perspective” to a “consumer perspective” (Good Design Award website). These changes in …

Visual culture studies (VCS), while developing from the field of art history and cultural studies, refers to an approach to the critical examination of not only works of art in the narrow sense but also popular visual media, crafts and design, advertising posters, comics, and other objects that are generally described as visual. The history of design, be it architecture, products, or graphics, is still usually mentioned alongside the names of the famous, talented designers who created them. However, most artificial objects that are abundant in everyday life do not reveal the names of the designers. How do visually appealing artifacts attract attention, convey messages, and arouse desire? VCS examines …

Rather than a linear technology that acts directly on the cause of a problem, design is more concerned with a “phronesis”, a practical wisdom of considering the whole situation, setting the context in which the technology functions, and improving the relationship between humans and the technology so that the technology can fulfill its original purpose. For example, rather than developing drugs that directly address the etiology of disease, design seems to be more concerned with making the drugs easier to take for infants and the elderly, and with labeling so that there is no mistake about which drug to take. If a linear approach based on linear cause-and-effect relationships is …