Articles
2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
Are Trends Becoming Obsolete?
- Ph.D. Dissertation on Trend Mechanisms in Fashion.
Trends are not going out of fashion in the 21st century, although they have been pronounced dead repeatedly as a result of the growing turnover rate in fashion trends – they mutate and emerge in a chaotic root system of meanings and functions. In a Ph.D. dissertation from The Danish Design School, Maria Mackinney-Valentin studies how and why fashion trends change, and whether there have been any changes in trend mechanisms in the 21st century. The Ph.D. dissertation helps consolidate and develop trend studies as an independent field of research and contributes to our understanding of trends in our society.
15 June 2010
Type and Legibility
- Typeface design as a research topic.
Few would disagree that legibility is crucial on traffic signs. But how can we know which typefaces are most legible, and how quickly do readers get used to unfamiliar typefaces? These and other questions related to typeface design were the topic of the seminar 'The Legible Typeface' at The Danish Design School on 11 May 2010, which explored both practical and scientific perspectives. The seminar was organised by Assistant Research Professor Sofie Beier, who is doing research to determine which letter characteristics affect legibility.
15 June 2010
On the Threshold to a New Design Perception
- Conference on the Challenges of the Future.
How can design offer a productive answer to the challenges of the future? What new understanding of design will be required? These issues formed the basis for the conference Borderlines – Pushing Design Over the Limit, which was held in Genk in Belgium on 26-29 May 2010 under the framework of the Cumulus network, which involves universities and colleges with education and research in the fields of art, design and media.
15 June 2010
Encountering the Unknown
- Interactions Between People and Digital Products
Telephones that are also computers and robots that take blood samples – products with integrated digital technology often offer new types of functions that we are not prepared for. In a new Ph.D. dissertation from Designskolen Kolding, Thomas Markussen describes new approaches to understanding what happens in our encounter with interactive design products.
18 May 2010
We Want to Generate Innovation in Society
– Interview with Poul Rind Christensen, Kolding School of Design, Denmark
Until 2014, the research strategy for Kolding School of Design is focused on the interaction between research and practice. By means of so-called learning circles that connect research projects, development projects and private or government-funded organisations, the design school aims to generate interactive understanding that is enriching to everyone involved. According to Head of Research, Professor Poul Rind Christensen at Kolding School of Design, this gives research a real potential for contributing to the dynamics of an innovative society.
18 May 2010
Open Access Will Strengthen Design Research
Free, electronic access to research findings will probably soon be introduced in Denmark. Troels Degn Johansson, head of research at The Danish Design School, believes that open access will improve the possibility of exploring knowledge across traditional research disciplines. He is convinced that it will benefit design research, whose methods and theories are rooted in many different disciplines.
18 May 2010
Design Research Strengthens Innovation at Deutsche Telekom
At Deutsche Telekom Laboratories in Berlin, design research is an integrated part of the development activities. It is anchored in the Design Research Lab, which under Professor Dr. Gesche Joost’s leadership offers new input to innovation in the company. Among other achievements, design research helped speed up the development process in the design of a new telephone, and it helps secure the future innovation at Deutsche Telekom.
20 April 2010
Open Access – the Future for Research?
Over the past ten years, free and open online access to research findings has spread from the natural sciences to the social sciences and the humanities. According to Steven Shaviro, a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA, this development benefits both research and society at large, although it also poses challenges for publishers and research environments. In Denmark, the Copenhagen Business School has been one of the first universities to implement open access.
20 April 2010
Designers as Interpreters in Co-Creation Processes
Co-creation – creating value together with the users – will become a key driver of innovation in the future. In co-creation processes, design is essential because designers act as interpreters in the process, says Eskild Hansen, head of Cisco Consumer Products’ European Design Center and a member of the board for the Danish Design Council. This developments places new demands on designers’ competences, and it is crucial to integrate research, education and business if we are to realise the innovation potential inherent in design, says Jørgen Rasmussen, associate professor and head of the Department of Design at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
20 April 2010
Textile Researchers Develop Patent
A key factor in product development at the textile company Kvadrat is research-based knowledge about light and materials that the company among other things acquires by participating in the Textile Consortium at the Kolding School of Design. For example, Kvadrat has taken out a patent for a new type of light screening that the researchers have developed through experiments with various materials. The goal is to use daylight better and create solutions that combine functional and aesthetic factors to improve hospital environments and thus make a positive contribution to patients’ well-being.
16 March 2010
Global Luxury Fashion Sets the Agenda
Design researcher Erik Hansen-Hansen studies global luxury fashion and is interested in the impact of the global luxury brands on the Danish fashion scene. He believes that they are setting the agenda for much of the world’s fashion industry – thus also affecting Denmark’s. And that it is crucial for Danish fashion companies to understand the international networks of the fashion industry. In February 2010, Erik Hansen-Hansen took part in the Copenhagen Fashion Week to observe how the global luxury brands affect the Danish fashion industry.
16 March 2010
Art and Courage In Future Furniture Design
Since 2008, the furniture consortium at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture has actively sought to promote innovation in furniture design. The consortium maintains a close dialogue with private businesses and others with the purpose of generating new knowledge of value to both research and businesses. Among other things, a recent project demonstrates the crucial importance of artistic quality and courage in future furniture design.
16 March 2010
Consortiums Open Doors
Four consortiums in the fields of textile, fashion, furniture and strategic design form the setting for a collaboration of design researchers, research institutions and companies. The consortiums generate synergy and valuable networks and promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas with the business sector. For example, the Textile Consortium has opened new doors for Vibeke Riisberg, associate professor at Designskolen Kolding. She sees the consortium setup as a helpful framework for the exchange of knowledge and the communication of Danish and international textile research to industry, designers and the educational institutions. A common feature for all four consortiums is that they are helping to upgrade their field and generate innovation.
17 February 2010
Design Creates the Future
Design is a change-oriented discipline. Based on knowledge from design research about the way in which culture and individuals adopt change, designers can create the future-oriented solutions that society needs. In this interview Peter Gall Krogh, recently appointed design professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture, talks about the role of design research for the potential of the design discipline to affirm as well as transform values.
17 February 2010
Anchoring Innovation
Strategic design can be used to enhance a company’s focus on its innovation processes. New research shows that it is worthwhile to examine how the development process begins, and how it is anchored strategically in the company’s organisation. Interview with designer Brett Patching about his ongoing Ph.D. project at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
17 February 2010
Editorial: Design Research - a Catalyst for Innovation
In the first issue of Mind Design in 2010, Director Dorthe Mejlhede takes stock of the activities in the Danish Centre for Design Research in 2009 and of the platform that the centre has created for current and future design research. Design research can act as a catalyst for innovation and as a source of value creation for companies and for society at large. That is why it is so important to continue to expand and support the design research environment, Dorthe Mejlhede points out.
19 January 2010
Using Creativity to Enhance Consumer Awareness
With the aid of two Ph.D. projects, the Danish savings bank Middelfart Sparekasse has undergone an organisational development process focused on human values and staff self-management. Now, the bank’s third Industrial Ph.D. scholar, Kirsten Bonde Sørensen from Kolding School of Design, wants to introduce self-management and the exploration of values to the field of customer relations. The goal is to develop a new type of consumer communication to help individual customers clarify their values through creativity and reflection.
19 January 2010
Is Design Philosophical?
Design and philosophy are not as far apart as one might think. Both disciplines address what is actual and what is possible, albeit in different ways. Philosophy is reflective, while design pursues a practical expression of possibility. Thus, there is considerable potential in bringing design and philosophy into a productive mutual dialogue, which is precisely the purpose of CEPHAD, Centre for Philosophy and Design, which is holding an international conference at The Danish Design School on 26-29 January 2010.
19 January 2010
Are Trends Becoming Obsolete?
- Ph.D. Dissertation on Trend Mechanisms in Fashion.
Trends are not going out of fashion in the 21st century, although they have been pronounced dead repeatedly as a result of the growing turnover rate in fashion trends – they mutate and emerge in a chaotic root system of meanings and functions. In a Ph.D. dissertation from The Danish Design School, Maria Mackinney-Valentin studies how and why fashion trends change, and whether there have been any changes in trend mechanisms in the 21st century. The Ph.D. dissertation helps consolidate and develop trend studies as an independent field of research and contributes to our understanding of trends in our society.
15 June 2010
Type and Legibility
- Typeface design as a research topic.
Few would disagree that legibility is crucial on traffic signs. But how can we know which typefaces are most legible, and how quickly do readers get used to unfamiliar typefaces? These and other questions related to typeface design were the topic of the seminar 'The Legible Typeface' at The Danish Design School on 11 May 2010, which explored both practical and scientific perspectives. The seminar was organised by Assistant Research Professor Sofie Beier, who is doing research to determine which letter characteristics affect legibility.
15 June 2010
On the Threshold to a New Design Perception
- Conference on the Challenges of the Future.
How can design offer a productive answer to the challenges of the future? What new understanding of design will be required? These issues formed the basis for the conference Borderlines – Pushing Design Over the Limit, which was held in Genk in Belgium on 26-29 May 2010 under the framework of the Cumulus network, which involves universities and colleges with education and research in the fields of art, design and media.
15 June 2010
Encountering the Unknown
- Interactions Between People and Digital Products
Telephones that are also computers and robots that take blood samples – products with integrated digital technology often offer new types of functions that we are not prepared for. In a new Ph.D. dissertation from Designskolen Kolding, Thomas Markussen describes new approaches to understanding what happens in our encounter with interactive design products.
18 May 2010
We Want to Generate Innovation in Society
– Interview with Poul Rind Christensen, Kolding School of Design, Denmark
Until 2014, the research strategy for Kolding School of Design is focused on the interaction between research and practice. By means of so-called learning circles that connect research projects, development projects and private or government-funded organisations, the design school aims to generate interactive understanding that is enriching to everyone involved. According to Head of Research, Professor Poul Rind Christensen at Kolding School of Design, this gives research a real potential for contributing to the dynamics of an innovative society.
18 May 2010
Open Access Will Strengthen Design Research
Free, electronic access to research findings will probably soon be introduced in Denmark. Troels Degn Johansson, head of research at The Danish Design School, believes that open access will improve the possibility of exploring knowledge across traditional research disciplines. He is convinced that it will benefit design research, whose methods and theories are rooted in many different disciplines.
18 May 2010
Design Research Strengthens Innovation at Deutsche Telekom
At Deutsche Telekom Laboratories in Berlin, design research is an integrated part of the development activities. It is anchored in the Design Research Lab, which under Professor Dr. Gesche Joost’s leadership offers new input to innovation in the company. Among other achievements, design research helped speed up the development process in the design of a new telephone, and it helps secure the future innovation at Deutsche Telekom.
20 April 2010
Open Access – the Future for Research?
Over the past ten years, free and open online access to research findings has spread from the natural sciences to the social sciences and the humanities. According to Steven Shaviro, a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA, this development benefits both research and society at large, although it also poses challenges for publishers and research environments. In Denmark, the Copenhagen Business School has been one of the first universities to implement open access.
20 April 2010
Designers as Interpreters in Co-Creation Processes
Co-creation – creating value together with the users – will become a key driver of innovation in the future. In co-creation processes, design is essential because designers act as interpreters in the process, says Eskild Hansen, head of Cisco Consumer Products’ European Design Center and a member of the board for the Danish Design Council. This developments places new demands on designers’ competences, and it is crucial to integrate research, education and business if we are to realise the innovation potential inherent in design, says Jørgen Rasmussen, associate professor and head of the Department of Design at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
20 April 2010
Textile Researchers Develop Patent
A key factor in product development at the textile company Kvadrat is research-based knowledge about light and materials that the company among other things acquires by participating in the Textile Consortium at the Kolding School of Design. For example, Kvadrat has taken out a patent for a new type of light screening that the researchers have developed through experiments with various materials. The goal is to use daylight better and create solutions that combine functional and aesthetic factors to improve hospital environments and thus make a positive contribution to patients’ well-being.
16 March 2010
Global Luxury Fashion Sets the Agenda
Design researcher Erik Hansen-Hansen studies global luxury fashion and is interested in the impact of the global luxury brands on the Danish fashion scene. He believes that they are setting the agenda for much of the world’s fashion industry – thus also affecting Denmark’s. And that it is crucial for Danish fashion companies to understand the international networks of the fashion industry. In February 2010, Erik Hansen-Hansen took part in the Copenhagen Fashion Week to observe how the global luxury brands affect the Danish fashion industry.
16 March 2010
Art and Courage In Future Furniture Design
Since 2008, the furniture consortium at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture has actively sought to promote innovation in furniture design. The consortium maintains a close dialogue with private businesses and others with the purpose of generating new knowledge of value to both research and businesses. Among other things, a recent project demonstrates the crucial importance of artistic quality and courage in future furniture design.
16 March 2010
Consortiums Open Doors
Four consortiums in the fields of textile, fashion, furniture and strategic design form the setting for a collaboration of design researchers, research institutions and companies. The consortiums generate synergy and valuable networks and promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas with the business sector. For example, the Textile Consortium has opened new doors for Vibeke Riisberg, associate professor at Designskolen Kolding. She sees the consortium setup as a helpful framework for the exchange of knowledge and the communication of Danish and international textile research to industry, designers and the educational institutions. A common feature for all four consortiums is that they are helping to upgrade their field and generate innovation.
17 February 2010
Design Creates the Future
Design is a change-oriented discipline. Based on knowledge from design research about the way in which culture and individuals adopt change, designers can create the future-oriented solutions that society needs. In this interview Peter Gall Krogh, recently appointed design professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture, talks about the role of design research for the potential of the design discipline to affirm as well as transform values.
17 February 2010
Anchoring Innovation
Strategic design can be used to enhance a company’s focus on its innovation processes. New research shows that it is worthwhile to examine how the development process begins, and how it is anchored strategically in the company’s organisation. Interview with designer Brett Patching about his ongoing Ph.D. project at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
17 February 2010
Editorial: Design Research - a Catalyst for Innovation
In the first issue of Mind Design in 2010, Director Dorthe Mejlhede takes stock of the activities in the Danish Centre for Design Research in 2009 and of the platform that the centre has created for current and future design research. Design research can act as a catalyst for innovation and as a source of value creation for companies and for society at large. That is why it is so important to continue to expand and support the design research environment, Dorthe Mejlhede points out.
19 January 2010
Using Creativity to Enhance Consumer Awareness
With the aid of two Ph.D. projects, the Danish savings bank Middelfart Sparekasse has undergone an organisational development process focused on human values and staff self-management. Now, the bank’s third Industrial Ph.D. scholar, Kirsten Bonde Sørensen from Kolding School of Design, wants to introduce self-management and the exploration of values to the field of customer relations. The goal is to develop a new type of consumer communication to help individual customers clarify their values through creativity and reflection.
19 January 2010
Is Design Philosophical?
Design and philosophy are not as far apart as one might think. Both disciplines address what is actual and what is possible, albeit in different ways. Philosophy is reflective, while design pursues a practical expression of possibility. Thus, there is considerable potential in bringing design and philosophy into a productive mutual dialogue, which is precisely the purpose of CEPHAD, Centre for Philosophy and Design, which is holding an international conference at The Danish Design School on 26-29 January 2010.
19 January 2010
