Conté: PART 1: CONCEPTUALIZATION -- Introduction -- 1. Branzi's dilemma: design in contemporary culture / Richard Buchanan -- 2. Designing the artificial: an interdisciplinary study / Massimo Negrotti -- 3. A scenario for design / Wolfgang Jonas -- 4. Information and reality at the turn of the century / Albert Borgmann -- 5. Thorstein veblen at the University of Chicago and the socialization of aesthetics / Ellen Mazur Thomson -- 6. Adolf Loos and the aphoristic style: rhetorical practice in early Twentieth-Century design criticism / John Maciulka -- 7. The things that matter / Peter Paul Verbeek and Petran Kockelkoren -- 8. Domestication of everyday life technology: dynamic views on the social histories of artifacts / Mika Pantzar -- 9. Environmental design and industrial design: integrating knowledge around urgent issues / Medardo Chiapponi -- PART 2: FABRICATION -- Section 1: The design process and new domains of practice -- 10. Simulated seas: exhibition design in contemporary aquariums / Dennis Doordan -- 11. The arts of war: visual presentation and national intelligence / Barry Katz -- 12. This is my brain book: day timers and expedient design / Sara Schneider -- 13. The design of the connection machine / Tomiko Thiel -- 14. Accidental machines: the impact of popular participation in computer technology / Michael Punt -- 15. Typography and the screen: a technical chronology of digital typography, 1984-1997 / Loretta Staples -- Section 2: The design process and the social meaning of things -- 16. History from things: notes on the history of industrial design / Raimonda Riccini -- 17. Olympus and the marketplace: reyner banham and design criticism / Nigel Whiteley -- 18. Visibility in progress / Giovanni Anceschi -- 19. Softening up the facts: engineers in design meetings / Peter Lloyd and Jerry Busby -- 20. Fourth order design: a practical perspective / Tony Golsby-Smith -- PART 3: EVALUATION -- 21. It's a nice world after all: the vision of difference in colors / Ann Tyler -- 22. Design, environment, and social quality: from 'Existenzminimum' to 'Quality Maximum' / Ezio Manzini -- 23. Values in design: Existenzminimum, Maximum Quality, and Optimal Balance" / John Hirst -- 24. Science, semiotics, and society: the ulm Hochschule für Gestaltung in Retrospect / Paul Betts -- 25. Ecological design: a new critique / Pauline Madge -- 26. Biophilia and technophilia: examining the nature/culture split in design theory / David Stairs -- 27. Ethics, aesthetics, and design / Alain Findeli

"We now live in a designed world and we need to develop a better understanding of how to discuss and critique its design components. The essays presented here - selected from the preeminent journal, Design Issues - are intended to enhance our collective understanding of the wide reach of design in the contemporary world. The book is structured to cover the life of a designed object or project from conception and fabrication to evaluation. The essays are divided into themed sections, with each section separately introduced and each concluded with further reading. The Designed World aims to break down the often rigid boundaries between history, theory and criticism. Despite the wide range of subjects discussed, the book highlights the commonalities across all aspects of design. The reader will be invaluable to students, scholars and practitioners across the field of design"-- Library of Congress.