Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A theoretically informed investigation that relates the philosophies of aesthetics and imagination to understanding design practice.

In The Aesthetics of Imagination in Design , Mads Folkmann investigates design in both material and immaterial terms. Design objects, Folkmann argues, will always be dual phenomena--material and immaterial, sensual and conceptual, actual and possible. Drawing on formal theories of aesthetics and the phenomenology of imagination, he seeks to answer fundamental questions about what design is and how it works that are often ignored in academic research.

Folkmann considers three conditions in design: the possible, the aesthetic, and the imagination. Imagination is a central formative power behind the creation and the life of design objects; aesthetics describes the sensual, conceptual, and contextual codes through which design objects communicate; the concept of the possible--the enabling of new uses, conceptions, and perceptions--lies behind imagination and aesthetics. The possible, Folkmann argues, is contained as a structure of meaning within the objects of design, which act as part of our interface with the world. Taking a largely phenomenological perspective that reflects both continental and American pragmatist approaches, Folkmann also makes use of discourses that range from practice-focused accounts of design methodology to cultural studies. Throughout, he offers concrete examples to illustrate theoretical points. Folkmann's philosophically informed account shows design--in all its manifestations, from physical products to principles of organization--to be an essential medium for the articulation and transformation of culture.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Series Foreword (p. ix)
• Preface (p. xv)
• 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• 2 Design and Possibility (p. 13)
• 3 Aesthetics (p. 25)
• 4 Imagination (p. 67)
• 5 A Phenomenology of Imagination in Design (p. 81)
• 6 Imagination and Design Epistemology (p. 95)
• 7 Schematization (p. 105)
• 8 The Imaginary in Design (p. 139)
• 9 Symbolism (p. 153)
• 10 Transfiguration (p. 185)
• Conclusion (p. 217)
• Notes (p. 223)
• References (p. 249)
• Index (p. 265)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This book is valuable yet maddening. Folkmann (Univ. of Southern Denmark) contributes to the developing literature on design theory by making a case that designed things are not only material and not only functional in the sense that they provide tools to get through life but also that design always "operates on the level of the immaterial and the imaginary." Using Continentalist semeiological critical tools, he analyzes the various ways that design (any kind of design from architecture to industrial to graphic) always covertly delivers more significance than initially meets the eye. The reservations surrounding this book have to do with an awkward, turgid writing style that makes an already abstract subject even more difficult to grasp and the dearth of examples (written or visual) to illustrate the author's points. Despite these significant drawbacks, this book is valuable for graduate students and scholars, as Folkmann's argument is an important contribution to the marriage of design practice and phenomenology. Ultimately, Folkmann is saying that one should consider design not just as stylistic forms but also in the broadest possible way as a structuring of human experience. That is an important claim to have on library shelves. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. S. Skaggs University of Louisville