Design Thinking and the Question of Modernity

摘要

The term modern is typically associated with form, material and style in reference to products and industrial design. Modernity though has a century of use behind it in reference to design, and longer if one considers aesthetics, art, literature and the enduring legacy of the Enlightenment. Within this historical context there are considerable ambiguities and complexities associated aesthetically with the term. Today modernity, as seen in the advancement of technology, maintains a dominant yet strange presence. Given sophisticated yet convenient technology, blurred cultural distinctions and a chronic state of change, modernity is certainly open to questioning.rnYet, within this swirling milieu can one approach the question of modernity (and postmodernism) in a fresh way? This paperrnseeks to explore attributes of design thinking as a means to further an overall discussion on modernity itself, as a continuing project, and inclusive of its pluralistic postmodernist face.