The Role of Aesthetics for Design Phenomenology:The Sensual, Conceptual and Contextual Framing of Experience by Design

摘要

The aim of the paper is to conceptualize the means and effects of different dimensions of aesthetic meaning in relation to the experience of design. In doing so, the paper combines two philosophical interests in design, design phenomenology and design aesthetics, in order to promote a framework for discussing the impact of aesthetic meaning construction on experience. First, the paper raises the phenomenological question of the relationship between design and experience, specifically, how design conditions experience. Second, in looking at aesthetics in terms of a) the sensual appeal of design, b) design objects as aesthetic media that frame modes of understanding, and c) contextual factors, such as media, influencing what is regarded as aesthetic, it is the thesis of the paper that a concept of design aesthetics can be employed to differentiate between three different ways in which design frame our experience: We can look at sensual, conceptual, and contextual aesthetic dimensions of design and examine their contribution to the framing of experience, that is, how different dimensions of meaning articulation in design offer different framings of the experiences promoted by design objects and solutions. Further, the concept of aestheticization is introduced and discussed as the way in which something is construed as ‘aesthetic’ by factors external to the object. A central insight is that the contextual aspect of aestheticization can promote a cultural construction of new conditions and new categories for the way we experience relevant meaning properties of design objects.