2011: New – Future in Design

Design creates new things, which are given form by communication design:
As thought leaders, ever concerned with different possibilities, designers create alternative solutions for that which is common and familiar. They are avant-gardists and radical innovators who question traditions. Critical analysis, questioning the established and taking an unbiased view at the familiar, enables them to create new things.

What, however, do we consider as new? What may future developments hold in store and how might they manifest themselves in our everyday life? Can future really be predicted empirically? And what part do designers play in this process, with their intuition for present and future trends?

These are the questions around the subject “what’s new – future in design” which will be dealt with in the second year of the Master Programme “Gutenberg Intermedia” at Mainz, starting with the winter semester 2011/12.

Guided by the expertise of professionals, students will analyse the status quo in technology, science, aesthetics and society and thereby establish a basis for creative thought and innovation.

Seminars and talks with experts will give an opportunity for theoretical questioning; further input will be gained through symposia and excursions, whereupon students will visualise their own designs in workshops and seminars. The students will present the insights and verdicts gained, as well as their questions about innovations and future trends in design in their own symposium, planned for October 2012.