Circulation: A Theoretical Toolkit

Abstract

This paper introduces a framework which we believe has the potential to become a relevant toolkit for researchers involved in the analysis of design history and practice. We show how design can be understood as a circulation process, and how design elements can be understood as forms identified by design studies scholars, which can be followed as they circulate from one instance to another, being either created, conserved, or dissipated. Using the example of the evolution of the iPhone calculator, we illustrate how this framework facilitates a dynamic understanding of how design elements are transported and transformed when traveling through human and nonhuman entities.

Keywords:

• design research
• design history
• design theory
• circulation
• meme

Notes

1. We use here “design studies” as an umbrella term to embrace the analysis and discussion of fundamental aspects of design activity, from design processes to reception and use.

2. See the review by Ingold (2012) on how Aristotle’s “hylomorphic” (to describe compounds of matter and form) approach was used and then later abandoned by scholars.

3. In the sense discussed by Herbert Blumer between definitive and sensitizing concepts: they do not provide descriptions of what to see but suggest directions along which to look (1993: 147–8), quoted in Clarke and Star 2008).

4. We consider here the iPhone calculator as software. The switch between vertical and landscape mode is therefore a form in the sense that it is part of its code (rather than considering it as, say, a function). Another way to understand how the code physically relates to the final software is to imagine the calculator as double-sided, with the vertical and landscape interfaces located on one single material object.

5. For instance the calculators ET33, ET44, ET66, ET88. See also the similarities between the Braun T3 pocket radio and the Apple iPod, or the PowerMac G5/Mac Pro and the Braun T1000 radio. We are indebted to the discussion by design pundit Jesus Diaz on Gizmodo for part of this discussion: http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future (last accessed March 3, 2013).

6. See technology blogs such as Fast Co.design (www.fastcodesign.com/1670760/will-apples-tacky-software-design-philosophy-cause-a-revolt). It seems to highlight the tensions between two factions of Apple designers who defended different levels of ornamentation and mimicking of physical devices in their design (a practice referred to as “skeuomorphism” in design circles).

7. “Design language,” in designers’ parlance, refers to the set of guidelines that define the design of an interface or a product.

8. On the concept of artifact genealogy, see Simondon (1958), Steadman (1979), Basalla (1988), Stiegler (1998), and Eldredge (2002).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Basile Zimmermann

Basile Zimmermann is Assistant Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Geneva. Author of Waves and Forms: Electronic Music Devices and Computer Encodings in China (MIT Press, 2015), his work focuses on science and technology studies in China. [email protected]

Nicolas Nova

Nicolas Nova is a Professor at Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD – Genève) – teaching ethnography, interaction design, and futures research – and co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory, a design studio based in Europe/California. His work explores people’s needs, motivations, and contexts to map new design opportunities. [email protected]