Today,there are more than 200000 students studying design in Chinese universities every year.This is a rather amazing number,but the problem we are faced with is who to teach these students.Learning design is not easy,while teaching design is still a more difficult and challenging task.Obviously,we cannot find so many qualified teachers in a short time,and we even cannot find suitable textbooks for students.Currently,many of teaching materials in use cannot guide students to understand design correctly.On the contrary,they will mislead students seriously,which is a very worrying thing.In fact,texts and contents are significantly important for studying and debating issues related to design.
Six years ago,School of Design from East China Normal University hosted a students'works exhibition in Rome,Italy.In the exhibition,I met Prof.Tonino Paris,director of College of Architect,for the very first time,on the campus of University of Rome,Sapienza.Since then,we collaborate and communicate with College of Architect from University of Rome and Prof.Paris closely on academics and education.Many years ago,Prof.Paris founded and directed Disegno Industriale|Industrial Design.In his own words,he hopes he could reconnoiter"true dimension of design"from both historical and contemporary perspectives.DIID,Disegno Industriale|Industrial Design,is the journal founded in 2002，which has seen the involvement of more than 450 researchers,scholars and professionals on the Italian and international design landscapes,to investigate,with about 850 essays,the phenomenology of design and the network of its important figures.Each issue has dealt,in monographic form,with a specific subject articulated in the following themes:innovation of the processes of industrial production;the progress of design practices;the study of the development of the languages of the applied arts;technological,scientific,social,and economic conditioning in the construction of the artificial environment;the evolution of the results of research and of theoretical and design experimentation for the development of material and immaterial artefacts;the technology,science,society and economy development jointly in the construction of artificial environment,and etc.The discussion on these representative themes in the design field,represents a layman's debate on the technical and cultural extension of design as a product system.These moving targets were attained with compound results.Prof.Paris used DIID as an operational tool in the field capable of discovering and recounting design as a space for man—in the sense of"extension of man"in order to help readers understand the physical and allegorical implications in design,and determine this"extension".In this way,it shows how design can covert people's needs into products,how it improves the life and relationships of everyone,and figures out the unique meaning of the times of design.
Two years ago,Prof.Paris sent Design_testi e contesti as a gift to me,which was just published.I found this book covers a particular area of his academic work,summarizes his thoughts on the themes of the design of the artificial,including the value of innovation,the social dimension,and so on.It also describes the meaning of design,especially when he tries to discover the substance of design and defend it with more deep information from the lexical content.In a certain sense,the book of Prof.Paris is more like a critical rereading of DIID journal,which has been directed by him for many years.Because of this main objective,Prof.Paris converted the central portion of the book into:texts and contexts,which was completed in the means of anthology.He selected a sort of anthology identifying new categories and signalling his interests.This could be related to his work on teaching that he still makes efforts on.This book is like an internet hypertext,but Prof.Paris has thought to unite these clastic or mosaic paragraphs metaphorically within the frame of a single"design discourse"in order to make it more legible.These discourses supported by the introductory essay constitute the first part of the volume,Designing an artefact_topics.In the volume,he expresses himself in the first person.The last part,Compendium,critically originates from essays or lectures by professors whom he has been working with for years.In the end,Prof.Paris critically discusses the culture of the design in desk's style.At the same time,he points out the methodology about the practice of modern artificial design,and describes the way of comparing and studying theory,method and material by practice.
This book is an important literature work,regardless of the summary of academic career of Prof.Paris,the modern design,and design education community.Prof.Paris attempted to use design discourses to evoke the discussion on design,emotion from design work,thoughts on the relationship between humans and nature,and eternity of design.The critical debates evoked by this book express not only continuous dialectical dialogue about sustainable design but also Prof.Paris and his colleagues'passion for the culture of design,which is delivered to the young generations.
The readers of this book are obvious,including people who are interested in design and its culture,and those who teach and study design in universities.To whom,design is an experimental place,and a world with unlimited developments and possibilities.The logic and rhetoric of expression are the essential components of this book,which play the same role as the contents,and which can easily get lost through translation.Thus,we publish this book in both English and Chinese for complementary reading.Special thanks to Prof.Paris for the Chinese copyright of this book.Great thanks to Mr.Guangye Ruan and his excellent editing team from East China Normal University Press.Many thanks also go to Ph.D student of Prof.Paris,Mrs.Jingjing Lin,who is a junior lecturer majoring in Product Design in School of Design at East China Normal University.It's such an amazing job that she could accomplish the tough work of translating the original book in Italian within half a year.
The publishing of this book can be seen as a gift from a person with passion on design to those who are also enthusiastic about design.
Prof.Shaonong Wei,Dean of School of Design,East China Normal University
October，2018
In Berlin
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