Otto van Busch: Designing Capabilities

It is the fact of the day in the

world of design publishing: without professional-looking photos

your ideas will hardly be considered. What can be

photographed can be published. What is published will be

considered good design.

Bottom of the pyramid audiences = affordable design
capabilities vs commodities = skills vs stuff
to build capabilities around our commodities, encourage people to build and repair them [ solar cell, fixed gear bike].
High level of capabilities allows for freedom.

Critical Design FAQ
Critical Design uses speculative design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions,

preconceptions and givens about the role products play in everyday life. It is more of

an attitude than anything else,

antonyms: affirmative design: design that reinforces the status quo.

who:Dunne & Raby and their graduate students from the Royal College of Art (RCA) such

as James Auger, Elio Caccavale and Noam Toran, are probably the most well

known, but there are other designers working in a similar way who would not

describe what they do as critical design: Krzysztof Wodiczko, Natalie Jeremijenko,

Jurgen Bey, Marti Guixe

related to: Activism


Cautionary Tales


Conceptual Design


Contestable Futures


Design Fiction


Interrogative Design


Radical Design


Satire


Social Fiction


Speculative Design