Jean-Louis Soubret
This article draws on the interdisciplinary nature of design and explores the concept of design thinging. This consilient approach integrates perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and quantum physics to understand the infrastructuring of things—design thinging. The evolution of design has shifted from creating good designs of things to designing for good, with an emphasis on the thinginess of the design process and on the material outcomes of design. The historical and theoretical foundations of design thinging draws on the conceptualisation of objects and infrastructures in various disciplines. The multifaceted nature of things and infrastructures is highlighted, emphasising their relational, context-specific, and temporal dimensions.
The quantum concept of the Cognitive Light Cone (CLC) opens a novel avenue to consider systemic design: subjects and objects are not addressed separately but together as instances and affordances, i.e. things. The integration of culture and society into the CLC concept is proposed as design thinging, emphasising the holistic nature of design practice. The CLC, influenced by Self theory, further enriches this framework, offering a way to liberate design from logocentrism and to expand its horizon. A thing is defined both by its relationship to other things and by its ongoing self-transformation. Design thinging, inspired by CLC, is a dynamic concept that operates across the two dimensions of space and time. Things can occupy different relative positions in space within a hierarchy of infra- and super-structures. Over time, things evolve through different stages: design before use, design in use, and design after use. The states of these things in either dimension, and where they intersect, can be understood as homeostases rather than products. Ultimately, the paper aims to guide designers and non-designers throughout the phases of good design practices, paving the way for future explorations in designing for good.
Keywords: design thinging, sensible design, relational design, media design, Self theory, infrastructuring, Cognitive Light Cone, consilience RSD: Methods & Methodology, Society & Culture, Socioecological Design