Economies of Design
- Guy Julier - Aalto University, Finland
Historically, design has been promoted for its capacity to add value to products and services. In contemporary capitalism, however, it assumes a more central and more complex role. Design today is both influenced by, and actively shapes, our economic systems.
This ground-breaking book shines a spotlight on how design has become embedded in political economies. Drawing on a range of global examples, it reveals the multiple ways in which design has emerged as a vital feature of neoliberal economic systems, from urban strategies to commercial processes to government policy-making.
Economies of Design provides a thought-provoking new way of understanding and talking about the meanings of design in contemporary capitalism. It is an essential companion for students of design and the creative industries across the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
It's the economy, stupid! Money makes the world go around. All of that comes by design. Government policies, company strategies, products, services and systems, all are the outcomes of design. Even money is designed. Finally there is a book that explains how design and the economy are interwoven. Chapeau Guy Julier for sharing these fascinating insights with us.
This important book takes what could have been a dry subject and turns it into a compelling and accessible narrative. By laying bare the entanglement of design with economics, Julier allows us to reconsider how designers might best engage their practices with the wider forces and effects of neoliberalism, or else help develop alternative models.
In this provocative and accessible book, Guy Julier asks and answers a number of questions: Is there such a thing as a neoliberal object? Why are design and neoliberalism so good together? Through a discussion that takes in design as work, as process, as object and as activism, Julier spotlights the changing culture of design since the 1980s and its intimate and sometimes surprising relationships with neoliberalization. A compelling analysis.
"The writing is fluid; popping with quirky references, clever intuitions, snapshots and personal asides that pepper the storyline and hammer home the message that design and economics are inseparably intertwined. Rapid turns of thought, clever, surprising angles and insightful pauses underpin the solid writing and deliver a winning formula"
What I liked while reading the book is that design is considered to be very broad. Julier finds its practices so wide that he refuses to adhere to one specific definition. This allows the author to describe a wide range of design activities and processes—fashion design, film, retail, food services, among others—and it does not describe the UK only. Instead, the book takes us to places like Turkey, China, and India. Julier analyses both the public and the private sector and formal and informal economies.
The book exudes thoroughness, and yet it comes with a personal touch. The author describes an autobiographical event when he and his friends took the bus on a Sunday to the nearest big city (Exeter) to visit some of the global brand outlets.
"Essential reading for scholars within the design and the creative industries who are interested in the interrelationships of economics and design, contributing significantly to knowledge and triggering further debate in this area. It is a valuable theoretical resource for scholars in visual communication where academic texts are sparse"
"This important book takes what could have been a dry subject and turns it into a compelling and accessible narrative. By laying bare the entanglement of design with economics, Julier allows us to reconsider how designers might best engage their practices with the wider forces and effects of neoliberalism, or else help develop alternative models."
In this provocative and accessible book, Guy Julier asks and answers a number of questions: Is there such a thing as a neoliberal object? Why are design and neoliberalism so good together? Through a discussion that takes in design as work, as process, as object and as activism, Julier spotlights the changing culture of design since the 1980s and its intimate and sometimes surprising relationships with neoliberalization. A compelling analysis.
A novel way of understanding and talking about the meanings of design in contemporary capitalism.
One of the few good books we have across on economics written from a design perspective.
Sage College Publishing
