Diffuse Design
Diffuse design, a term coined by Ezio Manzini, describes the design capability everyone has, though the book distinguishes this from professional design practice and groups it with proto-design and pseudo-design as non-disciplinary activity.
Diffuse Design is, in the book's own words, 'the term...coined by Ezio Manzini, to describe the inherent design capability of non-professionals. It combines critical sense, creativity, and practical sense', drawn from 'Manzini's 2015 book, Design, When Everybody Designs, [which] posits that everyone can design, though not all are competent or professional designers' (Ch6 §065). The book stresses this 'does not...imply that "everybody designs"' in the disciplinary sense, distinguishing it from Proto-Design and Karel Vredenburg's Pseudo-Design (Ch14 §136), and elsewhere groups it with those same two categories as one of the non-disciplinary practices a partner may be doing instead of designing (Ch14 §141; Ch15 §145).
Related in Community
Entries this one is tied to through the book.
Books and references
- Design, When Everybody Designs · both placed under Diffuse Design
- Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change · discussed together in section 145
- Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need · discussed together in section 141
- The Design of Everyday Things · discussed together in section 145
Examples
- "Make the Breast Pump Not Suck" Hackathon · discussed together in section 141
- School of Creativity for Democracy & Resilience · discussed together in section 141
- SELCO Foundation · discussed together in section 141
Methods
- Co-Design / Co-Creation · discussed together in section 141
- Multi-, Inter-, and Trans-disciplinary Collaboration · discussed together in section 141
In the Framework
- Design's Core
- Partners Component
- Design's Frontier
- Proto-Design · element
- Pseudo-Design · element
- Technological Component
In the book
- Chapter 6, section 065 · Design’s Core
- Chapter 14, section 136 · Collective (With whom?)
- Chapter 14, section 141 · Frontier Dimension
- Chapter 15, section 145 · Building Blocks (With What?)
Mentioned in
Methods