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All Outputs (12)

Thought Experiments in Design Ethics (2024)
Journal Article
Buwert, P., & Sinclair, M. (2024). Thought Experiments in Design Ethics. Temes de Disseny, 40, 54-73. https://doi.org/10.46467/tdd40.2024.54-73

How is the designer to approach questions of responsibility, obligation, or right and wrong in relation to their role in creating, sustaining and altering the complex worlds which we inhabit together? Every design decision stands as the first teeteri... Read More about Thought Experiments in Design Ethics.

Design and Emergent Ethical Crises (2020)
Book Chapter
Buwert, P. (2020). Design and Emergent Ethical Crises. In L. Scherling, & A. DeRosa (Eds.), Ethics in Design and Communication. Bloomsbury Publishing

No abstract available.

Shepard Fairey’s inauguration posters may define political art in Trump era (2017)
Digital Artefact
Buwert, P. (2017). Shepard Fairey’s inauguration posters may define political art in Trump era. [https://theconversation.com/shepard-faireys-inauguration-posters-may-define-political-art-in-trump-era-71583]

The American street artist Shepard Fairey created a poster for Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign. It was 2008 and the simple red, beige and blue stencilled image of Obama’s face over the word “HOPE” quickly became the iconic image of the... Read More about Shepard Fairey’s inauguration posters may define political art in Trump era.

Defamiliarisation, Brecht and Criticality in Graphic Design (2016)
Book Chapter
Buwert, P. (2016). Defamiliarisation, Brecht and Criticality in Graphic Design. In Modes of Criticism 2: Critique of Method, 25-38

Our lives are habitual. We habitualise what is familiar in order to be able to function day to day, and through this a vast chunk of our living becomes automatic. The process makes life easier by decreasing the confusion and tension of having to cons... Read More about Defamiliarisation, Brecht and Criticality in Graphic Design.

An/Aesth/Ethics: the ethical potential of design (2015)
Journal Article
Buwert, P. M. (2015). An/Aesth/Ethics: the ethical potential of design. Artifact, 3(3), 4. https://doi.org/10.14434/artifact.v3i3.3960

Design is often thought of as an activity seeking to change existing situations into preferred ones (Simon, 1969). But how are designers to discern what the nature of this “preferred” change should be? What would it mean to truly design ethically? In... Read More about An/Aesth/Ethics: the ethical potential of design.

Design Ethics Thought Experiments
Other
Buwert, P. Design Ethics Thought Experiments. [Printable PDF resource file]

Printable resource:
Participant pack of thought experiment worksheets for use in facilitated Design Ethics Training Workshop. This pdf file is designed for double sided printing on landscape A3 paper. Worksheets numbered 1-6 should be folded vertic... Read More about Design Ethics Thought Experiments.

Potentiality: the ethical foundation of design
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Buwert, P. (2017, April). Potentiality: the ethical foundation of design. Presented at Design for Next. 12th European Academy of Design Conference, Rome, Italy

This paper presents the argument that design is by nature an activity which extends and transforms potentiality and that therefore, because of this, it is always an ethical activity. This foundational ethicality does not guarantee that design will al... Read More about Potentiality: the ethical foundation of design.

Aesthetic Justice. Design for a blind-spot culture
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Buwert, P. (2017, April). Aesthetic Justice. Design for a blind-spot culture. Presented at Design for Next. 12th Eurpoean Academy of Design Conference, Rome, Italy

This paper presents a conception of aesthetic justice which builds on
thoughts of Theodor Adorno and Wolfgang Welsch and attempts to reconcile design’s relationships with both aesthetics and ethics. Where legal justice operates on a principle of hom... Read More about Aesthetic Justice. Design for a blind-spot culture.

Examining the Professional Codes of Design Organisations
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Buwert, P. (2018, June). Examining the Professional Codes of Design Organisations. Presented at Design Research Society 2018: Catalyst, Limerick

Many of the professional organisations within the various fields of design activity publish professional codes of ethics in one form or another. This paper opens up a discussion of the role which professional codes might play in relation to the ethic... Read More about Examining the Professional Codes of Design Organisations.

Exploring Philosophical Devices for Thinking About Ethics in Socially Engaged Design: Reflections on a Workshop
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Buwert, P., Bianchin, M., & Heylighen, A. (2019, October). Exploring Philosophical Devices for Thinking About Ethics in Socially Engaged Design: Reflections on a Workshop. Presented at Socially Engaged Design Conference, Limassol Cyprus

Socially engaged design seeks to tackle tangible problems of our society. Yet, all too often attempts to use design in this way bring new problems into being. In this sense, designers are pervasively asked to confront and reason about ethical questio... Read More about Exploring Philosophical Devices for Thinking About Ethics in Socially Engaged Design: Reflections on a Workshop.

The Non-Identity Problem: thought experiments in the ethics of designing for future people
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Buwert, P., & Sinclair, M. (2024, June). The Non-Identity Problem: thought experiments in the ethics of designing for future people. Presented at DRS 2024, Boston, USA

The Non-Identity Problem (NIP) is a philosophical puzzle which challenges our intuitive assumptions and reasoning around the question of our moral obligations towards ‘future people’. This paper explores the significance of the NIP for design, an act... Read More about The Non-Identity Problem: thought experiments in the ethics of designing for future people.