Paul Fuog / Appropriation

Our long time collaborator Paul Fuog (of U-P and Field Experiments) is doing an AGDA talk on the importance of appropriation in design.

Starting the design process with an empty plate and then filling the plate is an illogical way to practise design. Yet the obsession with the new and the desire for design to be expressed in resolved solutions means the design process often follows this logic.

Appropriation in art has been practised for years but appropriation in design can be seen as a dirty word and is often linked to plagiarism or copying. But appropriation is an important tool for all designers. There are two specific meanings of appropriation when applied to design. Appropriation as a designer – using pre-existing objects / forms and systems and altering their meaning through changing their context. Appropriation as a user of design – using a product in a way that was not foreseen by the designer.