What is DESIGN today? What is the role of DESIGN in social innovation?

The College of Design and Innovation (D&I), Tongji University in Shanghai provided some answers to these questions in its recent graduation exhibition named “Dive into chaoS”.

D&I’s 2017 Graduation Exhibition “dive into chaoS” was opened on June 13, 2017, and more than 100 student works from Industrial Design, Visual Communication Design, Environmental Design, Digital Media Design, and Jewelry Design showcased the undergoing transformation of D&I: from 

a traditional design school into a multi-functional hub for entrepreneurs and creative individuals who are passionate about Design.

As visitors walked in the main exhibition hall, they would have had a strong sense that the boundaries between the “sections of Design” are blurring and even overlapping. Visual Communication Design contains many architectural models; Digital Media Design became more installation based; and environmental designs are also industrial design products. In addition, they would have noticed that there were fewer designs in the physical form and more based on service and social innovation along with a strong focus on the complex issues we are currently facing.

The exhibition name expressed the idea that design is becoming more chaotic. This chaos it caused by the integration of various disciplines and areas. That is, the vast number of disciplines and areas that can be drawn on generates entropy effects which leads to an increase in vagueness of the students’ vision. At the same time The ability to draw on this range of disciplines makes it clear that designers are a power for social and economic change in the future. Dean of D&I, Prof. LOU Yongqi said that, “Design is facing profound transformation today. On one hand, Design is playing an indispensable role in more and more areas; on the other hand, more and more agencies and people, with no Design background, have set foot in the territory of Design, and are redefining, interpreting, and applying Design. The students are demonstrating their attitude, courage, and power through this Graduation Exhibition.”