A Destructive Method in the Connection of the Algorithm and Design in the Digital media - Centered on the Rapid Prototyping Systems of Product Design -

디지털미디어 환경(環境)에서 디자인 특성(特性)에 관한 연구(硏究) - 실내제품(室內製品) 디자인을 중심으로 -

The purpose of this thesis is to propose a new concept of design of the 21st century, on the basis of the study on the general signification of the structures and the signs of industrial product design, by examining the difference between modern and post-modern design, which is expected to lead the users to different design practice and interpretation of it. The starting point of this study is the different styles and patterns of 'Gestalt' in the post-modern design of the late 20th century from modern design - the factor of determination in industrial product design. That is to say, unlike functional and rational styles of modern product design, the late 20th century is based upon the pluralism characterized by complexity, synthetic and decorativeness. So far, most of the previous studies on design seem to have excluded visual aspects and usability, focused only on effective communication of design phenomena. These partial studies on design, blinded by phenomenal aspects, have resulted in failure to discover a principle of fundamental system. However, design varies according to the times; and the transformation of design is reflected in Design Pragnanz to constitute a new text of design. Therefore, it can be argued that Design Pragnanz serves as an essential factor under influence of the significance of text. In this thesis, therefore, I delve into analysis of the 20th century product design, in the light of Gestalt theory and Design Pragnanz, which have been functioning as the principle of the past design. For this study, I attempted to discover the fundamental elements in modern and post-modern designs, and to examine the formal structure of product design, the users' aesthetic preference and its semantics, from the integrative viewpoint. Also, with reference to history and theory of design my emphasis is more on fundamental visual phenomena than on structural analysis or process of visualization in product design, in order to examine the formal properties of modern and post-modern designs. Firstly, In Chapter 1, 'Issues and Background of the Study', I investigated the Gestalt theory and Design Pragnanz, on the premise of formal distinction between modern and post-modern designs. These theories are founded upon the discussion on visual perception of Gestalt in Germany in 1910's, in pursuit of the principle of perception centered around visual perception of human beings. In Chapter 2, I dealt with functionalism of modern design, as an advance preparation for the further study on the product design of the late 20th century. First of all, in Chapter 2-1, I examined the tendency of modern design focused on functionalism, which can be exemplified by the famous statement 'Form follows function'. Excluding all unessential elements in design - for example, decoration, this tendency has attained the position of the international style based on the spirit of Bauhause - universality and regularity - in search of geometric order, standardization and rationalization. In Chapter 2-2, I investigated the anthropological viewpoint that modern design started representing culture in a symbolic way including overall aspects of the society - politics, economics and ethics, and its criticism on functionalist design that aesthetic value is missing in exchange of excessive simplicity in style. Moreover, I examined the pluralist phenomena in post-modern design such as kitsch, eclecticism, reactionism, hi-tech and digital design, breaking away from functionalist purism of modern design. In Chapter 3, I analyzed Gestalt Pragnanz in design in a practical way, against the background of design trends. To begin with, I selected mass product design among those for the 20th century products as a target of analysis, highlighting representative styles in each category of the products. For this analysis, I adopted the theory of J. M Lehnhardt, who gradated in percentage the aesthetic and semantic levels of Pragnantz in design expression, and that of J. K. Grutter, who expressed it in a formula of M = O : C. I also employed eight units of dichotomies, according to the G. D. Birkhoff's aesthetic criteria, for the purpose of scientific classification of the degree of order and complexity in design; and I analyzed phenomenal aspects of design form represented in each unit. For Chapter 4, I executed a questionnaire about semiological phenomena of Design Pragnanz with 28 units of antonymous adjectives, based upon the research in the previous chapter. Then, I analyzed the process of signification of Design Pragnanz, founded on this research. Furthermore, the interpretation of the analysis served as an explanation to preference, through systematic analysis of Gestalt and Design Pragnanz in product design of the late 20th century. In Chapter 5, I determined the position of Design Pragnanz by integrating the analyses of Gestalt and Pragnanz in modern and post-modern designs In this process, 1 revealed the difference of each Design Pragnanz in formal respect, in order to suggest a vision of the future as a result, which will provide systemic and structural stimulation to current design.