Scientific craftsmanship: the changing role of product designers in the digital era

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a brief historical account that examines how technology and society influenced the design practice in 20th and 21st centuries. By focusing on the recent changes in the design profession, we discuss how digitalization changed the types of issues designers deal with, tools they use, and outcomes they produced. Based on these parameters, we propose scientific craftsmanship as a new definition of design activity in the digital age. This definition is concentrated on four major aspects: 1) working with physical and digital materials and tools, 2) fabricating in domestic scale, 3) using scientific methods and theories from other fields, and 4) creating with others.