amateurissimo

Isn’t the distinction between professional and amateur strange? It takes more than average skill to engineer a drag racer. Amateur involvement ensures the survival of informal knowledge and is an important force in open design. The unrestrained and playful attitude levels complex technicalities with ease, finding its ultimate expression in amateurissimo, making the most baroque of DIY culture. As work and private life become increasingly intertwined, amateurissimo will make for a highly innovative market power, with YouTube as the engine that drives it.

amateurissimo contents in Open Design Now:

(UN)LIMITED DESIGN CONTEST / MARIA NEICU

(Un)Limited Design contest Openness in Vitro Maria Neicu Openness is no longer only seen in the context of open software; it has become a broadly applicable concept, carried by the digital in the analogue world. Design tools are in user’s … Continue reading

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FRITZING / ANDRÉ KNÖRIG, JONATHAN COHEN, RETO WETTACH

A COMMON LANGUAGE TO EXCHANGE IDEAS André Knörig, Jonathan Cohen, Reto Wettach Fritzing is an open source project with the aim of supporting designers, artists and hobbyists (i.e. ‘non-engineers’) to work creatively with interactive electronics. As computer processing power moves … Continue reading

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CRITICAL MAKING / MATT RATTO

Open design can be employed to develop a critical perspective on the current institutions, practices and norms of society, and to reconnect materiality and morality. Matt Ratto introduces ‘critical making’ as processes of material and conceptual exploration and creation of … Continue reading

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TEACHING ATTITUDES, SKILLS, APPROACHES, STRUCTURE AND TOOLS / CAROLIEN HUMMELS

Taking a critical look at current educational models, open design will involve a shift in the relationship between designers and potential users in terms of attitude, skills and approach. Caroline Hummels discusses the consequences of open design for the educational … Continue reading

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DESIGN LITERACY: ORGANIZING SELF-ORGANIZATION / DICK RIJKEN

The position of knowledge and expertise is changing radically, particularly in relation to how design literacy is affected when confronted with digital tools and media. Dick Rijken analyses design literacy on three levels – strategic, tactical, and operational – and … Continue reading

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CREATION & CO: USER PARTICIPATION IN DESIGN / PIETER JAN STAPPERS & CO

The roles of the designer, the client (or producer, or manufacturer) and the user are being shaken up in industrial practices that have, until now, been oriented mainly towards mass production. Stappers and his colleagues illustrate the contemporary occurrence of … Continue reading

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JORIS LAARMAN’S EXPERIMENTS WITH OPEN SOURCE DESIGN / GABRIELLE KENNEDY

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The mediocracy of the middle classes dominates the current mass production design. In a world less controlled by branding and regulations, a new breed of designers can contribute to an altered, more honest economy. An interview with Dutch designer Joris Laarman, … Continue reading

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ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN DESIGN / PAUL ATKINSON

Investigating the roots of open design and identifying its resulting technological, economical and societal changes, Atkinson contemplates the vast consequences this development will have for the design profession and the distribution of design. Paul Atkinson The concepts of open design … Continue reading

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Amateurissimo

Elf-Ears-copy

Isn’t the distinction between professional and amateur strange? It takes more than average skill to engineer a drag racer. Amateur involvement ensures the survival of informal knowledge and is an important force in open design. The unrestrained and playful attitude … Continue reading

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Introduction / Marleen Stikker

The pioneers of our time are not taking the world at face value, as a given from outside; rather, they see the world as something you can pry open, something you can tinker with. Marleen Stikker In his novel The … Continue reading

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