Sapienza Università di Roma | Rome _ Italy
2 3 4 February 2011

The International Conference on Design Principles and Practices is a cross-disciplinary forum, which brings together researchers, teachers and practitioners to discuss the nature and future of design.

The resulting conversations weave between the theoretical and the empirical, research and application, market pragmatics and social idealism.
The Fifth Edition will be held at Sapienza University of Rome and is organized in collaboration with Section of Design of the Department DATA of Sapienza Università di Roma.

This edition will recognize a critical Main Topic in contemporary design debate

design useful & futile

The dichotomy useful-futile is one of the key-points within the discipline of Design.

In the contemporary society, everywhere a development process is starting the Design skill are involved in order to understand, to image and to describe new possibilities: in this way the Design's aim moves from production of "things or spaces" to production of "meanings and cultures".

Thanks to a dynamic typical of the knowledge-economy it doesn't matter if Design develops functional products but it is important if Design develops new ideas and new opportunities.

Therefore the usefulness of Design, as basic skill for innovation, in relation to the futility considered as condition over need within each social, economic ad cultural iper-diffused expressions.

Is this an inexorable evolution of Design or a simply a shape of behavioural confusion?

DIID _ Disegno Industriale Industrial Design, the international by-monthly Design Research Magazine, will dedicate a special issue to this topic with several contributions coming from the academic, the professional and the productive world.

The Topic "Design Useful & Futile" will be faced by Plenary Speakers, each one chosen among the leading thinkers within the 6 fields of the different Streams of the Conference:

Research
Christian Guellerin | President Of Cumulus Association

Processes
Bruce Sterling | Writer and Net Critic

Products
Stefano Giovannoni | Designer

Services
Stefano Marzano | CEO Philips Design Center

Interactions
Gillian Crampton-Smith | Professor of Interaction design at IUAV Venice

Environment
Stefano Boeri | Architect and Editor of Abitare Design Magazine

The Conference is organized in Plenary Sections, Talking Circles and Parallel Streams.

Participants can submit a presentation proposal for the Parallel Streams choosing among: 30-minute paper, 60-minute workshop or 90-minute colloquium.

All presenters can submit their full papers to Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, a fully refereed academic journal.

The Conference is open to all researchers, teachers, practitioners, professionals which want to explore the meaning and purpose of Design, discussing about the tasks of design and the use of designed artifacts and processes.