Slovenski etnografski muzej

Anthropology and design: shaping the future and designing the everyday

The field of anthropology of design or design anthropology has developed only over the last two decades and primarily over the last few years has been attracting increasing attention both within and outside the academic sphere, where its practical value is expanding in different ways. The authors warn of the terminological and translation issues that accompany this anthropological direction. Design here is a broad term involving creating or bringing into being by integrating knowledge, experience, aspirations and free thought. The authors explain how anthropology of design or design anthropology works in practice using the example of research into toilets within the framework of the international action platform Give a Shit. They conclude that design anthropology facilitates a redirection from theoretical knowledge towards practical creation and co-management of solutions and the future.