2 3 In current times where extreme circumstances and polarization are hardening the social debate, designing for social emancipation, cohesion and sustainability can enable students to identify various ethical issues, frictions or social gaps. The international design workshop week aims to STORM through the minds of our students: exploring the power of the critical design approach for social inquiry and engagement through design. Critical Design Attitude Traditionally, designers applied affirmative design approaches in the design process, providing answers and solutions to questions or design challenges, and thereby reinforcing the current situation rather than rejecting it. 2,4 Designers were trained to perform as ‘problem-solvers’ (and ‘solution-focused’).1 Instead of this affirmative design approach, the aim of the international workshop week is to focus on ‘problemfinding’ and explore the power of a critical design attitude: 1 Cross N. Designerly ways of knowing. Des Stud 1982; 3: 221–227. 2 Dunne A. Hertzian tales: electronic products, aesthetic experience, and critical design. London, England: Royal College of Art, 1999. 3 Dunne A, Raby F. Design noir: the secret life of electronic objects. London, England: August Media Ltd, 2001. 4 Dunne A, Raby F. Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction and Social Dreaming. The MIT Press, 2013. 5 Malpass M. Critical Design in Context: History, Theory, and Practice. London, England: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2017. “[Critical design] rejects how things are now as being the only possibility, and provides a critique of the prevailing situation through designs that embody alternative social, cultural, technical or economic values.” 3 “[Critical design] opens lines of inquiry as opposed to providing answers or solutions to questions or design problems.” 5 “Critical Design uses speculative design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions and givens (…).” 4
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