Axiology and Praxeology of Design Thinking

Abstract

This article discusses the methodological and axiological foundations of design, the determinants of design, objective and subjective aspects of design, and designer’s value guidelines. Since the earliest stages of its history, design as a type of creative practice existed and developed an integral connection with mass production. Unlike architecture or visual, decorative and applied arts, design forms a part of economic production and communicative processes, and also influences economic, marketing, political and ecological situations. This article demonstrates the evolution of systemic and environmental approaches to design, the transition from methodological, functional and morphological techniques for solving of problems within individual concepts of design to axiological, philosophical and ecological approaches. Design is characterized by the following features: an interdisciplinary approach; team work; empathy; the need for prototyping and testing of the object; and inclusion in sociocultural processes. The design object is analysed in terms of its value to the consumer.