Prof. Dr. Pablo Abend, Vertretungsprofessor für Designwissenschaften/ Design Studies,
Campus Design, Villa-Anbau, R. 004, T +49 (0)345 7751-880, abend@burg-halle.de  

Design Theory

Design Theory is mainly concerned with issues of design aesthetics, design rhetoric and design methodology. Design aesthetics deals with questions of perception, production and reception, of the beautiful and the less beautiful, of norms, evaluation and assessment forms, and of object and media theory.
Also included here is a general overview of the theoretical and historical foundations of aesthetics in the context of design.
Design rhetoric covers issues such as argumentation and conviction, strategies and tactics, questions of expression, presentation and representation – and above all of exhibition, too – as well as the considerations of implementation, application and mediation. Also included here is a general overview of the classical discipline of rhetoric and its systematic structure and theoretical foundations in the context of design.
Finally, design methodology considers issues that have to do with design itself as a process and with the methods used to achieve certain goals. The issues of model development, model theory and scenario design are also included here.Also included here is a general overview of methodology and the criticism of methods in the context of design.