Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects

by Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Clive Dilnot (Series Editor)

The first book to be published on the work of their partnership (in 2001), Design Noir is the essential primary source for understanding the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings for Dunne & Raby's work.

Consisting of three elements - a 'manifesto' on the possibilities of designing with and for the 'secret life' of electronic objects; notes for an embryonic network of critical designers and, most famously, the presentation of the Placebo Project – a prototype for a critical design poetics enacted around electronic furniture-objects – Design Noir offers an in-depth exploration of one of the most seminal design projects of the last two decades, one that arguably initiated speculating through design in its contemporary forms.

By detailing the logic and character of the objects that were constructed; the involvement of users with these objects over-time, and in the creation of a new kinds of spatially and temporally distributed moments of critique and engagement with things, Design Noir presents the case-study of the Placebo projectas a far more complex and subtler project than is often thought.

As a bold and in many ways unprecedented experiment in design writing and book designing, Design Noir is itself an instance of the speculative propositional design it expounds.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Theory, Art Design, Philosophy, Technology

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Shawn Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read that's giving me mild anxiety over the EM waves emitted by the objects around and the space it occupies.

But honestly, I love that they addressed the intersection between art and design while providing a channel to reframe the manner in which our relationship with electronic products could be perceived. I particularly loved the chapters on Design Noir, the value of design aside from pragmatic functions, critical and (un)popular design. Questioning design and its role in reinforcing capitalist ideals, as well as how affirmative design seems to be a step back rather than forward.

It wraps up beautifully with the Placebo objects and their respective interviews, seeing all that was theory distilled into 8 elegantly poignant objects.

[Kate Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love them. Amazing. Game changers.

[Avşar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how a full-fledged design project looks like. Professionally and beautifully executed from the theoretical background to conceptualisation, from prototyping to documentation. Dunne and Raby is a great loss for the UK.

[Senem Turhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

That book is really interesting. At the beginning, It starts with some sort of information about electromagnetic, waves, electronic product, and so on. Frankly, I was not so sure where it would bring me at the end, how it would relate product design to electronics and magnetic fields. In section 4, I was really impressed in terms of thoughts about critical design, ideology in design and (un)popular design. Actually, the authors propose some design explorations based on the theories that they have provided at the beginning. The design explorations make people to to rethink the concept of electronic object in everyday life. Second half of the book is a compile of interviews with people who have used the design explorations. From the responses, you see how those design explorations initiate the understanding of electronics and magnetic field in their daily life. Another interesting point is that how people define the products: gadget, furniture or work of art. The book ends out of the blue. It would be great to see the authors' interpretations on the interviews at the end.

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Design] needs to establish intellectual stance of its own, or the design profession is destined to
lose all intellectual credibility and the viewed simply as an agent of capitalism”
(Dunne & Raby, 2001:59).

One of the strongest examples of the research artefacts. It belongs to the everyday life of people and are experienced in casual circumstances. The point of this experience is not meeting the needs of the user, but rather puzzling and perplexing them. The products of critical design create dilemmas and emphasize questions instead of resolving them.
Simply great!

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essentially an exhibition catalogue.

The main essay regarding design practise (critical design) was useful, although I think the terminology doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Read for a faculty reading group. Useful for some descriptive reasoning and language, and for setting, redefining and clarifying some of our current language.

[Aga Szóstek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows how technology can impact people's lives. Although it's a design book, I read it like fiction. And I wonder what you are going to think of the girl who screening herself from her boyfriend... Totally recommended!

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Again, the mere existence of the object acknowledges that all is not well. For us, they are more powerful than artworks" (pg. 51).

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.