Our lives are composed of multiple rhythms, but many of us, living in Western industrialised societies, believe that the world is moving ever faster. Many of us also feel the range of negative impacts that this supposed condition of acceleration brings to everyday life, to social interac- tions and to the natural world. From attempting to reconfigure our bodies through caffeine and other stimulants to working longer hours to manage the rush, or wondering how it is damaging our environment, we all eventually experience a sense of powerlessness regarding this supposed rule of acceleration. Acceleration, however, does not correspond to how the world is, but how it is presented for some people, in some situations. The notion of acceleration as a universalised condition is just an expression of dominant narratives of time, which are embedded in accounts of what it means to be modern or postmodern, and which have been recently demystified in the social sciences and the humanities. The world is comprised of multiple temporal expressions, which con- tinue to play important roles in our lives, despite being disregarded within dominant narratives. This thesis analyses the role of these narratives as well as different approaches to time in design. It suggests that the hegemony of such accounts has been restricting design practice in three main ways: 1. by monopolising designers’ understandings of time and precluding the exploration of alternative expressions and more recent theoretical work on time; 2. by locating temporality within technological artefacts and systems and ignoring the breadth of expressions beyond and around these technologies; and 3. by simplifying proposals for a diversification of temporal notions that would otherwise contribute to promoting more varied perceptions of rhythms. This simplification is particularly noticeable in the outcomes of the Slow Technology and Slow Design movements, which have failed to acknowledge such narratives and have become integrated in them rather than challenging them. The research proposes Temporal Design as a new perspective on time in design, one focused not on a particular rhythm or temporal expression, but on the multiplicity of ways in which we all inhabit time, in its contrasts, combinations, changes and superpositions. Temporal Design is based on three principles: 1. identifying dominant narratives and attempting to challenge them so as to reveal more nuanced expressions of time; 2. drawing attention to specific alternative temporalities; and 
3. tactically exposing networks of times so as to illustrate multiplicity and variety. The research invites designers to disturb taken-for-granted notions as a method of approaching principle (1) outlined above. It discusses the limitations of current Speculative and Critical De- sign approaches to tackling more complex issues of time, proposing instead a critical affirmative attitude toward approaching principles (2) and (3) outlined above. Temporal Design is explored in this research via three design interventions, namely the Family Clock, the Printer Clock and the TimeBots, which have been performed in both family homes and schools. The interviews conducted in the context of these interventions showed how domi- nant narratives are deeply embedded in the language used to describe temporal expressions. The interviews, however, also demonstrated how multiple temporalities are manifest beneath these concepts, how practices come together to construct multiple expressions of time and how temporal interpretations are essentially detached from issues of value. Most importantly, the interventions demonstrate how designers can foster temporal empathy, and disclose more nuanced, situated and complex temporalities and rhythms. Many authors have argued that design has the power to change perceptions of the world. By shifting the focus from individual modes to diversity, Temporal Design attempts not only to change the way designers perceive and approach time, but also to change more broadly the way designed artefacts and systems come to affect temporal perceptions among the general public. Perhaps through design, we will all come to recognise that acceleration is not the rule, but just one among many expressions of the rich temporal texture that constitutes time in the world.

For many, design is the production of useful artefacts. Designing can however also provide a basis for exploration, speculation or critique. This thesis develops this conception further by providing a theoretical framework for conceiving designing and design objects as a mode of and media for philosophical inquiry. Design is regarded as a material philosophy that explores and reflects philosophical issues by situating them in the concrete and particular reality of human life rather than in a generalised and abstract realm. Design objects are equipment and media that can be understood in terms of their contextual references and consequences as well as the way in which they mediate human action, thinking and existence, and thus in terms of the worlds that they open up. As media for reflection they allow one to gain an experiential understanding of these contexts and worlds. Design thus relates to philosophy in terms of ethics and concepts; that is, in terms of exploring possibilities of existence and new forms of thinking. Since design objects can cre-ate new experiences and interactions they can lead to new values and concepts. These objects can be used to reflect on philosopical issues and to thus see the world from a new perspective. These new perspectives may be brought about through three approaches: First, through fictions that render possible worlds experienceable or show the existing world in a new way. Second, through models that serve as tools for understanding and mediation between the general and abstract and the concrete and particular. Third, through situations, simulations and re-enactments that facilitate a direct and bodily experience of a new per-spective. These approaches can make abstract ideas experienceable, as they materialise these issues in concrete situations and thereby allow one to judge them in a real world context, including possible consequences. The activity of designing is accordingly considered an exploration of philosophical questions that uses design objects both as media for conducting an inquiry and communicating its outcome.

Design thinking has attracted a significant amount of interest and attention from the non-design sector in areas such as finance, government services and transport. This has resulted in new definitions that appear to describe design thinking as the mythical process that generates innovation and as a result, creating confusion and causing some to question its meaning. Research was undertaken to explore the possible knowledge gap that exists between academic and practitioner understanding of design thinking and its practical application. The relationship between the two has been articulated and a data driven model of design thinking created to further understanding of the meaning of design thinking. Firstly, an initial literature review was conducted to examine the origins, ownership and relationship between design thinking and four other related terms. Secondly, four common characteristics of design thinking were identified from projects reported by academics and practitioners as examples of the application of design thinking. The literature review provided the point of departure for the design of the empirical research instrument (RI). From the initial literature review four common characteristics of design thinking was identified; they were: drivers , experts , impact and processes . The research methodology employed constructivist grounded theory using a multi-qualitative method to maximise the capacity to gather high quality data. Pilot studies were conducted internally to test out the research instrument. From the pilot studies an additional common characteristic identified: design problem , being traditional or non-traditional. Following the pilot studies, primary data collection methods of interviews and online survey were employed. A total of 56 participants took part in the study, the participants who took part were academics and design practitioners from around the world. A total of 13 interviews were conducted and 43 survey responses were collected. The interviews and online survey used in data collection formed two stages of a triangulation strategy that was used to explore all the research questions. ii Two data sets were created from the interviews and online survey, which were analysed by thematic analysis and content analysis. From the thematic analysis, the five common characteristics identified from the literature review and pilot studies were confirmed; two additional common characteristics were identified as multidisciplinary and knowledge . Content analysis was conducted to identify evidence to describe the 7 common characteristics identified. Furthermore, the modes of expression for design thinking were also identified from the data in order to explore its relationship to design education. Case study analysis was the third stage of the triangulation strategy employed. It was conducted to check the reliably of the findings. This involved three design school case studies and three practice-based case studies of which two were for product designs and one was for service design. A qualitative data model of design thinking was developed to present the findings of the research. The research was then validated by a PhD seminar at Lancaster University and a validation study with experienced design practitioners. A final literature review was conducted after the validation studies to compare the research findings to the most recently published literature. From the literature review and validation studies, any appropriate findings were incorporated into the theory constructed.

The societal transformation from an agricultural to an urbanised 24/7 society, reflected in a move from natural time to the mechanical clock to the contemporary digital age, has significantly influenced our daily biological and social rhythms. Modern technology has fostered an increasing temporal fragmentation, heralding an era of flexible time with ever more complex processes of synchronisation. These inhumane rhythms conflict with the natural rhythmicity of the human biological clock. This thesis investigates the potential of new perceptions of time through the application of uchronia - a term derived from the Greek word ou-chronos meaning ‘ no time ’ or ‘ non-time’, and from utopia, from the Greek ou-topos. This research is situated within contemporary debates on the nature of temporality, often denoted as time crisis or dyschronia. It investigates uchronia as temporal utopia and in the way it generates insights about our knowledge of contemporary temporality. The research develops an original uchronian methodology and applications of uchronian thinking in practice-led design research, intertwining design, chronobiological and chronosociological research to propose a new area of chronodesign. Through design practice, I explore how scientific research can be translated into lived, aesthetic experience. The methods range from critical and speculative design ( thought experiments ), artistic research ( unlearning methods ), to methods drawn from chronobiological research ( zeitgeber method ). I investigate practical work which challenges thought patterns regarding the temporal structure of contemporary life, in which participants explore alternative time-givers or synchronisers, in order to think outside the boundaries of clocks and calendars. By providing a broadened definition of uchronianism, I aim to establish uchronia as a platform for critical thought and debate on the contemporary time crisis, with chronodesign as a practical design initiative.

L’observation des productions actuelles fait apparaitre une tendance à l’hybridation des disciplines. Ce constat touche en particulier un type de pratique design, qui s’oriente de plus en plus vers la conception d’objets en petites séries ou en pièces uniques, interrogeant le rapport de l’usager aux espaces familiers et plus spécifiquement à la sphère intime. Bien que la plupart des designers refusent le rapprochement de leur travail avec les Arts Plastiques, il n’en demeure pas moins que certains d’entre eux adoptent des démarches analogues à celles des plasticiens. La formulation de cette hypothèse interroge la validité des catégories en vigueur et la légitimité des lois qui président à leur constitution. Par ailleurs, la production des designers qui intègrent une démarche similaire à celles des artistes se construit sur un mode évolutif, faisant croître l’objet vers l’installation, une forme de pénétrable que peut expérimenter le spectateur/usager. Il suffit d’examiner les variations d’échelles et la répétition modulaire créant une architecture mouvante chez Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec pour comprendre les glissements opérés entre l’unité et l’environnement qu’elle construit. La manipulation des échelles questionne, au cœur de l’espace même (qu’il s’agisse du cadre institutionnel de l’exposition ou de la sphère personnelle de chaque individu), la classification des objets, ainsi que leur hiérarchisation. Ces problématiques sont propres à un type de pratique, dont la poïétique use du détournement des produits de la nature et, notamment, des trois règnes animal, végétal et minéral. La transposition de pratiques naturalistes visant à établir un dépaysement par l’objet (au sens d’un déplacement hors d’un contexte habituel) découle d’une réflexion autour des modalités de l’hybridation. Ainsi, lorsqu’on se penche sur les textes jalonnant l’histoire naturelle et, en particulier sur ceux traitant des problématiques de classification, d’Aristote à Pline l’Ancien, en passant par la nomenclature de Carl von Linné, on remarque la récurrence (ou « survivance » pour reprendre la formule initiée par Georges Didi-Huberman), d’éléments situés dans l’entre-deux. Ces « types », que nous pouvons qualifier d’« aléatoires » révèlent un déplacement constant de la norme et questionnent la détermination du monstre. À partir de quel moment pouvons-nous juger du caractère anormal de tel élément ? N’existe-t’il pas des objets, qui, tout en présentant tous les « symptômes » du monstre coïncident malgré tout avec les modèles établis ? L’analyse des pratiques actuelles convoquant des démarches de création à la croisée des Arts Plastiques et du design révèle une influence profonde de ce type de fabrique pour un imaginaire scientifique, qui prend sa source dans le theatrum mundi des cabinets de curiosités. D’ailleurs, on observe, depuis le début des années 1990 (et surtout suite à la constitution de la collection d’art contemporain Curios & Mirabilia par Jean-Hubert Martin en 1993, visant à confronter un lieu chargé d’histoire, le château d’Oiron à la production d’artistes divers) une recrudescence des expositions empruntant la forme des cabinets de curiosités, afin de susciter un intérêt renouvelé pour l’objet d’art et en particulier les échos foisonnants entre les artefacts (œuvres et objets d’art, même s’ils prennent l’apparence d’installation) et l’univers poétique de la nature, manifestation viscérale d’un retour aux origines. Ainsi, l’emprunt symbolique de la figure des « zoophytes » ou plantes-animaux, mentionnés dans les traités d’histoire naturelle les plus anciens nous permet d’interroger la transversalité des pratiques artistiques qui cherchent à provoquer un décloisonnement des disciplines, en faisant de l’objet une entité située à la croisée des démarches de création. / The observation of the actual artistic productions shows a trend towards a hybridization of disciplines. This statement concerns particularly a type of design practices which is increasingly shifting towards objects manufactured in small quantity, even in unique pieces questioning the relations between the users and their familiar spaces and more specifically their intimate sphere. Even though most designers reject the comparison of their production with plastic arts, we can see that some of them have adopted approaches similar to those of plasticians. The formulation of this hypothesis brings up the questions of the validity of classifications and the legitimacy of the laws presiding to their constitution. Furthermore, the production of designers who integrate similar approaches to those of artists is built on an evolutive mode, the object being developed towards art installation, a form of penetrability a spectator/user can experience. By examining the scales variations and the modular repetition creating a fluid architecture in Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec design, we can understand the shifts operated between the piece and the environment it builds. Scales manipulation questions at the heart of the space itself the established objects classifications as well as their hierarchization (in domestic space and in exhibitions too).These issues are specific to a type of practice, which the poetic uses, of diverted natural products and especially the three systems : vegetal, animal and mineral. The transposition of naturalistic practices aiming at bringing a change through the object ( in the sense of placing it out of the usual context ) derives from considerations around the processes of hybridization. Thus, when one looks at natural history writings, and, in particular, those of Aristotle, Pliny the Elder or the nomenclature of Carl von Linné, we notice the recurrence ( or” survivance” to use the expression initiated by Georges Didi- Huberman) of elements located in an in-between space. Those types that we can describe as “random practices” reveal a constant displacement of the norms and question the determination of the monster. At which moment, can we designate an element as being abnormal? Aren’t there objects which, while presenting all the characteristics of the monster, coincide nonetheless with established models ? The analysis of actual practices standing at a crossroad between plastic arts and design reveals a profound influence from this type of process for a scientific imaginary inspired by the theatrum mundi of the curiosities cabinets. Moreover, we can observe since the beginning of the 1990ies (in particular, following the constitution of the contemporary art collection “Curios & Mirabilia” by Hubert Martin, aiming at confronting a place charged with history , Oiron Castle, to the production of various artists) a resurgence of exhibitions using curio cabinets forms. The aim is to renew the interest in artifacts and especially the relations of those manufactured objects and the poetic universe of nature, a manifestation of visceral attachment to primitive origins. Thus, the symbolic use of the figure of “zoophytes” or animal-plants, mentioned in the most ancient natural history treaties helps to show the transversality of artistic practices trying to dismantle the partitions between disciplines by placing the object as an entity at the crossroad between the creation processes. Through artists, designers and actors of institutions interviews, we can identify too major types of practices inscribed in a fertile prolongation of nature : a type of art which uses the formal aspects of flora and fauna to create a common vocabulary for art and design, alongside with a type of production transposing natural mechanisms which become creation protocols applied to the conception of objects.

An AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award has made collaboration possible between Northumbria University and the Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead in providing the opportunity to highlight a significant narrative in craft history. Henry Rothschild, a German émigré, ran the iconic craft outlet Primavera from 1946 to 1980. During this time, he built up an internationally significant collection of ceramics, now housed at the Shipley Art Gallery, along with a personal and business archive. By bringing this inaccessible and underused material to the fore and complementing it with interviews with Rothschild’s contemporaries, connections have emerged that were previously undiscovered. This thesis demonstrated how Rothschild’s position as a retailer, exhibitor and collector marked him as a unique character within the crafts as well as demonstrated the ways in which he utilised his position as an émigré to act outside of the confines of the traditional British standpoint. The narrative of Rothschild has been interwoven into the existing literature on craft in Britain, creating a previously unheard of account of post-war craft. Although Rothschild’s role in the post-war craft world has been remarked upon in a number of texts (Cooper, 2012; Harrod, 1995; Harrod, 1999; Buckley and Hochsherf, 2012) his wide reaching impact and contribution has never been explored in detail. This thesis considered the contradictory nature of Rothschild’s multiple roles and the resulting implications: as a retailer he was motivated to choose pieces that would sell, as an exhibitor he could allow for more creativity and daring in his curatorial choices, and as private collector he enjoyed established relationships with craftspeople. The aim of this thesis was to position Rothschild as collector, exhibitor and retailer not only within the context of British craft, but also to consider how Primavera operated within what David Kynaston calls the ‘justly iconic’ time period from 1945 to 1980 (Kynsaton, 2007). Through both his retail and exhibition activity at Primavera and beyond, craft was given a platform, made accessible to the wider public and influenced taste and fashion. His background as a German Jewish émigré emerged as key to understanding how he negotiated his position within this world. The resulting thesis confirmed and elucidated the significance of Rothschild and Primavera and called for further research into those individuals who are very much of the craft world but not always as producers or educators. As demonstrated here, such examinations have the potential to offer a narrative which is both complementary and challenging to those which dominate, and thereby contribute to the discourse on the nature of narrative based research and craft history.

Das Andenken an die Designerin Prof. Margarete Junge (1874.1966) ist in Dresden wieder stärker präsent. Die Ausstellung aus Anlass des 100. Firmenjubiläums der Firma Wendt & Kühn im Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst 2015 sowie die Publikation 'Margarete Junge.Künstlerin und Lehrerin im Aufbruch in die Moderne' im Dresdner Sandstein Verlag belegen dies. Im Zuge weiterer Forschungen konnte festgestellt werden, dass der Geburtsort - im Gegensatz zu bisherigen Annahmen - nicht Dresden, sondern Lauban (polnisch: Luban) ist. Die bislang unbekannte Begräbnisstätte befindet sich auf dem Alten Friedhof in Dresden.Klotzsche, ist aber inzwischen neu belegt.:Margarete Junge im Bewusstsein der Dresdener Die Begräbnisstätte Margarete Junges auf dem Alten Friedhof in Klotzsche Der korrekte Geburtsort: Lauban(Luban) in Schlesien, nicht Dresden

Motivated by the immature theoretical framework of design, this thesis employs transdisciplinary discourse to provide a contemporary and forward-looking model of design and design theory, as well as the linkages between the two, along with the necessary methodology. The discourse involves research into the current understanding of design, its principles, its practice and conceptual framework. The methodology developed and employed in this thesis can be outlined in five steps: 0. Design briefing 1. Developing a conceptual model based on the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. 2. Presenting the model in a written form. 3. Using accounts of conferences as tools for Designing Design and building monuments. 4. Interrogating the theory through an expert system. 5. Summarising and evaluating the findings. Design Briefing The present study delves into design, and into the design of theory. In Chapter A.1.6, a summary of Chapter A.0−A.1.5 is given, highlighting the underlying discourse. As shown, the theory behind this work is based on a hypothesis, which cannot be proved experimentally, or deduced from experimental data, at least at the time of its construction. Therefore, it needs to be understood that the case studies (A.3.2−A.3.5) in this thesis are not intended to serve as experiments that were conducted in order to prove the theory; rather, these case studies are design cases—products and artefacts—and should be viewed as discourse frameworks that can be adopted to design design. As described in Chapter 3.1, these are elements of monuments—in reference to Raichman (1988)—that have resulted from the discursive strategies and were designed within a community of designers, allowing the design understanding to be shaped. Methodologically, the theory is created through an indication of differences. These differences were elaborated on in the literature review, and can be explained using either logic-based or hermeneutical metaphors. As the latter approach is more flexible, it might be more applicable to the design environment. The generated knowledge can be located in three areas—design knowledge, epistemology, methodology (the process to get there), and phenomenology (the composition of the artefacts). While the main focus of this thesis has been on theory design, it was also important to delineate how to get there, as well as analyse the questionable differences between theory and practice, since they are ideal types that mark the extreme ends of a continuum (Jonsen and Toulmin 1988, p.36). The work presented in this thesis was conducted in a circular manner, like a design process, in order to encapsulate the instance. Therefore, essential topics reappear, allowing them to be reframed and newly contextualised. Chapter 0.0 to 0.7 reperesent the introductory part of this work. Thus, the content presented could be referred to as ‘the briefing’—as a parallel to a design case—to provide the background. It shows the motivation, a first hypothesis, some methodological considerations, and the research design and decisions. The aim is to provide insight into the phenomenon of interest and discuss some preconceptions. Thus, these introductory chapters provide orientation through locating some statements of the provided (design) discourse. Developing a conceptual model based on the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. As a follow up, Section A consists of several key components, and encompasses the research methodology specificity, its theoretical underpinning, and its connection to design, a reframing and contextualisation. This section also provides the means to overcome the discrepancy between researching and designing. Therefore, in Chapter A1−A1.6, a more substantial discourse of design is provided, along with the theory and the essential knowledge. Here, we can see the method in operation, as a patching of discursive statements—akin to an additive process of designing. Clearly, the attempt made here belongs to the constructivist epistemology, as the idea of design is a mental construct. Nonetheless, the aim is to provide a broad perspective of what can be presently observed in the design field. The employed methodology strategically aims to overcome the divide between designing and researching—between acting and reflecting—in order to provide a conceptual model. Still, it also makes the designing practice a conscious process, whereby theory is designed through discourse. Such discourse is revealed within the discovery of textual statements based on an extensive literature review, as well as through the discovery of textual statements from organised interactive conferences. The theory developed here is, in fact, a theory derived from theory, and is shaped through finding patterns and the simplification of the overall structure they form. In A.2, the concept of discourse and its designing quality is revealed. It shows how discourse, as the guiding method, is ‘excavated’ from the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. Methodologically, Michel Foucault’s ‘Archeology of Knowledge’ was analysed against and parallel to Helmut Krippendorff’s ‘Semantic Turn’, as these sources are complementary to each other. The goal of this process is a comparison of statements, yielding reasoning towards discourse and design discourse. In sum, this analysis helped reveal that it is a matter of design how the discourse is provided. The outcome of the aforementioned comparison is very interesting and satisfying. The findings revealed a difference in discourse, because engineering and design discourses are informed by rhetoric of design, rhetoric of deliberation, in opposite to humanistic discourse, which consumes textual objects (Perelman 1999). The discursive designing process within these chapters reveals some important elements, such as the conceptual frame of politics, referred to in Foucault’s discourse explorations. According to the author, power is a generating force in shaping discourse (Faucault 1980, p.119). In contrast, Krippendorff (1995b) sees power as emanating from language, which can be overcome through avoiding the construction of certain language. In the research presented, the designing practice that took place during the conferences, as well as the aforementioned notions, play a role, as was shown in Chapter 3. Power, as it was experienced, is unavoidable. Yet, rather than seeing it as a problem, it should be viewed as a generating force. A second more substantial question arises around the notion of discontinuity (A.2.3), which is essential in Foucault’s concept. According to Krippendorff, knowledge is not partitioned; it rather provides continuity through the various disciplines. As this research shows, this view should not be seen as an opposite to Foucault’s concept of discontinuity, because statements can refer to the same object, but coming from a discontinuous field, from various disciplines. In other words, as design discourse can be viewed as a discourse hosted by various disciplines, it is discontinuous! With respect to Foucault’s concern of grasping of statements, the main goal of this thesis is to provide support for this perspective. As the author noted, the grasping of the statements needs to follow the exact specificity of their occurrence (Foucault 1972). The prudence and success of dissociating statements from their original context to place them in a new context is questionable, since no discontinuity can be ignored (Foucault 1972). Often, rather than paraphrasing the text so that it reflects one’s own understanding of it, the result is a mere citation of the original texts and con-texts. The awareness of discontinuity does not allow for this thesis to be presented according to the positivistic paradigm.

In this thesis, the author explores and develops new attributes for machine performers and merges the trans-disciplinary fields of the performing arts and artificial intelligence. The main aim is to redefine the term “embodiment” for robots on the stage and to demonstrate that this term requires broadening in various fields of research. This redefining has required a multifaceted theoretical analysis of embodiment in the field of artificial intelligence (e.g. the uncanny valley), as well as the construction of new robots for the stage by the author. It is hoped that these practical experimental examples will generate more research by others in similar fields. Even though the historical lineage of robotics is engraved with theatrical strategies and dramaturgy, further application of constructive principles from the performing arts and evidence from psychology and neurology can shift the perception of robotic agents both on stage and in other cultural environments. In this light, the relation between representation, movement and behaviour of bodies has been further explored to establish links between constructed bodies (as in artificial intelligence) and perceived bodies (as performers on the theatrical stage). In the course of this research, several practical works have been designed and built, and subsequently presented to live audiences and research communities. Audience reactions have been analysed with surveys and discussions. Interviews have also been conducted with choreographers, curators and scientists about the value of machine performers. The main conclusions from this study are that fakery and mystification can be used as persuasive elements to enhance agency. Morphologies can also be applied that tightly couple brain and sensorimotor actions and lead to a stronger stage presence. In fact, if this lack of presence is left out of human replicants, it causes an “uncanny” lack of agency. Furthermore, the addition of stage presence leads to stronger identification from audiences, even for bodies dissimilar to their own. The author demonstrates that audience reactions are enhanced by building these effects into machine body structures: rather than identification through mimicry, this causes them to have more unambiguously biological associations. Alongside these traits, atmospheres such as those created by a cast of machine performers tend to cause even more intensely visceral responses. In this thesis, “embodiment” has emerged as a paradigm shift – as well as within this shift – and morphological computing has been explored as a method to deepen this visceral immersion. Therefore, this dissertation considers and builds machine performers as “true” performers for the stage, rather than mere objects with an aura. Their singular and customized embodiment can enable the development of non-anthropocentric performances that encompass the abstract and conceptual patterns in motion and generate – as from human performers – empathy, identification and experiential reactions in live audiences.

L’essentiel du corpus théorique consacré au design et à la responsabilité de son praticien adopte une approche prescriptive où leurs auteurs dictent les contours d’une pratique responsable. Mais compte tenu de l’impact du design graphique sur notre quotidien, ne serait-il pas utile d’appréhender plus précisément le sens que ses praticiens donnent à leur responsabilité ? À notre avis, oui. L’objectif de notre recherche est donc de recueillir et de comprendre les significations de la responsabilité, et ainsi d’analyser les délibérations et les modélisations morales des praticiens du design graphique pour en proposer une description. Par le biais d’une étude qualitative, via des entretiens de groupes, nous avons réalisé une analyse en deux temps. D’abord, une synthèse de chaque groupe nous a permis d’identifier que la responsabilité fait sens comme habitude — au sens peircien du terme — qui se structure par rapport à la représentation que se fait le designer des enjeux de sa pratique au sein d’un réseau de parties prenantes. Ensuite l’examen des schémas individuels, qui ont donné lieu à la modélisation de trois des périmètres potentiels de ce maillage d’acteurs. / Design theory tends to adopt a prescriptive approach to designers’ responsibility, taking it upon itself to lay out guidelines for good conduct. However, given the impact of graphic design on human behavior and the fabric of society as a whole it seems essential to study how designers’ themselves define their responsibility. Thus, the purpose of our research is to collect, interpret and describe the meanings practitioners assemble with regard to their moral obligations. A qualitative study, built upon group interviews, has offered us a dual assessment. First, the analysis of each group allowed us to identify responsibility as a habit, in the Peircean sense of the term, that each designer establishes in relation to a network of stakes and stakeholders he or she articulates around his or practice. Secondly, the study of individual discourses revealed models of three potential perimeters of the system within which they evaluate their obligations.