Design Heresy

This paper critically examines the concept and role of the design brief in design epistemology, highlighting its inherent limitations, while addressing the agency and challenges of ‘unknowing’ in Design. Traditionally seen as a contextualized issue to address, the design brief is often shaped by established norms and values, framing problems in ways that align with dominant societal groups. This framing encourages a positivistic approach and assumes that design should move towards a single ‘right’ solution for a better world. However, this perspective disregards the complexity and diversity of our contemporary world and overlooks how the brief is itself a normalizing process in design. We argue for an alternative understanding of the design brief as a political agent for embracing unknowing in design as a means to challenge the boundaries of accepted knowledge and to engage with the world’s complexity.