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<script type='text/javascript'> path = 'http://www.judithseng.de/files/gimgs/'; // First we hide all exhibitis $("#menu ul li.section-title").nextAll().hide(); // then the active exhibit is showed $("#menu ul").each(function() { $(this).find("li.active").prevAll().nextAll().show(); }); // This is the toggle function // first it hides all sections $("#menu ul li.section-title").click(function() { $("#menu ul li.section-title").nextAll().hide(); $(this).nextAll().slideToggle("fast"); }); $(document).ready(function() { setTimeout('move_up()', 1); expandingMenu(0); expandingMenu(1); expandingMenu(2); expandingMenu(3); expandingMenu(4); expandingMenu(5); expandingMenu(6); expandingMenu(7); expandingMenu(8); }); </script> </head> <body class='section-8'> <div id='menu'> <div class='container'> <p><font color=grey><font size=+0>JUDITH SENG<br /> </font></font></p> <ul> <li class='section-title'>LATEST/</li> <li><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/new/' onclick="do_click();">NEWS</a></li> <li><a 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href='http://www.judithseng.de/texts/about-judith-seng/' onclick="do_click();">ABOUT</a></li> <li class='active'><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/texts/by-judith-seng/' onclick="do_click();">BY</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li class='section-title'>INFO/</li> <li><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/about/about-judith-seng/' onclick="do_click();">JUDITH SENG</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/about/contact/' onclick="do_click();">CONTACT</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/about/team-and-vacancies/' onclick="do_click();">TEAM/POSITIONS</a></li> <li><a href='http://www.judithseng.de/about/links/' onclick="do_click();">IMPRINT</a></li> </ul>  <ul> </ul> </div> </div> <div id='content'> <div class='container'>  <p>DESIGN REAKTOR BERLIN<font size=-1></p> <p>INGREDIENTS OF PROCESS DESIGN</p> <p><em>Published in <a href='http://wp1004542.wp008.webpack.hosteurope.de/editions--books/design-reaktor-berlin/' alt='' title='BOOK DESIGN REAKTOR' target="_blank">¨<u>Design Reaktor Berlin</u>¨</a> 2008 and <a href="http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts996/ts996.php" target="_blank">¨<u>Governance der Kreativwirtschaft</u>¨</a> April 2009, Editors: Bastian Lange, Ares Kalandides, Birgit Stoeber, Inga Wellmann, transcript Verlag</em></p> <p>The Design Reaktor Berlin constitutes a defined space loaded with various ingredients meant to generate experimental reactions. The Reaktor´s overriding goal is to trigger forward-looking development strategies suitable for post-industrial locations like Berlin. Our thesis and project definition encompassed the interplay of creative and manufacturing disciplines in a cooperative product development process.</p> <p>Scores of pictures and 52 product prototypes bear tangible witness to the dynamic and fruitful events of the 12-week Reaktor phase. Less visible, but no less important, are the multifaceted processes initiated within the framework of product development: the personal encounters and experiences as well as the new perspectives and impulses that will affect the design process far beyond this specific project. Though it may be difficult to define the value of these ephemeral and invisible results, they were no less integral to the project´s success. In this publication, we aim to examine the visible and invisible, short-term and long-term effects of the Reaktor process.</p> <p>PRODUCT AS VEHICLE<br /> The great strength of a product lies in its physical existence. Every object is a physical expression – it can have a function, it is always tangible, usually producible and sometimes sellable. This ability – to give shape to an idea, to “give birth” to a prototype – is amongst the most spectacular facets of the design discipline. Transformed into a tangible object, an idea can suddenly become desired, despised, tested or even possessed. Above all, an idea can become a solid language that is understood by consumers as well as vendors, designers, scholars and journalists. In terms of the Design Reaktor Berlin, these products should not only fulfil their emotional and functional everyday duties, but also and simultaneously serve as intermediaries between various design disciplines, Berlin-based production companies, universities and markets, thus bringing together various competencies, rhythms, languages and values in one joint enterprise.</p> <p>PROCESS DESIGN<br /> Moving from idea to realisation – that is, the actual product development – requires many processes of exchange. Vice versa, product development can become part of these exchange processes. In the Design Reaktor Berlin, the temporal concentration and overlap of disciplines provoked an expansion of the participating institutions in both space and content. Starting with the very first brainstorming session, various protagonists from the worlds of marketing, production and law were involved in the Reaktor process and their diverse and diverging perspectives helped to shape and design the process from the start.</p> <p>From the perspective of social process design, the resulting products are, first and foremost, vehicles for cooperation processes between disciplines, university and market. Though application and marketing become secondary concerns, they are nonetheless indispensable for the exchange between the different disciplines. They represent the underlying incentive for the development of more dynamic processes of self-evolution and the creation of competency networks between patent law, marketing, production and design. </p> <p>OPEN BRIEFING<br /> Usually, a plan describes that which is already conceivable given the current outlook. In practice, it became clear how much more could emerge when a briefing is open <em><font size=-2>1</font></em> and provides only minimal structure. The Design Reaktor Berlin starting point was a project description barely two pages in length accompanied by a short planning phase defining fundamental project basics and selecting the participants. Only during the actual course of the project did the Design Reaktor Berlin evolve into what it is today. Open-ended processes carry inconceivable potential; they can exceed expectations, but also undermine them. The Design Reaktor Berlin generated plenty of exciting potential, but also highlighted some important challenges inherent in dynamic and complex processes.</p> <p>HETEROGENEOUS NETWORK<br /> What is it that makes the Design Reaktor Berlin so special? For one thing, it brought people together whose paths might otherwise never have crossed. The right level of heterogeneity was guaranteed by the careful selection of project partners: We personally met with a total of 75 Berlin-based small businesses, 55 of which opted to participate in the Design Reaktor Berlin. Within the University of the Arts, five different departments of the Design Faculty decided to participate, supported by numerous external experts. Whether dynamic protagonist or constructive observer, consultant or supporter – each participant was instrumental in defining and co-developing the Design Reaktor Berlin.</p> <p>CONNECTIVE SPACES<br /> How should we imagine a place or platform that temporarily assembles a broad mix of disciplines, branches and institutions? How can its diverse languages, methods of operation and values strengthen and support one another? At the very beginning of the project, we agreed upon a contract for cooperation that assured all creators, including the businesses, a portion of potential profits; this helped to carve a “space of trust” that encouraged processes with open-ended outcomes. </p> <p>Meanwhile, the Design Reaktor Berlin´s corporate design provided an overall “space of identification“. In keeping with the project´s spirit, the corporate design took shape parallel to product development. A reflection of the emerging project identity, the design embodies the interdisciplinary and cross-institutional symbolic project space.</p> <p>The actual, physical project environments, on the other hand, were of a more temporary nature. Two “Open Spaces” at the University of the Arts provided platforms for both meetings and workshops, while a small Design Reaktor Berlin office served as a fixed point of call for the widely scattered network. Most of the 180 participants worked from their own studios or offices spread across Berlin.</p> <p>WIDENING SPACES<br /> Through concrete action and visible results, the project triggered a wide resonance. At the same time, its practice-oriented approach raised many overriding questions and their significance extends beyond this specific project. What, for example, does it mean when an art school applies for patents? Shouldn´t applied creative strategies broaden the field of discussion regarding open source and intellectual property rights? For when it comes to multi-disciplinary product development, who counts as the actual creator? What implications might this have for our understanding of authorship?</p> <p>In practice, it becomes clear what challenges arise during the organisation of complex processes whose structures emerge from the given project. How, then, are we to develop strategic measures for integrative planning and implementation that benefit from both top-down and bottom-up control?</p> <p>In future, these types of questions might be considered in associated “thinking spaces” that accompany the practical processes. From these, an interplay between fast, effective action and overlying reflection might emerge to produce a sustainable, multi-layered impact. The Design Reaktor – as a defined space for initiating experimental developments – would thus become the exemplary prototype of a comprehensive approach to designing objects, processes, spaces and “thinking spaces”.</p> <p><em><font size=-3>1</font><font size=-2>In the Design Reaktor Berlin, the term “open briefing” described a project plan with minimal parameters. Deliberately vague, this fuzzy description was meant to enable the emergence of unplanned processes and to strengthen participants´ identification with the project by allowing leeway for individual preferences and expression. </em></font><br /> </font></p> <div class='cl'></div>  </div> </div> </body> </html>