"Design is not a Science": Otl Aicher's Constitutional Putsch at the HfG Ulm and His Credo for the Social Responsibility of Designers.

DESIGN -- Social aspects; HOCHSCHULE fur Gestaltung (Ulm, Germany); COLLEGE curriculum; AICHER, Otl; SOCIAL responsibility; DESIGNERS; POLEMICS; ART & science; ATTITUDE (Psychology)

The article examines the debate over whether design can be considered a scientific discipline, focusing on the discussion held in 1962 at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) university in Ulm, Germany led by graphic designer Otl Aicher. It goes on to discuss the HfG's, as well as Aicher's, emphasis on the need for design to be socially responsible. The author also covers Aicher's views on the unscientific aspects of design on the basis that science must exclude value judgements, describing such attitudes as polemic.