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Design theory is a subfield ofdesign research concerned with various theoretical approaches towards understanding and delineating design principles, design knowledge, and design practice.
Design theory has been approached and interpreted in many ways, from designers' personal statements of design principles, through constructs of thephilosophy of design to a search for adesign science.
The essay "Ornament and Crime" byAdolf Loos from 1908 is one of the early 'principles' design-theoretical texts. Others includeLe Corbusier'sVers une architecture (1923),[1] andVictor Papanek'sDesign for the real world (1972).
In a 'principles' approach to design theory, theDe Stijl movement (founded in 1917) promoted a geometrical abstract, "ascetic" form of purism that was limited to functionality. This modernist attitude underpinned theBauhaus movement (1919 onwards). Principles were drawn up for design that were applicable to all areas of modern aesthetics.
For an introduction to the philosophy of design see the article by Per Galle[2] at the Royal Danish Academy.
An example of early design science was Altshuller'sTheory of inventive problem solving, known asTRIZ, which originated in the Soviet Union in the 1940s. Herbert Simon's 1969The sciences of the artificial[3] developed further foundations for a science of design. Since then the further development of fields such asdesign methods,design research,design science,design studies anddesign thinking has promoted a wider understanding of design theory.