Subjectivity and Objectification Relationships in Tension at the Design Project

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research study on pedagogy in the project disciplines. The phenomenon, the project activity, was situated in undergraduate Industrial Design studios, with the aim of analyzing how subjectivity affects the project processes of designers in training and what its contribution is to the creative act within the framework of the intersubjective actions that these processes demand. The methodology is based on a compilation of methods associated with Socio-phenomenology, with a particular focus on the social theory of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckman, which were contrasted with validation methods and results of previous research that showed how designers in training acquire the knowledge necessary to develop their design projects and how this enters into a dialectical relationship with their subjective knowledge. In the confirmatory phase of this project, tensions between subjectivity-objectification and knowledge-knowing emerged preliminarily, linked to the interpersonal relationships that arise during the design process. Finally, both the presence of students’ subjectivity during the design process and the emergence of an awareness of the need to objectify the project and its products were evident. The results of this research provide insight into how subjectivity contributes to or hinders the creative act and the possibilities for objectification during the design process.