Director Academic’s on Design and Cultural Landscape

Design has always been an important part of our culture, with a significant impact on the way we live, work and plan our lives for sustainable living. Culture sets expectations, norms, habits, principles and philosophy that impacts designs and designers in many faceted ways. It helps to navigate the world in a more informed way.

IIAD is back, this time with its third issue of the newsletter peeking into design through the lens of culture.

Culture and design can never be seen separately, they move collectively as both are part of human existence & experience and have a role in shaping and promoting the world around us. As the world becomes more globalised, we see a mix of cultures in every aspect of life. The inclusive process of cross-cultural diversity has given designers an opportunity to celebrate cultural differences in their design.

Though the relationship between culture and design is complex and ever-evolving it is still important for designers to create and maintain their cultural identities, focusing on unique and exclusive innovation to express themselves.

As design continues to grow, it needs to benefit from cultural trends to bridge the developing trends in business. This is only possible when design meets culture and reaches the point of understanding human behaviour to its fullest potential.

The roles and responsibilities of designers are not only to create useful products and images but to produce and reproduce cultural meanings through these products. Besides explicit practical functioning, products and images also have an implicit social function which draws upon human centred design and design thinking to create new innovations.