Over the past week I have gotten a flood of emails and questions from the field as it pertains to Design Anthropology. The main question that I have been asked is this... What IS Design Anthropology and how is it used .... The best way that I can describe what Design Anthropology is and how it's used is to give you the insight of one of it's leading Thought Leaders - Professor Dori Tunstall, UIC
"Government, business, and society requires better understanding and respect for professional design and anthropology's insights, skills, and intentions so that we can positively affect our worlds..." Wayne State University, 2006
Dori Tunstall goes on to say that the training of what has now been coined as "anthrodesigners" is a necessity for the changing of our world. This idea coupled with design, design thinking - leads us into a whole new space as it pertains to design, as design now becomes equally intellectual and technical as it is creative. And rightfully so. In an ever evolving world we should be seeking evolved ways of thinking, and the design space is not immune to this.
So, by combining the fundamental attributes of Anthropology and Design, we arrive at Design Anthropology, or Anthrodesign. This excites me. It excites me because as this space evolves - we should start seeing design artifacts that are human-centered in nature, and ones that have more meaning to the evolution of who we are as a people ...
I would love to know what you think about the idea of Design Anthropology.