Conversation Summary | September 14th, 2021

The event started with a welcome from Paolo Ciuccarelli, director of the Center for Design (CfD) at Northeastern's College of Arts Media & Design and an introduction to the festival, the Design Research Society, and CAMD. The event was the second in a series of conversations aimed at building an interdisciplinary network of thinking, discussion, and action that addresses the importance of thinking holistically and taking a systems-level approach when thinking and acting with design.

Paolo was followed by a soft introduction to Metadesign by Hugh Dubberly in his presentation covering the frames and models of meta-design. **He outlined for us the meta of metadesign, or in his words the 'Multitudes of Metadesign' He proposed six frames of meta and stresses that these are only six among many.

Dubberly’s Frames of Metadesign:

Metadesign as rules, standards, and programs: design systems
Metadesign as semiotics, signs, and language: systems of language
Metadesign as information, feedback, cybernetics, and boot-strapping: systems theory
Metadesign as media theory and cultural construction: ****political systems
Metadesign as co-creation: services systems
Metadesign as reform of practice and education: manifestos and models

Hugh additionally gave context to his meta frames while touching upon some brief moments in the history of metadesign. The next presentation was by Paolo Ciuccarelli who complemented Hugh’s points by diving deeper into the history of metadesign specific to Italy. Paolo briefly outlined the key players of the 1960s in the conception of metadesign as a field of inquiry. It became clear to see the connection of these key players to the current state of metadesign theory as Hugh had just outlined for us.

The case studies that follow are not limited to just one of these frames, instead they are being used to demonstrate and help build a vocabulary for a mutual understanding of metadesign as a field of inquiry.