No. 250 Design Quo Vadis?

The 250th issue of form gives cause for celebration on several levels. Firstly, there is the exciting redesign of the magazine by the Berlin editorial and graphic design office Heimann und Schwantes. It is flexible and adapted to the changes and needs of contemporary design discourse and crystallises what has become perhaps the most important discipline of our age. We respond to the growing level of attention being paid to design with a new three-fold magazine structure: Filter – Focus – Files. In our anniversary issue we will present our readers with part one of a sophisticated
overview of the state of design. Here we will identify relevant contemporary design areas and talk to professors, practitioners, pioneers and industry professionals, young and old, about where design is at and where they think it is heading. There are now dozens of different design disciplines, but what does the term “design” now mean exactly? Which varieties have disappeared and which new ones have joined the pack? And why is it all so hard to define? Like the term “science”, the word “design” now seems to convey too little, perhaps because it stands for so much. Over the past year, as the new team at form, we have touched on many of these questions and realised that in order to address such design issues better and reflect the new structures in how we acquire, share and order knowledge form has to evolve as well. We invite you to join us on our journey over the years to come.