Who Designs our
(digital)(next)(uncanny)(interfacing)
Lifeworlds?
Praxis↭theory Seminars at the Hildesheim Faculty of Design Examine Current Interface Cultures and their Opaque Spheres of Production
Qualitative Design Research and Critical Design Praxistheory at the Nexus of Culture, Interfaces, and Strategy at the M.A. Gestaltung program Faculty of Design, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hildesheim, Germany)
Carolin Baaske: “The Semantic Spectrum of ‘Design’ – Interdiscursive Connotations of a Fuzzy Concept.” (2024)
This M.A. thesis investigates how the term “design” circulates beyond professional discourse and how it is framed in German mainstream print media. Drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis of articles from Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, and manager magazin (2022), the study reconstructs which meanings, metaphors, and expectations shape public understandings of design—and how these differ from more plural and systemic conceptions within the discipline itself.
The analysis shows that media representations often restrict design to narrow, surface-oriented or stylistic roles, while marginalizing strategic, cultural, and socio-political dimensions emphasized in specialist debates. A complementary discussion workshop with design students explores how such external portrayals are received, contested, or internalized, revealing a striking tolerance toward reductive images of the field—possibly rooted in designers’ own familiarity with its conceptual diversity.
The thesis concludes by arguing for greater reflexivity and communicative clarity within design practice. To bridge the gap between disciplinary self-understanding and public perception, designers are encouraged to articulate their work more explicitly and to actively expand the media “speakability” of design toward broader, systemic, and transformative perspectives.
Carolin Baaske: Bedeutungsspektrum „Design“ – Interdiskursive Konnotationen eines unscharfen Begriffs
This master’s thesis investigates how content strategies on TikTok can contribute to the visibility of artistic practice in jazz. Situating TikTok within the broader digital transformation of music cultures, the study examines how platform logics, algorithmic structures, and short-form video aesthetics reshape the conditions under which jazz musicians can present their work. Rather than focusing […]
This master’s thesis investigates how design can function as a research practice that makes knowledge in intercultural contexts visible and experientially accessible. Based on the project Concepts Trouvés, which examined English-language terms found in Beijing’s urban commercial landscape, the work reflects on how design ethnography and Research through Design can explicate implicit knowledge embedded in […]
This master’s thesis investigates how patriarchal structures and gender stereotypes are embedded in everyday products, spatial environments, and professional design processes. Combining feminist theory, sociological concepts such as Doing Gender, and contemporary design research, the project analyzes historical genealogies of gendered form, materiality, and usability while grounding these perspectives in an empirical user survey. The […]
