The Heritage of Design
In English, the term design encompasses both the process - the act and method of designing - and the product, the tangible or conceptual outcome of that process. When understood as a process, design constitutes the core subject of the discipline known as design methodology, a field that has been extensively explored. Yet, these studies have generally overlooked the status of design within pre-industrial production methods, or what is known as traditional design.
The few studies that have sought to investigate traditional design in a more balanced manner, though valuable, suffer from two main limitations. First, they focus predominantly on the design outcome rather than the design process itself. Second, even when addressing design as an outcome, they largely concentrate on visual motifs and decorative elements.
Consequently, the heritage of design in the pre-modern world remains obscure—buried beneath layers of misconception and neglect. Yet, revisiting this topic holds the potential to deepen our understanding of pre-modern crafts and industries (commonly referred to today as traditional arts), to unveil more profound aspects of cultural heritage, and perhaps to provide fresh insight into the cognitive structures of human creativity.
All these considerations urge us to explore this compelling field. Therefore, this special issue, envisioned as the first in a series titled 'The Heritage of Design', seeks to investigate diverse aspects of this subject with a regional focus on the Iranian Plateau and the broader region of Southwest Asia, including but not limited to:
1. Methodological research on the nature and the process of design within Pre-industrial production methods.
2. Theoretical foundations of design in the cultural heritage of Southwest Asia.
3. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies of design (such as Product Design, Jewelry Design, Carpet Design, Architectural Design, and others) within Pre-industrial production methods.
4. Documentary and material evidence of design practices in pre-industrial production methods.
5. The heritage and transmission of traditional design education.
