The designer fallacy and technological imagination

Abstract

Most literary critics have abandoned the notion that the meaning of a text lies in the intention of the author and have called this the "intentional fallacy". I hold that there is a parallel found in many interpretations of technology design and call it the "designer fallacy". This chapter, through examining a wide series of historical technology designs, deconstructs the utility of a simple designer-plastic material-ultimate use model and suggests that one must take into account unintended uses and consequences, the constraints and potentials of materiality, and cultural contexts, which often are complex and multistable. I outline a complex, interactive account of design interpretation. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.