Design and marketing: Intersections and challenges

Abstract

This editorial article reports on interdisciplinary research being conducted at the interface between the scientific disciplines of marketing and design. It reviews the 11 academic papers from the special issue situated at this intersection, thereby showing the richness of research happening in this liminal area. At the same time, the paper observes how the disciplines' different scopes as well as their different modi operandi inhibit the collaboration between marketing and design research. Whereas marketing largely follows the paradigm of empirical realism asking how the current world works, design largely follows the pragmatist paradigm asking how a future world can be shaped. Finally, this paper contains a number of suggestions on how to foster cooperation between the two disciplines.