Carl DiSalvo

Design is too often uncritically conceived of as aiming for the pleasant and the comfortable. However, as any designer knows who has worked on real-world sociotechnical projects, tradeoffs between conflicting stakeholder interests are prevalent. DiSalvo provides a coherent conceptualization of this common situation by means of the political theory of agonism -- essentially stating that ongoing contestation between adversaries is the DNA of societal processes. The value of the book lies in situating design and designers' work in that framework, by introducing the notion of adversarial design to be understood as contestational acts taking a stand in ongoing agonistic processes. DiSalvo's work is helpful in transcending gallery-flavored notions of critical design and supplying concepts and exemplars to form a broader repertoire for designers' ways to approach the world with a view towards real transformation and impact.… (plus d'informations)