A true study of design inevitably requires the student to realize and come to terms with the connections between (a) design and rationality and (b) rationality and communication.

The most important first lesson for a designer, the one lesson which initiates him or her as a designer, is this: Every design decision is in principle justifiable. In other words, design is reasonable. The designer has reasons for his or her choice of a typeface, graphic style, means of reproduction, etc. A piece is considered to be highly designed or well-designed when, if asked, the designer is able to argue convincingly for all of his or her design decisions.

This first lesson is the key to all subsequent education. As a designer matures, his or her sense of reason matures and with that comes better and better design. This maturation process is the product of communication. So that there is no confusion, set aside for a moment the idea that it is our job to “design communications”. I am talking about communication as the source of intersubjective human reason, and about this collective reason as the fuel for what can be called design in the broadest sense.

In the beginning, it is enough for the design student to be able to subjectively justify his or her choices. Gradually, though, the student is introduced to other people’s reasons-- through critiques, books, conversations with teachers, etc. The student will naturally be influenced by those reasons which he or she finds to be most persuasive. In addition, she may influence others with her reasons. In the process, more and more people (in theory) come to a state of agreement about what is true, appropriate, and sincere in a variety of situations. Where there is still disagreement, participants enage in theoretical work to uncover the situation behind the disagreement, hopefully to find some agreement on an abstract level. In one way or another, there is a collective endeavor to examine and refine the reasons for design decisions. This is design education. The best design, in the end, is the design that works for all of us.

I will assume that the above adequately articulates a fairly simple but rarely understood connection between design, rationality, and communication. I would suggest that this connection be taught explicitly in the design curriculum. Teaching students to see design as a quest for reasons and to see the best reasons as communicatively developed: (1) may help them to solidify their ultimate motivation. The first question that might be asked: Why should we be concerned with being reasonable? It isn’t enough to say “because design is inherently about reason”, even though it is. Why choose to be a “designer”, to accept the task of bringing reason to the world, in the first place? Is it the right thing to do? Why? (2) It may also help them to find a distinct place for themselves in a discourse on design, whether that be a stylistic discourse, a discourse on the social role of design, etc. (3) In addition, students might begin to see the relevance of history as a source of reason. They can look to history to find reasons for what they do, whether they are influenced by traditions or events or whether they find that they must rebel against certain things. Finally, (4) it can certainly help them to understand that critical theory is foundational to the true study and practice of design.

To the last, I would add a few points for those academics who wish to help revitalize the intellectual life of design. Postmodern theorists may have criticized some limited forms of rationality, but they have not debunked or destroyed the ideal of human rationality itself. Rather, they have participated in the process of disclosing some of the problems with our current too-simplistic notions of rationality, presenting, in many cases, quite rational arguments.

The Neomodern design academic, who is not yet ready to throw his hands up in the air, would find the work of Juergen Habermas (to start with, the first section on rationality in the Theory of Communicative Action) to be extremely rewarding. A close reading will reveal many possibilities for theorizing design as a still potentially rational and progressive enterprise, even in all its complexity.