The evaluation of contemporary design: Systemic observations and consequences

The growing diffusion of design procedures based on competition between designers, increasing use of bureaucratic forms of assignment of contracts for design through public competitions, the development of systems and processes facilitating the professional encounter between supply of and demand for design, show the backwardness of the debate on the problems of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of design, both in terms of methodologies and methods. This contribution intends to examine the subject of evaluation, opening some reflection and operating lines on the creation of potential f he first part of the article, using a multidisciplinary approach3, frames the topic “evaluation of design” from a theoretical, historical-critical point of view and bearing in mind the evolutionary dynamics in the design field. The second part contains a field study, which analyzes and compares the evaluation processes adopted in international design awards and competitions. This work has two aims: to highlight the approaches and the most interesting elements in the evaluation of design, and to demonstrate the scarce presence of shared processes that systematize knowledge of methods and tools that measure and compare the qualitative aspects of design and the designer. The third section formulates specific reflections on some aspects related to the evaluation of design: the attention focused by the evaluators on the designer, the traceability of the design process intentionally practiced, the explication of the factors that identify the designer and the quality of the designs, the use of evaluation as an opportunity for learning, and lastly, evaluation as a specific competence.