Weak design: Gianni Vattimo and the function of design

Abstract

The thesis proposes the concept of weak design through the lens of Gianni Vattimo’s weak thought. It explores design practices that resist traditionally dominant paradigms of functionalism and universal, solution-oriented production, advocating instead for openness, contingency and interpretative plurality. By engaging deeply with Vattimo’s philosophy and conducting a theoretical analysis of case studies—ranging from postmodern design countercurrents to contemporary design approaches—it identifies a shared gesture: the weakening of deterministic notions of design tied to industrial and techno-rational logics, in order to reconceive design as a hermeneutic act—contextual, interpretative, plural. The thesis argues that weak thought can inform a weak design that cultivates subjectivities, expands imaginaries, and intervenes poetically and politically across the everyday and the yet-to-be.