Five days ago I uploaded a new paper titled ‘Design vs. The Design Industry: Conflicts in Emergent Orders‘ to the EcoLabs website that has now been downloaded over 470+ times. I should include an explanation as the paper is a bit of an oddity. This paper was not written for design audiences (although it is highly relevant for them). I was invited to write the paper by the ‘Atlas Economic Research Foundation’ and it will be published on this journal on-line here. 

The paper is a critique of the design industry. ‏I used the concept of emergent order in theorising the relationship between the practice of design and the design industry (determined by the systemic dynamics of capitalism). I have used this concept to demonstrate that even on its own terms, neo-liberalism is dysfunctional and cannot create long term prosperity or sustainability. I quote neo-liberal theorist Hayek in this paper only to demonstrate the flaws in his own logic. I will now attempt to find a design journal and write a new version of this paper for audiences in the design industry.