Design, Information, and the End of the Technology Century

Abstract

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has driven billions of people into intense social isolation, forcibly accelerated a process of digital insertion for entire populations, in a mass way led to the trauma of sudden grief to an entire generation, destabilizing governments and health systems in several countries. Its deeds have lasting psychological, social, and political repercussions. In this sense, the present research aims to study the role of design in this process called “end of the technology century”. For that, the last century was initially contextualized so that we can understand the role of design in relation to technology. Then, it was investigated how the Covid-19 pandemic marks this rupture and its impacts on the field of design. Finally, the general characteristics of the beginning of the 21st century were identified, the design acts that reproduce these characteristics and what would be the design approaches that lead us to a different path.