activity theory

Problem placement in fashion design practice: Reflections and recommendations for fashion design education in an era of complexity

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Discipline: 

Fashion, Jewellery & Textile Design

This paper identifies the desired design outcomes and problem domains of experienced Johannesburg fashion designers, to provide recommendations for fashion design practice and education. Traditional fashion design education often emphasises aesthetics and technical construction before strategically deciding on where the design effort needs to be focused within complex integrated systems. However, within the context of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), complex integrated systemic thinking is becoming increasingly important. As such, this paper provides an overview of the design outcomes of practising fashion designers and explores the correlation between the problems they manage and Buchanan’s (1998) seminal proposition of problem framing and placement domains.

Social media facilitates custom-made apparel design decisions: The future for business smart fashion designers

Keywords: 

Discipline: 

Fashion, Jewellery & Textile Design

Fashion design entrepreneurs (FDEs) are compelled to embrace digitalisation to create a competitive advantage and provide the Web 2.0 (participative and social web) smart customer with the service they require. The purpose of this research was to determine how social media facilitates custom-made apparel design decisions in the FDE context. This study sets out to apply the third-generation activity theory to show the role social media plays in the activity system's result between a customer and FDE during the design process. Qualitative data from three independent exploratory studies conducted in Gauteng, South Africa, were used.

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