NETWORKS of DESIGN: critical and social connections between project and self-production

Contemporary post-industrial development has changed the organization of labour in every sector, shifting towards flexible and collaborative networks of knowledge able to deal with issues such as decentralization, coordination and participation. The topic of the paper is related to recent interest in the fields of design, technology and the social sciences in the ‘networks’ that inform knowledge development and creativity in design. Since internet and the knowledge society raised, the concept of network stands for a different scheme of organization out of hierarchical structures towards more horizontal geometries which can develop and spread forms of collaborative creativity. While it seems over the image of the designer/artist which works alone in his office while creating unique masterpieces, design happens to be highly affected by networking. New technologies and their accessibility are shaping a society where ‘everybody design’, while enabling new critical experiences of participation and also activism: the contribution will focus the scenarios concerning the new roles of designer facing society and its organisational structure through networks, while experimenting on self-production. Here, design can play a new role as an intelligent actor in complex networks, not just giving solutions with a top-down approach, moreover spreading and developing tools for collaboration.