동서양의 사고방식에 근거한 ‘한국적 디자인 씽킹’ 고찰

Abstract

The formative and psychological tendencies in design that we pursue have been adapted from the Western mindset. However, people from different cultural background are constantly surrounded by the social norms prevailing in their own cultural environment from the moment they are born until they develop their own thinking. Therefore, design may be considered a meta-language in the network of social and cultural factors. Design thinking, which uses the concept of design as a tool, is a problem-solving tool used by people of a specific culture, and it needs to be developed based on the mindset of the people belonging to that culture. This study critically discussed the design thinking based on existing research that analyzed the differences between a Western and an Eastern mindset. First, the notion of current design thinking stems from the concept of design in the Western mindset. This is contrary to the way of thinking of Asians who aim for an interdependent and collectivistic society compared to Western society, which emphasizes independence. Second, the industry paradigm is extended and connected from a vertical hierarchy to a horizontal structure. The Western logic of productivity and efficiency can be improved through convergent thinking by changing to an Asian logic value that places importance on adaptation and relationships. Third, the West and the East differ in their perspectives of perceiving an object. If the West finds clues to new ideas through divergent thinking, the East affirms that solutions lie in convergent thinking. In deriving the results to a problem, unlike the Western way of thinking that concludes through convergent thinking, Asians recognize the category of results through divergent thinking. Korean society, particularly, is strongly aware that rationality can be found by expressing the degree to which a result belongs to a category rather than finding a single solution. Thus, ‘Design Thinking of the Korean Mindset’ in this study can be considered as an alternative methodology that is developed from the critical interpretation of the existing viewpoint.