Introduction

Undesign articulates a sentiment, or a mood, as much as outlining a set of distinct design practices. The quote from Italian collective Superstudio sets out the parameters of the problem: design has been enormously successful. Undesign presents a series of different perspectives on design. One example is the exploration of how different cultural perspectives yield different insights into the usual understanding of design. The essential point is that many writers, including Fry, insist that design needs to be considered part of the problem before any alternative formulation of its role can be put forward. The dichotomous treatment of the art-design nexus is returning to structure the discourse surrounding the arts-design nexus in tertiary education, accompanied by a focus on the lack of cost effectiveness of the arts and its imperviousness to its "cost disease. The call of submissions for Undesign generated over fifty submissions.