ABSTRACT
Design comprises two moments that complement each other: the development of the project through which it materializes the product or service, and the use and enjoyment of the object through which the user senses a specific experience. This chapter reviews some general aspects of the debate arising from the relationship between form and function in design. It also reviews some common ideas that characterized modernism, postmodernism and the debate generated around the so-called ‘Good Design’. The chapter addresses some of the trends and styles that emerged during that period. It should be clarified that, although throughout that time a great diversity of styles based on the form–function relationship arose, such as functionalism, expressionism, universalism, pragmatism, formalism and minimalism. Among the ontological elements that comprise the act of design, the designed object is undoubtedly the one that most tangibly represents the great transformations that characterize the design of our time.
