A retórica do design de Richard Buchanan: uma revisão do pensamento do autor e sua apropriação na pesquisa em design no Brasil

Abstract

Recognized as one of the main references in the academic field of design, Richard Buchanan is the author of a series of articles on a wide range of topics. Produced over more than three decades, his writings address subjects such as history, education, philosophy, and research in the design field. However, because they are not edited as books or other equally extensive publications, much of the richness and complexity of some of his theses end up scattered in independent articles in different publications. The fragmentation of his work makes it difficult to understand many of his theoretical contributions. Among them is his very original approach to the rhetorical dimension of design. In order to organize and present this author's perspective on design thinking and doing, this paper has the triple objective of (1) contextualizing the author's proposal by identifying the relationship between his work and Richard McKeon's thinking; (2) organize and present Richard Buchanan's proposal regarding the rhetorical dimension of design and its main characteristics as pointed out throughout the texts in which the author develops such approach; and (3) analyze how does the author's ideas are understanded and used in the academic production on the design field in Brazil between the years 2010 and 2019. To this end, the present work presents a bibliographic review of five works by Richard Buchanan, in which his proposal on the rhetorical dimension of design is clearly developed; a presentation of the text "The Use of Rhetoric In A Technological Age" by Richard McKeon, from which it is possible to better contextualize the proposal developed by Buchanan; in addition to the content analysis of another 15 papers published between the years 2010 and 2019, raised through systematic review from the databases of the annals of the P&D Design Congress, and the theses and dissertations developed in the PPD-ESDI found in the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations of UERJ, which consistently use works by Richard Buchanan.