Paola asks: “should any article declare its cards at the beginning and include a brief explanation of the field of action, with particular evidence given to the design process? Can we do it without getting tedious?”
Mmmmm…I’d say: probably not, and probably not. What we know and can help readers understand (without telling them we’re helping them understand it) is that everything is designed, and that the design of every object and piece of media consists of ten or 100 or 1000 aggregated choices about materials, fabrication, costs, utility, style, etc. But I think professionals can get a little hung up on the semantics and didactics: regular people may not say, “Hey, let’s discuss design!” but plenty of water cooler conversations (unwittingly) take place about design all the time – about the design of a new PDA, or a new CD case, or a new magazine, or a new piece of currency, or a new office chair, or whatever – and I think lots of people are interested in reading or hearing about relevant design issues if those ideas are expressed in fresh, lucid, lively, informative, unpretentious ways. (Like, for instance, the occasional commentaries Paola delivers on my public radio show.)