• 기호학연구
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• no.57
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• pp.7-26
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• 2018

The purpose of this paper is to interpret the discourse on design thinking through the perspective of Roland Barthes' Mythologies. To this end, this paper will explore the mythologization process of design thinking using the methodological framework of Barthes, which structurally interprets the connotations produced using semiosis. Design thinking originally refers to a method which is used in the process of planning ideas about designs in order to create the final products for professional designs. However, design thinking has recently attracted more interest from the public because it has become known as a tool for solving various problems which exist outside of the field of design, such as social issues, management, and marketing strategies. Barthes points out that myths are used as a tool to deliver ideologies. He also emphasizes the importance of 'structural thinking'. It interprets the inherent connotative meanings more than the denotative meanings, which are explicitly shown. One of the most powerful ideologies which our society embraces today is creativity. Design thinking realizes the manifestation of creativity through a schematized process. This can be explained by considering design thinking as an icon that is specifically turned into a figuration to realize its objectness, in which a discourse for solving issues and social codes meet together and form a mythology. The mythologies that Barthes cites in his book refer to mythical values created by the cultural codes which humans have produced in our modern and contemporary age. The symbolic value of design thinking has become more important than the signifier which design thinking itself presents. This means that design thinking has become a sign that has mythical properties. In other words, the ideology of creativity embodied by design thinking has attained a mythological status, as it produces a new cultural code through innovation. The process of interpreting a phenomenon using the perspective of semiotics is an important tool that allows us to examine the concept of an object and its surroundings thoroughly. This paper attempts to expand the external scope of critical analysis about social phenomena by using the signs which continuously reveal themselves in common ideologies, such as design thinking, which has been gaining more popularity recently.