Gestaltung as World Relation – On Intuition as a Form of Knowing

Gestaltung als Weltbeziehung – Über Intuition als Erkenntnisform

Name(s) of graduate(s):

Lucy Kühnast

2025

Hochschule Düsseldorf

Master Kommunikationsdesign

Master of Arts

Description

Design influences how people perceive, interpret, and experience the world. However, many of its effects – such as atmosphere, belonging, or coherence – are considered subjective or difficult to grasp. This work examines intuition as the form of cognition through which such complex meanings can be experienced.

The starting point is the observation that aesthetic and atmospheric qualities cannot be objectively measured. Rather, perception arises from the interplay of situational conditions, individual states, and the way in which meaning appears. The aim of the work is to make these implicit dynamics visible and describable.

Based on the SCOP model, a theoretically grounded model was developed that structures intuitive perception and makes it usable for design. The result is a new approach to intuition as a structurable form of cognition and an understanding of design that goes beyond pure problem-solving: design as a relationship to the world.