The VNIITE ‘design programme’ concept

The ‘design programme’ was a methodology for systematically approaching design work that was developed at VNIITE under the supervision of Dmitry Azrikan (b. 1934) and his colleagues Herman Becker (b. 1956), Oleg Volchenkov, Irina Dobritsyna (b. 1937) and Alexey Kolotushkin (b. 1956). It involved four structural layers: a domain-specific layer, a conceptual layer, an organizational layer, and a design layer. This approach was part of the standardization and unification efforts essential to the planned economy. The design programme concept promised to be an effective tool for increasing the variety and quality of manufactured goods through an intelligently selected product range while also optimizing production costs and efficiency.
One example of such a design programme was the ‘Digomi’ modular system for the creation of urban amenities in Tbilisi in the mid 1980s. This modular system included collapsible shoeshine stands, adaptable sales kiosks, bus stops with benches, telephone booths, and information stands. However, only a few of these VNIITE design programmes for consumer goods and environmental design ever went beyond the proposal stage.