PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Culture and Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1549859
This article is part of the Research TopicVisual Culture and Design in Contemporary Communication LandscapesView all articles
The Pathological Aesthetics of Design: Examining Repression and Perverse Representation in Contemporary Visual Culture from the Perspective of Psychoanalytic Theory
Provisionally accepted
- Shandong University, Jinan, China
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This article explores the pathological aesthetics of design by examining the repression and perverse representations in contemporary visual culture through the lens of psychoanalytic theory. It traces the origins of repression and perversion in visual culture to the context of modernity, characterized by visual centrism, consumer society, and technological innovations. The article then interprets visual culture using key concepts from psychoanalytic theorists such as Freud, Lacan, and Deleuze, revealing the pathological manifestations of repressed desires and perverse imaginaries in various design practices, including advertising, movie posters, and social media. Finally, it proposes a transformative vision for design aesthetics, one that confronts repression, challenges perversion, and embraces a more diverse, inclusive, and humanistic approach to design ethics and aesthetics. The article concludes by reflecting on the critical mission of visual culture criticism and design aesthetics in guiding healthy and responsible design practices.
Keywords: visual culture, Design aesthetics, Psychoanalytic Theory, Repression, perversion, desire, gaze, Ethics
Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xinyan Jiang, Shandong University, Jinan, China
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