Sometimes there is a kind of a lucky coincidence (just like in the following subject matter) that the title, or rather its discussion, provides a very satisfying approach to the aesthetic reflection on current design trends. So as far as the latter is concerned, I would love to address the topics of beauty and health with greater depth of analysis. Although the importance of these traits may appear to be fully convincing at first glance, their (equal) value fails to be conclusive, since there is always the danger of prioritizing, or ranking, one over the other: So, while “descriptive” principles of health would primarily include factors such as functionality and representative organization systems (one need only think about the common creative design of contemporary first-aid kits), the dominating feature in postmodernist aesthetics and the understanding of these is an at least implicit pursuit of perfection of mere “sensory illusion” (Hegel) – even though beauty need not be necessarily complete. In a manner of the pearl which – in a state of sickness and disease – can only be formed from a foreign body (grain of sand or some parasite) entering the shell and causing an irritation in the soft tissues of the animal; and thus, sickness and the ‘aesthetic’ often go hand in hand. In other words, those who (mistakenly) categorize contemporary design merely as applied practice, almost never define it – much less clarify it – by its intrinsic value and purpose, but rather by one of its means. How then can we impose health, which reveals its true nature in the hidden obscurity of its existence, and beauty, which becomes best visible through its ‘refracted’ Self, as highest standards for ourselves? Through the search for a greater purpose (generally in life, and particularly in design); since thereby unique creative work will be brought more closely into alignment with the literal understanding of “Healing Arts,” which express themselves in a ‘holistic’ approach to design and ethics. But, in spite of this whole health and beauty mania, we should not forget that of all things it is first and foremost “new life,” which presents itself as a malicious virus from outer space, threatening to destroy our objectified bodily existence, thus initiating some much-needed recovery.