Go to Conference Home Page -|- Go to Sessions-Titles-Authors
Alphabetical list of abstracts - La Cluza - 2000
Pirkko Anttila
Professor Emerita, Kuopio Academy of Craft & Design, Finland
I am going to present a systematic approach on how to do research in the field of Design with its multiple factors and many different viewpoints. In my presentation there will be discussion on the main interests for acquiring and using the design knowledge, both theoretical, practical, artistic, and tacit knowledge. I will discuss the similarities and differences between the research strategies and product development strategies and I wish to point out the importance of logical thinking and reasoning systems. One of the main questions is how to find out the problems of the phenomenon? How to define them? What follows after every single question? Because the similarities between the Soft Systems Methodology and the Design process itself, I am going to present some process models, applied from the SSM, and based on the cognitive theory. In this context, there has been developed a research sphere, first published in a textbook, and now in a CD-ROM format.
A background to doctoral awards
Bruce Archer
President, Design Research Society
In this introductory presentation, Bruce Archer attempts to place the issues to be discussed in this session in their historical and academic contexts. He summarises the progress towards the recognition of doctoral degrees in design practice and design research, and comments on the reservations expressed by conventional academics. He advocates appropriate discrimination between degrees awarded for contributions to knowledge through design practice, and those awarded for contributions through scholarship.
Knowledge of context and its benefits for design professions
Stephen Awoniyi
Southwest Texas State University, USA
Every designed object or system is comprised of dimensions whose elements play direct or indirect roles in the process of the object/system's accomplishing intended goals. In order to create an intelligent design, the interrelationships between those elements must be investigated in terms of the purposes and goals of the designed system. This paper addresses the general issue of the generation of knowledge, which is the process of that investigation and a tool for creating effective designs.
On method: the problem of objectivity
Michael A R Biggs
University of Hertfordshire, UK
In this paper I shall criticise the notion of objectivity in design research methodology. I shall argue that the requirement for such objectivity is either implicit in the phrasing of research degree regulations, or is widely assumed in their interpretation. The philosophical error is the assumption that objectivity is either methodologically possible or desirable.
I raise four temptations for the research student: the apparent benefits of the scientific method, objectivity and knowledge, objectivity in aesthetics, and objectivity in PhD examination. In each case I raise objections that question whether objectivity has really been achieved, and whether the method can be applied in design research. I conclude that the appropriateness of any method is demonstrated by the validity of the outcomes it produces as judged in context by subject peers, and not by tests based on false or unachievable notions of objectivity or universality.
Universities and design research
Vasco A. Branco
Aveiro University, Portugal
João Branco
Aveiro University, Portugal
Carlos Aguiar Pinto
Aveiro University, Portugal
Francisco Providência
Aveiro University, Portugal
A permanent reflection is proposed for design so that, besides being anchored in diverse theoretical subjects, it can emerge compulsively from its project practice, with drawing (Latin: designum) being its crucible. Based on this framework one can deduce the necessity for and the pertinence of researching on three fronts: drawing (visual thinking), project and project contexts in design. The need for the affirmation of design as a discipline within the academic world passes through the necessity of delimiting its own subject field so as to become visible and differentiated from the others that co-exist and interact with it.
Design and evolution
John Broadbent
University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia
Steve Harfield
University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia
This paper explores the nexus between design and evolution, at both macro
and micro levels. At the macro level, it engages this debate with the holistic
sciences rather than the mechanistic sciences which largely informed last
century's discourse. It is argued that this emerging scientific paradigm
significantly recasts the debate. It is further argued that more congruence
between design and social evolution could be of considerable societal benefit.
At the micro level, it introduces the theme of evolutionary models as explanatory
tools and structuring principles within design and creative practice. While
the process of designing is not designer-independent, and is thus
to a large extent directed, rather than neutrally responsive to conditions,
it nevertheless may be viewed as an evolutionary process in which the final
outcome is generated via a process of increasingly informed generation,
testing, development and modification.
New structures of design education as basis for a doctoral thesis in design
Ralph Bruder
University of Essen, Germany
The need for scientific oriented designers brings up recommendations for design education in general and especially for doctoral education in design as one way of scientific work.
An important step to encourage more designers to a doctoral education is the integration of scientific working already in the basic studies of design. The interdisciplinary work with different disciplines is a characteristic of scientific design education at the Faculty for Design and Arts Education at the University of Essen. Some new measures had been taken to improve the already existing doctoral education in design. One of those measures was the establishment of an Institute for the Sciences of Art and Design. Furthermore it is now possible to make a doctoral thesis in the field of the sciences of design (and not in the sciences of art as it was before).
The foundations of interaction design: Philosophy and the ecology of design culture
Richard Buchanan
Carnegie Mellon University
Philosophy is not a new feature of the field of design. It is evident wherever designers or those who study design through history, criticism, or theoretical speculation and empirical research have attempted to state the assumptions upon which their work is based. Indeed, it is evident in the practical decisions of designers as well as the working decisions of those who reflect on design, whether the bases of those decisions are made explicit or remain tacit, implicit, or unconscious. Wherever we find a conception of the circumstances and subject matter of design, the methods of design practice and design research, and the purposes and goals of design and design studies, we find some form of philosophy taking shape around fundamental issues. What is new in our field is deliberate and systematic reflection on the variety of philosophical assumptions held by those who practice and study design.
There are two goals in this kind of philosophical inquiry. The first goal is to clarify the nature of the assumptions and presuppositions that are held by individuals in the design community. It is, in effect, an inquiry into the ecology of design culture-an inquiry into the irreducible and interconnected pluralism of beliefs that have existed in the past and that exist today, accounting for the remarkable range of design and reflection on design that we find around us. Such a goal is related to the spirit of philosophy that is expressed by Alfred North Whitehead. "Human beliefs constitute the evidence as to human experience of the nature of things. Every belief is to be approached with respectful inquiry. The final chapter of philosophy consists in the search for the unexpressed presuppositions which underlie the beliefs of every finite human intellect. In this way philosophy makes its slow advance by the introduction of new ideas, widening vision and adjusting clashes."
The second goal is insight into new ways of thinking and acting in the world. It comes from discovering, inventing, and exploring new distinctions, new formulations of problems, new methods and themes of practice and inquiry, and new goals and purposes that allow an individual to make a personal contribution to the collective enterprise of understanding and practicing design as a feature of human culture. Such a goal is related to the spirit of philosophy that is expressed by John Dewey. "Philosophy [is] a form of thinking, which, like all thinking, finds its origin in what is uncertain in the subject matter of experience, which aims to locate the nature of the perplexity and to frame hypotheses for its clearing up to be tested in action."
I have cited Whitehead and Dewey not because I am particularly attracted to either of their forms of philosophy. Rather, I cite them because, despite their fundamental philosophical differences, they both emphasize the sense in which philosophy is an ongoing activity rather than a static body of propositions or beliefs, however well grounded. There is, indeed, a legitimate sense in which we may speak of the philosophy of Spinoza or Aristotle or Kant or Dewey. But as we begin to introduce a new level of philosophical reflection into design through doctoral education and research, it is important to recognize that philosophy is fundamentally an activity and an art of inquiry, not an ideology.
My goal, therefore, is to show, concretely, how philosophical inquiry may be employed to clarify a new field of design practice, indicating the philosophical conceptions that have guided its historical development and the ideas that are now central in its practical exploration by designers. For this purpose, I have selected the emerging field known as "interaction design." I will explore the origins of this field, the alternative hypotheses that designers have employed in its exploration, and some of the problems that are now emerging for new directions in practice and theory. The presentation will be organized around the fundamental philosophical issues that lie behind the work of practicing designers. In this way, I hope to show, by example, how such a form of philosophical inquiry may be extended into other areas of design and design studies for the benefit of theory and practice.
A turning point: The very first Ph.D. program in industrial design in Taiwan
Kuohsiang Chen
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), the first school in Taiwan offering Industrial Design program at both bachelor (1973) and master (1991) levels, will launch the very first Ph.D. program in Industrial Design on the Island this coming fall (2000). After experiencing 36 years of miscellaneous multi-leveled design programs, Taiwan will have a chance to redirect the future for her design education by well setting the tone for the Ph.D. program in design. In this paper, a brief history of Industrial Design education in Taiwan is drawn to serve as the background and the national context is then highlighted. Following the description of the curriculum of the Ph.D. program in Industrial Design at NCKU, a personal perspective of three dangers and two opportunities on the very new Ph.D. program in design at NCKU is proposed to inspire further discussions on the directions for future development of the field.
Nigel Cross
The Open University, UK
There has been a long history of concern to develop a scientific approach to design. This paper unravels some of these concerns, and develops the view of 'design as a discipline', based upon a 'science of design', not a 'design science'. The underlying axiom of this discipline is that there are forms of knowledge special to the competencies and abilities of a designer. Design as a discipline needs to develop its intellectual independence, whilst seeking to emulate other disciplines in standards of rigour in scholarship and research.
Myth or reality: architectural research
Donald Dunbar
University of Canberra, Australia
In December 1999 the Australian Government issued a White Paper on University Research. The paper establishes a performance-based system of funding university research and research training. Research performance and excellence will be rewarded, research collaboration with industry encouraged and incentives for degree completions introduced. The rational efficiencies of these policies are the paramount intentions of the federal government. For example, reducing PhD candidature to three years will limit some types of research, but at the same time, increased incentives for collaborative research with industry and the professions presents new and alternative research opportunities. On a broader scale, the White Paper is consistent with the strategies of down-sizing of government itself and the out-sourcing of work traditionally performed by state and federal governments during the last five to ten years. Theoretically, the White Paper increases the opportunities for university research. Myth or reality? As these changes will seemingly favour institutions with established research programs, this paper sets out to explore the pedagogical implications of the White Paper on architectural research, particularly from the context of a small university with an architectural program which has only recently offered professional doctorates and a PhD by research in architecture.
Design in the UK: some reflections on the emerging PhD
David Durling
Staffordshire University, UK
In the UK context, there is an ongoing debate about the nature and quality of the PhD in design. Design has a long tradition of vocational education arising from well respected art schools which for the most part have been absorbed into new universities. The award of first degrees across mainstream design dates back only three decades, the award of PhDs for the most part less than one decade. There is still a shortage of doctoral supervisors who hold the PhD themselves and therefore would understand its history and form, and not so many who yet have experience of supervision to successful completion.
The debate has been characterised by massive confusions where the same widely used term may be interpreted by different parties as meaning quite different things. This paper will attempt to clarify some of these confusions.
There are well established quality assurance mechanisms for the award of degrees, but these seem less effective at the doctoral level. There is no longer national accreditation of doctoral awards, and this is in marked contrast to some other countries. It has become clear that some new universities have rushed into doctoral level work without an understanding of the PhD and without an adequate infrastructure to support doctoral candidates.
Art and technology: A new unit?
Pelle Ehn
Malmö University, Sweden
Carl Henrik Svenstedt
Malmö University, Sweden
The School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University in Sweden constitutes a kind of neo-modernist "Digital Bauhaus" trying to create an arena, a meeting place, a school and a research centre for creative and socially useful meetings between 'art' and 'technology' in the digital era. A number of bachelor and master programs in the field of design and digital media are combined with a studio-based interdisciplinary and cross art research centre, The Interactive Institute, and an artistic program, SHIFT.
Beginning this year, a graduate program in Design and Digital Media will be offered. This paper investigates conditions for building a well founded design doctorate and reflects practical concerns with the establishment of such a learning environment. The paper takes the form of personal reflections by the academic and artistic directors at the school.
An interpretative-contextual framework for research in and through design
Jill Franz
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
The outcome of a study aimed at representing design experience as an internal relationship between the designer and design at a level sufficiently abstract to expose its basic structure is described. Arguments are presented supporting the findings and their role in establishing a philosophically, methodologically and substantively consistent framework for doctoral education and research in and through design.
Form and structure of the doctorate in design: Prelude to a multilogue
Ken Friedman
Norwegian School of Management
The form and structure of the doctorate in design involves challenges and questions. This includes shaping a common vocabulary, not to agree on every issue, but to understand one another. The issues include the form and structure of the doctorate itself, the form and structure of doctoral programs, and the form and structure of research. This paper identifies eight kinds of doctorates. It examines supervision, advising and administrative support for doctoral students and doctoral programs. It considers the varieties of research we undertake and calls for the higher level study of research methodology. Systematic inquiry will produce a rich overview of questions and issues. This will shape a context for robust solutions. This paper attempts a reasonable -- but not comprehensive -- examination of the central questions we must address in developing robust forms and structures for doctoral education in design.
Design knowledge: context, content and continuity
Ken Friedman
Department of Knowledge Management, Norwegian School of Management
Design is an interdisciplinary and integrative process constituting a professional field and an intellectual discipline. The complex requirements of material and immaterial production in a knowledge economy call for philosophical inquiry and renewed theory in understanding design.
This paper examines the nature of design knowledge. Taxonomy of design knowledge maps the continuum of issues in the field. A six-domain model clarifies the integrative nature of design. It is a discipline drawing on (1) the natural sciences, (2) the humanities and liberal arts, and (3) the social and behavioral sciences. It is a field of practice and application drawing on (4) human professions and services, (5) creative and applied arts, and (6) technology and engineering.
The paper concludes with proposals for future development. This includes a progressive research program and an agenda of core research issues.
John S Gero
University of Sydney, Australia
Research methods that claim to use the scientific approach in design research can be grouped into three categories: those founded on empirical evidence of human designing activity; those founded on axioms and their derivations; and those founded on conjectures of potentially useful processes. These three approaches are used to construct either cognitive or computational models of designing.
What could art learn from design, what might design learn from art? Some practice-based art doctorates.
Beryl Graham,
University of Sunderland, UK
Aimed at artists and designers involved in Ph.D. research, this paper briefly outlines four examples of doctoral research projects at Sunderland University: Johnston's glass Ph.D. involving materials research, Hogarth's practice-led sculpture Ph.D., Baker's theory-informed photography research, and the author's hybrid approach concerning interactive art. Varying positions of practice within research are explored, and some problems of interdisciplinarity are highlighted.
As starting points for discussion, some areas of common ground between art and design research are suggested (including the space for 'failure' and humility in a research process). Referring briefly to some other examples of art research, the paper goes on to pose some opinions on what artists might learn from designers (and vice versa) in a research context. Suggested areas concern process and method, as well as parricide and infanticide.
Activity theory in a "trading zone" for design research and practice
Judith Gregory
University of Oslo
This paper addresses the role of social science theory in bridging relationships between practice and research in design. I briefly introduce core concepts and methodological principles for research and interpretation in activity theory. I discuss my recent case study and concept of incomplete utopian projects in electronic health record invention. From these, I offer generalizations for design practice and research, and point to compatibilities with other perspectives for formulating critical design practices and doctoral education in design.
Researching designing: Cycles of design research
Robert Jerrard
University of Central England
This paper describes some aspects of the origins of Design Research and their traditional methodologies. The positive application of ideas from a variety of domains within design theory is discussed. A critical view is then taken in the development of such methods together with a presentation of cultural perspectives related to the way we may currently conduct scholarship in design. In particular the cyclic role of developing models of designing is shown together with some insights into the way in which design researchers have watched designers. Whilst the difficulties of developing a universal model for designing or even describing design activity generically are acknowledged the social importance of designers and the products they design is celebrated within a wider social and cultural perspective. The paper concludes in an attempt to simplify descriptions of designing by encouraging broad approaches within Design Research.
Problems and benefits of building a research-based design curriculum
Lorraine Justice
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
The design field is in a dichotomous position; many designers trained in arts and crafts methods see design research as a block to their creative expression, while other designers see the value of design research as a basis for strengthening their work. While the debate about design research continues, it is important that students on all levels are provided with design research content of some kind. Finding trained faculty to teach design research methods, fitting new content into an overloaded design curriculm, and dealing with departmental politics on design research are just some of the obstacles that make the transition difficult. Documenting and disseminating design research and adding depth and breadth to our field are just two of the benefits of design research. Moving toward a research-based design curriculum can be accomplished by aligning the right faculty and students to move the vision forward and by strengthening design inquiry and evaluation through research that is conducted from our field.
Design research and the wealth of nations. Reflections on the interaction of design research and national policies of research, innovation and industry
Pekka Korvenmaa
University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland
This paper discusses the role of design research and the related field of doctoral education in the broader context of research, innovation and industrial policies at the national level. This will be tied to similar efforts on a global scale. Hence, the internal problems and specifics of research in design will not be highlighted. Instead an effort is made to link this research to broader issues and parameters. This is regarded as vital for the future and relevance of design research. If it attempts to articulate its value and argue for a more prominent role, public and private investors have to be addressed with a scheme in which design research feeds into cultural, societal and financial development. Therefore, simultaneously whilst developing the educational and methodological core of design research a strategic agenda has to be formulated in order to find integration with programmes of development both in design and with regard to broader issues of a national and international character. On a national level the solutions will reflect the specifics of each country but internationally the design community can adapt a commonly created platform of priorized issues.
Propositions of human-centeredness: A philosophy for design
Klaus Krippendorff
University of Pennsylvania, USA
This paper explores the discourse needed to both institute a Ph.D. in Design and face the challenges of contemporary technologies. Concerning these challenges, it draws on a recent history of paradigmatic design problems, and argues that we are in transition from a culture that is dominated by science (modernism), to one that embraces design as its primary organizing feature (constructivism). To this end, it offers several propositions of an epistemologically informed and, hence, human-centered philosophy for design. Concerning a Ph.D. in Design, the paper opposes modeling this degree on the tradition of scientific research and suggests instead that design scholarship address improvements of design practices. It culminates in a sketch of what a human-centered design discourse might embrace.
Ph.D. dissertations should reflect on and contribute to the practices of the community that grants the degree. The paper demonstrates both and invites Ph.D. scholarship to continue along this path.
How design creates value: some elements of a research programme
Tore Kristensen
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Value in general and economic value in particular is at the core of the aims of designing. Concepts of value added and value creation is defined along with such need concepts as experiential-utilitarian, systemic and symbolic. This gives 6 different configurations, which are briefly discussed. It is finally suggested, that a research program along these lines must build on both empirical and conceptual studies. The use of statistical methods and senso-metrics may give some interesting insights on how design affects the emotion and feelings and in the end the perception of value.
Initiating an interdisciplinary doctoral program: Perspectives from a new program
Michael D. Kroelinger
Arizona State University, USA
Jacques R. Giard
Arizona State University, USA
The initiation of a new Ph.D. program in the 21st century university requires foresight, strategic planning and, often, a commitment to an interdisciplinary format which capitalizes on shared resources across related disciplines. These concepts, among others, impact the form and structure for a doctorate in design. Key Arizona State University (ASU) program development and implementation experiences define the "generic" issues of importance in the development and continued success of any interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in design. The ASU Ph.D. program was initiated in 1996; no Ph.D. program had previously existed in the College. This paper may be of value to multi-disciplined colleges or schools that are exploring a research-based interdisciplinary doctoral program in design.
Not everything made of steel is a battleship
John Langrish
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Imagine you heard someone say, 'my fork is a battleship'. You might be curious and ask them what they meant. Suppose the reply went like this, 'Battleships are made of steel. My fork is made of steel. Therefore my fork is a battleship'. You would probably hurry away. It is obviously a very silly argument. Yet a similar false logic can be heard whenever two or three get together to discuss research in Art and Design. Try this. 'PhDs are given for research. I am an artist and I engage in research during my artistic practice. Therefore my art should get a PhD'. This doesn't sound quite so silly but, in fact, it is. Many many things are called research just like many many things are made of steel. Two different things - battleships and forks - are not made the same just because they are made of steel and two different kinds of research - that done by an artist and that done by a PhD student are not made the same just because they are called research.
This problem is caused by confusing inclusion with equivalence. If A and B are included within C, that tells you nothing about their equivalence. Imagine a large area. Everything included in this area is called research. It includes people whose names appear at the end of a TV programme. It includes babies learning how to transfer egg from its shell onto a spoon and then into their mouths without spilling it. This learning involves trial and error type research. It includes artists trying new ways of doing something and engineers, writers experimenting with new structures and many human activities. Within this large area which includes all research, there is a smaller area which includes everything that is called academic research. Within this are three subgroups called 1) the sort of research that counts for the research assessment exercise, 2) research done by members of staff that doesn•t count for the RAE and 3) research done by research students for a research degree. An artist member of staff can include an exhibition for the RAE but this is no reason at all for claiming that exhibitions should qualify for a PhD. Exhibitions and PhDs are both included in the wider idea of research outputs; that does not make them equivalent. Steel forks are not battleships.
Triad collaboration between school, industry and government for bridging research and practice in design
Kun-Pyo Lee
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
The paper introduces a case of collaborative research between school, industry, and government for bridging research and practice in Korea. Recently the Korean government ambitiously launched design policies for pushing up Korean design to 'design leading countries'. Among them KIDP, Korean design promotion center introduced 'Industrial Design Fundamental Project' through which government supports basic design research projects. This project has been boosting up the level of fundamental design researches of schools by providing funding and in the meantime industries also benefit from the research which, otherwise, they cannot get on their own. One of the requirements of these research proposals is that industries must join the project, which forces research of schools to fit the context of industrial practice. This triad collaboration between school, industry and government has been showing successful results in bridging the gap between research and practice in design.
Theoretical perspectives in the PhD thesis: How many?
Terence Love
Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA.
This paper describes why a single theoretical perspective is unlikely to be sufficient for PhD level research in the field of Design. A description of the theoretical perspective from which the research is undertaken, and justification as to why it has been chosen are essential aspects of a PhD thesis. Research in some disciplines, however, involves more than one theoretical perspective. Design Research is one of these disciplines. This paper describes why it is necessary to use several different theoretical perspectives in a single PhD research project in Design. It proposes a way that the descriptions and analyses relating to these different theoretical perspectives might be best integrated into a simple structure for a PhD thesis in the area of Design Research.
A meta-theoretical basis for design theory
Terence Love
Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.
Conceptually and terminologically, design research and design theory is problematic. A neglect of the foundations of design theory has led to terms, concepts and theories being used in a variety of different and inconsistent ways. The ensuing terminological and theoretical confusion is now well embedded in the last thirty or so years of literature on design research. This paper describes an epistemologically well-justified meta-theoretical structure that provides a means to build coherent design theory, and to clarify existing theories and concepts. It offers the basis for building a Philosophy of Design to support high-quality research, theory making, analysis, education, and practice relating to designing. The paper concludes by drawing attention to new issues that emerge as a result of meta-theoretical analysis of the structure and dynamic of the abstractions that underpin design research.
Theoretical perspectives, design research and the PhD thesis
Terence Love
Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA
This paper describes the roles of ontology, epistemology, methodology and theory as they relate to the theoretical perspectives that underpin design research. The paper concludes with a description of how clarification of the above aspects of theoretical perspective assists in improving the quality of research, and contributes to simplifying the writing of successful postgraduate theses.
Designing in a situated domain. Design competence as the result of context-specific sociotechnical relationships. The "Sistema Design Italia" case.
Stefano Maffei
Polytechnic of Milan, Italy
Francesco Zurlo
Polytechnic of Milan, Italy
This paper will try to demonstrate that the presence of individual and collective learning related design (learning by doing and learning by using) in Italian systems generates a knowledge creation process based upon learning by interaction in which both tacit and explicit design processes and actors are involved. From this perspective, social and cultural competencies (locally materialised in territorial resources, actors' skills, community practices) increase through a situated process of interaction between actors. This process of interaction sets the development opportunities for the design domain and, in general, for possible innovation paths.
Educating the practice-based researcher: Developing new environments for collaborative and constructive learning
Julian Malins
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland
Carole Gray
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland
Practice-based Ph.D research has become a recognised and validated form of research in Art & Design. This development has raised many important issues about preparation and training appropriate to this kind of research. Through our experience of supervising and examining practice-based Ph.Ds the authors have developed structures and resources for educating the practice-based doctoral researcher. This has resulted in a unique 2 year part-time distance learning course - the Research Masters in Art & Design (M.Res) (http://www.rgu.ac.uk/mres) which provides high quality preparatory research experience for practitioners. The course is providing a vehicle for evaluating a new virtual learning environment called studiospace, designed to promote collaborative modes of working and constructive learning, with the emphasis on visual thinking and practice. This kind of networked learning environment enables professional practitioners and educators in visual disciplines to access practice-based research training and experience as part of a supportive cohort, whilst remaining firmly connected to their professional working context.
Design as being in service
Harold Nelson
Advanced Design Institute, Seattle, USA
Erik Stolterman
Umeå University, Umea, Sweden
In this paper we will argue that design is a distinct tradition of inquiry and action and that one of the seminal foundations of that tradition is the concept of service. This is done by discussing the nature of the service relationship and what distinguishes it from other types of relationships found in art and science. We also discuss the diversity and complexity of potential design relationships and roles and how these relationships are formed in the process of contracting. The paper ends with some concluding remarks on what an understanding of design based on being in service means in practice and especially in education.
The development of research education and training in art and design: A personal view
Darren Newbury
University of Central England, UK
The argument of this paper is that there are three key issues in thinking about the development of research education and training in art and design. First, the process of research degree study. Second, generic research skills and procedures. Third, methodological debate. The paper will expand on these three issues and the implications of each for the structure and content of research training programmes in art and design. The intention is not to develop a fully worked out model of doctoral education, but rather more modestly to raise a number of issues that may contribute to a more focused debate.
Grounding research in practice
Sidney Newton
University of Western Sydney, Australia
Tim Marshall
University of Western Sydney, Australia
The notion of academic research as being no more than scientific inquiry is called into question. As successful as scientific inquiry has been (and continues to be), it does provide only one of several possible perspectives on a given phenomenon. More significantly, it denies/hides other forms of understanding (other disclosive spaces). For the purposes of this paper, the broader concept of academic research we term scholarship. The key characteristics of scholarship are presented, and these are deemed to include design inquiry as a valid form of academic research. Professional practice is also backgrounded in this context, and the potential for design inquiry to ground research in practice is introduced. Some of the design-based processes included in a formal program of scholarly inquiry currently under development are presented. Several key issues are brought into relief as a consequence of this conceptual shift.
Pedagogy with primates: Exploring the craft of fieldwork and user-centered design through the study of animals and their environments
Christena Nippert-Eng
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA
This paper presents the pedagogical rationale and structure of a course
designed for graduate students at the Institute of Design in Chicago, Illinois.
"Exercises in Behavioral Observation" is taught through weekly
meetings held at the Shedd Aquarium and the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is designed
to encourage participants to become better at "seeing" as well
as designing from field data. Participants begin exploring course content
with the more primitive animals (fish, reptiles) at the Shedd Aquarium,
followed by ocean birds and mammals (penguins, sea otters, dolphins, sea
lions, and whales,) and, finally, the gorillas and chimpanzees living in
the large primate house at the Zoo. Deliverables include reports about personal,
innovative solutions to (and reflections on) assignments and a final project
based on the design and impact assessment of a toy, tool, schedule or environment
for one of the primate troops.
Experiencing architecture: From practice to research
Henrika Ojala
University of Oulu, Finland
In this article I discuss experiencing architecture in terms of research approach. The main thesis is that architectural research can be developed emphasising the role of designer's reflection, creation and conception processes. This paper problematises the strong influence of psychology and phenomenology in experience studies. The paper proposes considering experience as knowledge in transforming the practising architect into a researcher.
Toward a philosophy of science for design research. An heuristic approach.
Johan Olaisen
Norwegian School of Management
Ken Friedman
Norwegian School of Management
This paper is a conceptually broad exploration toward a philosophy of science for design research. It also begins the work of establishing criteria for certifying knowledge in the discipline. This is an exploratory probe, an attempt at heuristic consideration, rather than a completed program.
In this paper, we address three kinds of issues. First, we consider some fundamental elements of science such as research processes. Second, we deal with prevailing paradigms in information science as a case of design science and the metaphors underlying the different schools of thought. Third, we develop a model of different paradigms for research and explore the platform for a new paradigm that we have termed clarified subjectivity. We conclude by suggesting ten criteria for clarified subjectivity.
A philosophical home for design
Charles Owen
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
Design as a broadly-based discipline suffers mightily from philosophical ambiguity. The question, "What is design?", is asked so often it ought to have long ago sparked the same serious effort that has built foundations for other disciplines. Design is not science, and it is not art -- or a branch of any other discipline. That we have tried (and continue to try) to fit it into other disciplines only underlines our own failings of understanding.
This presentation will examine the philosophical foundations of various disciplines with a view to establishing structure, differences and points for comparison. Design will then be examined comparatively and similar foundation structures will be proposed for it as a unique discipline.
Complexity, uncertainty, adaptability: Reflections around design research
Silvia Pizzocaro
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Since 1990, when it first started, the domains of research investigated by the doctoral programme in industrial design held within the Politecnico of Milano were mainly centred on a broad acception of innovation, assumed as a dynamic process involving the development or improving of new products, services, technology, processes, institutions, systems, solutions. This view of innovation encompasses not only science and technology, but the range of economic and social activities competing in the marketplace and relevant to design in areas such as communications, corporate organizations, education, institutions. If it is true that there is no single set of research methods for design research and that the simultaneous location of design research within natural science, social science, technology, economics and the humanities poses unique challenges to the issue of method, here it will be assumed that no strict methodological frameworks are needed to approach research from the 'design' angle. Rather, it is question of more holistic approaches, providing the correct dimension where design system-oriented attitudes can be best expressed, implying that it is necessary for design theorists and researchers to enlarge the areas of knowledge as well as to redirect the range of actions.
Elements for this assumption are derived either from the trajectory of ideas which has been permeating the doctoral programme in Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano and from critical points emerging from the present international debate investing the issue of design research.
Constructing knowledge of design, part 2: Questions - an approach to design research
Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA
Fundamental to research at the Institute of Design is generation of a carefully constructed, robust question. This question emerges from the faculty developed research agenda with its five domains of interest matrixed against three research foci. Central to the development of particular research from this matrix is the generation of research questions. The question-based approach provides two significant benefits: social agreement on the importance of the question, and exploration of linguistic variation and specificity that leads to a more precise research question and method for answer. Two example questions demonstrate deconstructive strategies and evolutionary development. Following agreement on the question, research methods are developed and a pilot study is run as preparation for original research.
Research by design
John Redmond
Monash University, Australia
The development of design research has not resulted in a development of research related to practice. The paper seeks to redress this by developing a research framework that can enhance the disciplines and benefit the professional practice of product design, interior architecture and visual communications.
The conceptual paradigms of a field as a discipline and a professional practice are explored with reference to their implications for research. A distinction is drawn between practice and professional practice; research practice is revealed as the highest form of practice. Parallels in the fine arts, where the epistemological and ontological contribution of research practice is perhaps more readily seen, are explored for the possibilities they offer to design.
The paper concludes that there is a basis for research by design and
that higher degree research training can be configured to develop it.
Sokalled language theory: Lessons for the philosophy of science from urban design?
Marion Roberts
University of Westminster, UK
Fergus Carnegie
University of Westminster, UK
This paper is derived from doctoral work that began as an exploration of the impact of environmentalism on architecture and urban design, the theory and its practical implications. This metamorphosed into a critique of the pervasive influence of language theory, that is a blend of classical and contemporary philosophy and linguistics, on recent urban design theory and practice. We explore connections between environmentalism, urbanism, language theory and the philosophy of science, in particular, post-modern relativism. We then briefly describe the visual-spatial conceptions at the heart of the language theories of logical positivism and post-positivism, and the relationship with urbanism. We conclude by inverting the rationale in order to interrogate presumptions embodied in the underlying language theory, in the process alluding to the philosophy of science.
Towards a poetics of designing
Keith Russell
University of Newcastle, Australia
This paper explores the origins of design and of designing. In the Old Testament, of the Christian Bible, "God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1: 1); in the New Testament (according to John), in "the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). One account is of the beginning of the world as a material reality; the other account is of the birth of consciousness: one is a cosmology; the other a phenomenology. Poetics, as the study of how things are made, can either take the act of design or the act of designing as its chief concern. Design offers a cosmological account: it features the coming into being of a product (something from nothing), and, it features the makers of such order out of chaos. Designing offers a phenomenological account: it features the processes of consciousness, the negative source of knowing, and the apprehension of the theoretical.
Knowledge and the artefact
Chris Rust
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Scott Hawkins
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Graham Whiteley
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Adrian Wilson
University of Sheffield, UK
James Roddis
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This paper discusses ways that knowledge may be found in or through artefacts. One purpose is to suggest situations where artefacts might be central to a narrative, rather than secondary to a text. A second purpose is to suggest ways that design and production of artefacts might be instrumental in eliciting knowledge.
Constructing knowledge of design, part 1: Understanding concepts in design research
Keiichi Sato
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA
This paper discusses the conceptual framework and philosophical issues of design research developed as the subject of the course "Philosophical Context of Design Research" taught for Ph.D. students at the Institute of Design, IIT. Since design research does not yet have its own well established methodology, Ph.D. students need to make their own conscious effort to construct a consistent structure of research methods and knowledge in the domains of their research concern. In order to gain a perspective of design research, two categories of design research, research in general theory/ methodology of design, and domain specific design research are explained. Then, cross-disciplinary influences of philosophical concepts and methodologies of science to various aspects of design research are discussed. A self-critical exercise of examining an empirically established research frame in relation to a larger perspective of philosophical context is introduced to explore alternative research frames with new viewpoints and research methods.
Towards the operationalisation of design research as reflection in and on action and practice
Stephen AR Scrivener
Coventry University, UK
In this paper, I argue for a form of design research which I have previously defined as research-within-design (Scrivener, 1999). Here, in recognition of its debt to Schön's (1983) theory of design as reflective practice, I rename it as research-in-design. Research and design are two practices that are generally held to be separate in both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. In contrast, it is argued that in research-in-design, research and design are irrevocably coupled. Indeed, research-in-design is conceived as different to everyday design only in the extent and degree of reflection in and on action and practice, and reflection on reflection itself, that it involves. After outlining the concepts that are central to research-in-design, I sketch out the shape of a research-in-design project and the character of research rigour, and the stance of the inquirer, in this practice.
The integrated conglomerate approach: A suggestion for a generic model of design research
Birger Sevaldson
Oslo School of Architecture
In this essay the 'Integrated Conglomerate Method' is brought forward as a generic model for design research.
Integrated: integrated in practical activities, spiral from tacit to explicit to tacit. Learning through doing. Exploration through practice. Practical work fuelled by theory. Theory derived from practical investigations.
Conglomerate: means to apply the adequate method to the theme or the part problem at hand. Triangulation of conglomerate findings from scientific and practical investigations is the glue that relates the partial explorations to each other and gives the research generic value.
Journeymen and salarymen: Design doctorates in Japan
John P. Shackleton
Brunel University, UK
Kazuo Sugiyama
Chiba University, Japan
Despite the strength of Japanese products in world markets, widespread postgraduate education in design, (both at masters and doctoral level), is a relatively new phenomenon in Japan. Established social patterns in Japan mean that students are generally expected to pass from university to employment at the 'normal' age of around 22, and although there are now increasing numbers of students studying to masters level study, those continuing directly to doctorate level are almost non-existent. Moreover, established employment patterns mean that returning to education mid-career as a full-time mature student is also generally not an option for those wishing to undertake a doctoral studies. However, in contrast to most European countries, many Japanese companies are prepared to provide significant support to selected employees undertaking such studies part-time, often allowing the use of company time and facilities for the pursuit of research. However, (somewhat ironically given the small numbers of domestic doctoral students), Japan's presence in global product markets has resulted in quite large numbers of postgraduate students from overseas, (particularly neighbouring industrialised countries), wishing to further their design education in Japan, often to doctoral level. This discussion paper compares and contrasts the resulting demands these two groups place on doctoral design education in Japan at a time when the Japanese government is reviewing the role of universities and tertiary education at all levels. On the one hand, industry-backed candidates often need to justify their studies with more immediately realisable applicability, whereas on the other, overseas students are more typically destined for academic posts where, in some cases, a doctorate from a foreign country has become a de facto teaching requirement. The latter particularly highlights the need for some international consensus on doctoral programmes in design.
Patterns of visual perception
Norman Sheehan
University of Queensland, Australia
When a scientist holds a theory they hold a particular mode of imagery
as well. The progress of science is linked with transformations of perceptions
and imagery; this progress is increasingly reliant on the graphic representation
of knowledge. Design research methodology may reveal the symbolic import
of these representations, a project that is consonant, in postcolonial theory,
with the conception that the artefacts of a people may be seen as the 'external
mind' of that culture. This study proposes that all the representations
of visual creativity may reveal cognitive as well as cultural, emotional,
attitudinal and personality traits. An outline of some aspects of visual
language and proportion in patterning will be presented along with proposed
relational design models of cognitive order. (Gardner 1990, Gell 1998, Leibowitz
2000, Miller 1984, Smith 1999).
Artifact versus text in design research
Lars-Henrik Stahl
Lund University, Sweden
In this paper I will briefly discuss some of the problems that emerge when artifacts grounded in esthetical judgements are considered as scientific results. From my own practice as researcher and supervisor for doctoral candidates in the field of architecture, I raise the question why no one in my school has presented a dissertation consisting only of artifacts, especially when this was the obvious intention at the beginning of the candidate's research project. Furthermore, I try to relate this experience to problems emerging in different types of a formalistic approach to, above all, art and architecture. I end my paper with a short investigation of conceivable strategies in the treatment of artifacts and texts within a scientific project.
On reason and habit: An Aristotelian approach to design theory
Susan Stewart
University of Technology Sydney Australia
Reason and habit: to be human is to be subject to both. This was the great insight of Aristotle's ethics and his practical philosophy. Human action, he asserted, is guided not only by rational reflection, but equally by the world of understandings which we unreflectively inhabit (Aristotle, 1928a: I.4). This world, which clothes us like a garment, both informs and is informed by the everyday, oft-repeated practices which we perform simply as a matter of course. Such habitual practices exercise a hold upon us, a hold upon our reason. Any suggestion that we might do without them is as fantastic and inconceivable as the spectacle of an Emperor with no clothes.
Yet this naked Ruler, drawn from an old fable which warns us of the penalties attendant upon vanity, foolishness and impropriety, is surely the image to which the enterprise of the European Enlightenment was most enthusiastically wedded. We must divest ourselves, they maintained, of all tradition, of all habitually and ureflectively held practices and beliefs, if we are to truly grasp the first principles of being! In opposition to the Enlightenment, the heritage of Aristotelian thought maintained that the Monarch, as rule and first principle within the state, had need of appropriate clothes, of a fitting habit, if he or she were to fulfill their role (Aristotle, 1928b: V.1; & James VI & I, 1994: 20).
Meanwhile, back on the ranch...
Cal Swann
Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
During the last decade many universities have encouraged the award of
design programs for MA and PhD and developments at this level havUse of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455,
Cross-functional and inter-disciplinary integration for doctoral education in design: Theory and experience.
Brynjulf Tellefsen
Norwegian School of Management
This paper offers advice on organizing doctoral programs in design based on theory, generalization from the team organization project at the Norwegian School of Management (NSM) and the author's personal experience as a team leader.
A doctoral program in design employs experts from conceptually separate disciplines and physically separated units. Teachers and students together create the learning climate of creative and investigative processes. Knowledge managers convert from hierarchical organizations based on individual empowerment to teams. They develop team member motivation to take responsibility. Members participate in team coordination and integration to create superior development and to implement the production, distribution, and application of knowledge.
The author presents theories of conversion to teams. The paper discusses ideal leader and member values and behavior during and after conversion. Experience from the conversion process at the Norwegian School of Management (NSM) illustrates effects of following and deviating from ideal theory of team organization.
Design and existential meaning
Jan Verwijnen
University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland
As point of departure this paper postulates that the problem of advancing in doctoral education in design and design research is less a problem of epistemology (see Clive Dilnot's contribution to the Doctoral Education in Design Conference in Columbus, Ohio, October 1998: The Science of Uncertainty: The Potential Contribution of Design to Knowledge) and thus cognitive meaning, but instead of ontology or existential meaning.
Leading the field or behind the times? Doctoral research in typography and graphic communication
Sue Walker
The University of Reading, UK
This paper outlines the part played in PhD research over the past twenty-five years by the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at The University of Reading. It highlights the importance of the research environment offered by an older, traditional UK university, and describes briefly the kinds of student we attract, and the approach to PhD study that is offered at Reading. For many years we have accepted that Design (though a specialist area) is a valid subject for PhD research, and have encouraged qualities that are relevant to PhDs in all disciplines, not just Design. With more Universities now offering PhDs in Design, can the 'Reading approach' survive?