Design methods: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:46, 25 January 2023

Revision as of 14:10, 26 June 2023

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The 1970s saw some reaction against the rationality of design methods, notably from two of its pioneers, [[Christopher Alexander]] and [[John Christopher Jones|J. Christopher Jones]].<ref>Cross, N. (1984) ''Developments in Design Methodology'', Wiley, UK.</ref> Fundamental issues were also raised by Rittel, who characterised design and planning problems as [[wicked problems]], un-amenable to the techniques of science and engineering, which deal with "tame" problems.<ref>Rittel, H. and M. Webber (1973) "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning", ''Policy Sciences'' '''4''', 155–169</ref> The criticisms turned some in the movement away from rationalised approaches to design problem solving and towards "argumentative", participatory processes in which designers worked in partnership with the problem stakeholders (clients, customers, users, the community). This led to [[participatory design]], [[user centered design]] and the role of [[design thinking]] as a creative process in problem solving and innovation.

However, interest in systematic and rational design methods continued to develop strongly in engineering design during the 1980s; for example, through the Conference on Engineering Design series of [[The Design Society]] and the work of the [[Verein Deutscher Ingenieure]] association in Germany, and also in Japan, where the Japanese Society for the Science of Design had been established as early as 1954.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://iasdr.net/member-societies/ | title=IASDR}}</ref> Books on systematic engineering design methods were published in Germany and the UK.<ref>Hubka, V. (1982) ''Principles of Engineering Design'', Butterworth Scientific Press, UK.</ref><ref>Pahl, G. and W. Beitz (1984) ''Engineering Design: a systematic approach'', Springer/Design Council, UK.</ref><ref>Hubka, V., Andreasen, M. M. and Eder, W. E. (1988) ''Practical Studies in Systematic Design'', Butterworth, UK</ref><ref>Cross, N. (1989) ''Engineering Design Methods'', Wiley, UK.</ref> In the USA the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] Design Engineering Division began a stream on design theory and methodology within its annual conferences. The interest in systematic, rational approaches to design has led to [[design science]] and [[design science (methodology)]] in engineering and computer science.

==Methods and processes==

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In the USA, a similar Design Methods Group (DMG) was also established in 1966 by [[Horst Rittel]] and others at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. The DMG held a conference at [[MIT]] in 1968<ref>Moore, G. T. (ed.) (1970) ''Emerging Methods in Environmental Design and Planning''. MIT Press, USA.</ref> with a focus on environmental design and planning, and that led to the foundation of the [[Environmental Design Research Association]] (EDRA), which held its first conference in 1969. A group interested in design methods and theory in architecture and engineering formed at MIT in the early 1980s, including [[Donald Schön]], who was studying the working practices of architects, engineers and other professionals and developing his theory of [[reflective practice]].<ref>Schön, D. A. (1983)''The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action''. New York: Basic Books. {{ISBN|0-465-06878-2}}.</ref> In 1984 the [[National Science Foundation]] created a Design Theory and Methodology Program to promote methods and process research in engineering design.

Meanwhile in Europe, Vladimir Hubka established the ''Workshop Design-Konstruction'' (WDK),which led to a series of International Conferences on Engineering Design (ICED) beginning in 1981 and later became [[the Design Society]].

Academic research journals in design also began publication. DRS initiated ''Design Studies''<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://www.journals.elsevier.com/design-studies | title=Design Studies}}</ref> in 1979, ''Design Issues''<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/desi | title=MIT Press Journals}}</ref> appeared in 1984, and ''Research in Engineering Design''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://link.springer.com/journal/163|title = Research in Engineering Design}}</ref> in 1989.