Design methods: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:57, 8 February 2019

Revision as of 00:36, 15 February 2019

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'''Design methods''' are procedures, techniques, aids, or tools for designing. They offer a number of different kinds of activities that a designer might use within an overall design process. Conventional procedures of design, such as drawing, can be regarded as design methods, but since the 1950s new procedures have been developed that are more usually grouped together under the name of "design methods". What design methods have in common is that they "are attempts to make public the hitherto private thinking of designers; to ''externalise'' the design process".<ref name="Jones Design Methods">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=J. Christopher |title=Design Methods |date=1980 |publisher=Wiley |___location=UK}}</ref>

''Design methodology'' is the broader study of method in design: the study of the principles, practices and procedures of designing.<ref name="Cross Methodology">{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Nigel |title=Developments in Design Methodology |date=1984 |publisher=Wiley |___location=UK |isbn=0471102482978-0471102489}}</ref>

==Background==

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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==

The development of design methods has been closely associated with prescriptions for a systematic process of designing. These process models usually comprise a number of phases or stages, beginning with a statement or recognition of a problem or a need for a new design and culminating in a finalised solution proposal. In his 'Systematic Method for Designers' [[L. Bruce Archer]] produced a very elaborate, 229 step model of a systematic design process for industrial design,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.dubberly.com/concept-maps/archers-design-process.html | title=Bruce Archer's Design Process Checklist}}</ref> but also a summary model consisting of three phases: Analytical phase (programming and data collection, analysis), Creative phase (synthesis, development), and Executive phase (communication). The UK's [[Design Council]] models the creative design process in four phases: Discover (insight into the problem), Define (the area to focus upon), Develop (potential solutions), Deliver (solutions that work).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/design-process-what-double-diamond | title=The Design Process: What is the Double Diamond?| date=2015-03-17}}</ref> A systematic model for engineering design by Pahl and Beitz has phases of Clarification of the task, Conceptual design, Embodiment design, and Detail design.<ref>Pahl, G. and W. Beitz (1984) ''Engineering Design: a systematic approach'', Springer/Design Council, UK.</ref> A less prescriptive approach to designing a basic design process for oneself has been outlined by [[John Christopher Jones|J. Christopher Jones]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=J. Christopher|title=design methods for everyone |url=http://publicwriting.net/2.2/designmethodsforeveryone.html|website=publicwriting.net |accessdate=21 December 2018}}</ref>

In the [[engineering design process]] systematic models tend to be linear, in sequential steps, but acknowledging the necessity of iteration. In architectural design, process models tend to be cyclical and spiral, with iteration as essential to progression towards a final design. In industrial and product design, process models tend to comprise a sequence of stages of divergent and convergent thinking. The Dubberly Design Office has compiled examples of more than 80 design process models,<ref>Dubberly, H. (2004) ''How do you design: a compendium of models''. Dubberly Design Office, San Francisco, USA. http://www.dubberly.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/ddo_designprocess.pdf</ref> but it is not an exhaustive list.

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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>https://link.springer.com/journal/163</ref> in 1989.

==Influence on professional design practice==

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In the USA, designer [[Henry Dreyfuss]] had a profound impact on the practice of industrial design by developing systematic processes and promoting the use of [[anthropometrics]], [[ergonomics]] and [[human factors]] in design, including through his 1955 book 'Designing for People'.<ref>Dreyfuss, Henry. ''Designing for People''. Allworth Press; 2003. {{ISBN|1-58115-312-0}}</ref> Another successful designer, [[Jay Doblin]], was also influential on the theory and practice of design as a systematic process.<ref>https://www.doblin.com/dist/images/uploads/A-Short-Grandiose-Theory-of-Design-J.-Doblin.pdf</ref>

Much of current design practice has been influenced and guided by design methods. For example, the influential [[IDEO]] consultancy uses design methods extensively in its 'Design Kit' and 'Method Cards'.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.designkit.org//resources/1 | title=Design Kit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ideo.com/post/method-cards | title=Method Cards}}</ref> Increasingly, the intersections of design methods with business and government through the application of [[design thinking]] have been championed by numerous consultancies within the design profession. Wide influence has also come through [[Christopher Alexander]]'s [[pattern language]] method,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander|display-authors=et al |first1=Christopher |title=A Pattern Language |date=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-501919-93}}</ref> originally developed for architectural and urban design, which has been adopted in [[software design patterns|software design]], [[interaction design pattern|interaction design]], [[Pedagogical patterns|pedagogical design]] and other domains.

==See also==