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".
''Design methodology'' is the broader study of method in design: the study of the principles, practices and procedures of designing.
Background
Design methods originated in new approaches to
problem solving developed in the mid-20th Century, and also in response to industrialisation and mass-production, which changed the nature of designing. A "Conference on Systematic and Intuitive Methods in Engineering, Industrial Design, Architecture and Communications", held in London in 1962 is regarded as a key event marking the beginning of what became known within design studies as the "design methods movement", leading to the founding of the
Design Research Society and influencing design education and practice. Leading figures in this movement in the UK were
J. Christopher Jones at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
and
L. Bruce Archer at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...
.
The movement developed through further conferences on new design methods in the UK and USA in the 1960s. The first books on rational design methods, and on creative methods also appeared in this period.
New approaches to design were developing at the same time in Germany, notably at the
Ulm School of Design
The Ulm School of Design (german: Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm) was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany. It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first rector of the school and a former stu ...
(Hochschule für Gestaltung–HfG Ulm) (1953–1968) under the leadership of
Tomás Maldonado. Design teaching at Ulm integrated design with science (including social sciences) and introduced new fields of study such as
cybernetics,
systems theory
Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...
and
semiotics
Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...
into design education.
Bruce Archer also taught at Ulm, and another influential teacher was
Horst Rittel
Horst Wilhelm Johannes Rittel (14 July 1930 – 9 July 1990) was a design theorist and university professor. He is best known for popularizing the concept of ''wicked problem'', but his influence on design theory and practice was much wider.
...
. In 1963 Rittel moved to the School of Architecture at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, where he helped found the Design Methods Group, a society focused on developing and promoting new methods especially in architecture and planning.
At the end of the 1960s two influential, but quite different works were published:
Herbert A. Simon
Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist, with a Ph.D. in political science, whose work also influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary ...
's ''The Sciences of the Artificial'' and
J. Christopher Jones's ''Design Methods''. Simon proposed the "science of design" as "a body of intellectually tough, analytic, partly formalizable, partly empirical, teachable doctrine about the design process", whereas Jones catalogued a variety of approaches to design, both rational and creative, within a context of a broad, futures creating, systems view of design.
The 1970s saw some reaction against the rationality of design methods, notably from two of its pioneers,
Christopher Alexander and
J. Christopher Jones. 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. 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
Participatory design (originally co-operative design, now often co-design) is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure t ...
,
user centered design and the role of
design thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.
Des ...
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
Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (English: Association of German Engineers) is an organization of over 150,000 engineers and natural scientists. More than 12,000 honorary experts process the latest technical findings each year to promote the techn ...
association in Germany, and also in Japan, where the Japanese Society for the Science of Design had been established as early as 1954. Books on systematic engineering design methods were published in Germany and the UK. 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)
Design science is a research paradigm focusing on the development and validation of prescriptive knowledge. Herbert Simon distinguished the natural sciences, concerned with explaining how things are, from design sciences which are concerned with ho ...
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, 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
The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better".
It was instrumental in the prom ...
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). A systematic model for engineering design by Pahl and Beitz has phases of Clarification of the task, Conceptual design, Embodiment design, and Detail design. A less prescriptive approach to designing a basic design process for oneself has been outlined by
J. Christopher Jones.
In the
engineering design process
The engineering design process is a common series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entere ...
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, but it is not an exhaustive list.
Within these process models there are numerous design methods that can be applied. In his book of 'Design Methods'
J. C. Jones grouped 26 methods according to their purposes within a design process: Methods of exploring design situations (e.g. Stating Objectives, Investigating User Behaviour, Interviewing Users), Methods of searching for ideas (e.g. Brainstorming, Synectics, Morphological Charts), Methods of exploring problem structure (e.g. Interaction Matrix, Functional Innovation, Information Sorting), Methods of evaluation (e.g. Checklists, Ranking and Weighting).
Nigel Cross
Nigel Cross (born 1942) is a British academic, a design researcher and educator, Emeritus Professor of Design Studies at The Open University, United Kingdom, where he was responsible for developing the first distance-learning courses in design in t ...
outlined eight stages in a process of engineering product design, each with an associated method: Identifying Opportunities - User Scenarios; Clarifying Objectives - Objectives Tree; Establishing Functions - Function Analysis; Setting Requirements - Performance Specification; Determining Characteristics - Quality Function Deployment; Generating Alternatives - Morphological Chart; Evaluating Alternatives - Weighted Objectives; Improving Details - Value Engineering.
Many design methods still currently in use originated in the design methods movement of the 1960s and 70s, adapted to modern design practices. Recent developments have seen the introduction of more qualitative techniques, including ethnographic methods such as
cultural probes and situated methods.
Emergence of design research and design studies
The design methods movement had a profound influence on the development of academic interest in design and designing and the emergence of
design research and
design studies. Arising directly from the 1962 Conference on Design Methods, the
Design Research Society (DRS) was founded in the UK in 1966. The purpose of the Society is to promote "the study of and research into the process of designing in all its many fields" and is an interdisciplinary group with many professions represented.
In the USA, a similar Design Methods Group (DMG) was also established in 1966 by
Horst Rittel
Horst Wilhelm Johannes Rittel (14 July 1930 – 9 July 1990) was a design theorist and university professor. He is best known for popularizing the concept of ''wicked problem'', but his influence on design theory and practice was much wider.
...
and others at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. The DMG held a conference at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in 1968 with a focus on environmental design and planning, and that led to the foundation of the
Environmental Design Research Association
The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is an international, interdisciplinary organization founded in 1968 by design professionals, social scientists, students, educators, and facility managers. The purpose of EDRA is the advancement ...
(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. In 1984 the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
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'' in 1979, ''Design Issues'' appeared in 1984, and ''Research in Engineering Design'' in 1989.
Influence on all professional design practice
Several pioneers of design methods developed their work in association with industry. The
Ulm school established a significant partnership with the German consumer products company
Braun through their designer
Dieter Rams
Dieter Rams (born 20 May 1932) is a German industrial designer and retired academic who is closely associated with the consumer products company Braun, the furniture company Vitsœ, and the functionalist school of industrial design. His unobtru ...
.
J. Christopher Jones began his approach to systematic design as an ergonomist at the electrical engineering company
AEI.
L. Bruce Archer developed his systematic approach in projects for medical equipment for the UK National Health Service.
In the USA, designer
Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss (March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial design pioneer. Dreyfuss is known for designing some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the twentieth century, including the We ...
had a profound impact on the practice of industrial design by developing systematic processes and promoting the use of
anthropometrics,
ergonomics
Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...
and
human factors
Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...
in design, including through his 1955 book 'Designing for People'. Another successful designer,
Jay Doblin, was also influential on the theory and practice of design as a systematic process.
Much of current design practice has been influenced and guided by design methods. For example, the influential
IDEO
IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, enviro ...
consultancy uses design methods extensively in its 'Design Kit' and 'Method Cards'. Increasingly, the intersections of design methods with business and government through the application of
design thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.
Des ...
have been championed by numerous consultancies within the design profession. Wide influence has also come through
Christopher Alexander's
pattern language
A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...
method,
originally developed for architectural and urban design, which has been adopted in
software design,
interaction design,
pedagogical design and other domains.
See also
*
Design management
*
Design rationale
*
Design research
*
Design science
*
Design theory
*
Design thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.
Des ...
References
Other sources (not cited above)
*Ko, A. J. ''Design Methods''. https://faculty.washington.edu/ajko/books/design-methods/index.html
*Koberg, D. and J. Bagnall. (1972) ''The Universal Traveler: A Soft-Systems Guide to Creativity, Problem-Solving, and the Process of Design''. Los Altos, CA: Kaufmann. 2nd edition (1981): ''The All New Universal Traveler: A Soft-Systems Guide to Creativity, Problem-Solving, and the Process of Reaching Goals''.
*Krippendorff, K. (2006). ''The Semantic Turn; A New Foundation for Design''. Taylor&Francis, CRC Press, USA.
*Plowright, P. (2014) ''Revealing Architectural Design: Methods, Frameworks and Tools''. Routledge, UK.
*Protzen, J-P. and D. J. Harris. (2010) ''The Universe of Design: Horst Rittel's Theories of Design and Planning''. Routledge.
*Pugh, S. (1991), ''Total Design: Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering''. Addison-Wesley, UK.
*Roozenburg, N. and J. Eekels. (1991) ''Product Design: Fundamentals and Methods''. Wiley, UK.
*Ulrich, K. and S. Eppinger. (2011) ''Product Design and Development''. McGraw Hill, USA.
External links
Introductory Lecture on Design Methods by Rhodes HilemanRethinking Wicked Problems: Unpacking Paradigms, Bridging Universes, Part 1 of 2. J. Conklin, M. Basadur, GK VanPatter; NextDesign Leadership Institute Journal, 2007Rethinking Wicked Problems: Unpacking Paradigms, Bridging Universes, Part 2 of 2. J. Conklin, M. Basadur, GK VanPatter; NextDesign Leadership Institute Journal, 2007Double Consciousness: Back to the Future with John Chris Jones. GK VanPatter, John Chris Jones; NextDesign Leadership Institute Journal, 2006
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