Researching Complexity, Dynamic Form and the Design Process

Researching Complexity, DynamicForm and the Design Process Professor Robert Young Centre for Design Research, Northumbria University SERENDIPITY SYNDICATE 3 : Talk

Design form and design process! Confluence of two international conferences DeSForM 07 Northumbria University, December 2007, examined product/system interactiondesigning with a focus on their meaning and how designers communicate information, functions and ideas to enable these to be perceived and understood by people in their everyday lives. Intersections Baltic Gateshead, October 2007, asked how design is adapting in a world in transition by acquiring new know-how. Common threads? Introduction

1. Methods and Tools Active forms Theatre and choreography Sketching in space and time Aesthetics and notation of motion Editing and scripting of movements 2. Theoretical developments Meaning and perception Conditions of applicability Ambient versus interactive movement Structuring mechanisms and linguistics Gestalt theory and compositionality of meaning 3. Practice-based research and case studies Using movement as a mediator Appropriation of the everyday Effects of context on meanings New typologies and ecologies of objects Dependencies between form and movement DeSForM themes and topics

In mature markets, where the functionality and performance of products are often taken for granted, attention is increasingly focused on the visual characteristics of products. In such markets, ‘attention to a product’s appearance promises the manufacturer one of the highest returns on investment. (Lewalski, ZM. 1988) DeSForM observations

Creating Value By Design Stefano Marzano The challenge for designers, and indeed for everyone in societies that are entering the Third Wave, is to discover the new relevant benefits and qualities – the qualities that products and services will need to have if they are to fulfil the aspirations and dreams of those who use them. The New Everyday - Views on Ambient Intelligence (The need for) meaning and purpose in life is common to everyone, the only difference is that technology changes the way it gets gratified John Perry Barlow (USA) DeSForM observations

The New Everyday - Views on Ambient Intelligence The distinction … is between syntax and semantics. For a machine, all that matters is syntax. The meaning does not matter … all that matters is the form and capacity to change that form into another form. For humans, what matters is not the syntax but the semantics, the meaning, what lies inside. Even if machines are able to imitate humans perfectly, it is unlikely, that they will have a concept of semantics in a way that human beings do. Meaning lies not in our heads or in the structure of our language or in the structure of our problem solving capacities. Meaning lies in the social world. It is the social world that imputes things and phenomena with meaning. And in so far as machines don’t live in a social world, they cannot have meaning.Kenan Malik (UK) DeSForM observations

Briefly, the Intersections conference pressed the pause button and explored the limits of design. Its speakers told us time and again, we live in more complex times. And complex times call for design practice with a wider repertoire. Complex times require designers to do new and different things. Jeremy Myserson summarized these, designers are acting as: strategists, co-creators, rationalists and storytellers InterSections- Conclusions

InterSections Content

InterSections Process Content

InterSections Process Content Context

Dealing with complexity Process Content Design Value Design Didactic Context

Derivation

Direction

Elaboration of process Physical Sciences

Elaboration of process Social Sciences Physical Sciences

Elaboration of process Social Sciences Physical Sciences Humanities

Elaboration of process Social Sciences deductive Physical Sciences reductive Design Abductive Design Thinking Humanities inductive

Human Centred Problem Solving Design Practice Innovation Responsible Design Practices Design Thinking & Didactics Design Craftsmanship Pedagogic Practices Themes of engagement

Human Centred Problem Solving Interdisciplinary Collaboration Innovative Pedagogic Practice Design Practice Innovation Responsible Design Practices Design Thinking & Didactics Design Craftsmanship Pedagogic Practices Research Study & Postgraduate Learning Enterprise and Research-led Consultancy Linking policy to practice

Engagement with audiences and initiatives Human Centred Problem Solving - InSTeP Design advocacy - conferences and events - DeSForM

Engagement with audiences and initiatives Responsible Design Practices - Design-led social enterprise in developing communities Crime and security Ethical Fashion Design advocacy - conferences and events - EAP Design Health & Wellbeing

Engagement with audiences and initiatives Pedagogical Practice - Inside Out Design consciousness Design advocacy - conferences and events - EPDE

Engagement with audiences and initiatives Design Craftsmanship - LCFS Designers in Residence International programme delivery Design advocacy - conferences and events - Intersections

Engagement with audiences and initiatives Design Practice and Innovation - nuDIL - Intel Mobiles on the Move, Philips Responsible Wellbeing Service Concepts Design advocacy - conferences and events - ISDn3

Distinctions the conscious and intuitive act of designers involved in the design process a process of conscious reflection about the nature of design of itself Design thinking

Design Ontology – branch of metaphysics concerned with the designer nature of being (experience and awareness) Design Hermeneutics – methodology of interpreting/explaining design concepts, theories and principles Design Epistemology – study of the nature of design knowledge – its foundations scope and validity. Design Phenomenology - a philosophy of design exploring phenomena presenting to us as conscious experience of acts and outcomes of design(ing). Design Praxiology - the study of professional skill Bruce Archer circa 1980 Categories of design research

would be the branch of design research dealing with the study and interpretation of design thinking/consciousness in its broadest sense; the conscious and unconscious essence of being and doing design, together with the energy and passion that this entails. Design exegetics

Dealing with complexity - product system and service Polysensorial manipulation Storytelling and creator of narrative Sense-making - meaning making Common threads!

Researching Complexity, Dynamic Form and the Design Process