Essay

Theory….Now I Get It
Tania Hockings
301020553

When first reading through Ken Friedman’s article “Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches and methods” I found myself nodding throughout and when it came to highlighting points the whole article was covered in yellow. For me, one of Friedman’s last statements summed up the entire article “I believe that a study of design based on profound knowledge embraces the empirical world of people and problems in a deeper way than purely self generated artistry can do”

There is never a right or wrong answer to how we define design, a different statement holds true to every individual; one that cannot be mistaken is design is about transforming less desirable situations to preferred situations. This cannot be achieved by pure talent, we first have to know which problems need to be solved and then know how to successfully achieve this. The goals of design are solving a problem, meeting needs, improving situations and creating something new or useful. As designers we play a pinnacle role in the general evolution, the design process takes on new meaning, it is our job to find the right answers and unless we do I see little purpose for a designer, it all starts with theory.

Reading through this I became increasingly convinced of my standpoint and felt my mind blossoming and light bulbs switching on, everything I read I felt I could relate back to my past, present and even future design problems. Design begins with a problem and that needs to be systematically researched to find a successful solution and even then the research does not stop, critique of your solution gains further knowledge base to feed off for the next design problem.

In the past as a developing designer we have always been encouraged and often forced to research into history in design and neighboring fields, to look for ideas and inspiration for our work. In the first year of university the extent of this research involved looking at some images, taking aspects we liked then combined with our own limited knowledge and experiences we formed ideas for our designs that we believed to be solutions to our brief. Through second year this show little improvement, we were beginning to use research as a starting point in all our work but nothing considerably in-depth and I would often find myself finding what I thought to be a great idea very early on so would shrug off the need for any further research, to then discover later down the track a project quickly sliding downhill and too late to save, a mistake that I somehow repeated many a time. However, into third year, the present day I have begun to realize the mistake and see a comparison, research is now a natural part of our design process, which without I personally would not know where to begin. Furthermore we are now beginning to go through a more systematic process in both researching and designing, by firstly breaking down the brief, finding the problem that needs to be solved and what requirements and aspects will help to find the most accurate solution. We also form proposals which describes a draft of our ideas and concepts, the what, how, why, who, where and when which provides us with an earlier internal and external critique. Throughout our projects we are continually developing, extending and critiquing our work, the research cycle does not stop.

Looking back now I can easily see the changing pattern; as my design and general experiences have increased these systematic research patterns have developed and helped to pinpoint more accurate and successful solutions that can be continually learnt from and built on. Although it feels as though theory is now becoming a natural part of our design process I can also see how much further we can push, by critically theorising all that we do it can become natural and help us individually gain experience, knowledge and furthermore our own theories to add to the world palette, the theories will all recycle and form the new.

This reading has helped me see this contrast and how much of an impact theory can help us in design. Theory is the tool that understands experience, knowledge and research, the three words that form success in any field of life or the world. Real design, helpful design, design that changes the world and design that every designer should strive for; the key is held in theory.

Interesting Images

Ken Friedman

Key Points/Interesting Information:

Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and methods
Ken Friedman, Department of Organisation and Leadership, Norwegian School of Management, Postboks 4676, Sofienberg, 0506 Oslo, Norway

Key:
D – Design/ers
R – Research
T – Theory/ies



Definitions: design, research, theory

-Design involves solving problems, creating something new, or transforming less desirable situations to preferred situations
-Designers must know how things work and why
-The goal of design; solving problem, meeting needs, improving situation, something new or useful
-To plan out in the mind; to have a intent; to devise for a specific end
-D. is the entire process across the full range of domains required for outcome
-Foundation of D. theory; it’s interdisciplinary, integrative
-Intersection point
-D. is in everything
-Now plays a role in the general evolution of the environment and the D. process takes on new meaning
-Failure = lack of method, absence of systematic comprehensive understanding, gaps in knowledge an preparation

Defining research

-Research: investigation/experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts
-Principles are abstracted and generalized to cover a variety of cases
-Basic/Applied/Clinical
-Each test theories and findings of other kinds of research
-R. gives alternative solutions and sense of the areas where creative intervention can make a difference to problems
-Designer must identify problems, select appropriate goals and realize solutions
-R. questions
-Designer: Analyst-discover problems; Synthesist - solve problems; Generalist - range of talents to realize solutions; Leader - organize teams when 1 talent isn’t enough; Critic - analyses post solution problem has been successfully solved
-D. are thinkers - thought to action
-A broad understanding of general principles based on research gives D. a background stock of knowledge on which to store
-Stock of principles, facts, theories
-This knowledge is embodied in the minds and working practices of millions of people
-Problem comes first in design
-Continual interaction of D. problems and solutions generates the problematics and knowledge stock of the field
-R. is a way of asking questions
-R. asks questions in a systematic way
-Original R. tackles new problems or checks previous findings
-D. knowledge grows in part from practice therefore D. knowledge and R. overlap
-Critical thinking and systematic enquiry form the foundation of theory
-R. offers us the tools to critically think and systematic enquiry to bring answers out of the field of action

Defining theory

-Theory is a model
-Illustration describing how something works by showing its elements in relationship to one another
-T. is abstract thought; speculation
-Systematic thought organized in T.
-T. allows us to frame and organize our observations
-T. permits us to question what we see and do
-T. helps us develop generalisable answers that can be put to use by humans in other times and places
-Understanding things; how they are and how they work
-Failure = 1. Proposals at early stages of development 2. completed attempts at solutions where -D. believe they have solved the problem but have not
-Experience will answer a question and a question comes from T.
-Some T. are complex, others are simple
-T. is a set of ideas, concepts, principles, methods used to explain a wide set of observed facts
-D. who can not observe facts cannot T. them
-Externalisation of internal images
-Solving problems demands robust engagement with the problem itself
-Problem sets the premise by establishing the boundary conditions of a solution
-Problem opens a forum for the imagination\
-T. building an act of disciplined imagination

How theory works

-What/How/Why/Who,Where,When
-What and how describe only why explains
-Ability to identify the ways in which the structural relationships of a T. change under the influence of new elements is the beginning of new perspectives
-Every carefully defined and logically integrated conceptual scheme constitutes a system
-T. are models that resemble model train sets, they must describe motion to demonstrate the properties of the systems they resemble
-Creating models that show characteristics of the issue, repeat process until simplest possible model remains demonstrating the issue
-Keep at it till it gets simple
-Point of a model is to give a simplified representation of reality
-A model reveals the essence of what is going on so your model should be reduced to just the pieces required to make it work

Theory construction problems in design research

-T. knowledge is more objective than immediate experience
-A T. is something other than myself
-T. is more true when it can be set out on paper as a system, rules
-Sensitizing concepts; descriptive richness, T. as guide to discovery and modeling
-Explicit knowledge needs to be rendered articulately for shared communication and reflection
-Without a body of T. based knowledge the D. profession will not be prepared to meet challenges that face D. in today’s complex world

Future directions

-Begin with a foundation of definitions using these to build a range of applicable concepts
-T. rich design can be playful as well as disciplined
-T. based design is suited to the large scale social/economic needs of industrial age
-To reach from knowing to doing requires practice
-To reach from doing to knowing requires the articulation and critical inquiry that leads to reflective insight
-Experience alone, without theory, teaches nothing about what to do to improve quality and competitive position, nor how to do it
-Experience will answer a question and a question comes from theory
-Our interpretation and understanding of experience leads to knowledge
-Knowledge emerges from critical enquiry
-Systematic/scientific knowledge arises from the theories that allow us to question and learn from the world
-To serve successfully demands an ability to cause change toward desired goals
-T. is a tool that allows us to conceptualize and realize aspects of D.
-R. is the collection of methods that enables us to use that tool
-KF believes that a study of design based on profound knowledge embraces the empirical world of people and problems in a deeper way than purely self generated artistry can do
-D. needs to rest on all 3 legs of science, observation, theorizing and experimenting to sort useful -T. from the rest
-D. practice and D. research require T.