The expertise of designers consists, primarily, of information about the relationship between goals or performance criteria and the attributes of the desired artifact that will result in performances that will satisfy these criteria. The designer like experts in other fields is typically better at applying the knowledge that constitutes his expertise than he is at articulating this knowledge. Generation and simulation models are discussed as a means of generating a set of designs for which the set of attributes defining these designs and the performance of these designs in terms of the criteria considered are explicitly defined. Pareto optimization is discussed as a means of structuring these designs on the basis of their performance. The induction algorithm 1D3 is used as a means of inferring general statements about the nature of solutions which exhibit Pareto optimal performance in terms of a set of performance criteria. The rules inferred in building design domain are compared with those extracted using a heuristic based learning system.

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Technology or art? The practice of information design occupies an ambiguous position in relation to these very different approaches to making. Heidegger's critique of the metaphysical concepts of being, spatiality and mood provides fertile ground for developing an understanding of the way in which `information design as technology' conceals. The ethical imperative for an alternative conception of information design is explored.

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