Experiments in Experience: Towards an Alignment of Research through Design and John Dewey's Pragmatism

Dixon, Brian

doi:10.1162/desi_a_00531

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Buchanan (2015) further notes that design practice is distinguished by the principle that focuses on quality of experience , sometimes discussed in terms of design qualities in design education (Auernhammer & Roth, Forthcoming), in an inquiry focused on making (Dixon & French, 2020). John Dewey's theories of inquiry (Dewey, 1938) and aesthetic experience (Dewey, 1934) have been influential sources for design scholars who contend that the practice of designing reflects a pragmatist epistemology (see e.g., Buchanan, 1992, 2015; Dalsgaard, 2014; Dixon, 2019; Melles, 2008; Schön, 1983; Steen, 2013; Wetter‐Edman et al, 2018). It is therefore not surprising that design thinking as a practice which draws on the designer's sensibility and methods, resonates with a pragmatist epistemology.…”

Section: Pragmatism and Studio Culturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design thinking as sensemaking: Developing a pragmatist theory of practice to (re)introduce sensibility

Eklund

Aguiar

Amacker

2021

J of Product Innov Manag

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Design thinking is based on designers’ creative ways of working and is defined as a formal method for creative problem solving aimed at fostering innovation by harnessing “the designer's sensibility and methods.” The basic premise is that design “thinking” can be extracted and separated from the situated practice of designing in the studio. This approach has given rise to a widely accepted nomenclature for describing design which has improved communication between designers and managers, leading to massive interest in adoption of design thinking in management settings. However, due to a widespread implicit cognitivism in the literature, scholars find it difficult to explain the cultural and experiential qualities of design thinking and it tends to be presented as a fundamentally cognitive, problem‐solving activity. We argue that these cognitivist tendencies preclude proper attention to and theorization of designers’ creative practice. We contend that the absence of a theory of practice prevents a deeper understanding of the contribution of design thinking to innovation, loses sight of the sensibility on which it relies, and hampers realization of the promise of design thinking. We develop an alternative theoretical perspective, grounded in a pragmatist theory of practice and the studio culture from which designers’ creative practice developed. This theoretical perspective allows design thinking to be understood as sensemaking, foregrounds imagination and improvisation as its core activities, and explains how sensibility is developed and nurtured. We review the design thinking literature through this pragmatist lens and discuss the implications for theory and practice of conceptualizing design thinking as sensemaking.

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Section: Pragmatism and Studio Culturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design thinking as sensemaking: Developing a pragmatist theory of practice to (re)introduce sensibility

Eklund

Aguiar

Amacker

2021

J of Product Innov Manag

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“…In answer to the second, research on design processes is concerned with the study of "relationships" ("stages", "strategies" ("iterations") and "activities") between the three other constructs. The intended changes in "humans" and "objects" are created or brought about by situated activities (Argyris 1996, Dixon 2019). These activities operate ontologically in the problem and solution "contexts" (the artefact's environment and artefact system, respectively) (Simon 1969), and epistemologically in the mental, conceptual, and material "contexts" (Greca and Moreira 2000, Johnson and Henderson 2011, Gentner and Stevens 2014.…”

Section: Requirements For Design Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Causality and interpretation: a new design model inspired by the Aristotelian legacy

Pikas

Koskela

Seppänen

2021

Construction Management and Economics

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Building design and design management practices are beset by many problems to which satisfactory solutions have not yet emerged. The recognition of the Aristotelian legacy on design theorization has given rise to the proposition that the development of a new design concept that integrates the technical and social aspects of design might provide a general solution. This study aims to chart the intellectual history of the design discipline, clarify core design terms, concepts, and relationships, and propose a design model that integrates technical and social phenomena. An integrative literature review is a basis for the assessment and synthesis of representative literature and the construction of the new design model. The new design model, presenting the integrated design process structure for technical and social design activities, is the main contribution of this study. The model was constructed based on the identification of design theory core elements and relationships and the ancient design theories (the method of analysis and rhetoric).

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“…Jonas, 2006;Zimmerman et al, 2010) and what could act as epistemological foundations for RtD (e.g. Dixon, 2019;Isley & Rider, 2018). 'Knowledge' is discussed in the discourse on 'intermediate-level knowledge' (e.g.…”

Section: Contribution Of the Themes To The Rtd Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Grappling with Diversity in Research Through Design

Boon¹,

Baha²,

Singh³

et al. 2020

Proceedings of DRS

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 1. Introduction Research through Design (RtD) refers to a way of doing research in which design activities play an essential role in the generation of knowledge. Introduced by Frayling (1993), RtD is commonly distinguished from research for design-i.e. research that aims to inform design practice-and research on (or about) design-i.e. research that aims to understand design practice (Forlizzi et al., 2009). Since its introduction, different design schools and disciplines increasingly have adopted RtD. Over the years, research communities have emerged that disseminate their RtD work in conferences, such as Design Research Society (DRS), Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Designing Interactive Systems (DIS), and, very specifically, the Research Through Design conference (RTD). As a result, there are seemingly disparate ways of understanding and practicing RtD.

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Experiments in Experience: Towards an Alignment of Research through Design and John Dewey's Pragmatism

Cited by 18 publications

References 5 publications

Design thinking as sensemaking: Developing a pragmatist theory of practice to (re)introduce sensibility

Design thinking as sensemaking: Developing a pragmatist theory of practice to (re)introduce sensibility

Causality and interpretation: a new design model inspired by the Aristotelian legacy

Grappling with Diversity in Research Through Design

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