Filtering and Informing the Design Space

Abstract

Building on the concept “prototypes that filter the design space,” we establish how other kinds of design artifacts and activities (e.g., sketching, tests, concept posters, metaphors, design tools) are equally critical in filtering the design space. We also suggest a parallel term, “informing the design space,” to define how design artifacts and activities expand the design space. We focus on a 16-month, full-scale media architecture design project and zero in on seven of its component events, and use design-space schemas to shed light on the dynamics of the design space with respect to informing and filtering the design space. Our concluding contribution is to propose design-space thinking as a sub-discipline of design research. We argue that this research perspective serves to address the creative aspects of the design process, the generative potential of design-space thinking, and the tools that support design-space thinking and research.

A Design Space of Educational Authoring Tools for Augmented Reality

“…We looked for tools and papers with varying modalities to capture the extent of variability of design space. 3) Analyzing Authoring Tools (RQ1): We followed a thematic design space analysis [4,7]. We tested, read papers, documentations, and watched videos of the 21 tools.…”

“…We identified four main design dimensions of AR content authoring: (1) authoring workflow, (2) AR modality, (3) AR use and (4) content and user management. Each dimension identifies categories and options [4,7]. Figure 1 summarizes the results of our design space analysis (also online as supplementary materials: https://bit.ly/3B2Rvxl).…”

“…In section 4, we propose the first design space of educational AR authoring tools. In the field of Human-Computer Interactions, the term "design space" is a conceptual metaphor for knowledge that "enables us to investigate how a design solution emerges" [7]. Design spaces aim at formulating a comprehensive view of design dimensions and options underlying an area of interest.…”

DS-Viz: a method for visualising design spaces

“…Once the problem is defined and solutions are collected, the next step is to characterise the solutions. Different approaches are possible, from the traditional qualitative analysis that identifies the core functions of the solutions, relying on consensual assessment from expert judges (e.g., Bayırlı and Börekçi, (2022) and Shah et al, (2003)) to the use of design space schemas (Halskov and Lundqvist, 2021) that list relevant "aspects" and the available "options" across the set of solutions analysed.…”

Design Space Cards

“…Since then, there have been a number of different efforts to systematically consider design spaces in design, both in computer-aided settings [8][39] [40] and non-computational settings [12][41][42] [37]. Recent work at Aarhus University makes an explicit call for more design space thinking [26]. A design space can be defined in terms of the direct design input parameters of a design (e.g., the number of seconds set as the time limit of a game) and in the experienced outputs of a design (e.g., the overall difficulty of a game) [39].…”