DESIGN THEORY

Presented by: Vaibhavi Agrawal

Brick School of Architecture
Date : 03.07.2019
Contents
 A deeper understanding of methods and processes in design
 A special emphasis on user centered design.
 Theories on design process and design methodology, in order to have a understanding of when and how
design decisions are made in the process.

Expected learning outcomes

• The learn shall be able to: - apply the design process from a user centric approach in a project.
assignment, and reflect on how this perspective affects the different stages of the process as well as the
results
• How their own design process is conducted, and relate this to different theories and methods within
design research and professional design practice.
Form of Teaching and learning
• lectures, seminars, tutoring, practical assignments, and project work.
• Learner will work individually and in groups with assignments and projects.
Design Theory
• What is design?
• How do designers think and act?
• And why do we actually design?
Some Definitions
• The imaginative jump from present facts to future possibilities.
• "Design is the ability to imagine that-which-does-not-yet-exist, to
make it appear in concrete form as a new, purposeful addition to the
real world.“

Harold Nelson & Erik Stolterman (2002) The Design Way: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable
World.
• Design is about making decisions, often in the face of uncertainty
Joseph Zinter (2012)

• Decision making in the face of uncertainty, with high penalties for

error . Asimow, 1962

• Designers typically produce novel unexpected solutions, tolerate

uncertainty, work with incomplete information, apply imagination
and constructive forethought to practical problems and use drawings
and other modelling media as means of problem solving.
Bryan Lawson & Kees Dorst (2009)
Design is to initiate change in manmade things.
John Chris Jones Design Methods: Seeds of human future 1970

Design = Change

CHANGE IS DIFFERENCE
CHANGE OF DIFFERENCE IS PROCESS
CHANGE OF PROCESS IS EVOLUTION
CHANGE OF EVOLUTION IS DESIGN
Harold Nelson & Erik Stolterman (2002/2012)
Design is to initiate change in man-made things

•“...but now, more than thirty years later,

and in a changed world, I am no longer
happy with man-made nor with things...
John Christopher Jones (2002)
Thoughts and actions intended to change
thoughts and actions
• Changing an existing situation into a preferred situation, requires
imagination to formulate a plan that deals with uncertainty that the
future holds.
As you might have noticed... design is quite an ambiguous notion.

“One of the difficulties in understanding design, is its multifaceted

nature. There is no single way of looking at design that captures the
'essence' without missing some other salient aspect.”
Design as...
• A mixture of creativity and analyses
• Problem solving
• Evolution
• The creation of solutions to problems
• Integrating into a coherent whole
• A fundamental human activity • Etc...

Bryan Lawson & Kees Dorst (2009), also Buchanan (1992, 2001, p. 27)
 design = easy

But, what makes design such a complicated activity? Write

down one word!

What makes design so complicated according to Jones? In Design

Methods (1970)

“The fundamental problem is that designers are obliged to use

current information to predict a future state that will not come
about unless their predictions are correct.” “The designer must be
able to predict the ultimate effects of their proposed design as well
as specifying the actions that are needed to bring these effects
about.”