I have been listening to this list for a long time not finding time to
participate.
But this thread on the role of visual material in design research I just
cannot leave uncommented. So here's a voice from the minority (5%)
I find this discussion very strange from two perspectives:

1. the framing of what is design: I think there is something wrong with this
frame when the visual or "form giving" element is reduced to a degree that
it is no longer possible to argue its position within design research. May
be the framing of the field is exploded and there is a need to establish a
new design research frame for the design fields routed in the arts and craft
tradition? Visual people easily get outnumbered and outspoken by verbal.

2. and here my second point, which i also tried to communicate in La Clusaz:
Visual material has in the last years become very important in almost all
sciences especially natural sciences, resulting in an industry of scientific
visualisation. This comes from visual computing which makes it possible to
visualisise and understand very complex phenomena. The visual material is in
many cases the core of the research and it actually "carries" the writing.
So while in the rest of sciences there is an increased understanding of the
visual material, the importance of how data are rendered and the role of the
visual as evidence and / or empirical material this development seems to be
still questioned in a field where I think visualisation in process,
development, communication and most often end-result is crucial.

I discussed this frequently with a friend of mine at the Norwegian defence
research foundation who is a researcher who works with simulation of
turbulences. He emphasises the importance of visualisation but also the
aesthetic dimension in the interpretation of the material(Graphical
filtering to increase readability). They find visualisation so important
that the largest parts of their project investments are spent on high-end
visualisation computers from SGI. The beauty of their material is
astonishing. Strange that a hard-nosed natural scientist has a deeper
understanding of the role of visualisation in research than large parts of
the design research community. The issues we research here are not less
complex or less suited for visualisation than in any other field.
Best

Birger Sevaldson
Oslo School of Architecture