Hello,
I think that Ken sums up the issue with rigor, and I would like to add
my pinch of salt to the thread :
Ken wrote :
"It is difficult to find only one solution to all problems in an
optimized global solution if your only resource is intuition. This
explains the extraordinarily high failure rate of design projects."
Even though I think that the "failure of design projects" would deserve
a debate in its own right, my impression is that we get in a dead end
when one looks at design as a problem-solving activity. The word
"solution", which is constantly used, connotates uniqueness (single),
truth, universal etc.
When I look at design-being-done as well as design-being-presented, in
other words the dominant substance of design activity, what I end upo
retaining is that designers hardly ever "solve" problems, they rather
propose alternatives. The next issue is "how do you educate and empower
people" so that they debate and choose what they consider as the best
"solution".
It seems also to me that it is not so rigorous to call "problem" what is
in fact, in most cases, some mismatch between a representation : "what I
think I should be able to do" and a fact : "what I am actually doing".
To be fully cynical, the only problem most designers seem to have to
solve is the necessity for their client to earn money or get in trouble.
As Ken points out, "reasonned inquiry" doesn't imply a linear process at
all. (And, BTW, I noticed how linear most design presentations tend to
be (and, to me, this says a lot about the reality of most designers
minds...)). In my understanding and experience, a rigorous inquiry
starts with a clear declaration of the territory the project intends to
adress, and the "rules" that will be applied to check the relevance of
the various proposals (note that I am not using the word "solution").
This rules might concern the way the reality will be organized (e.g.
what kind of survey, how will it be structured, limitations of the tools
used...), the way the proposals will be constructed, shared (drawings,
mock ups, description, programme... and how these representations will
highlight or hide some aspects...), the manner in which they will be
evaluated and validated...
If I was to use a metaphor from physics : at our scale, Newtonian
physics give an adequate model of reality; at the level of atoms,
relativity is a more relevant model. A design project will first start
by defining an adequate (which might also happen to be the right) scale
for the project.
No rice, no potatoes, but exquisite pasta tonight...
Jean
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