Dear All,
It's possible I missed some of the thread, but I'll bring in a couple points.
Purpose (goal, teleology) is the starting point for design as the word has
always been used in English. The verb form preceded the noun, and I'll
stick to verb and process for now.
Fuller (1969: 319) divides the process into two steps. The first is a
subjective
process of search and research. The second is a generalizable process
that moves from prototype to practice.
Fuller's process model of search and research has these steps:
teleology -- > intuition -- > conception -- >
apprehension -- > comprehension -- >
experiment -- > feedback -- >
Fuller's process model of generalization and objective development leading
to practice has these steps:
prototyping #1 -- > prototyping #2 -- > prototyping #3 -- >
production design -- > production modification -- > tooling -- >
production -- > distribution -- >
installation -- > maintenance -- > service -- >
reinstallation -- > replacement -- >
removal -- > scrapping -- > recirculation
The descriptions of design process embodied in a definition describing
words as used generally captures this. If I frequently return to the
dictionary -- and the etymology -- on this, it is because these describe
language rather than prescribing it.
My short version of the long story states that design is a goal-oriented
process that 1) solves a problem, 2) meets a need, 3) improves a situation,
or 4) creates something new or useful.
We may well discover new purposes or processes as we design or
in the iterative act of designing. Most design process starts with a
goal.
We design for others. These others may be clients, customers, end-users,
the customers of clients, citizens, or stakeholders of some kind. Those
who ask us to design with them or on their behalf seek a plan to 1) solve
a problem, 2) meet a need, or 3) improve a situation, or -- sometimes --
to 4) create something new or useful. The process may well unearth
new purposes along the way, but stakeholders and legitimate problem
owners usually come to us with an initial purpose in mind. It is a rare
who seeks and pays a designer without have a reason -- that is, a
purpose.
There's probably more to be said and thought on this topic and I
may well have missed some nuances here, but the general
situation is that those who hire designers have a purpose in mind
as the basis for employing a professional. There are exceptions to
this -- design as art, designers who design for themselves, design
as play, and so on. There are also cases in which we diverge from
purpose, discover that the purpose was mistaken, play while
seeking a solution, etc.
All these exceptions occur. Even so, the vast majority of design cases
involve situations where a designer is hired for a purpose, generally
on behalf of the person or group of persons or organization whose
purpose or goal is the reason for hiring a designer or design team.
Yours,
Ken
Reference
Fuller, Buckminster. 1969. Utopia or Oblivion. The Prospects for
Humanity. New York: Bantam Books.
--
Ken Friedman
Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Communication, Culture, and Language
Norwegian School of Management
Design Research Center
Denmark's Design School
email: [log in to unmask]
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