Hi Klaus,
Bob Este points to mathematical approaches. There are in engineering design several collections of approaches for conceptual design that build on conceptual analysis. See for example 'Design: The Conceptual Stage' by M J French (Heinemann, London (1971)). These techniques focus directly on conceiving a new design and work through designers bodily processes being used on high level insights, anstractions and understandings of characterisitics of different 'flocks' of design possibilities ( as an aside does anyone have a good term to describe collections of design possibilities that have some related characteristics (e.g tree, umbrella, family, mathematical series)). Some of these approaches encompass 'frameworks' and 'metaphor' as tools.
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Klaus Krippendorff
Sent: 5/02/2005 5:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design & Theory
since we are on the move away from theory in the classical sense, we might as well explore other ways.
to go back, framework conjures images of putting things on shelves or filling the cells of a grid. maybe this isn't quite what we want.
conceptual analysis is mental on the one hand and analytical on the other. yes, analysis of the context into which a design is to fit is important, but this precedes design. the point of design is to propose something realizable, producible, and usable.
there is another idea that is worth exploring, and this is the approach taken. the metaphor of approach acknowledges that you always come from somewhere, that you chose among approaches that you could have taken, and that you bring with you certain concepts, tools, ways of handling things. to study the approach that one is taking is to explore the vocabulary and the practices someone is committed to apply. it is more dynamic than either framework or conceptual analysis, and, unlike theory, it involves bodily participation, personal engagement, or commitment to a way to solve problems and change the world.
klaus
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