On 16/10/2008, at 10:14 PM, Parag Deshpande wrote:
> So, if design is certainly not limited to user-centred design, does
> it mean
> that the process of design remains the same regardless of what is
> the focus
> of design i.e. user-centred or use-centred or engineering centred?
>
> And if so, should we not be thinking of user-centredness or use-
> centredness
> or anything else as a design philosophy instead of a process? (e.g.
> user
> centred design process?)
Parag, From my point of view, I think you are correct in saying that
design is not necessarily user centred. The design process, as I apply
it (not necessarily the same process that others use), would be
applicable to a wide range of designing which does not have people as
its primary focus. Indeed, the methods I apply are a subset (with some
refinements) of more generalised methods that Bruce Archer articulated
in the 1960s, most fully in his phd thesis when he was at the RCA.
Much of what I have seen since then—including so called user-centred
design—is a re-articulation of this earlier work, often with no
realisation of its origins, and with far less rigour. Lots of wheels
being reinvented in design methods and processes. The only changes I
see are in scale and in refinement of methods, plus a certain amount
of post-Rittel humility, but the process remains unchanged.
I can think of lots of designs that are not user-centred. For example,
some environmentalists, who would like to use design methods to solve
environmental problems, see users as part of the 'problem' (to which,
btw, there is a simple solution).
The question of what constitutes the 'problem' in the design process
is a matter of contemporary social and economic determinants. In
developed western economies, consumer spending accounts for about 70%
of the economy, hence the contemporary focus on 'users'. I don't think
this has anything directly to do with philosophy of design, though a
great deal to do with it indirectly.
Of course many of us would like design to follow other agendas and
domains than those determined by the economic and social conditions of
our time. As Klaus suggested, in sympathy with Uncle Karl,
> the issue is not whether design IS user-centered or not but what you
> want design to be.
In my field, I would like design to be people-centred not user-centred.
But, Philosophy of design has more to do with the nature of design and
designing: what we mean by designing and design, but that too is
inextricably linked with the social and economic circumstances in
which we find ourselves.
David
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Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA
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