Dear Jonas,

Thank you for your message. I'm aware of the related issues relating to
metaphor. A fair bit  of my doctoral research was about metaphor in design.

The question as I posed it is simple and was intended to explore if
'metaphor' is really so significant in design activity as is claimed.

Your question led me to thinking about designs I've been working on in the
past week in terms of whether they involve metaphor:

* Design of roof framing to support a clerestory in a semi-membrane roof
structure.
* Design of organisational  and business processes for a new research
centre.
* Design of a website to automate and actualise those business processes.
* Design of land form on three housing sites and associated earthwork
planning.
* Design of a new systems analysis method
* Design of a brand for a new research centre
* Design of a document structure for a large research report
* Design of a web-based service for consignees to self-manage storage and
sales of their products in  a central warehouse system
* Design of a national school exam
* Design of a vehicle suspension modification to solve a problem of erratic
tyre wear

These are common design problems across a range of design fields.

In none of these did I use metaphor as a specific tool that contributed in
any significant way to determine the design solutions. Mainly I used
associative thinking, logical thinking, casuistic reference, systems
analysis tools and a small amount of idea mapping.

Associative thinking isn't metaphoric, though metaphor requires associative
thinking. Perhaps this is a confusion in the discussion?

I suggest that the idea that metaphor is a central method of design is an
ambit claim by those who use it as their main design method.

The above  leaves me wondering how many others use metaphor as their
main/only design method? If so, in which design fields?

Best regards,
Terry

===
Dr. Terence Love, PhD, FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM, MISI
Love Design and Research
Tel/Fax: +61 (0)8 9305 7629
Mobile: +61 (0)434 975 848
[log in to unmask]
www.love.com.au
===




-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jonas
Lundberg
Sent: Saturday, 10 April 2010 4:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: On Metaphor

Hi Terry,
I have a problem with your question. It looks like a straightforward
question at first sight, but I think it isn't.

What do you mean by "metaphor being a signitficant determinant of the
design"?
And what would the opposite mean "metaphor not significantly
determining design"?

What makes your question slippery, is the whole lot of related issues
- metaphor, analogy, deisgn perspectives, placements, underlying
assumptions in methods....

I suppose I should give some kind of answer too...  So, I suggest you
start out by looking at the whole lot of related issues, instead of
attempting to isolate "metaphor" as something that stands on its own.

Best regards
Jonas


> It would be interesting to see evaluations of complex systems
interventions
> you reference whose design significantly depended on metaphor. Can you
point
> me to any evaluations that the designers (or sponsors) have done where
> metaphor was a significant determinant of the design?
>
> Best wishes,
> Terr