Hi Rebecca,
Good question. Wondering if the issue doesn't need a different tack...
Lots of the existing design 'theory' in the literature is a bit on the loose side rather than well-reasoned theory as you might expect of a PhD. A fair bit of the thinking and writing around design solutions has been more speculative media 'bites' rather than sound theory.
It's possibly important to ask whether the idea of 'a perfect design' is as simple as it seems, and whether the premise is correct?
It seems to be worthwhile to ask 'What does it mean for something to be a 'perfect' design solution?'
Unpacking it, the idea of a 'perfect' solution to a design problem might refer to many similar but very different absolute criteria such as whether the design solution is 'correct', 'accurate', 'optimal', 'true', 'best, or 'provable' or a host of other 'ideal' equivalent meanings of 'perfect'.
For many design situations, it is possible to identify 'perfect' designs that fulfil such criteria. This indicates the whole idea that ' there is no perfect design only better or worse' is incorrect.
For example, when 'perfect' design in a design brief is 'the design with the "absolute" minimum weight', then perfection is possible via the theories of design of minimum weight structures (see, for example, Liang http://eprints.usq.edu.au/2945/ or Rees http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470746238.html )
Designs can be perfect or not in terms of them satisfying Suh's Design Axioms (or any similarly completely-defined criteria)
Other areas of in which 'perfect' (or at least 'best') designs can be identified are in relation to human abilities, for example, Apple's design decision to increase the resolution of screens to the point where no pixilation is visible.
In education and learning technologies, I just discovered 'functional contextualism' and, with its practical truth criterion this looks like it might be a measure against which one could identify 'perfect' designs?(I know nothing about it. It came up first page in Google as being relevant to instructional design when I searched on "ideal design theory").
All the best,
Terry
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Dr Terence Love
Faculty of Psychology and Social Science, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia
Honorary Fellow, IEED, Management School, Lancaster University, UK
PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks, Western Australia 6030
[log in to unmask] +61 (0)4 3497 5848
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-----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 Rebecca Hogue
Sent: Sunday, 8 April 2012 11:17 PM
To: Dr Terence Love
Subject: Looking for a quote
Hi everyone,
I'm going crazy looking for a source (or quote) for the idea that there is no perfect solution to a design problem; rather, some solutions are better than others.
I'm pretty sure I've read it somewhere within the context of computer science or learning technology. I'm doing design-based research in education, specifically to address the adoption of new learning technologies.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
Thanks
Rebecca
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