Hello David !

I think it all depends on the meaning privileged through the term "making".
I entirely agree, in certain occurrences your meaning of "making" is,
however in appearance only, part of the designing - as specification -
process. There is an other meaning, that of a completely separate phase,
called "making", along the process of bringing artefacts into existence.

In my current understanding, artifacts are outputs at the end of a two
phase linear and eventually iterative process:

1. conceiving/planning (specification) for a given (specific) outcome
2. implementing (i.e. making) the stated and accepted specifications

The frequent confusion (no negative connotation here) of the two meanings
arises when the conceiver/specifier of an artifact is at the same time its
maker, as in cases of Fine Arts and Crafts and other performing arts. Or in
cases you mention, those of experiments and trials in fine tuning
specifications through various kinds of models. In all those cases, in the
English language (probably otherwise in other languages), the term 'design'
is used to convey the confusion of the two phases above into the whole
process, often both performed by the same individual. But even then, if one
ventures into an ergonomical exercise of unpacking step after step the
process followed by the artist/craftsperson/experimenter, the two phases
may appear clearly different, distinct, and successive, even though at
times appearing as blurred and/or overlapping.

The above separation of the two phases was made the hall mark of the
industrial process in 17-18 century Europe. As reported by several
scholars, among them Daniel Bell for instance in "The Coming of
Post-Industrial Society"*, the industrial process of artifacts production
"has created a new class, hitherto unknown in society, of the engineer and
the technician, men who are divorced from the site of work but who
constitute a 'planning staff' for the operations of the work process.", In
the new process of artifacts production, the conceiving/planning phase was
thus separated from the making phase. Terry, and myself, were referring to
this latter process of artifacts production.

Warm greetings, and many thanks for your long time dedication in feeding us
with your monthly compilation of events and news related to our field of
Design!

Francois

* Bell,D.: The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. Basic Books (1999), p.
189.



On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 11:42 AM, DAVID DURLING <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Francois,
>
> I would think that making is often an important part of design.
>
> For example, making seems at the heart of the crafts in general. I'm sure
> that many in the crafts see themselves as designers. Such making goes well
> beyond technical skills, though such technical skills may underpin the
> designing as well as the making. In research, exploratory designing and
> making can be a very powerful way of gaining understanding.
>
> Terry's notion of 'specification' seems an elegant definition, so long as
> one accepts that the specification may be formed in many different ways
> including computer generated and physical models. In this case the
> specification may be modified and enhanced by the making.
>
> I recently read the latest book on Jonathan Ive, and was struck by the
> extent of making by the design team as an intrinsic part of the process of
> designing and development. Understanding and taking decisions are
> facilitated greatly by comparison between iterative physical models, at
> least within this successful design team. It would seem here that Terry's
> 'specification' is manifest in both CAD modelling and its three dimensional
> output - but the physical models are the means by which decisions are made
> between the various departments. Making goes well beyond technical skills.
>
> Kind regards,
> David
>
>


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