stef,

since you made references to me, i would respond as follows:

in my view, translation is not a good metaphor for human-centered design. translation always involves maintaining the meaning of something, originally of a text, but metaphorically including someone's conceptions, during a process of expressing it in another language. a translator wants to be accurate, omit little or nothing, and would be considered a bad translator if he or she would add something of his or her own.

i do think it is important for human centered designers to be able to listen to how users see their needs, desires, practices, indeed the world in which they live. this is what ethnography teaches.  but designers, at least professional designers, need to go beyond merely taking dictations from their clients. in my view, designers need to propose something that their clients could not envisioned on their own and present their work in ways that it is embraced for the opportunities it makes available. if designers were limited to merely translate what they are told, they might well be replaced by an algorithm. designers can justify their profession only if they contribute something extraordinary to the lives of others. 

klaus   

-----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 stefanie di russo
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 6:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Specifying something to be made or done

My question is directed in response to Klaus, (but of course anyone can weigh in on this comment)

*in my experiences, much of what designers do is to make drawings, prepare presentations, work out arguments for why their proposal is a good one and this has much to do with communication skills, which goes far beyond the writing of specifications. i have never met a successful designers who cannot argue for what they propose others can realize.*

If design/ers are to inspire and their responsibility is in communicating this inspiration effectively, how does this role change when the inspiration comes from the user? With so much emphasis on community/customer/user/human centered research, does the designer become a translator and/or messenger for the inspiration they obtain through user/human centered design? I am increasingly inclined to believe that translation is becoming a significant part of the conceiving, planning and making that is found in design today

-stef


On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 10:18 AM, Robert Harland <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Dear Francois
>
> When I raised this issue previously on the list, I argued that the 
> term "design" usefully holds together a relationship between 
> "conceiving, planning and making" in some kind of singular pursuit (an 
> object, system or experience).
>
> If "conceiving, planning and making" are unrelated, they are better 
> called "conceiving," "planning" and "making," not benefitting from the 
> conjoining opportunity "design" affords.
>
> For example, I may "conceive" of an idea for a cake, but never make 
> it, in which case I have merely "conceived" of the idea. Or, another 
> person might suggest an idea for a particular kind of cake, and I may 
> "plan" to buy the ingredients, in which case I have merely planned. 
> Or, I may "make" a cake to a recipe, conceived by another person with 
> ingredients bought by someone else, therefore only involving myself in 
> making. My singular participation in each of these are unrelated acts 
> of conceiving, planning and making. I'm conceiving, planning or making.
>
> By using "design" to stand for the "conceiving, planning and making" 
> of an object, system or service, one might understand how a cake comes 
> into existence, through design. However, design does not work so well 
> to describe these words when used in unrelated contexts, such as 
> conceiving of a car, planning a party, or making a necklace.
>
> For me, "design" usefully stands for the relationship between these 
> activities in some kind of linked pursuit, whether a single individual 
> undertakes all three, say in the realisation of a piece of jewellery 
> by an individual, or the realisation of a building by a team of people 
> including architects, engineers, surveyors, building contractors etc.
>
> In this sense, for me design is relational and links different 
> activities with a consistent intention.
>
> As a former graphic design practitioner, I fully appreciate the idea 
> of a conceiving, planning and making undertaken separately by highly 
> skilled individuals. Within a context of graphic outputs, I called 
> this design, clients understood this and commissioned work that 
> included all three. In this sense, design stood for more than the 
> individual activities of conceiving, planning and making a brochure or 
> website. The sum was more than the parts. Specification tended to 
> happen mostly as part of the planning phase.
>
> I hope this further explains why I drew on this example from Buchanan.
>
> Regards, Robert
>
>
>
> Dr Robert Harland | Lecturer | Learning & Teaching Coordinator for 
> School of the Arts | School of the Arts, English and Drama | 
> Loughborough University | Recent publications | Harland, R. G., 2012. 
> Towards an integrated pedagogy of graphics in the United Kingdom. 
> Iridescent: Icograda Journal of Design Research, 2012, 2 (1).
> https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134 <
> https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/11349
>
>
>
> On 08/01/2014 12:21, "Francois Nsenga" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:
> [log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
> Dear Rob,
>
> Quoting from Richard Buchanan (2001), you wrote:
>
> "design is more than specification - it is -  'conceiving, planning 
> and making'"
>
> I entirely concur on the 'conceiving, planning' part of your proposed 
> definition of design; although, to me, both terms are synonymous - and 
> not meaning 'more than' - with specifying an artifact. However, I hope 
> you don't extend the definition of 'design' to 'making' processes that 
> I tend to leave up respectively to technicians and skilled workers, 
> more prepared and apt by training.
>
> Francois
> From warm, comfortable weather in Kigali!
>
>
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--
*Stefanie Di Russo*

PhD Student
Faculty of Design
Swinburne University
*twitter:* @stefdirusso <https://twitter.com/#!/stefdirusso>
*linkedin: public
*profile<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stefanie-di-russo/35/16/a84>


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