Dear Heico and all, although the book "Design Thinking" (1987, Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press) was a "formal" (or systematic) attempt to describe and
explain (not only design thinking, but also problem solving and design
methods); according to my research, the very first time that the term
DESIGN THINKING was used, properly (not as the "thinking"modified by the
word "design"), meaning the way designers think in the context of design
process (a problem solving/creative process), was Bruce Archer, in 1965
("Systematic Methods for designers", The Design Council, London), also
published in "Developments in Design Methodology", Cross N. (Ed.), 1984.
Archer use the concept DESIGN THINKING as the way designers deal with
design problems and, in his paper, referring to complexity of technological
issues, he wrote:
*"In the face of this situation there has been a world-wide shift in
emphasis from the sculptural to the technological. Ways have had to be
found to incorporate knowledge of ergonomics, cybernetics, marketing, and
management science into design thinking. As with most technology, there has
been a trend towards the adoption of a systems approach as distinct from an
artefact approach."*
Also J. Ch. Jones, use the term DESIGN THINKING in his paper "The
state-of-the-art in design methods" (Portsmouth Conference, Design Methods
in Architecture, 1967):
*"Clearly, the underlying aim is to bring designing into the open so that
other people can see what is going on and contribute to it information and
insights that are outside the designer's knowledge and experience.*
*Having seen that the common aim of the new methods is to externalize
design thinking we can ask ourselves why, at this period in history, so
many people have tried to achieve it. Surely the answer is that there is a
world-wide dissatisfaction with traditional methods of designing. T'he high
cost of design errors, particularly in the case of complex systems, is a
strong incentive to the externalizing of design thought because only in
this way can that thinking be subjected to criticism and testing before
expensive mistakes are made"*
Later, in his book "Design Methods: seeds of human futures", 1970, he
elaborates the idea of DESIGN THINKING in a very systematic way in Chapters
4, 5 and 6 in Part I.
Then, in 1979, in his paper "Designing Designing" (Design Studies, 1, vol.
1, 31-35), he includes DESIGN THINKING (rational and intuitive, as he
describe it) as one of his ten main "worries" about designing.
So, my point is, DESIGN THINKING has a long history, as a central aspect of
the design process, and scholars or theorists had been aware of it before
1987.
Peter Rowe, in his book, collects and organizes the reflections on design
methods (and design thinking), until 1987.
best regards
...........................................
Alejandra Poblete P.
PhD student | Barcelona University
2014-05-11 23:13 GMT-04:00 Heico Wesselius <[log in to unmask]>:
> Reverting back to an earlier discussion on the PHD-Design List about who,
> and how the exact term "design thinking" was defined by those who first
> used it in the form of a compound gerund noun -- not in modified versions,
> such as "thinking" modified by the word "design". There are far more
> examples of this in literature.
>
> It appears that Peter Rowe was the first one to use the exact term "design
> thinking" in his book 1987 book called Design Thinking. In his 1987 book
> called "Design Thinking", Rowe studied the process of design as well as the
> activities of architects designing. As many have argued on or off list,
> before Rowe's 1987 book, several design researchers studied the different
> ways designers work as well which type of problems are solved in their
> respective professional activities. It should be pointed out that Rowe is
> by profession an architect and urban planner. Peter Rowe best sums up his
> book as: "an attempt to fashion a generalised portrait of design thinking.
> A principal aim will be to account for the underlying structure and focus
> of inquiry directly associated with those of 'seeking out' on the part of
> designers, for the purpose of inventing or creating buildings and urban
> artifacts." (Rowe, 1987, p.1)
>
> This leads me to think that Rowe's use of the word "design thinking" is in
> large part aligned with the contemporary understanding and usage of the
> word.
>
> It is quite possible that Rowe has been influenced by others or other
> disciplines. The most likely person would be Donald Schön, who described
> how designers when designing have a "conversation" with the moment.
>
> Schön summarised his philosophy in this quote:
>
> ”When ends are fixed and clear, then the decision to act can present
> itself as an instrumental problem. But when ends are confused and
> conflicting, there is yet no ‘problem’ to solve." (Schön, 1983, p.41)
>
> Others that can be included here are Herbert Simon and Buckminster Fuller.
> The academic work by Simon and Fuller has largely centered on the creative
> process by designers and their professional work. In fact, they never used
> the exact term "design thinking". The discussion around "design thinking"
> over the past 15 years has largely focused on the methods by which
> designers design and also on how "design thinking" can be applied to areas
> outside the domain of design. The explosion in the world "design thinking"
> has only produced few thought leaders.
>
> The second widely use of the word "design thinking" is by Richard Buchanan
> -- a philosopher. He wrote on the issue of wicked problems in design
> thinking. Buchanan's use of the term "design thinking" is even more aligned
> with contemporary usage than was the case in Rowe's book.
>
> Yours,
>
> Heico
>
> Heico Wesselius, BBA, MA, PhD Candidate (Economics, The New School for
> Social Research)| CSIRO Research Fellow | Design Integration Mapping
> Project | Strategic Design | School of Design, Swinburne University of
> Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia | Office: +61 3
> 9214 6025 | Mobile: + 61 432 628 784 | email [log in to unmask] |
> Private email [log in to unmask] |
> Web: www.swinburne.edu.au/design
>
>
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