Lars,
This is a good question to explore.
To me concepts are cognitive abstractions derived from language.
There are only two points I wish to make the first I etymological
The terms is traced back to 1554-60, derived from Latin "conceptum," "something conceived." It's stem is shared with "received," "deceived," and "perceived." All of them have something to do with formations in the mind. However, the prefix "con" links concepts with togetherness. So conceptions can be said to be collaborative cognition.
My other comment has to do with Eleanor Rosh's work who studied three kinds of conceptions:
(1) we use prototypes to define a class of visualizable phenomena by how prototypical they are. For example, in the U.S. the Robbin is close to the prototypical bird. When we see a bird we describe it by how it differs from that prototype by pointing out its untypical qualities, for example, having a red beak, long legs, etc. A penguin is a bird by scientific definitions but it is very far from a typical, in folk conceptions, not a bird.
Accordingly, we can never see A chair but judge what affords us sitting by its protototypicality.
(2) adding details to prototype, we qualify chairs by adjectives or uses like baby chair, dining room chairs, or office chairs.
(3) Abstracting from prototypes are talk of concepts that are no longer visualizable, like furniture.
Designer who talk of design concepts tend to talk of visualizable but not yet observable phenomena, like guides or models. What links my second point to the first is that con-cepts always emerge among people in interactions, using language to explain what they have in mind doing. Concepts are cannot dispense of cognition but heavily depend on the tropes provided in the language used to talk of them. They are not strictly cognitive phenomena.
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 Terence Love
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 9:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The concept of concept?
Hi Lars,
The idea of 'concept' as 'something abstract, conceived in the mind' has been useful from the earliest days design theory because of its foundational roles in shaping the idea of 'design process' and differentiating the 'initial ideas in mind' (concepts) from the real world physical design drawings or electronic equivalents .
One of the earliest ways of seeing the role of 'concept' in design theory terms is:
1) The idea of a 'concept' marks and differentiates something different from the 'design' as a ''description of how to make or do something' - for example as a drawing of a building or product, or a description of a service.
2) 'Concepts' are mind artefacts that occur at an early stage of any step in a design process, before any designs are produced.
A foundational text for the design research field on concepts in design (from just before the foundation of the Design Research Society) is
French, M. J. (1971) Engineering Design: The Conceptual Stage, Heinmann Educational
Interestingly, French's carefully reasoned view of a 'concept' differs from what many in Art and Design fields call a 'concept'. The Art and Design view of a concept maps onto what French refers to as a 'scheme' - a much later development than concepts in his description of the design process and an *outcome* of working with concepts. This can be seen in 1.3 in
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WOZVBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lars Albinsson
Sent: Friday, 29 December 2017 10:02 PM
To: PHD-DESIGN List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The concept of concept?
This may a question as stupid as following a nil pointer, but…
Is there any good writing on what ”concept”, as in design concept, conceptual idea etc is, in terms of:
What do ”concepts” encompass?
How are they expressed (if they are expressed? Or only internal?)
My search is for the general, rather than being bound to certain class of artifacts.
When cruising the science libs, the only ones I find seems to be restricted to a certain discipline, like architecture.
My question is connected to the notion that design is oscillating between the whole and the parts. ”Concept” seems to be used to represent that ”whole”.
Krippendorff suggests that initial idea is language, and Jones suggests drawings. But if you look a complex things, like the original moon shot or the iPhone, the ”concept” is, at any given time as it evolves, also rather complex. A major part of the concept is not immediately connected to visual appearance. Still lead designers/maestros seems to, somewhere inside them, have a pretty clear concept, which they appear to test run proposals against, to judge their merits.
Any articles you can point me towards?
Med Vänlig Hälsning / Best Regards,
Lars Albinsson
Consultant - Innovation & Creative Processes CEO & Ph D Candidate
+46 (0) 705927045
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Maestro Design & Management AB
www.maestro.se <http://www.maestro.se/>
<http://www.maestro.se/>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|