Hello all and thanks for a great read!
I’m jumping in a bit late here to add the following.
I question whether the “banal” or routine problems in design aren’t, in fact, make work projects. They are routine (not particularly complex or complicated) because they don’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Do we need another dating app to make some tech startup a bit of money? So, if my client needs a website, does the world benefit in any way from their offerings? What about that re-brand project?
I’m biased (and self serving) in my preference for designers making things, even when these aren’t significant things because, hopefully, they are a bit more thoughtful about doing so. That’s my hope anyway, though there’s a ton of evidence that designers put out plenty of ugly, stupid, and/or harmful things into the world. I’m with Papanek on this one.
M
Milena Radzikowska, MDes, PhD
Professor of Information Design
Faculty of Business and Communication Studies
Mount Royal University
She/Her
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.milenaradzikowska.com
“I guess this is what we’re doing now...”
I LIVE AND WORK on the ancestral and traditional Indigenous territories of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuu T’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.
> On Feb 27, 2020, at 5:26 PM, David Sless <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> On 27 Feb 2020, at 7:37 pm, Richard Herriott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Not very many problems are like the ones described in David´s paper. Most problems are straightforward and the initial scoping provides a good start to a remedy (take a pill, oil the hinge, buy a missile system**).
>
> Thanks for your thoughtful comments. But, I beg to differ. Many of the problems presented to us by our Corporate Members are of this kind. Perhaps that is something to do specifically with communication and information design problems where means and ends get confused. Problems are frequently mis-stated with solutions being proposed ahead of investigation. For example. “ We need a wayfinding (signposting) system” might be more usefully stated as a question “what do we do about people getting lost on the campus”. Or “ we need better medicine informations instructions”, might be more usefully stated as, “ how do we prevent people misusing their medicines” etc.
>
> A lot depends on the focus of the designer, not the client. If you see yourself as a wayfinding system designer, then that is the solution you offer. If you see yourself as an instruction designer, then you offer a better set of instructions. But if you see yourself more broadly as a “Designer”, regardless of what you might be best known for, or what it says on your web site or name plate, the you would have the skills to move beyond the client’s immediate expectations.
>
> So the answer to the client’s question
>> "When do I even know I have a problem amenable to design thinking?”
> Is, you don’t, but hopefully the person you consult, does.
>
> David
>
>
>>
>>
>> Thank you David for that paper.
>>
>> Design has its own signposting problem. If I am feeling unwell I might go to a doctor. If my car is feeling unwell I might take it to a mechanic. If a government needs weapons it goes to arms manufacturer. But how do non-designers even know to go to a designer? In among all the tame problems are the hidden wicked ones or at least messy ones. That lived experience of most problems being tame lulls people Into a false sense of security. It even lulls decision-makers into a false sense of security.
>>
>> Designers are alert to these messy problems but most people aren´t and probably think in terms of tame problems or else hastily conclude the problem is insoluble.
>>
>> Non-designers don´t have a sign post to follow, and what would it be labelled if it existed? "If you have a tricky problem, go this way" Or "Design problem this way, please".
>>
>> Politics and policy making is one area where messy problems get dealt with. Is it possible design as a discipline needs to have outreach to political scientists and political actors. It seems politicians are required to know something of law, science and economics but know nothing of design and all problems are handled under those categories. The Danish government demanded a cheap, new intercity train sometime in the late 1990s and in writing their law affected the design of the train fundamentally. The Irish government is currently considering "fast tracking" big infrastructure projects blind to the fact fast tracking is a synonym for inadequate planning and preparation. Both cases are one where design awareness would be handy at a political level.
>>
>> To conclude: design has its own signposting problem which is why cases exist where the problem and solution were misunderstood. Fundamentally it is a meta-problem. "When do I even know I have a problem amenable to design thinking?"
>>
>>
>> (** missile systems might be the wrong answer to the problem, probably are)
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Sless
>> Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2020 4:16 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Scoping Problem Boundaries
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> We have just reissued a paper I wrote back in 2002, for the benefit of our many Subscribers.
>>
>> It describes some of the perennial issues we face in design research.
>>
>> People on this list might find it useful too.
>>
>> It contains, in succinct form matters I have discussed at in other publications at length.
>>
>> https://communication.org.au/scoping-problem-boundaries/ <https://communication.org.au/scoping-problem-boundaries/>
>>
>> David
>>
>> Communication Research Institute researching and sharing best practice https://communication.org.au
>>
>> Mobile: +61 (0)412356795
>> Skype: davidsless
>>
>> 60 Park Street • Fitzroy North • Melbourne • Australia • 3068
>>
>>
>>
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