Design chasm incl. engineering design Terry wrote (12/07/03 and resent question today 15/07) “Just wondering how exactly you feel the discussion applies to engineering designers? My interest is because engineering designers (the several hundred varieties of) dominate the design field in many ways (Financially, size of projects, volume of design literature, longest history of design study, largest number of methods, largest amount of design research undertaken etc)(…).” Sorry not to respond before, Terry, I was in the mountains not aware of this nagging question! I also must admit I find this a difficult question to respond to in this general way. My research focus is more on specific settings for understanding and eventually middle ground theorizing – but since you asked I’d give some highly preliminary thoughts… because I feel it applies in many ways that are perhaps as yet not fully understood. So take it for what it is – preliminary thinking - and I would like to here your own reflections regarding this! And hopefully Glenn (you’ve asked him as well) or others can respond better and more fully. I give just three lines of preliminary thoughts below (excuse if I become somewhat self-referential but I feel grounding is a necessary but not sufficient anchoring to try to respond to your broad question). 1. Based on the product design cases I’ve studied, or otherwise gained insight into through research colleagues and wise practitioners (e.g. Robert Blaich’s reflective book 1993), I feel that both the “design chasm” phenomenon AND also the creative tensions among specialists with diverse perspectives/skills/tools are relevant in many ways. For example, it can be relevant to understanding the variety of ways product creation processes are organized, the actual unfolding of collaborative design (how are the various specialists involved in design processes) and its outcomes. Here I agree with others (e.g. Lubomir, Glenn) about the importance of studying talented professional design experts but in line with design historians I also argue for studying design developments ‘in context’ (e.g.Penny Sparke) including interaction with the clients’ various specialist groups calling themselves designers or not. By the way, there is a designer without or beyond the clients – just think of design entrepreneurs as Dyson who had to create his own company to get his designs realized (someone stated ‘no designer without client’… disagree, but not enough time/space to go into that). Moreover, the dominance of engineers in several corporate product development departments can make them interesting to study. Speaking from my own research experience I’ve found it interesting to zoom in on established organizations that are kind of ‘outliers’ in their industrial contexts, e.g. working with industrial designers more closely and/or collaborating in new ways, innovating etc.(See papers in the Design Studies, Design Management Journal and previous ref. given). However, others may find OTHER interests more triggering such as studying the everyday design and development work in e.g. various engineering teams, investigating the various perspectives and tools in use, researching the language and terms in use (agree with Tim’s arguments here), investigating new forms of networking etc.(cf. the variety of design research currently emerging). In short, I see many kinds of relevance in the interface between design and engineering as well as other specialism incl.economics - whatever these specialist orientations mean in local practices (that is something we need to shed light on). And we should not necessarily do or argue in the same way but rather follow a variety of research interests in order to build improved as well as new understanding of design in various contexts. However, what we should more commonly do is, as Victor Margolin has recently pointed out, to really read each other’s work to build on the somewhat fragmented knowledge in design. Victor Margolin said this in a recent (2001) key-note speech to European Academy of Design in Aveiro, Portugal (I think his paper is printed in the Design Journal, UK). And this list also can help for that purpose and I find some of the various streams highly interesting to read too! 2. My second point concerns the need to understand design terms and design issues dynamically. Learning from real collaborations how many kinds of designers are working closely with other specialists in and around organizations I feel, I guess in line with many on this list, that these phenomena - design chasm, what constitutes design, professional or competently made design etc. - are dynamic rather than static. So we need to explore the constructing dynamics and thus move beyond too simplified opposing views e.g. the traditional two cultures debate between natural sciences and humanities, or more precise, for our design research-oriented purpose we need to move beyond the mere (re-)discovery of the gulf or ‘chasm’ among specialists as engineers and industrial designers but saying this I mean that it is worth while to reflect on this chasm as Glenn did well. Also I do find it valuable with rich descriptions as a first step in this sparsely researched area. Terry wrote: “Much of the design expertise in engineering design is more closely linked to mathematical modes of representation than drawing (even when undertaking drawing) and I wonder about laying so much emphasis on visual aesthetic skill, particularly in relation to defining a core term.” 3. Re skills and mediation: I do not pretend to have the final or right response here but may give just a preliminary reflection I have been thinking about when attempting to identify some of the core benefits of design including its processual aspects. Because more complex and non-routine design advances in organizations involve multiple specialist concerns and approaches (e.g. Terry’s ref. to mathematical calculations) but also novice as well as novel reasoning into the as yet unknown, it seems that human-centered mediating in general and visual-expressive mediation in particular can be fundamental. What and how something is mediated by designers and their collaborators may vary but seems to include both matter and body, language and not least particular ways of “talking” through sketching etc. (architecture and design studies exist on sketching for example). Engineers and managers in the settings I’ve studied especially appreciated physical models that they could touch and inspect, “be in” or “stand over” while talking about them and what these not-yet-new products could mean. Although based in design collaboration from Scandinavia this seems to resonate with international design experiences (e.g. IDEO’s experiences) and may thus have wider interest. However, my project hitherto has not been to investigate engineering or design in a very broad meaning of the term - although I will read with interest what you are doing here! So looking forward to your reflections on this Terry! Best regards, Birgit