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Hi Mike, Excluded middle fallacy... Terry -----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 McAuley, Mike Sent: Thursday, 22 September 2011 7:41 AM To: Dr Terence Love Subject: Re: differences in process between design and other creative disciplines. Thanks for all posts so far on this issue. As mentioned earlier on, I am at the beginning of a new research venture and finding it very exciting. A whole new batch of literature is slowly emerging; well new for me. Researchers of creativity such as Lubart (2001) use definitions of creativity which comfortably overlap and easily suit common understanding of what the design process is. For example, he describes creative process as "the sequence of thoughts and actions that lead to a novel, adaptive production" (2001, p. 295). That does not sound dissimilar to a definition of design. His paper 'Models of the creative process: Past, present and future (2001) is worth a read. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15326934CRJ1334_07 In November i will be making my first foray into the public domain by a conference presentation at Massey university. The conference is 'Performing and enquiring: Celebrating practice-based research in music therapy and related professions'. My presentation is titled 'Interpreting words into music and images: Finding commonalities of process between song writing and illustration.' Mike Lubart, Todd I. (2001) 'Models of the Creative Process: Past, Present and Future'. Creativity Research Journal, 13: 3. 295 —308 Dr. MIKE MCAULEY SENIOR LECTURER, SUBJECT DIRECTOR, ILLUSTRATION Institute of Communication Design College of Creative Arts Massey University Museum Building Buckle Street Wellington http://creative.massey.ac.nz<http://creative.massey.ac.nz/> ________________________________ (04) 801 5799 ext 62461 (04 027 357 8799 On Sep 22, 2011, at 10:37 AM, Ken Friedman wrote: Dear Chris, Thanks for an elegant and reflective post. You've identified a key factor that we probably don't consider often enough. This factor is similarities among kinds of processes. From similarities, we also identify the factors that differentiate processes. In this case, the differentiating factors are context and purpose. When I was getting my MA -- in education and psychology -- I used to drop by once or twice a week to chat with one of my thesis advisors. He introduced me to Kierkegaard's work. I'd read, I'd visit him for a chat, and we'd reflect together on "associations, themes and narratives." They were "inherently shareable" and we did "make a collaborative ... [but not material or visual] ... interpretation that can be negotiated and re-negotiated by drawing on the variations of interpretation of a collaborative theme or association." Like you, I found "that the ability to leverage the inherent conflict of interpretation, in a very positive sense, of an association or theme [lay at the heart of the process] both from an individual and a collaborative process." Even though I've had to bracket off issues in your note to make it clear this wasn't a design process, it was a reflective, collaborative process, and it helped to establish meanings that fed the creative process behind my thesis. In the context of professional design or professional design education, we set out to create toward a goal, to meet needs, solve problems, or to create something new. Despite the differences in context, the reflective and interpretive process has common aspects in music, design, or in the thinking that leads to a thesis. In this sense, understanding process has a lot to teach us. This is a quick, reflective response to your note. You stated the theme, and it got me reflecting, associating, and remembering a very enjoyable year spent with one great thinker reading and reflecting on the work of another great thinker. Kierkegaard used to say that the challenge of life is that we must live life forward, while we must understand life reflecting and looking backward. Perhaps the challenge of design is that we reflect and look forward to shape the life into which we will live. Warm wishes, Ken Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Ph: +61 3 9214 6078 | Faculty www.swinburne.edu.au/design<http://www.swinburne.edu.au/design> Chris Heape wrote: --snip-- There is a wonderful example by Donald Schön in his Educating the Reflective Practitioner (1987 pp.179-181) that involves a music teacher with a student learning to play the violin. The teacher asks one particular student to identify the character of the music she is playing. The student identifies the qualities of the three themes as lively, stormy and reflective. The teacher continues by asking the student to identify from her own theme descriptions how she could change her playing to achieve a more precise expression of those themes. I have often used this example to help students and design educators to understand what I am asking them to do from a design perspective, in particular in a co-design process to make the point that visual associations, themes and narratives are inherently shareable even though those involved can't necessarily see the same image. They can however make a collaborative, material or visual interpretation that can be negotiated and re-nogiated by drawing on the variations of interpretation of a collaborative theme or association. I do believe that the ability to leverage the inherent conflict of interpretation, in a very positive sense, of an association or theme lies at the very heart of a design process, both from an individual and a collaborative process. --snip-- My attempt at an answer would be that it is the context of practice that is significant... Or as a question, as regards one or another context of practice one could ask: "What is actually going on here, how are those involved doing what they do?" My further research has led me to understand that much of what one could consider as being intimately or even solely related to a design process, for example design thinking, visual thinking, is in fact the fine tuning of human capabilities that in this case are brought to bear in the context of a design process. So it stands to reason that others can bring these capabilities or one could maybe even call them levels of perception to bear and fine tune in other processes, other contexts. --snip--