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Dear list members, In the last few weeks I have done one more of the seemingly never ending sessions of literature review for my PhD (don't get me wrong, I'm having fun), and reading the comments on this list some thoughts came into my mind, and I would like to put them to your consideration. I agree, under Simon's definition, that anyone can design or be a designer, nevertheless, Schön is quite clear in a fundamental point: "there is an increasing tendency to think of policies, institutions, behaviour, as objects of design." "We risk ignoring and underestimating significant differences in media, context, goals and bodies of knowledge specific to the professions, but we may also discover, at a deeper level, a generic design process which underlies these differences." Everything starts to make sense to me, some years ago I reached the point of disliking profoundly the word "design" because I was witnessing a prostitution of it. At least according to what I had been taught at university design is, and what I have experienced in my years of professional practice. Humbly, being very conscious of my own ignorance, if I may say: I don't think the problem necessarily lies in the words "design" or "designer", I just wonder if the problem lies in our (the designers' guild) wrongly appropriation of such words many years ago as uniquely ours. In one of the corridors of our library I stumbled upon a book that called my attention by the use of the word "growth" extremely outstanding from the rest of the cover, which together the entire title is: Designing for GROWTH: a design thinking tool kit for managers I wonder if any of you have read it. Written by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie and published by Columbia Business School in 2011. I reproduce what I think is a particularly interesting section next: "Whether design thinking can - or should - be thought to managers is a hotly debated topic among designers. How you define design itself lies at the core of the argument. Designers bristle at the suggestion that managers can be taught enough about design to be anything but dangerous. They point to the years of specialized training that designers receive - and worry that unleashing managers to think of themselves as designers will erode the quality of and appreciation for what trained designers do. We believe that their concerns need to be taken seriously and that the way to do this is to differentiate design from design thinking." "Gifted designers combine an aesthetic sensibility with deep capabilities for visualization, ethnography, and pattern recognition that are well beyond the grasp of most of us - managers included. But when it comes to fostering business growth, the talent that we are interested in is not rooted in either natural gifts or studio training - it lies with having a systematic approach to problem solving. That, to us, defines design thinking, and it can be thought to managers." It's the way designers think and solve problems, but it is possible that we were wrong in calling it so by that only fact? Best regards, Victor G. Martinez Post Graduate Researcher Centre for Design Research Department of Design Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences Northumbria University www.trophec.com www.vgmtheory.com Schön, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Basic Books Inc. USA. Simon, H. A. (1996) The science of the artificial. MIT press, Cambridge, MA. Please think if your really need to print this email ________________________________________ This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain private and confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, please take no action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. Please reply to this e-mail to highlight the error. You should also be aware that all electronic mail from, to, or within Northumbria University may be the subject of a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related legislation, and therefore may be required to be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and attachments have been scanned for viruses prior to leaving Northumbria University. Northumbria University will not be liable for any losses as a result of any viruses being passed on. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------