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Stephen Thank you. Boyd Davis, S., & Gristwood, S. (2017). A dialogue between the real-world and the operational model — The realities of design in Bruce Archer’s 1968 doctoral thesis. *Design Studies, 11*. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2017.11.005 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2017.11.005> The Design Studies article by you and Gristwood is wonderful. It is more complete than the one you shared earlier. it also more completely emphasizes the misgivings Archer had about his earlier work (and his thesis). In the year of his death, Archer wrote of ‘the conflict and pain that theorists and practitioners experience during the transition from one paradigm to another’ (Archer, 2005 <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X17300893#bib28>). We have shown how Archer abandoned some of the key assumptions of his early approaches. The linearity which at first seemed sufficient to give design a rigorous basis in terms of both data and method had to give way to more refined, and realistic, approaches. While Archer had always acknowledged the role of the ‘creative leap’ (Archer, 1963–64 <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X17300893#bib15>: Part five), one senses his relief on finding that philosophers of science too recognised the role of intuition and of early tentative solutions. Archer never ceased to use phrases such as ‘science of design’ and ‘a science for design’, but what he came to mean by such terms had altered almost beyond recognition; his 1968 thesis is a pivotal document within that change of view. I was particularly taken by this statement from your paper: In Honest Styling (Archer, 1957c) Archer makes the telling remark that the manufacturer has considered ‘not merely a machine, but a man/machine/work system’ and notes with approval that its dial has ‘been redesigned close to principles enunciated by the Applied Psychology Research Unit, Cambridge, and was developed with the aid of advice obtained from the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough’. I spent a sabbatical at the Applied Research Unit in Cambridge (England). In fact, it was my experiences with English water taps and the stark contradictions between the principles espoused by the APU and the complete lack of interest by the memebers of the APU in applying those principles, even to their own building, that caused me to write "The Psychology of Everyday Things" while in residence there (later on, the book was retitled to replace "Psychology" with "Design"). ==== I would have been more sympathetic to Archer's thesis had I seen your Design Studies article (or had I read your earlier paper with more care). I sympathize with Archer. After all, I was an engineer, steeped in formalism. I, too, talk about a "science of design," but I have not succeeded as much as I hoped. I completely subscribe to this quotation from your paper: On first studying the thesis, one might sense a simple transition: that Archer as a mechanical engineer was attempting to scientise design. But the preceding material modifies this view. Archer’s original emphasis was on the need for creative design in engineering. He was arguing for rigour, not confined to scientific rigour, in industrial practice. Design decisions should be based where appropriate on objective data, and calculation used to identify the limits on optimal designs. No process would provide a single best solution. He assumed that the designer's vision preceded any application of logic. There is a strong emphasis on the commercial world, of survival and success in international markets, and the inadequacy of current management. Yes, that is what I sensed in reading the thesis. And the rest of the paragraph describes my own philosophy. So, again: thank you Don -- Don Norman Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego [log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org/> ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------