Dear Victor and list

I agree with Victor's general comments and especially this last part  
(from Victor's email):

>  In essence, most practices have ongoing  components of critique  
> and evaluation which strongly influence those practices. I believe  
> we have little of that in design. Yes, sales determine the success  
> of a product in the marketplace, but not necessarily its value or  
> meaning. So, my call for more research on the social effects of  
> products relates to the need for an ongoing critical component of  
> design practice just as we have comparable components for the  
> practices of writing novels, making buildings, making films,  
> producing art, writing music etc. All are introducing products to  
> society and none without thick fields of discourse that judge and  
> evaluate them. If we have something comparable in design and I am  
> missing it, I welcome someone on the list pointing it out.

There is a long existing need for a more elaborate design critique.  
Your references to other areas show that it is both possible and  
needed. Critique of designed products do already exist in many  
disciplines (for instance, in my own, interaction design, it is  
frequent, though maybe not well developed :-).

I would like to raise the issue of the purpose of design critique. It  
seems that most postings see that kind of critique as a way to help  
designers to improve their designs. This is of course one eligible  
purpose, interestingly though, it becomes a design process oriented  
purpose, even though it is focused on the designed products. It is  
similar to the (in many places) traditional way to educate  
architects, i.e., show the students all the famous and infamous  
buildings ever built, with the purpose that it will develop their  
design sensibility. A sensibility that later on will influence their  
thinking and be manifested in their own designs. This approach is  
highly needed in any design education and is usually what happens  
through design critique sessions.

However there are other purposes for design product critique. One is  
when the "customer" of the critique is not the designer but the  
citizen or the society at large. Designers have a responsibility to  
be advocates for good design. This is of course a difficult task  
since some might question it being a matter of taste, however if we  
believe that we can educate designers to do good design we also have  
to believe that that ability is worth something and can be used for  
the common good, not just for producing products that sell.

So, design critique is a multi facetted activity and I think the  
field of design research is still in its early stages when it comes  
to its self-awareness around these issues, and what its  
responsibility is, and how it can be done. I truly appreciate the  
ongoing discussion on the list.

Best
Erik


-----------------------------
Erik Stolterman
Professor of Informatics
Director of Human Computer Interaction Design
School of Informatics
Indiana University
email: [log in to unmask]
web: http://hcid.informatics.indiana.edu/eriksite/
blog: http://transground.blogspot.com/