Terry,
I was a member of the DRS at that time. I was working in Sunderland (just down the road from Newcastle) and at Durham University where I was doing research on design methods in visual communication. I went to a few DRS meetings and well remember the Newcastle Group. Interesting times!!
David
--
blog: http://communication.org.au/blog/
web: http://communication.org.au
Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA
CEO • Communication Research Institute •
• helping people communicate with people •
Mobile: +61 (0)412 356 795
Phone: +61 (0)3 9005 5903
Skype: davidsless
60 Park Street • Fitzroy North • Melbourne • Australia • 3068
On 19 Aug 2014, at 12:41 pm, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Jerry,
> Thanks for your message.
> I'm happy to try to collate together John's thinking on design thinking. Others that might also remember are staff and students of Design at Northumbria Uni and Newcastle Poly as was, and the close knit small community of the DRS then. At the time John started talking about design thinking and domain-free design the idea of design thinking didn't really exist as a fixed concept in the design discourse. In part, at that time, it was used to differentiate 'design thinking' as an activity involving conscious thoughts and reflections and careful explicit consideration of factor, needs, processes and solution spaces. This is in contrast to designing using intuition and other forms of designing without conscious thinking. The idea of design thinking as I remember it then was drawing attention to the idea there are benefits in standing back and thinking and making strategic moves, rather than being wholly immersed and losing oneself in the design activity. It aligned with but differed from the similar separating of in and out that occurred in the Synectics design methods developed in the 1950s by Prince and Gordon.
> A challenge is that John used diagrams to pin down and describe complex concepts in rather than words. He used words though discussing design theory in long dialectic discussions whilst out walking, or, occasionally, at the pub.
> I'll have a go at remembering and documenting some of John's ideas. Watch this space. . . .
> All the best,
> Terry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jerry Diethelm
> Sent: Tuesday, 19 August 2014 9:44 AM
> To: PHD Design
> Subject: Re: How 'Design Thinking Research' and 'Design Thinking' are related (or not)?
>
> Dear Terry,
>
> A very nice tribute to John Woollatt, thanks. As his protegé, and since he didn't publish anything, could you perhaps convey what you consider some - or any - of his contributions to design thinking?
>
> Jerry
>
>
> On 8/18/14 6:05 PM, "Terence Love" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Stephane,
>> One not widely known part of the design thinking history is the role
>> played by John Woollatt in Manchester and Newcastle. The design
>> thinking path to IDEO and Tim Brown (and the paths of many other
>> designers, design researchers and design organisations including
>> Apple) were dependent on the ideas and teachings of this seminal
>> yet not widely-known designer, design theorist and design educator.
>> John Woollatt was an experienced and successful designer when in his
>> 40s he attended the first postgraduate design research course in the
>> UK, which was delivered at UMIST by John Chris Jones assisted by Nigel Cross.
>> Following on from that that John developed ideas of 'design thinking'
>> along with a large amount of design theory across many areas of
>> design. It was part of what he referred to as the design theories of
>> 'domain-free design'. In parallel, he developed modes of design
>> education aimed at designers being able to bring a particular 'design
>> thinking' and learning approach to design activity whatever the
>> subject matter and regardless of the field. John Woollatt's design
>> theory development and design teaching occurred inside and outside design institutions from the mid-1960s to his death in the mid-1990s.
>> Most of his later design theory development, especially that about
>> design thinking, was at the time he was teaching and researching at
>> the institution that became the Design Department of Northumbria University in Newcastle UK.
>> This is the design school where Tim Brown, Jony Ives and many
>> prominent designers studied. John spread his ideas through personal
>> connection and was an active early member of the Design Research
>> Society and attended their meetings to spread and test his design
>> theory ideas and find out what others were doing.
>> One unusual aspect of John's approach was that, alongside his formal
>> teaching, John had long-term protégés, and mentored many young
>> upcoming designers outside the formal education system. Much of this
>> occurred in walking ,camping and sailing trips to the Lake district
>> and visits to design exhibitions. I was his second and perhaps longest
>> term protégé (I remember John sharing and discussing John Chris Jones
>> and Nigel's lecture notes during his studies with them around 1968).
>> My guess is there are several others of his protégé's on this list. A big hi to all of you! Please get in touch.
>> From the 1960s, John developed and disseminated large amounts of
>> design theory to his students, colleagues and protégés. During the 70s
>> and 80s, he was a regular visitor to my house in Lancaster bringing
>> new design theories to discuss and information about what he had
>> found worked and what didn't (I was developing design theory on what
>> became known as wicked problems along with computerised design
>> optimisation and automation). None of John Woollatt's material as far
>> as I know ever was ever published formally. John didn't write for publication and that wasn't the way in design research in those times.
>> Others may know better, but as far as I know John's only publication
>> was a description in the 1172 Motor Association handbook of his design
>> and testing of an aluminium monocoque racing car, Magaloysius.
>> The role and history of John Woollatt at Northumbria University in
>> many ways provides a missing link in understanding the origins of
>> design thinking and its propagation to American design institutions
>> and, from there, back into academia.
>> Best wishes,
>> Terry
>>
>> ---
>> Dr Terence Love
>> PhD(UWA), BA(Hons) Engin. PGCEd, FDRS, AMIMechE, MISI Director, Love
>> Services Pty Ltd PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks Western Australia 6030
>> Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848
>> Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629
>> [log in to unmask]
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Stéphane Vial
>> Sent: Tuesday, 19 August 2014 1:02 AM
>> To: PHD-Design (mailing list)
>> Subject: How 'Design Thinking Research' and 'Design Thinking' are
>> related (or not)?
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Since I am currently writing a short introduction book to design for
>> the French audience, my main concern is about the origin of the
>> so-called "Design Thinking", as popularized in design profession by
>> IDEO. Does Tim Brown and IDEO's Design Thinking approach come from
>> "design thinking research" in the sense of Nigel Cross (designerly
>> ways of
>> knowking/thinking) OR does this have not the same origin at all ? How
>> Design Thinking Research in the academic world is related (or not) to
>> Design Thinking practioners's approach?
>>
>> I am sorry if this has already been said or published, I still have a
>> lot of to read but this point is not clear to me and help on that
>> would be much appreciated.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> --
>> *Stéphane Vial*
>> Maître de conférences en sciences du design à l'Université de Nîmes
>> Responsable de la licence Arts Appliqués Membre permanent de l¹équipe
>> « Sémiotique des Arts et du Design » à l'Institut ACTE (UMR 8218,
>> CNRS/Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) Co-responsable du groupe de
>> recherches PROJEKT uni.stephane-vial.net
>> --
>> PhD Philosophy (Paris Descartes University) Associate Professor of
>> Design Studies at the University of Nîmes (France) Head of the
>> Bachelor of Applied Arts Program Researcher at the ACTE Institute,
>> Sorbonne Paris 1 University Co-head of the research group PROJEKT <http://projekt.unimes.fr/>.
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
> Jerry Diethelm
> Architect - Landscape Architect
> Planning & Urban Design Consultant
>
> Prof. Emeritus of Landscape Architecture
> and Community Service € University of Oregon
> 2652 Agate St., Eugene, OR 97403
> € e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> € web: http://pages.uoregon.edu/diethelm/
>
> € 541-686-0585 home/work 541-346-1441 UO
> € 541-206-2947 work/cell
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
