Hi Lars
I rarely reply to the posts on this list serve- in fact I rarely read them in their entirety (tl;dr) but I just thought I'd point out/to a few things.
The whole idea of 'concepts' is radically changing with the advances made in the cognitive sciences that allow scientists to peer inside the active brains of humans. Designers will increasingly be required to grapple with cognition just to keep up with our machines.
I think a lot of the older literature is perhaps, well, old and therefore not necessarily reflective of some of the most recent discoveries made with the newer imagining technology.
This is not to say that concepts can only be understood as neural firings but certainly a good place to start would be with the literature related to categories- which help form and activate concepts (a very large body of work!).
A current book I can highly recommend as a starting point is Lisa Feldman Barrett's book How Emotions Are Made. She proposes a radical new approach to the understanding of emotion, and in the process, many other things.
Her book does an excellent job not only of persuasively dismantling the classical view of emotion (which was explored in a pop-psych fashion by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink) but also proposes a compelling 'constructivist' model of emotion that is grounded in embodied and socially engaged interactions. Central to the understanding of emotion are the linguistic concepts we share. Feldman-Barrett takes the reader on a grand tour of cognition with lots of wonderful side excursions.
Vinod Goel's book Sketches of Thought (written by a cognitive scientist who began his education in architecture) explores thought from more of a visual perspective. While our understanding of concepts has been released from the 'black box' inside the brain it remains a complex and perpetually unraveling story- but a super fascinating one. Hope this helps a bit.
Best
Kevin
Kevin Henry, IDSA
Associate Professor, Product Design, Design Department
Columbia College Chicago
600 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, Il. 60605
t 312 369 7381
f 312 369 8009
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http://kevinhenry.virb.com/
http://drawingforproductdesigners.com/
http://www.colum.edu/academics/fine-and-performing-arts/art-and-design/faculty.html
http://www.laurenceking.com/us/category/design/drawing-for-product-designers-1/
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From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Terence Love <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 8:23:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The concept of concept?
Hi Lars,
The idea of 'concept' as 'something abstract, conceived in the mind' has been useful from the earliest days design theory because of its foundational roles in shaping the idea of 'design process' and differentiating the 'initial ideas in mind' (concepts) from the real world physical design drawings or electronic equivalents .
One of the earliest ways of seeing the role of 'concept' in design theory terms is:
1) The idea of a 'concept' marks and differentiates something different from the 'design' as a ''description of how to make or do something' - for example as a drawing of a building or product, or a description of a service.
2) 'Concepts' are mind artefacts that occur at an early stage of any step in a design process, before any designs are produced.
A foundational text for the design research field on concepts in design (from just before the foundation of the Design Research Society) is
French, M. J. (1971) Engineering Design: The Conceptual Stage, Heinmann Educational
Interestingly, French's carefully reasoned view of a 'concept' differs from what many in Art and Design fields call a 'concept'. The Art and Design view of a concept maps onto what French refers to as a 'scheme' - a much later development than concepts in his description of the design process and an *outcome* of working with concepts. This can be seen in 1.3 in
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WOZVBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lars Albinsson
Sent: Friday, 29 December 2017 10:02 PM
To: PHD-DESIGN List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The concept of concept?
This may a question as stupid as following a nil pointer, but…
Is there any good writing on what ”concept”, as in design concept, conceptual idea etc is, in terms of:
What do ”concepts” encompass?
How are they expressed (if they are expressed? Or only internal?)
My search is for the general, rather than being bound to certain class of artifacts.
When cruising the science libs, the only ones I find seems to be restricted to a certain discipline, like architecture.
My question is connected to the notion that design is oscillating between the whole and the parts. ”Concept” seems to be used to represent that ”whole”.
Krippendorff suggests that initial idea is language, and Jones suggests drawings. But if you look a complex things, like the original moon shot or the iPhone, the ”concept” is, at any given time as it evolves, also rather complex. A major part of the concept is not immediately connected to visual appearance. Still lead designers/maestros seems to, somewhere inside them, have a pretty clear concept, which they appear to test run proposals against, to judge their merits.
Any articles you can point me towards?
Med Vänlig Hälsning / Best Regards,
Lars Albinsson
Consultant - Innovation & Creative Processes CEO & Ph D Candidate
+46 (0) 705927045
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Maestro Design & Management AB
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<http://www.maestro.se/>
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