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Richard BuchananWickedProblemsnDesignThinking

IntroductionDespite effortsto discover he foundationsof designthinking nthefinearts, he natural ciences,or mostrecently, he socialsci-ences,designeludesreductionandremains surprisinglylexibleactivity. No singledefinition of design,or branchesof profes-sionalizedpractice uchasindustrial rgraphicdesign,adequatelycovers hediversityof ideasandmethodsgathered ogetherunderthe label. Indeed,the varietyof research eported n conferencepapers, ournalarticles,andbookssuggests hatdesigncontinuesto expand n its meaningsand connections,revealingunexpecteddimensionsn practiceas well asunderstanding. his follows thetrendof design hinkingn thetwentieth entury, orwe haveseendesigngrow roma tradeactivityo asegmentedprofessiono afieldfor technical esearch nd to whatnow should be recognizedas anew liberalart of technologicalulture.

It mayseemunusual o talk aboutdesignas a liberalart,par-ticularly when many people areaccustomed o identifying theliberalartswith the traditional artsand sciences hat areinsti-tutionalized n colleges anduniversities.But the liberalartsareundergoinga revolutionary ransformationn twentieth-centuryculture,anddesign soneof theareasn whichthistransformationis strikingly vident.Tounderstandhe change hat s nowunderway,t is importantto recognize hat whatarecommonlyregarded s the liberalartstodayarenotoutsideof history.TheyoriginatedntheRenaissanceandunderwent rolonged evelopmenthatculminatednthenine-teenth entury sa visionof anencyclopedicducation f beauxarts,bellesettres, istory,variousnaturalciences ndmathematics,hi-losophy, andthe fledglingsocial sciences.This circle of learningwas divided into particular ubjectmatters,each with a propermethodorsetof methods uitable o its exploration.At theirpeakasliberalarts, hesesubjectmattersprovidedanintegrated nder-standing fhuman xperience nd hearray f availablenowledge.By the end of the nineteenth entury,however,existingsubjectswereexploredwithprogressivelymorerefinedmethods,andnewsubjectswere added o accordwith advancesn knowledge.As a

This essay is based on apaper presentedat'Colloque Recherches sur le Design:Incitations, mplications, nteractions, hefirst French university symposium ondesign research held October 1990 atl'Universit6de Technologiede Compiegne,Compiegne, France.

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result,the circleof learningwas furtherdividedandsubdivided,untilallthatremainedwasapatchworkquiltof specializations.Today,thesesubjectmatters etainan echoof their old statusasliberal rts,buttheyflourishasspecializedtudies,eadingo theperception f an evermorerichanddetailedarrayof factsandval-ues.Althoughhese ubjectsontributeo the advancefknowledge,theyalsocontributeo itsfragmentation,s theyhavebecomepro-gressively narrow in scope, more numerous, and have lost

connectionwitheachotherandwiththe commonproblemsandmattersof daily life fromwhich they select aspectsfor precisemethodologicalanalysis. The search or new integrativedisci-plinesto complementheartsandscienceshasbecomeone of thecentralhemesof intellectual ndpracticalife in thetwentieth en-tury. Without integrative disciplines of understanding,communication,ndaction, here s little hopeof sensiblyextend-ingknowledgebeyondthelibraryor laboratoryn order o servethe purposeof enrichinghuman ife.

The emergenceof designthinking n the twentiethcentury simportantn thiscontext.The significance f seekinga scientificbasis or designdoesnot lie inthe likelihoodof reducingdesign oone or anotherof thesciences-anextensionof theneo-positivistprojectandstill presentednthesetermsbysomedesign heoristsRather, t liesin a concern o connectand ntegrate sefulknowl-edgefromthe artsand sciencesalike,but in ways that aresuitedto theproblems ndpurposesof the present.Designers, reexplor-ing concrete ntegrations f knowledge hatwill combine heorywith practice or newproductivepurposes,andthisis thereasonwhywe turn o design hinkingorinsight ntothe new liberal rtsof technological ulture3Design andIntentionalOperationsThebeginningof thestudyof designas a liberalart canbe tracedto thecultural pheavalhatoccurredn the earlypartof thetwen-tieth century.The key featureof thisupheavalwas describedbyJohnDeweyin TheQuestforCertainty stheperception f anewcenterof theuniverse.Theoldcenter f theuniversewas themindknowingby.

means f anequipmentfpowerscompletewithin tself,andmerely xercised ponanantecedentxternalmate-rialequallycompletewithinitself.The new center sindefinitenteractionsakingplacewithina courseofnaturewhich snotfixedandcomplete, utwhich scapa-ble of directiono newanddifferentesultshroughhemediation f intentionalperations.'WhatDewey describeshere s the root of thedifference etweentheoldandnewliberal rts,between pecializationn thefactsof asubjectmatter nd heuse ofnewdisciplines f integrativehinking.

1) From Richard McKeon, TheTransformationf theLiberalArts nthe Renaissance, evelopments ntheEarlyRenaissance,d.Bernard .Levy (Albany:StateUniversityofNew YorkPress,1972),168-69.2) Neo-positivism, ragmatism,ndvar-iousformsof phenomenologyhavestronglynfluenced esigneducationandpracticenthetwentieth entury.If design theory has often tendedtowardneo-positivism, esignprac-tice has tendedtowardpragmatismandpluralism,ithphenomenologistsin bothareas. uchphilosophicalif-ferencesre llustratednthesplit hatdevelopedetweenhe heoreticalndstudiocoursesattheHochschuleurGestaltungHfG)Ulmbeforetsclos-ing. The split betweentheory andpracticendesigns anechoof thedif-ferencebetween he predominantlyneo-positivist hilosophyof science

and heexceptionallyiverse hiloso-phiesof practicingcientists.Designhistory,theory,and criticism ouldbenefitfrom closerattention o thepluralism f views thatguideactualdesign practice.

3) WalterGroupiuswasone of the irst orecognizehebeginningsf a new ib-eralart ndesign. nan essaywrittenin 1937,hereflected n thefoundingof the Bauhausas an institutiongrounded n theideaof an architec-tonic art: Thusthe Bauhauswasinauguratedn 1919with the specificobjectof realizing modern rchitec-tonicart,whichikehuman ature asmeanto beall-embracingnits scope.. . . Our guidingprinciplewas thatdesign s neither n intellectual oramaterialffair, utsimplyanintegralpartof the stuffof life,necessaryoreveryonenacivilizedociety. copeof Total Architecture New York:CollierBooks,1970),19-20.The ermarchitectonic,n thiscase, ranscendsthederivativeerm architecture sit is commonlyusedin the modernworld.ThroughoutWestern ulture,the liberalartshave similarlybeendescribed s architectonic ecauseof their ntegrativeapacity.Groupiusappearedo understandhatarchitec-ture, egardedsa liberal rt n itsownright n the ancientworld,was onlyonemanifestationf thearchitecton-ic art of design in the twentiethcentury.

4) JohnDewey,TheQuest orCertainty:AStudy ftheRelationfKnowledgeand Action (1929;rpt. New York:Capricorn ooks,1960), 90-91.

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Dewey observes,however, hatthe meaningandimplicationsof the newdirectionarestillnot fullyunderstood.Nowadayswehaveamessyconjunctionfnotions hatare consistentneitherwith one anothernorwith thetenor of our actual ife.Knowledges stillregarded ymost hinkers sdirect rasp fultimateeality, lthoughthepractice f knowinghasbeenassimilatedothepro-cedureof the usefularts;-involving,hat s to say,doingthatmanipulates ndarranges atural nergies.Againwhile science is said to lay hold of reality,yet artinstead fbeingassigned lowerrank sequally steemedandhonored.

Carrying heseobservationsurther,Dewey exploreshe newrela-tionship etween cience, rt,andpractice.HesuggestsnExperienceandNaturethatknowledge s no longerachievedby directcon-formity of ideas with the fixed ordersof nature;knowledgeisachievedby a new kind of art directed owardordersof change.But fmodern endencies re ustifiednputtingartandcreationfirst, then the implicationsof this positionshould be avowedandcarriedhrough. t wouldthenbe seenthatscience s an art, that art is practice,andthat heonly distinctionworthdrawings notbetweenpractice nd heory,butbetween hose modesof prac-tice that are not intelligent, not inherently andimmediatelyenjoyable, and those which arefull ofenjoyedmeanings.Although heneo-positivists ourtedDewey fora time,it was

apparent hat hisunderstanding f thedevelopment f science nthetwentiethcenturywas quitedifferent rom theirunderstand-ing7. nsteadof treating cienceasprimaryand art as secondary,Dewey pointedtowardscienceasart.Theconsiderationhatcompleteshegroundor assim-ilating science to art is the fact that assignment ofscientific tatusnany givencaserestsuponfactswhichareexperimentally roduced.Sciences now theprod-uctofoperations eliberately ndertakennconformitywitha planorproject hathas heproperties f a work-ing hypothesis.WhatDeweymeansby art nthiscontexts crucialounderstand-ing the newroleofdesignand echnologyncontemporaryulture.Afteraperiodnwhichnaturalnowledge rogressed yborrowingrom he ndustrialrafts,cience ntered ponaperiodof steadyandever-acceleratedrowthby meansof deliberatenventionof suchappliances n its ownaccount.norder omark hisdifferentialeaturef theartwhich sscience, shallnowuse theword technology.... Becauseftechnologies,circularelationshipetweentheartsofproductionndsciencehasbeenestablished.

5) John Dewey, Experience and Nature(1929; rpt. New York: DoverPublications, Inc., 1958), 357.

6) Dewey, Experience and Nature, 357-58.

7) The neo-positivist InternationalEncyclopedia of Unified Science,which included Charles Morris'sFoundations of the Theory of Signs,also included Dewey's Theory ofValuation. However, Dewey's Logicwas ignored or ridiculed by neo-pos-itivist logicians and grammarians.

8) John Dewey, ByNature andBy Art,Philosophy of Education (Problemsof Men) (1946; rpt. Totowa, NewJersey:Littlefield, Adams, 1958),288.

9) Dewey, By Nature and By Art, 291-92.Design Issues: Vol. VIII, Number 2 Spring 1992 7


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What Dewey defines as technology is not what is commonlyunderstoodntoday'sphilosophyof technology. nsteadof mean-ing knowledgeof how to make and use artifactsor the artifactsthemselves,echnology or Dewey is an artof experimentalhink-ing. It is, in fact,intentionaloperations hemselves arriedout inthe sciences, heartsof production, r socialandpoliticalaction.We mistakenly dentify technology with one particular ype ofproduct-hardware-that may result from experimental hink-ing,butoverlook he art hat ies behindandprovides he basis orcreatingother types of products.Fromthisperspective, t is easy to understandwhy designanddesign thinkingcontinue to expand heir meaningsand connec-tionsin contemporary ulture.There s no areaof contemporarylifewheredesign-the plan,project,orworkinghypothesiswhichconstitutes he intention nintentional perations-is not a sig-nificant actor n shapinghumanexperience.Design even extendsinto the coreof traditionalcientific ctivities,where t isemployedto cultivate the subject matters that are the focus of scientificcuriosity.Butperceiving he existenceof such an artonly opensthe door to further nquiry,to explainwhat that art is, how itoperates,andwhy it succeedsorfails nparticularituations.Thechallenges to gainadeeperunderstanding f designthinkingsothat more cooperationand mutual benefit is possible betweenthosewhoapplydesign hinkingo remarkablyifferent roblemsandsubjectmatters.Thiswillhelp o make hepracticalxplorationof design,particularlyn the artsof production,more intelligentandmeaningful.

However,apersistent roblemnthisregards thatdiscussionsbetweendesigners nd members f the scientific ommunity endto leave ittle room for reflectionon the broadernatureof designand ts relation o the artsandsciences, ndustryand manufactur-ing,marketingnddistribution,nd hegeneral ublichatultimatelyuses the resultsof design hinking. nsteadof yieldingproductiveintegrations,heresult softenconfusionanda breakdown f com-munication,with a lack of intelligentpractice o carry nnovativeideas ntoobjective,oncrete mbodiment.nturn, hisunderminesefforts o reacha clearer nderstandingf design tself,sometimesdrivingdesignersback nto a defenseof theirworkin the contextof traditionalrtsandcrafts.Withoutappropriateeflectiono helpclarify hebasisof communicationmongalltheparticipants,hereis littlehopeof understandinghefoundations ndvalueof designthinkingn anincreasingly omplex echnologicalulture.TheDoctrine of PlacementsBy liberal rt meanadisciplineof thinking hatmaybe sharedto somedegreeby allmen andwomenin theirdailylives andis,inturn,mastered y a fewpeoplewho practicehedisciplinewithdistinctivensightand sometimesadvance t to new areasof inno-

10) For Dewey, the arts of production,includehe inearts.He makes o sharpdistinctionetweenineanduseful rts.

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vativeapplication.Perhapsthis is what Herbert Simonmeant in TheSciencesof the Artificial, one of the majorworks of design theoryin the twentieth century, when he wrote: the proper study ofmankindis the science of design, not only as the professional com-ponent of a technical education but as a core discipline for everyliberallyeducatedman. One may reasonablydisagreewith aspectsof Simon's positivist and empiricist view of design as a science(asone may disagreewith thepragmaticprinciplesthat standbehindDewey's observation of the importance of intentional operationsin modern culture), 3 ut there is little reason to disagreewith theidea that all men and women may benefit from an early under-standing of the disciplines of design in the contemporary world.The beginning of such an understanding has already turned thestudy of the traditional arts and sciences toward a new engage-ment with the problems of everyday experience, evident in thedevelopment of diverse new products which incorporate knowl-edge from many fields of specialized inquiry.

To gain some idea of how extensively design affects contem-porarylife, consider the four broadareas n which designis exploredthroughout the world by professional designersand by many oth-ers who may not regardthemselves as designers. The first of theseareas is the design of symbolic and visual communications. Thisincludes the traditional work of graphic design, such as typogra-phy andadvertising,book andmagazineproduction, andscientificillustration, but has expanded into communication through pho-tography, film, television, and computer display. The area ofcommunications design is rapidly evolving into a broad explo-ration of the problems of communicating information, ideas, andarguments through a new synthesis of words and images that istransforming the bookish culture of the past.'4

The second area is the design of material objects.This includestraditional concern for the form andvisual appearanceof everydayproducts-clothing, domestic objects, tools, instruments,machin-ery, and vehicles-but has expanded into a more thorough anddiverse interpretation of the physical, psychological, social, andculturalrelationshipsbetweenproductsand human beings.This areais rapidly evolving into an exploration of the problems of con-struction in which form and visualappearancemust carry a deeper,more integrative argument that unites aspects of art, engineeringand naturalscience, and the human sciences. 5

The third areais the design of activities and organized services,which includes the traditional management concern for logistics,combining physical resources,instrumentalities,andhumanbeingsin efficient sequences and schedules to reach specified objectives.However, this area has expanded into a concern for logical deci-sion making and strategic planning and is rapidly evolving into anexplorationof how betterdesign thinking can contributeto achiev-ing anorganicflow of experience n concretesituations,makingsuch

11)HerbertA.Simon,TheSciences f theArtificial Cambridge:M.I.T.Press,1968),83

12)Although imon'sTheSciencesf theArtificials citedrepeatedlyndesignliterature ecause f its definition fdesign,t is oftenreadwith ittle tten-tion given to the full argument.Acareful nalysis rom thestandpointof industrial esignwouldbe a use-fulcontributiono the iterature.ucha readingwouldreveal he positivistfeaturesf Simon's pproachndhelpto explainwhy manydesignersaresomewhat disenchanted with thebook. Nonetheless, it remainsanexceptionallysefulwork.

13)See RichardBuchanan, Design ndTechnologyntheSecondCopernicanRevolution, Revuedes sciencesettechniquesde la conception (TheJournal of Design Sciences andTechnology,anuary,992), :1.

14)Thephrase bookish ulture s usedby literary riticGeorgeSteiner ndis a theme n a forthcoming ook byIvan llich,ntheVineyardf theText.

15)Thedesign f materialbjectsncludes,of course,newwork n materialsci-ence,whereahighly ocused ormofdesign hinkings evident.



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experiences more intelligent, meaningful, and satisfying. The cen-tral theme of this areais connections and consequences. Designersare exploring a progressively wider range of connections in every-day experience and how different types of connections affect thestructure of action.'6

The fourth area is the design of complex systems or environ-ments for living, working, playing, and learning. This includes thetraditionalconcerns of systems engineering,architecture,and urbanplanning or the functional analysis of the parts of complex wholesand their subsequent integration in hierarchies. But this area hasalso expanded and reflects more consciousness of the central idea,thought, orvalue that expresses the unity of any balancedand func-tioning whole. This area s more and more concernedwith exploringthe role of design in sustaining, developing, andintegratinghumanbeings into broader ecological and cultural environments, shapingthese environments when desirable and possible or adapting tothem when necessary.

Reflecting on this list of the areasof design thinking,it is tempt-ing to identify and limit specific design professions within eacharea-graphic designers with communication, industrialdesignersand engineerswith materialobjects, designers-cum-managerswithactivitiesandservices,andarchitectsand urbanplannerswith systemsand environments. But this would not be adequate,because theseareas are not simply categoriesof objects that reflect the results ofdesign. Properlyunderstood andused, they arealsoplaces of inven-tion sharedby alldesigners,placeswhere one discovers he dimensionsof design thinking by a reconsiderationof problems and solutions.

True, these four areaspoint toward certain kinds of objectivi-ty in human experience, and the work of designers in each of theseareas has created a framework for human experience in contem-porary culture. But these areas are also interconnected, with nopriority givento any singleone. For example,the sequenceof signs,things, actions, and thought could be regarded as an ascent fromconfusing parts to orderly wholes. Signs and images arefragmentsof experience hatreflectourperceptionof materialobjects. Materialobjects, in turn, become instruments of action. Signs, things, andactions areorganized in complex environments by a unifying ideaor thought. But there is no reason to believe that partsand wholesmust be treated in ascending ratherthan descending order. Partsand whole areof many types and may be defined in many ways. 8Depending on how a designerwishes to exploreandorganize expe-rience,the sequencecould justasreasonablybe regardedasa descentfrom chaotic environments to the unity provided by symbols andimages. In fact, signs, things, actions, and thoughts are not onlyinterconnected, they also interpenetrateand merge in contempo-rary design thinking with surprising consequences for innovation.These areassuggest the lineage of design's past andpresent, as wellas point to where design is headed in the future.

16) Someof the psychologicalndsocialdimensionsf thisarea re llustratednworksas diverse s GeorgeA. Miller,EugeneGalanter,ndKarlH. Pribram,Plans nd heStructuref BehaviorNewYork: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,1960); ucy uchman,lansndSituatedActions:The Problemof Human-Machine ommunicationCambridge:Cambridgeniversity ress, 987); ndMihalyCsikszentmihalyi,low:ThePsychologyof Optimal Experience(New York:Harper& Row,1990).

17)Oneof theearlyworks fsystems ngi-neeringhat nfluencedesign hinkingis ArthurD. Hall,A MethodologyorSystemsEngineeringPrinceton, ewJersey:D. VanNostrandCompany,1962).For morerecentdevelopmentsin systems thinking, ee Ron Levy,CriticalSystems Thinking:EdgarMorin and the French School ofThought, SystemsPractice,vol. 4(1990).Regardinghenew systemics,seeRobert .Flood ndWerner lrich,TestamentoConversationsn CriticalSystems Thinking Between TwoSystems Practitioners, SystemsPractice,vol. 3 (1990), and M. C.Jackson, The Critical Kernel inModern ystemsThinking, ystemsPractice,ol.3 (1990).For an anthro-pologicalpproachosystems,eeJamesHolston, The ModernistCity: AnAnthropological ritiqueof Brasilia(Chicago: niversityfChicago ress,1989).

18)ComparehePlatonic, ristotelian,ndclassicmaterialistreatmentsf partsandwholes.These hree pproachesotheorganizationfexperiencerewellrepresentedntwentiethentury esignthinking.orexample,eeChristopherAlexander, oteson theSynthesis fFormCambridge:arvardniversityPress,1973).

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It is easy ounderstandhat ndustrialesignersreprimarilyon-cernedwith material bjects.But theresearch eportedn designliterature hows that ndustrial esignershavefound new avenuesof exploration y thinkingaboutmaterial bjects nthe contextofsigns, actions,andthoughts.For example, ome have consideredmaterialbjects ommunicative,ieldingreflections n theseman-tic andrhetorical spectsof products.Othershaveplacedmaterialobjects n the contextof experience ndaction,askingnewques-tionsabout how products unction n situationsof use and howthey maycontributeo or inhibit heflow of activities.Ofcourse,this is a significant hift fromquestionsabout the internal unc-tioningofproductsandhow thevisual ormof aproduct xpressessuchfunctioning.)Finally,othersareexploringmaterial bjectsaspartof largerystems, ycles,andenvironments,peningupawiderangeof new questionsandpractical oncernsorreenergizinglddebates. ssues nclude onservationndrecycling, lternativeech-nologies,elaborate imulationenvironments, smart roducts,virtualeality, rtificialife,and heethical, olitical, nd egaldimen-sions of design.

Comparablemovementsareevident n eachof thedesignpro-fessions: heirprimary oncernbegins n onearea,but innovationcomeswhen theinitial election srepositioned t anotherpointintheframework, aisingnewquestionsand deas.Examples f thisrepositioning bound.Forexample,architecture astraditionallybeenconcernedwith buildingsaslargesystemsor environments.Fornearlywentyyears,however, groupofarchitectsaveaggres-sively sought to reposition architecturen the context of signs,symbols, and visualcommunication,yielding the postmodernexperimentand trends such as deconstructionistarchitecture.Oxymorons uchas deconstructionistrchitecture reoften theresultof attempts t nnovativeepositioning.hey ndicate desireto breakoldcategories, sin the now familiar ndaccepted con-structivist rt and action ainting. hetest,ofcourse,s whetherexperimentsninnovation ieldproductiveesults, udgedbyindi-vidualsandby societyasa whole.'9Someexperiments avefallenlikedead eavesat thefirstfrost, sweptawayto mercifuloblivion.At present, he resultsof deconstructionistrchitectureremixed,but theexperimentwillcontinueuntil ndividuals rgroupsrepo-sition the problemsof architectureand shift general attention20toward new questions.A strikingly ifferent epositionings nowbeginningnthe pro-fession of graphicdesignandvisualcommunication. n the latenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies,graphicdesignwas ori-ented owardpersonal xpressionhrough magemaking. twasanextensionof theexpressivenessf the finearts,pressed ntocom-mercial rscientific ervice.Thiswasmodifiedunder he influenceof communicationheory andsemioticswhen the role of thegraphicdesignerwas shifted oward hatof aninterpreterf mes-

19)Such udgments re hemeasure f objec-tivityincontemporarydesign thinking.Withoutobjectivity o ground he possi-bilities iscoveredin esign, esign hinkingbecomesdesign ophistry.

20) ArchitectRichardRogersseeks to repo-sition the problemsof architecture n anew perceptionof multipleoverlappingsystems, rejectingthe notion of a sys-tem as linear,static, hierarchicalandmechanical order. According toRogers: Today we know that designbased on linear reasoning must besuperseded by an open-ended archi-tecture of overlapping systems. This'systems' approachallows us to appre-ciate the world as anindivisible whole;we are, n architecture, s inother fields,approaching a holistic ecological viewof the globe and theway we live on it.Architecture: A Modern View (NewYork:ThamesandHudson Inc., 1991),58. Rogers's notion of indeterminateform derives not from the ideas of lit-erary deconstruction but from hisinnovative view of multiple systems.Formoreon Rogers'spointed criticismof postmodern architecture from theperspective of multiple systems, seeArchitecture:A Modern View, 26.



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sages.For example, he graphic esigner ntroduced motional ol-orings of corporateor public messages r, in technical erms,the graphicdesigner coded he corporatemessage.As a result,the productsof graphicdesignwere viewed as things r enti-ties (material texts) to be decoded by spectators. Recently,however, a new approach in graphic design thinking has begun toquestion the essentially linguistic or grammaticalapproach of com-munications theory and semiotics by regarding visualcommunication as persuasiveargumentation.As this work unfolds,it will likely seek to reposition graphic design within the dynam-ic flow of experience and communication, emphasizing rhetoricalrelationships among graphic designers, audiences, and the contentof communication. In this situation, designerswould no longer beviewed as individuals who decorate messages, but as communica-tors who seek to discover convincing arguments by means of anew synthesis of images and words. In turn, this will shift atten-tion toward audiencesas activeparticipants n reachingconclusionsrather than passive recipients of preformed messages.

What works for movements within a design profession alsoworks for individual designers and their clients in addressing spe-cific problems. Managersof a large retail chain were puzzled thatcustomers had difficulty navigating through their stores to findmerchandise.Traditionalgraphic design yielded largersigns but noapparent mprovement in navigation-the largerthe sign, the morelikely people were to ignoreit. Finally,adesignconsultantsuggestedthat the problem should be studied from the perspective of theflow of customer experience. After aperiod of observing shopperswalking through stores, the consultant concluded thatpeople oftennavigate among different sections of a store by looking for themost familiar and representative examples of a particular type ofproduct. This led to a change in display strategy, placing thoseproducts thatpeople are most likely to identify in prominent posi-tions. Although this is a minor example, it does illustratea doublerepositioning of the design problem: first, from signs to action,with aninsight thatpeople look for familiarproducts to guide theirmovements; second, from action to signs,aredesignof displaystrat-egy to employ products themselves as signs or clues to theorganization of a store.

There are so many examples of conceptual repositioning indesign that it is surprisingno one hasrecognized the systematic pat-tern of invention that lies behind design thinking in the twentiethcentury. The patternis found not in a set of categoriesbut in a rich,diverse, and changing set of placements, such as those identifiedby signs, things, actions, and thoughts.

Understanding the difference between a category and a place-ment is essential if design thinking is to be regardedas more thana series of creative accidents. Categories have fixed meanings thatareacceptedwithin the framework of a theory or aphilosophy, and

21) Althoughstil a common andusefuilwayof studyingvisual communication, hisapproach as ost some of its initial orcein actual design practicebecauseit hasmoved into personal diosyncracyand asearch ornovelty,which often distractsone from the centraltasks of effectivecommunication. This is evident, forexample, mongthose graphicdesignerswho have made pedestrianreadingsofdeconstructionist literary theory therationale or theirwork. Visual experi-mentation sanimportant artof graphicdesign thinking, but experimentationmustfinallybejudgedby relevance ndeffectivenessof communication.For adiscussionof the limitsof semioticsanddesign, see Seppo Vakeva, WhatDoWe Need Semiotics For?, SemanticVisions in Design, ed. SusannVihma(Helsinki:Universityof IndustrialArtsUIAH, 1990), g-2.

22) SwissgraphicdesignerRuediRuegghasrecently spoken of the need for morefantasy and freedom in graphicdesignthinking.Based on his approach,onemight argue that efforts to introducedeconstructionist literary theory intographicdesignhaveoften led to a loss offreedom and imaginationin effectivecommunication,contrary o the claimsof its proponents.

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serve as the basis for analyzingwhat alreadyexists.Placementshaveboundarieso shapeandconstrainmeaning, ut arenotrigid-ly fixed anddeterminate.The boundaryof a placementgivesacontextor orientationo thinking,but theapplicationo aspecif-ic situationcangeneratea new perceptionof thatsituationand,hence,a new possibilityto be tested.Therefore,placementsaresourcesof new ideasandpossibilitieswhenapplied oproblemsnconcretecircumstancesAs an ordered r systematic pproacho the invention f possi-bilities, the doctrine of placementsprovidesa useful means ofunderstandingwhatmany designersdescribeas the intuitive orserendipitousualityof theirwork.Individualesigners ftenpos-sessapersonaletof placements,eveloped nd estedby experience.Theinventiveness f the designeriesin a natural rcultivated ndartfulability o return o thoseplacementsndapply hem o anewsituation,discovering spectsof the situation hat affectthe finaldesign.What s regardedsthedesigner's tyle,then, s sometimesmore han usta personal referenceorcertainypesofvisual orms,materials,rtechniques;t isa characteristicayof seeingpossibil-itiesthroughconceptual lacements.However,when a designer'sconceptual lacements ecome ategoriesf thinking,he result anbe manneredmitationsof an earliernvention hat are no longerrelevant o thediscoveryof specificpossibilitiesna newsituation.Ideasare henforcedonto asituation ather handiscoveredntheparticularitiesndnovelpossibilities f thatsituation..2Forthepracticingdesigner,placements reprimaryand cate-goriesaresecondary.The reverseholds truefor design history,theory,andcriticism, xceptat those momentswhen a newdirec-tion for inquiry s opened.At suchtimes,a repositioningof theproblemsof design,such as a change n the subjectmatter o beaddressed, he methods to be employed,or the principles o beexplored,occursby meansof placements.Then, history,theory,or criticismare redesigned or the individual nvestigator ndsometimesorgroupsof investigators.As thediscipline f designstudiesaddsa reflective ndphilosophicdimension o designhis-tory, theory, andcriticism,positive consequencesarepossible.Historians, or example,mayreconsider heplacementof designhistoryas it hasbeenpracticed hroughoutmostof thetwentiethcentury and work to discover other innovativepossibilities.Discontentwiththe resultsof currentdesignhistorysuggests hatnewrepositionings recalled orif thedisciplines to retainvital-27ity and relevanceo contemporary roblems.The doctrineof placementswill requireurtherdevelopmentfit is to berecognizedas a tool in designstudiesanddesignthink-ing, but it can also be a surprisinglypreciseway of addressingconceptual paceand henon-dimensionalmagesromwhichcon-28cretepossibilitiesemerge or testing n objectivecircumstances.The naturaland spontaneoususe of placementsby designers s

23) The concept of placementswill remaindifficult to grasp as long as individualsaretrained o believe that the only pathof reasoningbegins with categoriesandproceeds indeductivechainsof propo-sitions. Designers are concerned withinventionaswell as judgment,andtheirreasoning is practical becauseit takesplace in situationswhere the resultsareinfluenced by diverse opinions.

24) Some placementshavebecome so com-mon in twentieth-century design thatthey hardly attract attention.Nonetheless, such placementsareclas-sic featuresof design thinking, and inthe hands of a skilled designerretaintheir inventive potential. Designer JayDoblin sometimes employed a cascadeof placements temming rom thebasicplacement intrinsic/extrinsic. oblin'splacements serve as a heuristic deviceto reveal he factors n design thinkingandproductdevelopment.Otherplace-ments are described by Doblin in

Innovation,A Cook Book Approach,n.d. (Typewritten.)With differentntent,Ezio Manzinirecently arguedthatthedesignerneeds two mental nstrumentswith opposite qualities to examine adesign situation: a microscope and amacroscope.The mentalmicroscope sforexamining howthingswork, downto the smallestdetails, particularly nregard o advances n materials cience.A further series of placements fill outthe microscope to give it efficacy. SeeEzio Manzini, The Materials ofInvention: Materials and Design(Cambridge:M.I.T.Press, 1989),58.

25) The ease with which placements areconverted nto categoriesshould makeany designer or design educatorcau-tious in how they share he conceptualtools of their work. The placementsthat mightshapean innovative pproachfor the founder of a school of designthinking often become categories oftruth nthe handsof disciplesordescen-dants.

26) Thomas Kuhn was interested in therepositionings hatmarkrevolutions nscientific heory.His studyof thisphe-nomenon, perhaps contrary to hisinitialexpectations,hashelpedto alterthe neo-positivist interpretationof thehistory of science. But Kuhn's



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already vident; n explicitunderstandingf the doctrineof place-mentswill make t an important lementof designas a liberalart.All men and women requirea liberalart of designto live wellin the complexityof the framework ased n signs, hings,actions,and thoughts.On one hand,such an artwill enable ndividualsoparticipatemore directly n this framework nd contribute o itsdevelopment.On the other,professional esigners ouldberegard-ed as mastersn itsexploration. he abilityof designers o discovernew relationships mong igns, hings,actions,and houghts s oneindication hat design s not merelya technical pecialization utanew liberalart.The WickedProblemsTheory of DesignRecent conferenceson design are evidenceof a coherent, f notalways ystematic, ffort o reacha clearer nderstandingf designas an ntegrative iscipline.However, heparticipants,hoincreas-ingly come from diverseprofessionsand academic isciplines, renot drawn together because hey share a commondefinitionofdesign;acommonmethodology,a commonphilosophy,orevenacommonset of objectsto which everyone agreesthat the termdesign houldbeapplied.Theyaredrawn ogetherbecauseheysharea mutual nterest n a commontheme:the conception ndplanningof the artificial.Differentdefinitions f designanddiffer-ent specifications f the methodologyof designarevariations fthis broad heme,eacha concrete xploration f what spossible nthedevelopmentf itsmeanings nd mplications. ommunicationispossibleatsuchmeetingsbecauseheresultsof research nddis-cussion, despite wide differencesin intellectual and practicalperspectives, realwaysconnectedby this themeand,therefore,supplemental. hisis only possible,of course, f individuals avethe wit to discoverwhat s useful neachother'swork andcancastthe materialn termsof theirown visionof design hinking.

Membersof the scientificcommunity,however,must bepuz-zledbythetypesof problemsaddressed y professional esignersand by the patternsof reasoning hey employ.While scientistsshare n the newliberalart of designthinking, hey are alsomas-ters of specializedsubjectmattersandtheir relatedmethods,asfoundinphysics,chemistry,biology, mathematics,he socialsci-ences,or one of themanysubfields ntowhichthesescienceshavebeendivided. Thiscreatesone of the centralproblemsof com-munication etween cientists nddesigners, ecauseheproblemsaddressed y designers eldom allsolelywithinthe boundaries fanyoneof thesesubjectmatters.Theproblemof communication etweenscientistsanddesign-erswas evident n a specialconferenceon design theoryheldinNew Yorkin 1974.30This conferencewas interestingor severalreasons, he mostsignificant irectlyrelated o the contentof themeeting tself.Reviewed n one of theinitialpapers, he wicked

paradigmhifts wereneverdevel-oped to their ullest ntellectualootsin rhetorical nddialecticalnvention,whicharebased n the theoryof top-ics.ChaimPerelman asdeveloped nimportantontemporarypproachowhat is called here the doctrine ofplacements.eeChaimPerelmanndL. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The NewRhetoric: Treatisen Argumentation(Notre Dame:Universityof NotreDamePress, 969). eealso,Stephen .Toulmin, The Uses of Argument(Cambridge: ambridgeUniversityPress, 958)ora modern iscoveryfdialectical opics. Althoughremotefrom he mmediatenterestsfdesign-ers, heseworksare itedbecauseheydealwithpracticaleasoningndhaveimportant earingnaspects fdesigntheory, ncludinghe ogicofdecisionmakingdiscussed in Simon's TheSciences f the Artificial.

27)Inorder osolve uchproblems,moreattention houldbegiven o thevari-ous conceptionsof designheld bydesignersn thepast.Thiswould epo-sition design historyfrom materialobjectsor things o thoughtandaction. n otherwords,whatdesign-erssayanddo,thehistoryof theirartasphilosophy ndpractice. ora dis-cussion f thesubjectmatter fdesignhistory, eeVictorMargolin'sorth-coming DesignHistoryor DesignStudies:ubjectMatter ndMethods,DesignStudies.28)Thephrase non-dimensionalmagesrefers o all mages reatednthemindaspartofdesign hinking nd, npar-ticular,othevarious chematizationsofconceptual lacementse.g.hierar-chical,horizontal,or in matrixandtable orm) hatmayaid nvention.29)This istcouldalso ncludehehuman-isticdisciplinesnd he inearts, ecausethere sasmuchdifficultyncommu-nicatingbetween some traditionalhumanists nddesigners s betweendesignersnd cientists. his s evident

inthepersistentiew hatdesigns sim-ply a decorativeart, adaptingtheprinciplesf the finearts outilitarianends,heldby manyhumanists.30)William .Spillers,d.,BasicQuestionsofDesignTheory Amsterdam:orthHollandPublishing ompany, 974).Theconference,unded ytheNationalScience Foundation,was held atColumbiaUniversity.31) VladimerBazjanac, ArchitecturalDesignTheory:Models f theDesignProcess, BasicQuestionsof Design

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problems pproachodesignprovedo be one of thecentralhemesto which heparticipantsftenreturnedwhenseekinga connectionbetween heirremarkablyiverseandseeminglyncommensurateapplicationsfdesign. Alsosignificant asthedifficultyhatmostof the participants adin understandingach other.Althoughanobservation f an outsideron thedynamicsof themeeting,t is anexcellent xampleof a wickedproblem f design hinking.

Thewickedproblems pproachwas formulated y Horst Rittelin the 1960s,when designmethodologywas a subjectof intenseinterest.33A mathematician, esigner,and former teacherat theHochschule urGestaltung HfG) Ulm, Rittelsoughtan alterna-tive to the linear, tep-by-stepmodel of the designprocessbeingexploredby manydesigners nddesign heorists.34Although herearemanyvariations f the linearmodel, tsproponents oldthat hedesignprocess s divided nto two distinctphases: roblemdefini-tionandproblemolution. roblem efinitions ananalytic equencein whichthedesignerdetermines ll of theelements f theproblemandspecifiesall of therequirementshat a successfuldesignsolu-tion must have.Problem olution s a synthetic equencen whichthevariousrequirementsrecombinedand balanced gainst achother,yieldinga finalplanto becarriedntoproduction.In the abstract, uch a modelmayappearattractive ecause tsuggests methodologicalrecisionhat s,initskeyfeatures,nde-pendentfrom the perspectiveof the individualdesigner. n fact,manyscientistsandbusinessprofessionals,s wellas somedesign-ers,continue o findtheideaof a linearmodelattractive, elievingthat trepresentsheonlyhopefor a logical nderstandingf thedesignprocess.However,somecriticswerequick opointout twoobviouspoints of weakness:one, the actualsequenceof designthinking nddecisionmakingsnot asimpleinear rocess; nd wo,the problemsaddressedby designersdo not, in actualpractice,yield to any linearanalysisandsynthesisyet proposed.Rittelarguedhatmostof the problemsaddressed y designers36arewickedproblems. As describednthe firstpublished eportofRittel'sdea,wicked roblems rea class f social ystemproblemswhichare ll-formulated, here he nformationsconfusing,wheretherearemanyclientsanddecisionmakerswithconflicting alues,andwhere the ramificationsn the whole systemarethoroughlyconfusing. 37his is an amusingdescriptionof what confrontsdesigners n everynew situation.But most important, t pointstowarda fundamentalssuethat ies behindpractice:herelation-shipbetweendeterminacy ndindeterminacyn design thinking.Thelinearmodelof design hinkings basedondeterminaterob-lemswhichhavedefinite onditions. hedesigner'sask s to identifythoseconditionspreciselyandthen calculatea solution. In con-trast, the wicked-problemsapproachsuggests that there is afundamentalndeterminacyn allbut the most trivialdesignprob-

32) Graph theory, developed by the math-ematicianFrankHarary,also served toconnect the work of researchers inmanyareas. t wasreportedby theorga-nizers that Harary, who attended thisconference and delivered the paperGraphs as Designs, suggested thatthe basic structure of design theorycould befound in his work on structuralmodels. Whetheror not Hararymadesuch asuggestion, t ispossibleto seeingraph theory, and, notably, the theoryof directed graphs, a mathematicalexpression of the doctrine of place-ments. Comparison may establish asurprisingconnectionbetween the artsof words and the mathematicalartsofthings,with further ignificance or theview of design as a new liberal art.

Schemata re heconnecting ink,forplacements may be schematizedas fig-uresof thought,and schemata re ormsof graphs, directed or otherwise. Formore on graphtheory see F. Harary,R. Norman, and D. Cartwright,StructuralModels: An Introductiontothe Theory of DirectedGraphs (NewYork: Wiley, 1965).

33) A series of conferences on DesignMethods held in the United Kingdomin 1962, 1965,and 1967,led to the for-mation of theDesign ResearchSocietyin 1967, hattodaycontinues o publishthe journal Design Studies. Parallelinterestin the United Statesled to theestablishmentof the Design MethodsGroup in 1966, which published theDMG Newsletter (1966-71), renamedthe DMG-DRS Journal: DesignResearch and Methods, and thenrenamedin 1976andpublishedto thepresent as Design Methods andTheories. For one attempt to describeand integratea set of methods used indesign thinking, see J. ChristopherJones, Design Methods: Seeds ofHuman Futures(1970; rptNew York:John Wiley &Sons, 1981).Manyof themethodsJones presentsare conscious-ly transposed from other disciplines.However, they all can be interpretedas techniquesfor repositioning designproblems, using placementsto discov-er new possibilities.

34) Rittel,who diedin 1990, completedhiscareerby teachingat the UniversityofCalifornia at Berkeley and theUniversityof Stuttgart.Forabrief bio-graphical ketch, ee HerbertLindinger,Ulm Design:The Morality of Objects(Cambridge:M.I.T.Press, 1990),274.



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lems-problems where,as Rittelsuggests, he wickedness asalreadybeentakenout to yielddeterminate ranalyticproblems.Tounderstand hatthismeans, t is importanto recognizehatindeterminacysquitedifferent romundetermined.ndeterminacyimpliesthat thereare no definitiveconditionsor limits to designproblems.This is evident, for example, n the ten propertiesofwickedproblems hatRittelinitially dentified n 1972.3(1) Wicked roblemshave no definitive ormulation,but every ormulation f awickedproblemorrespondsto theformulation f a solution.(2) Wicked roblemshaveno stoppingrules.(3) Solutions o wicked roblemsannotbetrueorfalse,only good or bad.(4)Insolvingwicked roblemshere snoexhaustiveistof admissible perations.(5)Foreverywicked roblem here salwaysmore hanone possibleexplanation,withexplanationsependingon the Weltanschauungf thedesigner.39(6) Everywickedproblemis a symptom of another,higherevel, problem.(7)No formulation ndsolution of awickedproblemhas a definitive est.(8) Solvingawickedproblem sa oneshot operation,with no room for trial and error. 1(9)Everywickedproblem s unique.(10) The wickedproblem solver has no right to bewrong-they arefullyresponsibleortheiractions.

This s aremarkableist,and t is temptingo gonofurtherhanelaborate hemeaning f eachproperty,providing oncrete xam-plesdrawn romeveryareaof design hinking.Butto do so wouldleaveafundamentaluestionunanswered.Whyaredesign roblemsindeterminate nd, therefore,wicked?Neither Rittel nor any ofthosestudyingwickedproblems asattemptedo answer hisques-tion, othewicked-problemspproachasremainednlyadescriptionof thesocialreality fdesigningatherhan hebeginningsf a well-groundedheoryof design.However,the answer o the question ies in somethingrarelyconsidered:hepeculiarature f thesubjectmatter fdesign.Designproblems re indeterminate nd wicked ecausedesignhasnospecial ubjectmatter fitsownapartromwhatadesigneronceivesit to be.Thesubjectmatter fdesignspotentially niversalnscope,becausedesign hinkingmaybeappliedo anyareaof human xpe-rience.But ntheprocessof application,hedesignermustdiscoverorinventaparticularubject utof theproblems nd ssuesof spe-cificcircumstances. hissharplycontrastswith thedisciplines fscience,which areconcernedwith understandinghe principles,laws, ules, rstructureshatarenecessarilymbodiednexistingub-ject matters. Such subject matters are undetermined or

35) Bazjanacpresents an interesting com-parisonof linearmodels and the wickedproblems approach.

36) The phrase wicked problems was bor-rowed from philosopher Karl Popper.However, Rittel developed the idea ina different direction. Rittel is anotherexampleof someone initially nfluencedby neo-positivist deaswho, whencon-fronted with the actual processes ofpractical easoning n concrete circum-stances, sought to develop a newapproachrelated to rhetoric.

37) The first published report of Rittel'sconcept of wicked problemswas pre-sented by C. West Churchman,

Wicked Problems, ManagementScience, (December 1967), vol. 4, no.14, B-141-42. His editorial is particu-larly nteresting orits discussionof themoralproblemsof design and planningthat can occur when individualsmis-takenlybelieve hat heyhaveeffectivelytaken the wickedness out of designproblems.

38) See Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M.Webber, Dilemmas in a GeneralTheory of Planning, working paperpresentedatthe Instituteof Urban andRegional Development, University ofCalifornia,Berkeley,November 1972.See also an interviewwith Rittel, Sonof Rittelthink, DesignMethodsGroup5thAnniversaryReport January1972),5-10; and Horst Rittel, On thePlanning Crisis:Systems Analysis ofthe First and Second Generations,Bedriftsokonomen, o. 8:390-96. Rittelgraduallyaddedmore properties o hisinitial list.

39) Weltanschauungdentifies the intellec-tual perspective of the designeras anintegral partof the design process.

40) This property suggests the systemsaspectof Rittel'sapproach.

41) Rittel'sexample is drawn from archi-tecture,where t isnotfeasible o rebuilda flawedbuilding. Perhapsthe generalproperty should be described as.entrapment n a lineof designthink-ing. Designersas well astheirclients ormanagersare often entrapped dur-ing the development phase of a newproduct and are unable, for good orbadreasons,o terminate weakdesign.For a brief illustrationof entrapmentintheproduct development processofa small midwestern company, seeRichardBuchanan, WickedProblems:Managing the Entrapment Trap,Innovation(Summer, 1991),10:3.

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under-determined, requiring further investigation to make themmore fully determinate.But they are not radically ndeterminate n

42a way directly comparableto that of design.Designers conceive their subjectmatter n two ways on two lev-

els: generaland particular.On a general level, a designer forms anidea or a working hypothesis about the natureof products or thenature of the humanmadein the world. This is the designer'sviewof what is meant, for example, by the artificial n relation to the

natural. n this sense,the designerholds a broad view of the natureof design and the proper scope of its application. Indeed, mostdesigners,to the degree that they have reflectedon theirdiscipline,will gladly, if not insistently, explain on a general level what thesubject matter of design is. When developed and well presented,these explanationsarephilosophies or proto-philosophies of designthat exist within a plurality of alternativeviews. 3 They provide anessentialframeworkfor eachdesignerto understandandexplorethematerials, methods, and principles of design thinking. But suchphilosophies do not and cannot constitute sciences of design in thesense of any natural, social, or humanistic science. The reason forthis is simple: design is fundamentallyconcerned with the particu-lar, and there is no science of the particular.

In actualpractice,the designerbeginswith what should be calledaquasi-subjectmatter, tenuously existing within the problems andissues of specific circumstances. Out of the specific possibilities ofa concrete situation, the designer must conceive a design that willlead to this or that particular product. A quasi-subject matter isnot an undetermined subject waiting to be made determinate. It isan indeterminate subject waiting to be made specific and concrete.For example,a client's brief does not presentadefinition of the sub-ject matter of a particulardesign application. It presents a problemand a set of issues to be considered in resolving that problem. Insituations where a brief specifies in great detail the particular fea-tures of the product to be planned, it often does so because anowner, corporate executive, or managerhas attempted to performthe critical task of transforming problems and issues into a work-ing hypothesis about the particularfeatures of the product to bedesigned.In effect,someone hasattempted o take the wickednessout. Even in this situation, however, the conception of particularfeatures remains only a possibility that may be subject to changethrough discussion and argument.

This is where placements take on special significanceas tools ofdesign thinking. They allow the designer to position and reposi-tion the problems and issues at hand. Placements are the tools bywhich a designer intuitively or deliberately shapes a design situa-tion, identifying the views of all participants, the issues whichconcernthem,andthe inventionthatwill serve as aworking hypoth-esis for exploration and development. In this sense, the placementsselected by a designer are the same as what determinate subject

42)Theres onecasenwhich ven he ub-ject matters of the sciences areindeterminate.heworking ypothe-ses of scientists invariablyreflectdistinctivehilosophicerspectivesnand nterpretationsfwhat onstitutesnature ndnatural rocesses. his s afactor n accountingorthesurprisingpluralismf philosophiesmong rac-ticing cientists nd uggestshatevenscience s shaped y anapplicationfdesign hinking, eveloped long helinesof Dewey'snotionof intention-al operations. Even from thisperspective,owever,cientistsre on-cerned ithunderstandingheuniversalpropertiesfwhats,while esignersreconcernedwithconceivingndplan-ningaparticularhatdoesnotyet exist.Indeterminacyor he cientistsonthelevel f second-intention,hile he ub-ject matterremains,at the level offirst-intention,eterminatentheman-ner described. For the designer,indeterminacyelongs o both first-and econd-intention.

43)Fora briefdiscussionf differenton-ceptions f subjectmatter n this evelheldby three ontemporaryesigners,Ezio Manzini,GaetanoPesce,andEmilioAmbaz,eeRichard uchanan,Metaphors,arratives,ndFablesnNewDesignThinking, esign ssuesVII-1 (Fall, 1990): 78-84. Withoutunderstandingdesigner'siewof sub-jectmatternthegeneralevel,here slittlentelligibilitynthe hifts hat ccurwhen a designermoves, or example,fromdesigning omestic roducts ographicdesignor architecture. uchshifts reusually escribedn terms fthedesigner's personality r cir-cumstances,atherhan hecontinueddevelopmentfacoherentntellectualperspectiven theartificial.

44)Failureo include rofessionalesign-ersasearlyaspossiblentheproductdevelopmentprocessis one of thesourcesof entrapmentn corporateculture. rofessionalesignershouldberecognizedor theirabilityo con-ceiveproducts s well asplan hem.



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mattersare for thescientist.They arethe quasi-subjectmatterofdesign thinking,from which the designer fashions a workinghypothesissuitedto specialcircumstances.This helps o explainhowdesign unctionsasan ntegrative is-cipline. By using placementsto discover or invent a workinghypothesis,the designerestablishesaprincipleof relevance orknowledgerom heartsandsciences, eterminingow suchknowl-edgemay be useful o design hinkingn a particularircumstancewithout mmediatelyeducing esign o one or another f thesedis-ciplines. In effect, the working hypothesis that will lead to aparticularroduct s the principle f relevance, uiding he effortsof designers o gatherall availableknowledgebearingon how aproduct s finallyplanned.

Butdoes the designer'sworkinghypothesis r principle f rele-vance uggest hat heproducttself s a determinateubjectmatter?The answer nvolvesacritical ut oftenblurred istinction etweendesign hinkingand the activityof productionor making.Once aproducts conceived, lanned, ndproduced,tmay ndeedbecomeanobjectfor study by any of the artsand sciences-history,eco-nomics, sychology,ociology, r anthropology.t mayevenbecomean object or studyby a new humanistic cienceof production hatwe couldcallthe science f the artificial, irectedowardunder-standinghenature, orm,and uses of humanmaderoductsn allof theirgenerickinds.45But in all such studies, the activitiesof designthinkingareeasily orgottenor arereduced o thekindof productthat sfinallyproduced. heproblemordesignerss to conceive ndplanwhatdoesnot yet exist,and hisoccursnthecontext f the nde-terminacy f wickedproblems, efore hefinalresult s known.Thisis the creative r inventive ctivity hatHerbertSimonhasin mindwhenhespeaksof designas a scienceof the artificial.Whathe means s devising rtifactso attaingoals or, morebroadly,doctrineaboutthe designprocess. 46n this sense,Simon'ssci-enceof the artificial s perhapscloser to whatDewey meansbytechnologyas a systematicdisciplineof experimentalhinking.However, Simonhas little to say about the differencebetweendesigning product ndmakingt.Consequently,he search ro-cedures nddecision-making rotocols hatheproposes ordesignarelargelyanalytic, hapedby his philosophicview of the deter-minacies hat ollowfrom he naturalawsthatsurround rtifacts.Forall of theinsightSimonhas ndistinguishinghe artificial sadomainofhumanmaderoductsdifferentromobjects reated ynaturalprocesses,he does not capture he radical ensein whichdesignersxplorehe essenceof what he artificialmaybein human48experience.This sasynthetic ctivity elated o indeterminacy,otanactivityof makingwhat is undeterminedn naturalawsmoredeterminatenartifacts.nshort,Simonappearso haveconflatedtwo sciencesof the artificial:n inventive cienceof design hink-ing which has no subjectmatter asidefrom what the designer

45)Theearliest xample f this sciencesAristotle'soetics.Althoughhisworkisdirectedowardheanalysisf liter-ary productions and tragedy inparticular,ristotlerequentlyiscussesusefulobjects n termsof theprinci-plesofpoeticanalysis.Poetics, romtheGreekword or making, susedbyAristotleorefer oproductiveci-enceor the science of the artificial,whichhe distinguishesoth rom he-oretic and practicalsciences. Fewinvestigatorsave ecognizedhatpoet-ic analysisanbeextendedo thestudyof making useful objects.Whendesigner ndarchitect milioAmbazrefersothe poeticsfthepragmatic,he meansnotonlyesthetic relegantfeaturesf everyday bjects, ut alsoa method rdisciplinef analysishatmaycontributeo design hinking.

46) Simon,TheSciences f the Artificial,52-53.

47)ForSimon,he artificials an inter-face createdwithin a materialistreality: Ihave hown hatascience fartificial phenomenais always inimminentdangerof dissolvingandvanishing. he peculiar roperties fthe artifact ie on the thin interfacebetweenhenaturalawswithin t andthenaturalawswithout. imon,TheSciences f the Artificial, 7. This is

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conceives it to be, and a science of existing humanmadeproductswhose nature Simon happensto believe is a manipulationof mate-49rial and behaviorallaws of nature.

Design is a remarkablysupple discipline, amenable to radical-ly different interpretations n philosophy as well as in practice.Butthe flexibility of design often leads to popular misunderstandingand clouds efforts to understand its nature.The history of designis not merelyahistoryof objects. It is ahistory of the changingviewsof subject matter held by designers and the concrete objects con-ceived, planned, and produced as expressions of those views. Onecould go further and say that the history of designhistoryis a recordof the design historians'views regarding what they conceive to bethe subjectmatter of design.

We have been slow to recognize the peculiar indeterminacy ofsubjectmatter n designand its impacton the natureof designthink-ing. As a consequence, each of the sciences that have come intocontactwith design has tendedto regarddesignasan applied ver-sion of its own knowledge, methods, and principles. They see indesign an instanceof theirown subject matterand treatdesign as apracticaldemonstration f the scientificprinciplesof thatsubjectmat-ter. Thus, we have the odd, recurring situation in which design isalternately regardedas applied natural science, applied socialscience, or applied fine art. No wonder designers and membersof the scientific community often have difficulty communicating.Design andTechnologyManyproblemsremain o be exploredin establishingdesignas a lib-eralart of technological culture. But as it continues to unfold in thework of individualdesignersand in reflectionon the nature of theirwork,50 design is slowly restoring the richer meaning of the term

technology that was all but lost with the rise of the IndustrialRevolution. Most people continue to think of technology in termsof itsproductrather han its form as a disciplineof systematic hink-ing. They regard echnology asthingsand machines,observingwithconcernthatthe machinesof our culture oftenappearout of humancontrol,threatening o trapandenslaverather han liberate.But therewas a time in an earlierperiod of Western culturewhen technologywas a human activity operatingthroughout the liberalarts. Everyliberalarthad its own technologiaor systematicdiscipline.To pos-sess thattechnologyordisciplineof thinkingwas to possesstheliberalart,to be human, and to be free in seeking one's place in the world.

Design also has a technologia, and it is manifested in the planfor every new product. The plan is an argument, reflecting thedeliberations of designers and their efforts to integrateknowledgein new ways, suited to specific circumstances and needs. In thissense, design is emerging as a new discipline of practical reason-ing and argumentation,directedby individualdesignerstowardoneor another of its major thematic variations in the twentieth cen-

one expression of the positivist orempiricist philosophy that guidesSimon's theory of design.

48) For Simon, the equivalentof a wickedproblem is an ill-structured prob-lem. For Simon's views on howill-structured problems may beaddressed, see The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems, Models ofDiscovery (Boston: D. Reidel, 1977),305-25.Thispaperhasinterestingcon-nections with the doctrine ofplacements because placements maybe used to organize and store memo-ries, and Simon is particularlyconcerned with the role of long-termmemory in solving ill-structured rob-lems. But Simon's methods are stillanalytic, directed toward the discov-ery of solutions in some sense alreadyknown rather than the invention ofsolutions yet unknown.

49) Although Simon's title, The Sciencesof the Artificial, s aperfectlyadequatetranslationof what we have come toknow inWestern cultureas Aristotle'sPoetics, Simon seems unaware of thehumanistic tradition of poetic andrhetorical analysisof the artificial hatfollowed from Aristotle. This is notanantiquarianssue,because the studyof literary production-the artificialformed nwords-prefigures theissuesthat surround the study of the artifi-cialin allother types of useful objects.Aristotle carefully distinguished thescience of the artificialfrom the artofrhetoric.When Aristotle comes to dis-cuss the thought that is presented inan artificialobject such as a tragedy,he pointedly refers the reader to histreatiseon the inventive art of rhetoricfor the fullest elaborationof the issue.However, Simon deserves less criti-cism for overlooking this connectionthan humanistswho have been amaz-ingly neglectful,if not scornful, of therise of design and technology in thetwentieth century.

50) One example of such reflection is theinterdisciplinaryonference DiscoveringDesign, organizedby R.Buchanan ndV. Margolinand heldat the Universityof Illinois at Chicago in 1990. The col-lectedpapersrom hisconferencewill bepublished as Discovering Design:ExplorationsnDesignStudies.

51)RichardMcKeon, Logos:Technology,Philology,and History, n Proceedingsof the XVth World Congress ofPhilosophy:Varna,Bulgaria, eptember17-22, 1973 (Sofia: Sofia PressProductionCenter, 1974),3:481-84.

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tury:designas communication,onstruction,trategic lanning,or systemicntegration.52hepowerof design sdeliberationndargumentiesin overcominghe limitations f mereverbalorsymbolic rgument-the eparationfwordsand hings, r the-oryandpracticehat emainssource fdisruptionnd onfusionin contemporaryulture.Argumentn design hinkingmovestowardheconcretenterplayndnterconnectionf signs, hings,actions,andthoughts.Everydesigner'sketch,blueprint,lowchart, raph,hree-dimensionalodel, r otherproduct ropos-al isanexample f suchargumentation.However,herespersistentonfusionbout hedifferent odesofargumentationmployed y thevarious esign rofessions.orexample,ndustrialesign, ngineering,ndmarketingach mploythediscipline f design hinking, et theirargumentsreoftenframedn sharply ifferentogicalmodalities.ndustrialesigntends o stresswhat spossiblentheconceptionndplanning fproducts;ngineeringends o stresswhat s necessarynconsid-eringmaterials,mechanisms,tructures,ndsystems; whilemarketingends o stresswhat scontingentnthechangingtti-tudesandpreferencesf potential sers.Because f thesemodaldifferencesn approachingesignproblems,hreeof the mostimportantrofessionsf design hinking reoftenregardedsbit-teropponentsnthedesign nterprise,rreconcilablyistantromeachother.54What esign sa liberal rtcontributeso this ituationsa newawarenessf howarguments the centralheme hatcutsacrossthemany echnicalmethodologiesmployedneachdesignpro-fession.Differencesf modalitymaybecomplementaryaysofarguing-reciprocalxpressionsfwhat onditionsnd hapesheuseful nhumanxperience.sa liberal rtoftechnologicalul-ture,design oints oward newattitude bout heappearancefproducts.Appearanceustcarry deeper,ntegrativergumentabout henatureftheartificialnhumanxperience.his rgumentisasynthesisfthree inesofreasoning:he deas fdesignersndmanufacturersboutheirproducts;he nternalperationalogicofproducts;nd hedesire ndability fhuman eingso useprod-ucts neverydayife nways hat eflect ersonalnd ocial alues.Effectiveesign ependsn theability fdesignersointegratellthree inesof reasoning. utnotasisolated actors hatcanbeaddedogethernasimplemathematicalotal,or as solated ub-jectmattershatcanbe studied eparatelynd oined ate ntheproduct evelopmentrocess.Thenew iberal rtofdesignhinkingsturningothemodalityofimpossibility.tpoints,orexample,owardhe mpossibilityfrigidboundariesetweenndustrialesign, ngineering,ndmar-keting.tpointsowardhe mpossibilityf relying n anyoneofthesciencesnatural,ocial, rhumanistic)oradequateolutionsowhat re he nherentlyickedroblemsfdesignhinking. inally,

52) For Rittel's view of argumentation ndesign, see Rittel and Webber,Dilemmas, 19. Also discussed inBazjanac, ArchitecturalesignTheory:Models of the Design Process, BasicQuestions of Design Theory. Studentsreportthat latein hiscareerRittel cameto recognize the affinity between hisapproachand rhetoric.

53) The necessary is sometimes referredto as capacity r capability n engi-neering.For a useful introduction toengineering design, see M. J. French,Invention and Evolution: Design inNature and Engineering (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1988).

54) Philip Kotler, the internationally rec-ognized expert on marketing, hassuggested that what many industrialdesignersobject to inmarketing houldnot be regardedasmarketing tself,butas bad marketing.For new develop-ments in marketing,see Philip Kotler,Humanistic Marketing: Beyond theMarketing Concept, Philosophicaland Radical Thought in Marketing,eds.A. FuatFirat,N. Dholakia,andR.P.Bagozzi (Lexington,Massachusetts:Lexington Books, 1987).

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it pointstoward omethinghat s oftenforgotten,hatwhatmanypeoplecall impossiblemay actually nlybealimitation f imag-ination hatcanbe overcomeby betterdesign hinking.This s notthinkingdirected owarda technological quick ix in hardwarebut towardnewintegrationsf signs, hings,actions,andenviron-ments hataddress he concreteneedsandvaluesof humanbeingsin diversecircumstances.

Individualsrainednthetraditional rtsandsciencesmaycon-tinueto bepuzzled by theneotericartof design. But themastersof this new liberalart arepracticalmenandwomen,andthe dis-cipline f thinkinghat heyemploysgraduallyecoming ccessibleto all individualsn everydayife.A commondisciplineof designthinking-more thanthe particular roductscreatedby that dis-ciplinetoday-is changingour culture,not only in its externalmanifestations utin its internal haracter.

55) Neoteric is a term often associatedin Western culturewith the emergenceof new liberal arts. Neoteric arts arearts of new learning. For a discus-sion of neoteric and paleoteric liberalarts, see Richard Buchanan, Designas a Liberal Art, Papers: The 1990Conference on Design Education,Education Committee of theIndustrial Designers Society ofAmerica (Pasadena,CA, 1990).


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