Currency as Process vs. Currency as Outcome

methods in design research and practice|2012

currency as process vs. currency as outcome

tj lefebvre

i

ii

methods in design research and practicecurrency as process vs. currency as outcome

tj lefebvre3281948

tutor:liam fennessy

23 October, 2012

iii

contents

task one | review of a field of practice 1

task two | propositional design direction statement 8

task three | project proposals 13

modern zero

14experiment: collective conscience

16

appendix a

bibliography

reflection

20

24

18

1

field of practice review design process vs. design

2

earthships1

Designed and created by Architect Michael Reynolds, the Earthship phenomena is one man’s design

response to consumerism and unsustainable development.

projects response

In a world where sustainability is a buzzword4, Reynolds uses his profession to work within his ‘sustainable concern’, providing an example of Fry’s first rule of redirective action, “Starting with the Self”5. The Earthship project is an exemplary example of social design practice as the Earthship project’s design includes the house’s implementation, cultural and environmental impact as well as the product itself.

r2b22

Christoph Thetard’s rethinking of the modern kitchen within the sustainable

concern demonstrates an approach that is both applicable and

Thetard’s kitchen unit, R2B2, demonstrates the value of ethnography within design, as the actions of the user are require only one appliance to function at a time, yet this is not restrictive as it is a common kitchen behaviour. This design thinking is in-line with Dieter Ram’s “Omit the Unimportant6”, where electricity is unimportant and functionality is.

copenhagen urban planning3

A city that’s infrastructure design included particular systems that

encourage a reduction of motor vehicle use.

Copenhagen’s urban design demonstrates the effect that design has on behaviour. The designer will always affect the use of their product/project by adhering to their personal and professional set of concerns. A designer requires integrity.

Using Tony Fry as a platform for Reynolds’ work, survives initial criticism, but on looking into it more deeply, Fry’s stand point is from a rigid design consultancy context. Fry separates the service design system from service design methodological action. I.e. one may participate in an interdisciplinary, well-framed design project without actually impacting the problem that requires the service design intervention. While there is definitely a call for designers to have integrity behind their work, they also need to sit within the material and social context within in which they propose to participate.

service design methodology: design process vs. design

1 Reynolds, M. ed., Earthships, Eathship Biotecture. Available at: http://earthship.com/ [Accessed August 1, 2012].2 Thetard, C. ed., Christoph Thetard, Available at: http://www.christoph-thetard.de/christoph-thetard.de/R2B2-engl.html [Accessed August 1, 2012]. 3 Architects, G. ed., Gehl Architects, Gehl Architects. Available at: http://www.gehlarchitects.com/#/497393/ [Accessed August 1, 2012].4 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. page 425 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. page 2246 Margolin, V., 1989. Design Discourse, University Of Chicago Press. pg 111

3

practitionersresponse

Good design should encompass good business. A design cannot be expected to flourish simply because of it’s innovative tendency; design should consider the economic and cultural impacts of it’s project/product which might be considered part of a successful business framework. frog design show that their process incorporates both an adherence to business strategy, system service as well as considered design principles.

frog design7

frog is business-minded. It combines design process with business strategy and adapts it’s method to any field.

I believe that marketing is a huge part of design. As co-creation and interdisciplinary design move to the fore-front of design methodology, marketing moves closer to the design process. Like business strategy, market strategy is necessary to conserve resources and produce projects that will benefit and impact the prospective community.

ideo.org8

works its methodology through a series of lenses and approaches design issues based on impact. ideo.org also successfully markets its projects The design process is human-centered.

TACSI is human-centered. Their approach is articulate - their values guide their design. Again, TACSI demonstrates the strength of an interdisciplinary team.

tacsi9works locally to achieve large-scale change in the social, environmental and cultural challenges in Australia.

There are limits which are inherent flaws in these consultancy businesses, too. There is inherent ‘methodological theory’ within these institutions that diminish the output, where the process becomes the currency of the organisation. While useful, the output becomes marginalised and arguably becomes lost in the theory rhetoric. In this way, process need to be able to evenly prioritise output as well as process so that the information and product are both desirable. As such, product system services need to be implemented well to gain this common ground.

IDEO survives well as a consultancy of marketing and prestige accorded by their practice, but fails in it’s system service framing of addressing issues that require more than theoretical implementation.


7 frog design, Available at: http://www.frogdesign.com [Accessed October 22, 2012].8 IDEO.org, IDEO.org. Available at: https://www.ideo.org/ [Accessed August 1, 2012].9 TACSI, Available at: http://www.tacsi.org.au/ [Accessed August 1, 2012].

4

interdisciplinary design/co-creation

customer journey mapping

a day in the life

co-creation and interdisciplinary design aim to gather a wide range of perspectives for a design and/or process10. Interdisciplinary design is the collaborative design of diversely skilled individuals; co-creation is often a workshop session with stakeholders and other interested/beneficial parties to determine innovative ideas.11

common methodologies

A vivid but structured visualisation of a service user’s experience. The map includes touchpoints, which inform the user’s “journey” - a story based on their experience. This tool helps designers forecast how the service may be used.12

a collation of research material pertaining to a particular type of customer into the format of the customer’s average day and activities. This helps designers create a system that fits within its users parameters, so that it might be effective and successful.13


marketing/business

research-led

self-sustainment

Design should include a marketing and business strategy incorporated into its framework, this may come about through interdisciplinary design, but must be considered as a key role in the success of a service. These terms do not have to bow to the market imperative, but rather work within a paradigm that takes into consideration the method for service adoption and sustainment.

uncommon methodologies

Perhaps a better approach to design and its methodologies might be to be firmly grounded in research and theory. A design process should begin theorhetical research to aid the framing of the design problem. Without knowledge of previous endeavours and past and present theory, designers cannot be integral to developing informed products/projects.

A designer and his method cannot have integrity without themselves participating within a particular desired framework. In the case of the ‘sustainable agenda’, designers must live the life that is expected of consumers and learn/design from it.

Common methodologies within service design are the processes that often serve as currency. When these processes become currency for the design consultancy, time and money is sometimes inefficiently spent on the presentation and passing on of the particular exercises. Often these tools for understanding stand for little more than the completion of an exercise, and so the limitations of service design become visible.

The contribution I wish to make with suggested new methodologies aims to tackle this limitation. By applying business principles to service design, the outcome is highlighted as more of a priority. Research leads to a heightened idea of past failures and better implementation of the proposed intervention. Finally, while Fry’s ‘redirective’ practice is the model for my ‘design as integrity - self sustainment’, I aim to use it as a tool for contextualising the situation and closing the gap between consultancy and user.

10 Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J., 2011. This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers. pg. 19811Ibid.12 Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J., 2011. This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers. pg. 15813 Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J., 2011. This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers. pg. 174

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Tony Fry - Sustainment by DesignFry posits that “designing is not just a practice supplementary to our everyday life, it is deeply implicated in it.” Fry continues to argue that individual and collaborative engagements with the ‘unsustainable’, “although uncoordinated all such actions can travel in the same direction”. Further, he explains that one cannot begin with a design process, rather one must be sustaining one’s self. ‘Redirection’ as Fry terms it, is the action of challenging the status quo, and in his case deals primarily with the sustainment agenda.14

Nigel Cross - Design StrategiesCross unearths a three-step process in his case-studies. First, taking a broad systems-approach to a design issue (“rather than accepting narrow problem criteria”; second, “framing the problem in a distinctive[...]personal way”; and finally, designing from first principles. Cross goes on to say that these three approaches are three separate levels of design thinking, and he orders them as such:

“At the lowest level is explicit, established knowledge of first principles, which may be domain specific or more general scientific knowledge. At the intermediate level is where the designer’s strategic knowledge is especially exercised, and where that knowledge is more variable, situated in the particular problem and its context, tacit and perhaps personalised and idiosyncratic. At the higher level there is a mix of relatively stable, but usually implicit goals held by the designer, the temporary problem goals, and fixed, explicit solution criteria specified by the client or other domain authority.”16

Interpreting this into a service design methodology is such that the designer’s concerns should work together with the design criteria, seeing the system that works within both frames. The process should be relative to the designer where personal understanding and context is imperative. Finally, a service should always be designed from the beginning (or ground-up) for an innovative result.

“If you cannot redirect, you are unlikely to be redirective”15

Klaus Krippendorff - Human-Centered Design MethodsKrippendorff explains three principles for ‘human-centered design’. First a design’s meaning should be synonymous with what its stakeholders expect; second a design should not only direct a particular use of design, but it should discourage the incorrect use of it; finally, design must leave space for new interpretation within a reasonable framework of what may be desirable.17 These principles should lead service design process and the selection of methodology for research, understanding and ideation.

These long term respected design ideals represent the theories that designers shouldn’t disregard as old design rhetoric. While there are many theories for design, service design has the capacity to find use for these directives.

Once again, there is a particular focus on framing design problems. However, unlike the recently immortalised (TiSDT) design methodologies, these discourses require critical thinking as opposed to carrying out a set of requirements.

Krippendorff focuses on outcome, which begins to balance the divide between process and product. His focus on semantics is not so far removed from service design. The understanding of a service (particularly from an HCD perspective) is paramount to its success and therefore should help frame design problems.

Cross, while functioning on a theoretical platform provides a really interesting way to consider design problems, and I argue a good way to properly understand a design process.

14 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. pp.22415 Ibid.16 Cross, N., 2011. Design Thinking, Berg. pp.75 - 7817 Krippendorff, K., 2006. The Semantic Turn, CRC Press. pp.231

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“Design is a political act. Every time we design a product, we are making a statement about the direction the world will move in.”22

Davies and Parrinder - Sustainable DesignIn a response to Aaris Sherin’s essay, ‘Escape from the tyranny of things’, Davies and Parrinder begin by calling for a paradigm shift to ‘metadesign’, a process that privileges personal agency in considering a sustainable world. This thinking can be seen as a line of questioning which aims to make the design problem apparent in relation to the designer’s daily life23 (also broached by Tony Fry24). Davies and Parrinder quote Stefano Marzano saying “Design is a political act. Every time we design a product, we are making a statement about the direction the world will move in.” They go on to say that “sustainability will only work if it breaks out of the confines of green problem-solving and focuses on the holistic, process-led re-engagement with the material world of design.” “Design not only has to see itself in the wider world of things but needs to develop relationships with consumers”. In this way, service design methodology might incorporate ‘metadesign’ as a way for designers to engage with the “material world of design” to better create (or rather, not create) within the lens of sustainment.

Deiter Rams - Omit the Unimportant“Good design means as little design as possible”, Rams states. Omitting the unimportant emphasizes the important. Rams goes on to say that function and attributes should be designed in such a way that they are directly understood.18 Further, Rams asserts that “Aggressive individuality must be abandoned” and that novelty should be rejected as a sole aim19. While Rams is referring to product design, I believe that this translates into service design methodology. Design process, especially prescriptive process (TiSDT20, IDEO21) can be complicated and distracting to the designer. Design process should be influenced by previous methods, but not prescribed, the same way that the novelty of a ‘set of methods’ should be avoided. Service design should aim to ‘design as little as possible’ to reduce impact and better consider where the greatest impacts of the design might be.


Here Rams, a famed aesthete, brings important rationale to the understanding of design and by proxy, service systems. Omitting the unimportant is just as important in semantics as it is in understanding the function of a design system, and so, should not be dwarfed by conventional design methodologies.

Davies and Parrinder also call for a close of the gap between ‘design as consultancy’ and ‘design as intervention’. Touching again on the idea of a designer’s integrity, Davies and Parrinder say that the best way to do this is to re-engage with the material world that we, as people, function within. They highlight the service design context as “green problem-solving”, inferring the given methodologies that we use today to analyse a system, as least in theory.

The reality is, that to properly analyse a situation, cookie-cut methods do not aid in finding a solution to design problems. Instead understanding, research and context are imperative to key sustainable outcomes.

18 Margolin, V., 1989. Design Discourse, University Of Chicago Press.pp.11219 Margolin, V., 1989. Design Discourse, University Of Chicago Press.pp.11320 Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J., 2011. This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers.21 Method Cards at IDEO | IDEO. ideo.com. Available at: http://www.ideo.com/by-ideo/method-cards [Accessed October 22, 2012].22 Davies, C. & Parrinder, M., 2010. Limited Language, Birkhauser Architecture. pg. 9923 Ibid24 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. pp.224

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framework design,self-sustainment &

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Analysing service design through mapping, I look at the relationship between service design’s artifacts, agendas and methodologies. In this way, we see that methodologies should function as a successful third of the deisgn process. Instead, when we talk about service design, methodologies overshadow artifacts and agendas.

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propositional design direction statementframing design within integrity

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design doesn’t call on strategy and frameworks to guide both

outcome and process

designers separate their life from their concerns

critical thinking has been removed from design process

Davies and Parrinder

Nigel Cross

Tony Fry

Nigel Cross suggests how to frame design problems with three levels of engagement.1

“If you cannot redirect, you are unlikely to be redirective”2

“[...]sustainability will only work if it breaks out of the confines of green problem-solving and focuses on the holistic, process-led re-engagement with the material world of design.”3

My direction statement stems from these three critical positions. I bear in mind the flaw of theory as a separation tool between outcome and process and proceed with understanding and awareness.

These positions inform the basis of my design methodology and guide my idea of service design to attempt an output that intervenes and enhances the solutions brought out of service design thinking.

propositional design direction statement: framing design within integrity

1Cross, N., 2011. Design Thinking, Berg. pp75 - 782 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. pp.2243 Davies, C. & Parrinder, M., 2010. Limited Language, Birkhauser Architecture. pg. 99

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Following Nigel Cross, Tony Fry and Davies and Parrider, I believe that designers should first frame their particular design problems and lifestyle in a way that is integral to their design concerns. Not only should their concerns be consciously framed within their design methodology, but that research should be a more prevalent form of methodology within Industrial Design. I believe these methodologies and ways of critical thinking will allow designers to better understand the state of modern ecological and social affairs and make design (or refrain from design) more pertinent.

Cross explains the three levels of thinking that influence the framing of a design. This framing is a way of critically considering a design issue and should be utilised to clarify particular points of issues. First, a designer should be very clear about their design concerns. These are the issues that inform them about their personal design direction and (should) influence all their design outcomes. This is the the part of a designer that requires integrity, and without it, I believe that design cannot be improved upon. Design concerns may be social and ecological in their intent, or they may be aesthetic, philosophical, even political. Whatever a designer believes in, should be considered, lived and adhered to.

After clarifying one’s own concerns, Cross talks about a systematic approach to design. Once the problem has been questioned and framed alongside one’s own concerns, a systems analysis of the design and both it’s current and future intentions should be analysed. This helps bring a product or service to market that has been considered and will not be a waste of resources. Business and organisational structure, scheduling, delivery, touch points and finance should be included in the structuring of the project. At the same time, design should always be from the ground up to avoid unnecessary products and services as well as to allow for innovation. As we take on this 3-fold view of systems, design problems are reframed and can become clearer and conceived with more integrity.

The next consideration is wholly based on the idea of experience and integrity. Fry talks about the necessity of living ones concerns. You cannot design in a material world for sustainability without being responsible for your own ecological footprint. According to Fry, “if you cannot redirect, you are unlikely to be redirective”4. As such, if your concern is social, you cannot separate your life from your design concern if you are a designer with integrity. This causes your design process to be clarified, to be with understanding and with experience.

To address a design problem well, I believe that the question needs to be analysed and approached in a thoughtful way. Cross provides me with the understanding and the accessibility to this. If I frame a problem according to my concerns and continue to organise a system around the question of the problem, I posit that I will become less consumed with the activity of design methods. This means that the problem at hand deal less in the currency of methodological process and more in the focus of the issue.

As I have discussed before, Fry’s redirective theory informs the way in which I propose to see the design context; less as a consultancy and more as a material reality (a la Davies and Parrinder).


4 Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. pp.224

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Finally, Davies and Parrinder back up Fry and Cross by saying “[...]sustainability will only work if it breaks out of the confines of green problem-solving and focuses on the holistic, process-led re-engagement with the material world of design.” Green problem-solving is the answer for a designer who does not live green. It is an archaic methodology that seldom solves more problems than it causes [keep cup5]. They say that designers should be engaged with their material environment and work within cultural and economic parameters. This is what Fry is saying, that we cannot engage with our design concerns if we do not frame them within our living concerns, which is our material and accessible world.

All of these methodologies are possible through research and understanding, as such as a designer, there should be a strong emphasis on understanding the context around us. Each issues should first and foremost be approached with research, that is valued as a design process. This informs products and services and runs less of a risk of encountering similar projects or products where collaboration, experience or understanding might have been much more beneficial to the outcome.

Finally, service design methodology should always be inter-disciplinary. Design is embedded in everything we do and the designer can be a part of every process. Inter-disciplinary work allows for greater innovation, insight and understanding.

In short as designers we need to design with integrity and can be done in three ways. First is to be clear with out design intentions and concerns and consciously engage these concerns with each design. Second, we must not separate our concerns from our daily life as this causes us to remove our understanding of the material world within the design context. I believe that as designers we should thoroughly research our design problems prior to ideation and that inter-disciplinary collaboration is key to innovation. Finally, we should frame our design issues in an intelligent framework. Looking at a systems approach as well as designing from first principles. In this way, I believe designers will better engage in design issues and innovate with pertinent design.

So this construction of methodologies aims to build on service design to provide a better outcome of design that not only engages with its context, but learns from it, designs with it and works with current materials to improve it based on a designer’s prerogatives; Namely sustainable and social concern.

5 keepcup.com.au Available at: http://www.keepcup.com.au [Accessed October 22, 2012]. Keep Cup, while sustainable if used more than x times, the keep cup adds more of a carbon footprint through water usage and manufacturing process.


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The yellow area represents the sphere of service design that I wish to inhabit. Ideally, one that merges outcome and process equally. While both modes of exploration and execution are important, a considered approach needs to keep both in mind instead of focusing on one area.

process as currency


frog design

IDEO

aesthetes

consultancy and theory

outcome as currency

Klaus Krippendorff

Nigel Cross

Tony Fry

Deiter Rams

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project proposalsmodern zero + collective conscience

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collective conscience: experiment

#inter-disciplinary #sustainable #social

How effective might a design collective be if involved designers engaged in projects personally in their own context?

Collective Conscience aims to use Fry’s particular redirection model by encouraging designers to enlist personally in their design concerns. This collective (a group of volunteering designers, artists, anthropologists, engineers and more) would focus its concerns on sustainability and social concerns, consistently engaging in these fields and living to understand them.

As a result of becoming personally aware, designers might better target issues on local and global scales, allowing these to guide their design projects and research. Methodologies employed in these different design problems would rely heavily on research and prototyping.

Collective Conscience would be an exercise and involvement from designers and other creatives interested in this form of thinking and engagement and would be part of it in conjunction to their financial income position.

The outcomes of the collective would be local projects implemented by both designer and public and an first-hand experiment and answer to Fry’s hypothesis.

Schedule Overview

workshop on contextual

awareness of design concerns

research on chosen issue

design concepts

ethnographic co-design

ethnographic prototyping

final prototype of service for chosen

issuesocial and

sustainable issues forum

call out for interested creatives

$200

$200

$600

BudgetAs a collective built on interest as a part-time investment of time, the collective would be not-for-profit. Workshop space, meetings and design issue discussion would be unpaid. Once a design direction was established, designers might approach relevant organisations for funding with a drawn-out budget and plan. Ethnographic research is best paid for valid and considered answers and insights.

ethnography

researchmapping

prototyping

Tony Fry IDEOCollective

Conscience

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Collective Conscience would be an excellent exercise for my proposed ‘integrity within design’ methodology1. I like the way that interdisciplinary exercises are being highlighted and used. In this way, I think that it would be feasible to have designers participating in this collective. Conversely, as each participant would maintain their everyday job position, participants may be less inclined, or find it difficult to function within restricted contexts for the sake of sustainable or social causes. This would require a systematic look at how the collective would function as well as how it might be possible for designers and other to maintain integrity while working on this project.

Furthermore, it is difficult to map this experiment as the direction and issue to be worked upon would need to be collectively agreed upon. It could not function in a hierarchical business fashion where one person makes the design decisions. In this way, there is perhaps not enough focus on the outcome as the process and this would need to be mitigated in such a way so as to balance the two currencies.

1 see page 9

project proposal: collective conscience

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modern zero#sustainability #energy #domestic #accessible

How can the average Australian achieve a low to zero environmental footprint without spending through the teeth?

Modern Zero aims to make domestic living accessible both financially and contingent within modern society through relatively affordable units that can be retrofitted into apartments and homes.

The main methodologies used will be designer’s integrity, where the modern context of accessible sustainable living will be taken on personally; the question will be framed within a Cross three-fold understanding to order and structure the project; clear research will be undertaken to frame past successes and failures that will guide further research on technology and implementation; and finally the project will be based on what can be done with existing materials, networks and availability so as to be answering the design question in the present context. Following these framing methods, a series of ethnographic methods will be used to prototype and develop the design.

This project will aim to produce working prototypes of domestic units that will aid in significantly reducing household energy, water and material consumption.

Schedule Overview

BudgetExisting technologies to experiment with will need to be paid for in cash along with effective stakeholder co-design and the cost of building and prototyping. This cash might be subsidised by a grant, fundraising, or in collaboration with an energy company. Otherwise, the designer will be self-funded.

research: past technologies, attempts, successes and failures

research: existing materials and availability

ethnographic co-design

ethnographic prototyping

final prototype

personal contextual awareness and change

Cross problem framing

$100

$200

$200

$600

ethnography

researchmapping

prototyping

tj lefebvre/s3281948

Droog EarthshipsModern

Zero

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Modern Zero is the result of extended research into sustainable futures. Consistently stuck in the theory rhetoric of ‘back-casting’, I would aim to work within the current material limits of our society (finance, production, average dometic use). While part of the project of retro-fitting domestic houses and living would be about education, another important aspect would be making it possible and easy for a con-cerned consumer to make the shift. This is a great project where system services, problem framing and outcome meld in a particularly cohesive way and a fantastic way of balancing currency as outcome and currency as process.

project proposal: modern zero

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reflectionmy thoughts on my research and direction

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This course, Methods in Design Research and Practice, has been a particularly difficult course. Framing different practices and refining fields has been a very good, and very trying, exercise. The research has been informative and useful in helping define myself as a designer, and even transporting me to a point where I can consider it an appropriate title for myself.

Beginning with the Task One, I struggled to find any field that I felt I could function solely within. I often tried to reconcile all design within service design, positing that all design could be framed within it, and that service design was simply a series of ethnocentric tools that guided design. As I researched further and discussed this with my lecturer, Liam Fennessy, I realised that not only does service design have very specific roles within the design community, but that the methodologies were not sound, even unused. An interesting realisation being that often the prescriptive methodologies within service design were not conducive to an actual intervening outcome and more used as the currency for a design consultancy. The second exercise, engaging in my own design direction was even harder. Here I would have to choose the design projects that I not only engaged in, but that worked within my design concerns, which are hazy at best. However, having moved through the exercises and arrived on the other side looking back reflectively, I see that the best way to design with integrity and clarity is to place these parameters for analysis of my own design ambition.

I feel that my initial rigidity in clarifying my direction was stubborn and not as considered as I believed it to be, but that the further defining of my service design field was very useful.

I now feel that I have a clearer idea of what design can be and a better understanding of the limitations and also the power of service design. The third task brought together my interests and my research into a cohesive picture of where I feel I sit within a social, sustainable and design context.

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appendix a: research design cards

Gary Chang//Architecture

http://www.twentysixletters.com.au/blog/asim-plelife/

edge.hk.com

Leung Yong Song//Furniture Design

http://www.seungyongsong.com/

seungyongsong.com

Issey Miyake//Fashion Design

http://en-papier.tumblr.com/page/17

isseymiyake.com

Interior Design/Architecture

http://www.decorreport.com/a351095-design-dilemma-making-use-of-vertical-space

Yui Kawaguchi//Dance/Soundscape

http://boscoh.com/performance/dance-in-berlin-flitting-between-shadows-and-light

mendora.com

AquaFarm//Urban farm/Sustainable

http://aquafarm.wordpress.com/about/

aquafarm.wordpress.com

Arthur Ganson//Kinetic Sculpture

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arthur_Ganson-Machine_with_22_Scraps_of_Paper-AEC-003.jpg

arthurganson.com

Mike Reynolds//Architecture

earthship.com/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Brighton_Earthship.JPG

21

Copenhagen//Urban Planning/Bikes

Jan Gehlhttp://www.gehlarchitects.com/#/497393/


Christoph Thetard//Industrial Design/Eco

christoph-thetard.de/http://www.dezeen.com/2010/11/23/r2b2-by-christoph-

thetard/

Social Media Geo-fencingfoursquare.com

http://www.abinternet.es/12-tendencias-clave-del-market-ing-online-en-2012/

Gamification/Social Mediahttp://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33810/

This_Week_In_Video_Game_Criticism_The_Great_Gamification_Debate.php

T.S. Eliot//Poetry/Writer

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/houghtonmodern/files/2008/11/ginsberg-eliot-2.jpg

Geo-Fencing/Devices/Interaction Design

http://realestatecafe.squarespace.com/blog/2010/3/12/mobile-real-estate-apps-will-geo-

fencing-create-a-geo-fsbo-f.html

Robert A. Heinlein//Author/Sci-Fi

http://instantgaragesale.com/items/IM002048.JPG

Moleskine//Stationary Design/Craftmoleskine.com/

http://www.taitischia.com/old/2007/03/dirty-moleskine.html

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3D Printing at Home/Engineeringmakerbot.com

https://shop.grrf.de/images/IMG_9943%20kl.jpg

Droog//Furniture Designdroog.com

Tokyo//Travel/Urban Planning/Spaces

http://www.aycalifeclub.com/tokyo.html/tokyo-japan-9

Pedal Power/Eco

http://allyrose.wordpress.com/2007/10/

Jiri Suchanek//Interaction Designjiri-suchanek.net

Reza Aliabadi//Architecture/Spaces

rzlbd.comhttp://twistedsifter.com/2011/02/shaft-house-reza-aliaba-

di-tall-house-narrow-lot/

Theo Jansen//Kinetic Scupturestrandbeest.com

http://kazukir.blogbus.com/logs/89865217.html

No Problem//Furniture Designno-problem.nu


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Droog//Furniture Designdroog.com

Twitter//Social Media/Communication

twitter.com

Instructables//DIY Designinstructables.com

TACSI//Service Designtacsi.org.au

panGenerator//Interaction Designpangenerator.com/

Dead Drops//Urban Disruptiondeaddrops.com

IDEO//Service Designideo.org

Omer Arbel//Lighting Designomerarbel.com

http://eastofhudson.blogspot.com.au/

Chick, A. & Micklethwaite, P., 2011. Design for Sustainable Change, AVA Publishing. Available at: http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/book/graphic-design/9782940439775/bibliography/169. A great overview of design problems and the way that we interpret design today. The reader especially helped guide my thoughts about design as process and design as outcome which are covered. The reader also covered the issues of green-designing, talking about the realities of sustainability as a buzzword. This informed my searching for a new methodology to tackle design these design issues.

Cross, N., 2011. Design Thinking, Berg. This book helped me think clearly about how to think logically and usefully about design problems and how to run projects. It was great to look at case studies of different companies and firms to get a feel for good and bad design outcomes and have a better idea of why they did and didn’t work. Cross has a wonderful way of breaking down complex problems and systems into edible pieces.

Davies, C. & Parrinder, M., 2010. Limited Language, Birkhauser Architecture. This was one of the most influential books that I read this semester, the informed responses of the authors to contentious and interesting design issues supplied layered context and understanding to the realm of design critique and theory. I found the responses easy to read, well considered, and informative.

Erl, T., 2007. SOA: principles of service design, Prentice Hall Press. This book touched on ‘service design’ outside the realm of Industrial Design. The book was quite IT dense, but had some transferable ideas such as designing simply and specifically for need, something that I find resonates with Dieter Rams. Another of the principles in this book is clearly defining the problem within the customer context. This informed my further advocation of framing design problems.

Fry, T., 2008. Design Futuring, Berg Pub Limited. Fry’s theories are very relevant to sustainability and aided the narrowing of methodologies within my sustainability concern. His ideas about reflective judgment and the value of qualitative data helped me see more value in ethnographic research as well as strengthen my position on designing with integrity. Fry was a huge influence in my belief of designers merging their design context and the one in which they inhabit.

Goldstein, S.M. et al., 2002. The service concept: the missing link in service design research? Journal of Operations Management, 20(2), pp.121–134. The paper identifies the gap between what a service needs to deliver and the customer’s needs as the missing link in service design. While we have methodologies to reduce this gap, this paper argues that it is the key considering service design. A particular poignant question this journal asked is the extent to which a service must go to complete the mental picture that consumers have in mind when using a service.

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Illich, I., 1974a. Energy and Equity, London: Calder & Boyars Ltd. After a late suggestion to read this book, Illich touched on points that I would like to further research. The first of these was his prediction of social media and the way in which we consume energy. More to the point, Illich indicates that best way to control energy is to have government intervention. While this is sobering, I feel his writings and theory will help shape my projects next year.

Krippendorff, K., 2006. The Semantic Turn, CRC Press. Krippendorff’s chapter 7 on design methods was helpful in the consolidation of common design methodologies and a sound piece of writing to advise further research. His particular writing on human-centered design methods was very helpful in looking through my social design concern. Not only does Krippendorff encourage the clear communication of artifacts but he goes on to discourage artifacts that might be used in a way that leads the consumer into adverse circumstances.

Margolin, V., 1989. Design Discourse, University Of Chicago Press. This is one of my favourite curations of design discourse. I found many useful pieces to read in this book, namely Richard Buchanan, Dieter Rams and Clive Ashwin. A fantastic insight into design rhetoric, this book helped broaden my view of design and its thinkers.

Papanek, V. & Papanek, V.J., 1984. Design for the real world, Academy Chicago Publishers. Papenek helped me realise some of the futility within design and helped me push for a better way to frame and understand problems. Keeping the context and scope of the design issue is very important and highlighted in this book. I feel that Papanek is the backbone for designing in the current material world with what we have to use and is another author who I would like to study further.

Simpson, R. & Gill, R., 2007. Design for Development: A Review of Emerging Methodologies. Unknown, 17(2), pp.220–230. This article “reviews current methodologies for the design of development projects and identifies foundational reasons for conflict between design approaches and participatory methods”. The most interesting advocation in this piece was the acknowledgment of the flaws in current design thinking and the difficulties of framing design problems. The paper goes on to highlight the importance of trust and accountability as forms of currency which helped me bring the idea of integrity within design into view.

Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J., 2011. This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers. A staple book in my service design library, this is a handbook of methodologies that service design likes to define itself through. Having this book handy was useful in critiquing the limitations of such prescriptive methodologies and helpful in analysing service design as a whole.

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methods in design research and practicecurrency as process vs. currency as outcome

tj lefebvre3281948

tutor:liam fennessy

23 October, 2012

Documents

Currency as Process vs. Currency as Outcome