Design Theory

Dragonfly: An Ecological Approach to Digital Architectural Design

by Michael J. Braund

Published in ACADIA 2011: Integration Through Computation, ed. by J.M. Taron, V. Parlac, B. Kolarevic and J.S. Johnson, pp.178-186. Stroughton, WI: The Printing House, 2011.

(Co-authored with Daniel Hambleton)

In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture... more In his keynote address delivered to The American Society for Esthetics in 1976, James J. Gibson wrote, “Architecture and design do not have a satisfactory theoretical basis.” He then asked, “Can an ecological approach to the psychology of perception and behavior provide it?” (1976, p. 413) We believe that it can, at least in part. In this paper, we expand upon Gibson’s insights into the nature of perceptual experience by applying the concept of “affordances” to the design of architectural objects in general, and to the domain of digital architectural design in particular. On our account, the affordance-concept supplies a useful theoretical basis for conceptualizing the relationship between environments and occupants with respect to the form and behavioral meaning of geometrically constructed layouts.

Donald Norman (1988) first introduced affordances to interaction design theorists, as a conceptual tool for predicting how agents will interact with a given product. The extensive body of literature that has since emerged, from human-computer-interaction studies (Ackerman, 1996; Conn, 1995; Moran, 1997; Norman, 1999) to architectural theory and practice (Koutamanis, 2006; Maier and Fadel, 2009), has followed Norman’s lead in defining affordances, somewhat amorphously, as whichever action-related properties of objects are sufficient to elicit the intended forms of behavioral interaction between the agent and object. However, while this is correct, it is only half the story. It leaves unexplained how human perceivers detect and “pair down” on the potentially vast range of possible affordances (at a given time), to select the ones that will be relevant to the coordination and guidance of the targeted actions. Call this the “selectivity problem,” a proper treatment of which is missing from the literature. This is no small matter. If the theory of affordances is to be useful to architects and designers, if it is to have explanatory and predictive power over how perceivers will interact with their surroundings, then some account of the cognitive procedure by which affordances are selected for the deployment of specific behaviors is necessary. Otherwise, it is unclear what the theory hopes to predict or explain.

To this end, we maintain that the couching of affordances in a framework of human intentionality is not only consistent with Gibson’s theoretical views (i.e., the action-oriented definition of the concept of affordances not only suggests an intentional perspective), indeed, such a perspective is necessary if we are to succeed in implementing the affordance-concept into an architectural design context in a way that addresses the selectivity problem. This is one of the goals of “Dragonfly,” a first attempt at implementing the affordance-based control of perceptually guided-action into a digital design simulation. Dragonfly enables human interaction with geometry by encoding the basic principles of ecological psychology (including a rudimentary form of intentionality) into an interactive CAD environment. New vistas for future research and interdisciplinary approaches to design are then discussed, with a special emphasis on their applicability to architecture.

Bettina Baumann's Vessel-Spaces

by Deborah Malor

Ceramics Art & Perception 65, 2006, pp91-94

Design from the Everyday: Continuously evolving, embedded exploratory prototypes

by Margot Brereton

Published and Presented at the Designing Interavtive Systems Conference in Aarhus, Denmark 2010

ACM conference. 22% acceptance rate in the long paper track.

One of the major challenges in the design of social
technologies is the evaluation of their qualities of use... more One of the major challenges in the design of social
technologies is the evaluation of their qualities of use and
how they are appropriated over time. While the field of
HCI abounds in short-term exploratory design and studies
of use, relatively little attention has focused on the
continuous development of prototypes longitudinally and
studies of their emergent use. We ground the exploration
and analysis of use in the everyday world, embracing
contingency and open-ended use, through the use of a
continuously-available exploratory prototype. Through
examining use longitudinally, clearer insight can be gained
of realistic, non-novelty usage and appropriation into
everyday use.

This paper sketches out a framework for design that puts a
premium on immediate use and evolving the design in
response to use and user feedback. While such design
practices with continuously developing systems are common
in the design of social technologies, they are little
documented. We describe our approach and reflect upon its
key characteristics, based on our experiences from two case
studies. We also present five major patterns of long-term
usage which we found useful for design.

Perspektivwechsel auf IS: Von der Systemgestaltung zur Strukturation sozialer Praxis

by Gunnar Stevens

Peter Brödner, Markus Rohde, Gunnar Stevens, Volker Wulf: Perspektivwechsel auf IS: Von der Systemgestaltung zur Strukturation sozialer Praxis, Tagungsband der Mensch und Computer, 2010,

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der theoretischen Fundierung der zweckmäßigen Gestaltung von Informa- tionssystemen. Er... more Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der theoretischen Fundierung der zweckmäßigen Gestaltung von Informa- tionssystemen. Er trägt zu einem internationalen Diskurs bei, der durch eine grundlegende Arbeit von Hevner et al. (2004) angestoßen wurde. Allerdings wirft deren Perspektive begriffliche und theoreti- sche Schwierigkeiten auf, die in einer eingeschränkten Rezeption pragmatischer Weltsicht wurzeln, auf die sich die Autoren berufen, und die ein unzureichendes Verständnis der Gestaltungsaufgabe zur Folge haben. Abhilfe lässt sich durch eine Erweiterung des theoretischen Rahmens gewinnen, der nicht nur die zu gestaltenden IT-Systeme, sondern vor allem auch deren Wechselwirkungen mit den sozialen Praktiken, die sie modellieren und im Gebrauch zugleich strukturieren, in den Blick nimmt. Diese ontologische und epistemologische Öffnung der Perspektive der Gestaltungswissenschaft hat methodi- sche Konsequenzen, die exemplarisch für die kanonische Aktionsforschung und Unternehmens- Ethnografie als aussichtsreichen neuen Vorgehensweisen erläutert werden.

Developing a Theoretical Framework for Understanding (Staged) Authentic Retail Settings In Relation to the Current Experience Economy.

by Bie Plevoets

Plevoets, B., Petermans, A., & Van Cleempoel, K. (2010). Developing a theoretical framework for understanding (staged) authentic retail concepts in relation to the current experience economy. Paper presented at the DRS2010, Montreal, Canada, July 7-9.

Markova vila

by Ladislav Zikmund-Lender

Slavné vily Plzeňského kraje

Petr Urlich (ed.)
Co-authors: Petr Ulrich, Petr Domanický, Pavel Domanický, Jan Mergl, Michael Rund, Vratislav Ryšavý, Jana Synková, Marie Wasková

FOIBOS
Prague, 2009
ISBN: 978-80-87073-17-9

S plzeňským krajem je spojena celá řada významných jmen zlaté éry vilové architektury – stavební firma... more S plzeňským krajem je spojena celá řada významných jmen zlaté éry vilové architektury – stavební firma Müller&Kapsa, Adolf Loos a jeho spolupracovník Karel Lhota, Heinrich Kulka a další. Města a vesnice jako Holoubkov, Zbiroh, Domažlice, Sušice a další si vytvořily v průběhu staletí specifické niveau osady weekend-housů, pozoruhodných kolonié rodinných domků, či romantické osady dýchající historií prominentních postav české kultury. Mezi nejvýznamnější památky vilové architektury se řadí například secesní vila Karla Kestřánka, vila Jana Cingroše, cottage Kraisingrova, Spaunova vila od Leopolda Bauera, Máchova vila v Holoubkově od Jana Kotěry, byty od Adolfa Loose v Plzni, z období funkcionalismu zaujme například vila Jana Rohrera či vila Karla Tomáška. Pozadu nezůstává ani architektura současná, mezi níž vyniká například Vila v Čižicích, vila Nemus či vila Skalka.

OutRun: Perversive Games and Designing the De-Simulation of Eight-Bit Driving (FDG 2010)

by Garnet Hertz

Conference proceedings, Foundations of Digital Games 2010, June 12-21, Monterey, CA, USA

This paper outlines the development process of a mixed reality video game prototype that combines a classic arcade... more This paper outlines the development process of a mixed reality video game prototype that combines a classic arcade driving game with a real world vehicle. In this project the user, or player, maneuvers the car-shaped arcade cabinet through actual physical space using a screen as a navigational guide which renders the real world in the style of an 8-bit video game. This case study is presented as a “perversive game”: an attempt to disrupt the everyday by highlighting and inverting conventional behavior through humor and paradox.

Applied Virtuality. On the Problematics around Theory and Design

by Vera Bühlmann

In: Michael Hampe, Silke Lang (Hrsg.): The Design of Material, Organisms and Minds. Springer Verlag 2010. prov. version (engl.)

Merged Ontology for Engineering Design (MOED): Contrasting Empirical and Theoretical Approaches to Develop Engineering Ontologies

by Mario Storga

co-authored by Ahmed Saeema; Štorga, Mario
published in AIEDAM - Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, Cambridge University Press, USA, Vol. 23 No.4, 2009, p. 391-407

This paper presents a comparison of two previous and separate efforts to develop an ontology in the engineering design... more This paper presents a comparison of two previous and separate efforts to develop an ontology in the engineering design domain, together with an ontology proposal from which ontologies for a specific application may be derived. The research contrasts an empirical, user-centered approach to developing ontology - the Engineering Design Integrated Taxonomies (EDIT), with a theoretical approach in which concepts and relations are elicited from engineering design theories - the Design Ontology (DO). The limitations and advantages of each approach are discussed. The research methodology adopted is to map the ontology through examining each of the concepts and relations contained within each of the ontologies DO and EDIT with respect to the other. The comparison process results in an examination of both ontologies, with a few changes resulting from this. The importance of the two different approaches, one that is theoretically sound and another that is applicable, is recognized and argued. Finally, the merged ontology for engineering design is proposed as a template ontology that can be tailored by researchers and practitioners for a specific context.

Embodied design: constructing means for constructing meaning

by Dor Abrahamson

Abrahamson, D. (2009). Embodied design: constructing means for constructing meaning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 70(1), 27-47. [Electronic supplementary material at http://edrl.berkeley.edu/publications/journals/ESM/Abrahamson-ESM/ ].

Design-based research studies are conducted as iterative implementationanalysis- modification cycles, in which... more Design-based research studies are conducted as iterative implementationanalysis- modification cycles, in which emerging theoretical models and pedagogically plausible activities are reciprocally tuned toward each other as a means of investigating conjectures pertaining to mechanisms underlying content teaching and learning. Yet this approach, even when resulting in empirically effective educational products, remains underconceptualized as long as researchers cannot be explicit about their craft and specifically how data analyses inform design decisions. Consequentially, design decisions may appear arbitrary, design methodology is insufficiently documented for broad dissemination, and design practice is inadequately conversant with learning-sciences perspectives. One reason for this apparent under-theorizing, I propose, is that designers do not have appropriate constructs to formulate and reflect on their own intuitive responses to students’ observed interactions with the media under development. Recent socio-cultural explication of epistemic artifacts as semiotic means for mathematical learners to objectify presymbolic notions (e.g., Radford, Mathematical Thinking and Learning 5(1): 37–70, 2003) may offer design-based researchers intellectual perspectives and analytic tools for theorizing design improvements as responses to participants’ compromised attempts to build and communicate meaning with available media. By explaining these media as potential semiotic means for students to objectify their emerging understandings of mathematical ideas, designers, reciprocally, create semiotic means to objectify their own intuitive design decisions, as they build and improve these media. Examining three case studies of undergraduate students reasoning about a simple probability situation (binomial), I demonstrate how the semiotic approach illuminates the process and content of student reasoning and, so doing, explicates and possibly enhances design-based research methodology.

Conversations for Reflection: Designing Support for Reflection-on-Professional Action

by Mark Aakhus

Aakhus, M. (2005). Conversations for Reflection: Designing Support for Reflection-on-Professional Action. The Language Action Perspective on Communication Modelling (pp. 63-75). Kiruna, Sweden, June 19-20, 2005

A revised and updated version of this paper was published as:

Aakhus, M. (2007). Conversations for Reflection: Augmenting transitions and transformations in expertise. In C. R. McInerney & R. E. Day (Eds.), Rethinking Knowledge Management (pp. 1-20). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/3-540-71011-6

(http://www.springerlink.com/content/k182t223787g78v5/)

The aim of this paper is to specify a dialogue model for reflective inquiry that can inform the design and use of... more The aim of this paper is to specify a dialogue model for reflective inquiry that can inform the design and use of information systems to support collaboration, learning, and decision-making.

Arguing in Internet chat rooms: Argumentative adaptations to chat room design and some consequences for public deliberation at a distance

by Mark Aakhus

Weger, H., & Aakhus, M. (2003). Arguing in internet chat rooms Argumentative adaptations to chat room design and some consequences for public deliberation at a distance. Argument & Advocacy, 40, 23-38.

Once identified as a cause of citizens exclusion from public dialogue, electronic media in its most recent forms may... more Once identified as a cause of citizens exclusion from public dialogue, electronic media in its most recent forms may foster greater opportunity for broader participation in discussions of public policy. The disappearance of citizen participation in the public sphere (e.g., Goodnight, 1982) has been associated with the rise of early forms of electronic media such as television, radio, and newspapers. The public deliberation in the mass media age changed the nature of argumentation in the public sphere (e.g., Sennett, 1977). Traditionally, public deliberation involved localized communication events which brought the community together and encouraged participation by ordinary members of the public. The shift to public argument in mass media resulted in non-interactive, distant, and passive communication events in which the public was neitiler given access, nor encouraged to participate (see Hollihan, Klumpp, & Riley, 1999). Instead, technical elites (those with technical or expert knowledge in a particular field) spoke for the audience members bringing the "voice of reason" to public debate. There has been a radical change since that time, however, in the media available to ordinary citizens for interactive communication at a distance, thereby reinventing the possibilities for engaging in public discourse.

Communication as design

by Mark Aakhus

Aakhus, M. (2007). Communication as Design. Communication Monographs, 74(1), 112-117.

(http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03637750701196383)

...What becomes immediately apparent upon seeing communication in terms of design is the broad and deep interest in... more ...What becomes immediately apparent upon seeing communication in terms of design is the broad and deep interest in structuring, shaping, and conditioning discourse. This is evident in the varieties of designs for communication apparent in the institutions, practices, procedures, and technologies present in the built-up human world and the varieties of communication-design work performed in society apparent in the interventions people perform. Indeed, the built-up world is an ongoing engagement with the puzzle of making forms of communication possible. A crucial response to this interest is a design enterprise*that is, to open up the intentional design of communication as an object of inquiry for the purposes of advancing knowledge about communication (Aakhus & Jackson, 2005). A design enterprise treats communication as both an object and a process of design while reflectively engaging the dynamic tension between the fundamentally constitutive nature of communication and communication’s instrumental possibilities (e.g., Mokros & Aakhus, 2002).

Crafting Interactivity for Stakeholder Engagement: Transforming Assumptions About Communication in Science and Policy

by Mark Aakhus

The International Radiation Protection Association's guiding principles for stakeholder engagement focus on fostering,... more The International Radiation Protection Association's guiding principles for stakeholder engagement focus on fostering, facilitating, and enabling interaction among stakeholders that is inclusive and fosters competent decision making. Implicit in these standards is a call to cultivate knowledge and competence in designing communication for stakeholder engagement among radiation protection professionals. Communication as design is an approach to risk communication in science and policy that differs from, yet complements, the more well-known communication practices of informing and persuading. Design focuses on the recurring practical problem faced by professionals in making communication possible among stakeholders where it has otherwise been difficult, impossible, or even unimagined. The knowledge and competence associated with design involves principles for crafting interactivity across a variety of mediated and non-mediated encounters among stakeholders. Risk communication can be improved by cultivating expertise in scalable communication design that embraces the demands of involvement without abandoning the need for competence in science and policy communication.

Case Transfer: A Design Approach by Artefacts and Projection

by Rosan Chow

Chow, R. and W. Jonas (2010). "Case Transfer: A Design Approach by Artefacts and Projection." Design Issues Vol.26 Issue 4

Evolution, Epigenesis and Recycling in Design Theorizing

by Rosan Chow

Chow, Rosan (2005). Evolution, Epigenesis and Recycling in Design Theorizing.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, EAD06. (Ed. Wolfgang Jonas, Rosan Chow, and Niels Verhaag. Bremen.

Shop Around: Design Theory for Design Education

by Rosan Chow

Kindness. A Purpose of Design

by Rosan Chow

Design for Sustainability (DfS): The Interface of Sustainable Production and Consumption

by Joachim H. Spangenberg

Design, Comunicação e Mediação, Contribuição de Vilém Flusser para uma Sociologia do Design | Design, Communication and Mediation, Vilém Flusser Contribution Towards a Sociology of Design

by Sara Velez Estêvão

Dissertação de Mestrado, ISCTE.

Esta tese tem como problemática o design e as considerações teóricas que este fenómeno mereceu em Vilém Flusser, um... more Esta tese tem como problemática o design e as considerações teóricas que este fenómeno mereceu em Vilém Flusser, um destacado autor que associou a reflexão sobre cultura com a tecnologia, o design e a comunicação. Nos textos de Flusser, a abordagem ao problema do mundo cultural, mais especificamente dos objectos técnicos, da comunicação humana, das imagens técnicas e, a estes associado, do design, revela a função dialógica destes em constante confronto com a sua condição de objecto. O design, enquanto forma cultural de presença ubíqua na comunicação contemporânea assenta em objectos técnicos, assume características das imagens técnicas definidas por Flusser e, como tal, considera-se, depara-se ontologicamente com questões idênticas às levantadas por Flusser nos seus textos.

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The present dissertation has as main problem, design and the theoretical concepts of Vilém Flusser on this phenomenon. Flusser, a distinguished author, connected the thougt on culture with design and communication. In his work, the approach to the cultural world problem - more specifically of the technical objects, human communication, technical images and the design associated to these – reveals their dialogic function, in permanent confrontation with their condition as objects. Design, being a cultural form ubiquitous in contemporary communication, resides in technical objects, assumes characteristics of the technical images defined by Flusser and, as such, in our view, faces ontological questions identical to the ones raised by Flusser in his texts.