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Design Research: Methods and Perspectives
Abstract
Kurzbeschreibung amazonnewline The tools of design research, writes Brenda Laurel, will allow designers "to claim and direct the power of their profession." Often neglected in the various curricula of design schools, the new models of design research described in this book help designers to investigate people, form and process in ways that can make their work more potent and more delightful. "At the very least," Peter Lunenfeld writes in the preface, "design research saves us from reinventing the wheel. At its best, a lively research methodology can reinvigorate the passion that so often fades after designers join the profession." The goal of the book is to introduce designers to the many research tools that can be used to inform design as well as to ideas about how and when to deploy them effectively. The chapter authors come from diverse institutions and enterprises, including Stanford University, MIT, Intel, Maxis, Studio Anybody, Sweden's HUMlab and Big Blue Dot. Each has something to say about how designers make themselves better at what they do through research, and illustrates it with real world examples - case studies, anecdotes and images.newline newline Topics of this multi-voice conversation include qualitative and quantitative methods, performance ethnography and design improvisation, trend research, cultural diversity, formal and structural research practice, tactical discussions of design research process and case studies drawn from areas as unique as computer games, museum information systems and movies. Interspersed throughout the book are one-page "demos," snapshots of the design research experience. Design Research charts the paths from research methods to research findings to design principles to design results and demonstrates the transformation of theory into a richly satisfying and more reliably successful practice.
... IS researchers expand the capability and performance of humans and organizations by designing and implementing innovative artifacts/products (March and Storey, 2008). The innovative design itself is a form of design research, while the other can determine the research approach in the "behavior," that is, design as a research process to find solutions to problems (Laurel, 2003). ...
... IS research is at the intersection of organizations, people, and technology (March and Storey, 2008), so it is important to understand the practical application of design to the actual environment of an organization. Design research as a "front-end" approach pushes products and services forward from the conceptual stage (Laurel, 2003). The process of design research expresses insights into design and methods, as well as how design knowledge is used, expressed, disseminated, and understood (Laurel, 2003). ...
... Design research as a "front-end" approach pushes products and services forward from the conceptual stage (Laurel, 2003). The process of design research expresses insights into design and methods, as well as how design knowledge is used, expressed, disseminated, and understood (Laurel, 2003). Design studies are a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. ...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enter organizations and become AI teammates in organizational teams, posing new challenges to organizational form, team management, and team working patterns. Establishing an efficient "human-AI team" requires an organization and its members to have superior digital capabilities and develop effective capability improvement strategies to realize the organizational socialization process of AI. In this paper, we adopt the Design Research (DR) approach in building a Human-AI Collaboration Platform (HACP) in a work team, integrating AI teammates based on HACP, and optimizing the platform and human-AI collaboration. Considering organizational digital capabilities as one of the core components, we propose a three-level framework of digitalization capabilities for individuals, organizations, and across organizations, as well as the enhancement strategies of such capabilities. Besides, we clarify the foundation of digitalization capabilities and design, implement, and verify the enhancement strategies. The construction and successful implementation of the HACP in our study verify the effectiveness of the proposed capability framework and provide principle guidance for organizations to implement effective strategies to improve digital capabilities to facilitate the organizational socialization of AI teammates.
... A strategic, durable product creates a long-term fit between the product and the company's customers. In opposition to traditional user-oriented design processes that mainly seek to create a fit between a product and the customer in the purchase situation by fulfilling impulsive emotional and social aspirations or needs (Laurel, 2003;Merholz et al. 2008, Ulwick, 2005, strategically durable products solve long-term problems for the customer and address needs, wished and aspirations, that are relevant now as well as in the future. ...
Digital Product Passports (DPP) are recognised as a crucial component in advancing the circular economy as well as the EU’s strategic autonomy and supply chain security. DPP aims to provide all stakeholders with extensive information about a product’s makeup and environmental footprint during its production, usage, and end-of-life stages, encouraging sustainable product design, reusability, repairability, and waste reduction. However, we argue that exploring the incentives for businesses, particularly the strategic advantages that could motivate businesses to adopt DPP, beyond mere compliance is necessary. This study develops the concept of DPP as a strategic capability by contributing with a framework for developing new DPP services that 1) strengthen companies’ relationships with their customers, 2) sustain and accentuate the companies' values and competencies, and 3) generate new competitive advantage in the market. The framework for developing new DDP services is tested in the furniture company Fritz Hansen A/S to illustrate the strategic advantages and incentives to adopt DPP, that these services generate. The study indicates that developing DPP services could be a way to speed up the implementation process.
... The research method was research by design carried out with the adoption of the methodology resulting from the design practice and specialist and theoretical studies (Laurel, 2003;Downton, 2003;Niedziela-Wawrzyniak & Wawrzyniak, 2021;Popovic, 2005;Niezabitowska, 2014) in terms of the order and staging of the works carried out. ...
The topic of the text is the description of the methodology and research by design carried out to determine the initial concept of the form of a high-rise building designed in Warsaw at Emili Plater Str. The text emphasizes the importance of variations and iteration of the form in research. The conducted investigation served to define the concept of the initial form, which may be the subject of subsequent stages of design works and the initial form for multi-branch optimization. The tools used were models, 3D prints, digital models, and parametric design. The design work was carried out within a defined, narrow time frame. The course of work showed that the simultaneous work on many variants of the initial form, the teamwork of architects, and the evaluation of variants by an interdisciplinary team from the first design phases contributed to achieving a satisfactory result in the assumed time. Holistic form design, brainstorming, and cross-stimulation techniques within the design team played an important role in the development of many variants and their design options at an early stage.
The study focused on malnutrition and its impact on economic development in Rwanda using a case study of Mushonyi sector in Western Province in Rwanda. The study used both qualitative and quantitative designs with total population being 1500 as per sector population records in 2020. Sample size was 375 determined by using Krejcie and Morgan table (1970). Stratified, clustered, purposive and convenience sampling technique were used. The causes of malnutrition prevalent in the sector were found to be poverty, social exclusion, injustice, political exclusion and imbalances in power, unhealthy eating habits, low level of health education, lack of balanced diets among others. Malnutrition impact on the social livelihoods, and economic development as it increases health care costs, deepens poverty, increases child mortality and those children who are malnourished have poor grades in schools. Therefore, initiation of local community nutrition education and training programs, enhancement of gardening skills, strengthening food security, access to health facilities, and community empowerment as well as frequent provision of Shishakibondo flour (balanced porridge for children) to the poor communities be support in Rwanda. Recommendation was that, a pro-equity agenda that mainstreams nutrition into food systems and health systems supported by strong financing and accountability be implemented by governments, businesses and civil society and that they must step up efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms by tackling injustices in food and health systems by providing health education, supporting community development projects like livestock and agricultural projects so that they become able to get nutritious food.
In the heart of the Pearl River Delta, the city of Guangzhou is fast-growing and prone to flooding. In history, people constructed canals based on natural waterways to deal with water problems. The canal system not only served as an important infrastructure but was also as the backbone of urban life. But with the development of the road network in recent decades, the urban canals in the historical inner city have been neglected and are disappearing, losing their identity, and becoming the forgotten side of the city. What can be learned from the historical situation to reactivate the urban canals as carriers of socially and ecologically inclusive urban space? This chapter aims to identify design principles for (historical) urban canal design and examine their potential through design exploration, with Donghao Chong as a typical example. The results showcase how, through the meaningful application of historical knowledge, urban canals can become a water landscape infrastructure that effectively integrates public space by combining design, heritage, water management, and ecology.KeywordsHistorical urban canalsHeritage designPublic space designBlue spaceUrban landscape infrastructureCanal restoration
Link to open access download:
https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/455
Traditionally associated with craftmanship and manual work, knitwear seems a quite unusual subject of investigation for scientific research. This book places it as an integrative part of the industrial design culture where the dialogue between a productive system of excellence and the design discipline taught in universities becomes a topic of central concern.
From an industrial standpoint, knitwear is a fertile ground of technological experimentation while being at the same time one of the most traditional sectors of Made in Italy. The complexity of a long and fragmented production chain is an interesting challenge for designers but affects the training and the knowledge transfer inside companies. On the academic side, the presence of such an industry creates the urgency for higher education to understand how to train knit designers as new professionals, and thus the opportunity for knitwear to be recognized as a discipline deserving specific teaching strategies and a focused scientific research.
The present book reports an experimentation conducted in the unique conditions of the Italian industrial design culture, that defined tools and methods to train knit designers not as artists, but with the technical and cultural knowledge and the project-oriented mindset that is typical of industrial design disciplines.
These contents are of interest for the academy, as they constitute a tool to design teaching experiences oriented to such a specific industrial sector; for those approaching knitwear design, as it is a pool of information on the complexity of knitwear, a map of the background knowledge, collected and rearranged, and a compass to be guided in building one's own skills; for professionals, who will find here their history, the opinions of colleagues, the opportunity to integrate their knowledge and to learn more about the in-depth experimental, technical and design work that takes place at Politecnico di Milano.
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