Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom focuses on one type of contemporary design research known as constructive design research. It looks at three approaches to constructive design research: Lab, Field, and Showroom. The book shows how theory, research practice, and the social environment create commonalities between these approaches. It illustrates how one can successfully integrate design and research based on work carried out in industrial design and interaction design.
The book begins with an overview of the rise of constructive design research, as well as constructive research programs and methodologies. It then describes the logic of studying design in the laboratory, design ethnography and field work, and the origins of the Showroom and its foundation on art and design rather than on science or the social sciences. It also discusses the theoretical background of constructive design research, along with modeling and prototyping of design items. Finally, it considers recent work in Lab that focuses on action and the body instead of thinking and knowing.
Many kinds of designers and people interested in design will find this book extremely helpful.
1. Cover image 2. Table of Contents 3. Front-matter 4. Copyright 5. Foreword 6. Preface 7. Acknowledgments 8. 1. Constructive Design Research 9. 1.1. Beyond Research Through Design 10. 1.2. Constructive Research in Design Research 11. 1.3. What Is “Design”? 12. 1.4. Industrial Design and Interaction Design 13. 1.5. Design Research in Second Modernity 14. 2. The Coming of Age of Constructive Design Research 15. 2.1. The User-Centered Turn: Searching the Middle Way 16. 2.2. Beyond the User 17. 2.3. Between Engineering, Science, Design, and Art 18. 3. Research Programs 19. 3.1. Some Features of Constructive Research Programs 20. 3.2. Imagination as a Step to Preferred Situations 21. 3.3. Making Imagination Tangible: Workshops and Studios in Research 22. 3.4. How Constructive Design Research Produces Meaning 23. 3.5. Toward Socially Robust Knowledge 24. 4. Lab 25. 4.1. Rich Interaction: Building a Tangible Camera 26. 4.2. Laboratory as a Site of Knowledge 27. 4.3. Experimental Control 28. 4.4. Physical Hypotheses and Design 29. 4.5. Design, Theory, and Real-World Relevance 30. 4.6. From Lab to Society: The Price of Decontextualization 31. 4.7. Program at the Junction 32. 5. Field 33. 5.1. Vila Rosário: Reframing Public Health in a Favela 34. 5.2. Understanding as the Basis of Design 35. 5.3. Exploring Context with Props 36. 5.4. Generating Concepts as Analysis 37. 5.5. Evaluation Turns into Research: Following Imaginations in the Field 38. 5.6. Interpretations as Precedents 39. 5.7. Co-Design and New Objects 40. 6. Showroom 41. 6.1. The Origins of Showroom 42. 6.2. Agnostic Science 43. 6.3. Reworking Research 44. 6.4. Beyond Knowledge: Design for Debate 45. 6.5. Enriching Communication: Exhibitions 46. 6.6. Curators and Researchers 47. 6.7. How Not to Be an Artist 48. 6.8. Toward Post-Critical Design 49. 7. How to Work with Theory 50. 7.1. Acting in the World 51. 7.2. Lab: From Semantic Perception to Direct Action 52. 7.3. Field: You Cannot Live Alone 53. 7.4. Showroom: Design and Culture Under Attack 54. 7.5. Frameworks and Theories 55. 8. Design Things 56. 8.1. User Research with Imagination 57. 8.2. Gaining Firsthand Insights in the Studio 58. 8.3. Concept Design with Moodboards, Mock-ups, and Sketches 59. 8.4. Prototyping 60. 8.5. Platforms: Taking Design into the Field 61. 8.6. Design Things in Research 62. 9. Constructive Design Research in Society 63. 9.1. Luotain 64. 9.2. Researchers as Peers 65. 9.3. Research Faces Design Traditions 66. 9.4. New Bauhauses: Digital and Electronic 67. 9.5. Meet the Business 68. 9.6. Embracing the Public Good 69. 9.7. Constructive Design Research in Society 70. 10. Building Research Programs 71. 10.1. Beyond Rationalism 72. 10.2. Contribution and Knowledge 73. 10.3. How to Build Research Programs 74. 10.4. Inspirations and Programs 75. 10.5. Research Programs and Methodologies 76. 10.6. The Quest for a Big Context 77. References 78. Index
Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom focuses on one type of contemporary design research known as constructive design research. It looks at three approaches to constructive design research: Lab, Field, and Showroom. The book shows how theory, research practice, and the social environment create commonalities between these approaches. It illustrates how one can successfully integrate design and research based on work carried out in industrial design and interaction design.
The book begins with an overview of the rise of constructive design research, as well as constructive research programs and methodologies. It then describes the logic of studying design in the laboratory, design ethnography and field work, and the origins of the Showroom and its foundation on art and design rather than on science or the social sciences. It also discusses the theoretical background of constructive design research, along with modeling and prototyping of design items. Finally, it considers recent work in Lab that focuses on action and the body instead of thinking and knowing.
Many kinds of designers and people interested in design will find this book extremely helpful.
1. Cover image 2. Table of Contents 3. Front-matter 4. Copyright 5. Foreword 6. Preface 7. Acknowledgments 8. 1. Constructive Design Research 9. 1.1. Beyond Research Through Design 10. 1.2. Constructive Research in Design Research 11. 1.3. What Is “Design”? 12. 1.4. Industrial Design and Interaction Design 13. 1.5. Design Research in Second Modernity 14. 2. The Coming of Age of Constructive Design Research 15. 2.1. The User-Centered Turn: Searching the Middle Way 16. 2.2. Beyond the User 17. 2.3. Between Engineering, Science, Design, and Art 18. 3. Research Programs 19. 3.1. Some Features of Constructive Research Programs 20. 3.2. Imagination as a Step to Preferred Situations 21. 3.3. Making Imagination Tangible: Workshops and Studios in Research 22. 3.4. How Constructive Design Research Produces Meaning 23. 3.5. Toward Socially Robust Knowledge 24. 4. Lab 25. 4.1. Rich Interaction: Building a Tangible Camera 26. 4.2. Laboratory as a Site of Knowledge 27. 4.3. Experimental Control 28. 4.4. Physical Hypotheses and Design 29. 4.5. Design, Theory, and Real-World Relevance 30. 4.6. From Lab to Society: The Price of Decontextualization 31. 4.7. Program at the Junction 32. 5. Field 33. 5.1. Vila Rosário: Reframing Public Health in a Favela 34. 5.2. Understanding as the Basis of Design 35. 5.3. Exploring Context with Props 36. 5.4. Generating Concepts as Analysis 37. 5.5. Evaluation Turns into Research: Following Imaginations in the Field 38. 5.6. Interpretations as Precedents 39. 5.7. Co-Design and New Objects 40. 6. Showroom 41. 6.1. The Origins of Showroom 42. 6.2. Agnostic Science 43. 6.3. Reworking Research 44. 6.4. Beyond Knowledge: Design for Debate 45. 6.5. Enriching Communication: Exhibitions 46. 6.6. Curators and Researchers 47. 6.7. How Not to Be an Artist 48. 6.8. Toward Post-Critical Design 49. 7. How to Work with Theory 50. 7.1. Acting in the World 51. 7.2. Lab: From Semantic Perception to Direct Action 52. 7.3. Field: You Cannot Live Alone 53. 7.4. Showroom: Design and Culture Under Attack 54. 7.5. Frameworks and Theories 55. 8. Design Things 56. 8.1. User Research with Imagination 57. 8.2. Gaining Firsthand Insights in the Studio 58. 8.3. Concept Design with Moodboards, Mock-ups, and Sketches 59. 8.4. Prototyping 60. 8.5. Platforms: Taking Design into the Field 61. 8.6. Design Things in Research 62. 9. Constructive Design Research in Society 63. 9.1. Luotain 64. 9.2. Researchers as Peers 65. 9.3. Research Faces Design Traditions 66. 9.4. New Bauhauses: Digital and Electronic 67. 9.5. Meet the Business 68. 9.6. Embracing the Public Good 69. 9.7. Constructive Design Research in Society 70. 10. Building Research Programs 71. 10.1. Beyond Rationalism 72. 10.2. Contribution and Knowledge 73. 10.3. How to Build Research Programs 74. 10.4. Inspirations and Programs 75. 10.5. Research Programs and Methodologies 76. 10.6. The Quest for a Big Context 77. References 78. Index
