Questions, Hypotheses & Conjectures was created with research students in mind; however, the issues and ideas are relevant to all members of the design community. It contains not only current design research projects but also the debates, dialogical thinking, and intellectual struggles involved in arriving at research questions. There are two contributions from each author: the original abstract or poster with comments and a final paper. The comments highlight the paper's positive directions and ambitious goals, point out critical issues to explore, and also expose oversights common to the early stages of academic research. The papers are arranged to follow the typical steps a researcher takes in the journey of arriving at grounded questions, plausible hypotheses, or informed conjectures. Each group of papers gives a sense of what is generally required or achieved at that step. Taken as a whole, the papers show that arriving at research questions, hypotheses, and conjectures is an achievement and requires a demanding process that is often unfamiliar to and underestimated by beginning researchers. Themes include service and socially oriented design, design thinking and method development, management of multidisciplinary design teams, and design as meaning construction. The special articles raise the fundamental and not-yet-resolved issues of the bases and purposes of design research.

QUESTIONS, HYPOTHESES & CONJECTURES

DISCUSSIONS ON PROJECTS BY EARLY STAGE AND SENIOR DESIGN RESEARCHERS

iUniverse, Inc.

Design Research Network
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-5966-8

Contents

Foreword /// Rosan Chow, Wolfgang Jonas, Gesche Joost...............................................................................08Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................13Seeing the Future through Aesthetics: A Sustainable Approach........................................................................Poster 16to Solving Real-World Problems /// Doaa El Aidi.....................................................................................Final Paper 20"Why Do I, as a Design Researcher, Always...........................................................................................Poster 24Have to Explain Myself?"/// Dennis Oswald...........................................................................................Final Paper 28Questions and Hypotheses: When Design Management....................................................................................Poster 34Embraces Visualization in the Chinese Context /// Fan Xia...........................................................................Final Paper 38Improving Communication in Development Processes....................................................................................Abstract 46through Design /// Mareike Graf and Carmen Hartmann-Menzel..........................................................................Final Paper 49Mind the Gap: Theories and Practices in.............................................................................................Poster 56Managing Service Design /// Qin Han.................................................................................................Final Paper 60Matrices & Experiences, a Pursuit of Looking........................................................................................Poster 68and Communicating /// Thierry Lagrange..............................................................................................Final Paper 72Crafting the Space for Change: Towards a New Perspective on Design's Contribution to Community Development..........................Abstract 80and Democracy /// Lesley McKee......................................................................................................Final Paper 84Seduction and Healing in Architectural Design:......................................................................................Abstract 89Designer as Mediator in.............................................................................................................Poster 104HCI Design Practice /// Mithra Zahedi...............................................................................................Final Paper 108Pragmatic Semiotics and Design: How do the..........................................................................................Abstract 116Artifacts Communicate? /// Sarah Belkhamsa..........................................................................................Final Paper 120An Approach by Design for Project Management........................................................................................Abstract 132and Organizational Design /// Michel de Blois.......................................................................................Final Paper 139Questioning the Student Experience..................................................................................................Abstract 152in Design Education /// Stella Boess................................................................................................Final Paper 156The Janus-Faced Aspect of...........................................................................................................Abstract 168Architecture /// Dag Boutsen........................................................................................................Final Paper 174Unready-Made Artifacts for Open.....................................................................................................Abstract 188Interpretation /// Katharina Bredies................................................................................................Final Paper 194Critical Engagement: Design's Role in...............................................................................................Abstract 207Counter-terror Communication /// Lisa Cresswell.....................................................................................Final Paper 209A New Evaluation and Innovation Framework for Sustainable Design: Addressing the Limits of Current..................................Abstract 219Sustainability Assessment Methods /// Carmela Cucuzzella............................................................................Final Paper 223Hypothesizing about Design from the Perspective.....................................................................................Abstract 241of Visual Rhetoric /// Annina Schneller.............................................................................................Final Paper 247Narrative Scenarios in Industrial Design Processes: Selecting Opportunities for the Investigation of................................Abstract 256Design Methods /// Christian Wlfel.................................................................................................Final Paper 261Searching for Design Research Questions: Some Conceptual Clarifications /// Alain Findeli...........................................278On Ducts and Design /// Keith Russell...............................................................................................294CONTRIBUTORS........................................................................................................................304

Foreword

Design Research is often self-conscious about its lack of systematic method s and theories in comparison to other academic disciplines. This self-consciousness, on the one hand, has to a certain degree advanced the quality of design discourse; on the other hand, it has resulted in much research that is methodologically rigorous but conceptually weak. "Here is the solution and what was the problem?" seems to describe the unfavorable character of much design research. It has been forgotten that it is questions and ideas that give meaning and value to meticulously executed research. To promote rigor in formulating research questions and conceiving new ideas, the Design Research Network organized the learning conference Questions & Hypotheses in 2008 in Berlin. The Design Research Network is a platform established in 2007 particularly to serve research students in Design. Students are encouraged to take an active role in raising questions and participating in discussions in order to inform and help each other.

The debates and discussions on the presentations at the conference were both critical and constructive. To preserve and disseminate these valuable discussions and to encourage continuous learning, this book Questions, Hypotheses & Conjectures was conceived. The contributing authors are mainly early stage design researchers who presented their projects at the conference. Authors were asked to capture and reflect on the comments, questions, and discussions during the conference. Based on these reflections, the authors rewrote their papers. There are therefore two contributions from each author: the original abstract or poster with comments and a final paper. The comments have originated mainly from our invited senior researchers and are...