Design methods

History of the design thinking

It started in the 1960s and it comes to now. Some theories come even from before. The first time “Design thinking” became a book was 1987, by Peter Rowe. He focused on:

• Decision making
• Defining design protocols (documenting design process)

There is no step by step; each architect works in different ways. A problem occurs when an organism wants something and the actions to get it are not obvious.

Categories of problems

• Well-defined problems - A solution requires application of the rules to the specific equation.
• Ill-defined problems - You should better define the problem by talking to your customer.
• Wicked problems - Without a definitive definition.

At the end of 1800, the modern era pushed towards the “scientificazation” of creative activities like design and architecture. Because there was a strong division between scientific disciplines and artistic performances.

Approaches in design

Deduction - From general to specific

Induction - From specific to general

In the design process, you use both of them. Deduction and induction were tools to give meaning to what happened in the world around us. Deduction proves that something must be, induction shows that something actually is operative. Abduction suggests that something may be. It assumes the definition of a hypothesis, not already given by the cases, and for that is a sort of intelligent try.

Thinking out of the box

What means “think out of the box”? It means to think by association, to stimulate the area of the brain which is most creative. Associationism says that creativity is a random event. Wurzburg school says that creativity is controllable. Gestalt, which is the theory that led Bauhaus, says that while you’re looking, your brain immediately associates what you’re seeing with something. For Gestalt, creativity is a free reconstruction on these fixed arrangements. After Gestalt, there’s Behaviourism.

Design education

Step process models are a rational thinking that makes a list of steps. In the design process, it happens that you’re so concentrated on something that you miss all the rest.

Where design education come from? In Italy, design education was born in the 90s. Actually, it was born in the 50s and 60s, but the schools were a few and all private. The bricoleur comes from the art school, the engineer comes from the polytechnic school. Some schools have a very scientific approach to the topic. In addition to the bricoleur and the engineer, in the 80s there was a new figure, the reflective practitioner.

• Visions
• Metaphors
• Storyboards