J. Christopher Jones DESIGN METHODS seeds of human futures 1980 EDITION with a review of new topics(CHOOSING DESIGN METHODS 4 Decide which of the inputsin 2 Select, from the outputs, the ‘the chart is already known to cctegory of information that you. you require next. ‘1 PREFABRICATED STRATEGIES (Convergonce) 111 Systematie Search (The Decision Theory Approach) 2 Value Analysis “9 Systems Engineering 114 Man-Machine System Designing ‘¥5 Boundary Searching 1-6 Page's Curative Strategy 17 CASA (Collaborative Strategy for Adaptable Architecture) 2STRATEGY CONTROL METHODS 24 Strategy Switching 2-2 Matchet’s Fundamental Design Method (FDM) ‘3METHODS OF EXPLORING DESIGN SITUATIONS (ivorgence) 341 Stating Objectives 322 Literature Searching . 3 Searching for Visual Inconsistencies 3:4 Interviewing Users 3 Questionnaires ‘36 Investigating User Behaviour 37 Systemic Testing 38 Selecting Scales of Measurement 39 Data Logging and Data Reduction ‘3 Methods appropriate to your problem appear inthe eas \Where the selected input rows and output columns e.g, method 5:3 AIDA is in input row 4 and in output, ‘column 6, Methods are listed below in order of thee ‘ppearance in the book. ‘4 METHODS OF SEARCHING FOR IDEAS (Ohergtncr ‘and Transformation) 4-1 Brainstorming 4-2 Synectics 4-3 Removing Mental Blocks 4-4 Morphological Charts 5 METHODS OF EXPLORING PROBLEM STRUCTURE (Transformation) 5:1 Interaction Matrix 52 Interaction Net 5-3 AIDA (Analysis of Interconnected Decision Ars 5:4 System Transformation 55 Innovation by Boundary Shifting 5.6 Functional Innovation. 5:7 Alexander's Method of Determining Components ‘58 Classification of Design Information {6 METHODS OF EVALUATION (Convergence) 641 Checklists 62 Selecting Cri 63 Ranking and Weighting ‘Specification Writing 's Reliability Index.ourpurs > | 2 Design Situation Explored 3 Problem Structure Pereived or Tearstormed ie 4 Boundaries Located, ‘Sub-solution Deseriod nd Cont Kemtiteg Moers cnr 6 ‘Alterativ Desi natu eae ig 3 ain slate Hg ene ase Seis Sony Rey ica oem ‘Tonbenet, aaa ‘E4Spertoon mitra {teeDESIGN METHODS seeds of human futures J. Christopher Jones 1980 EDITION with a review of new topics ‘A Wiley-Interscience Publication JOHN WILEY & SONS New York Toronto Chichester BrisbaneCONTENTS Introduction . x Acknowlodgements . xv 1980 Edition: a review of now topics cos cose vt PART THE DEVELOPING DESIGN PROCESS wed Chapter 1 What is Designing? . a ‘The Designer's Objectivas 6 ‘Why is Designing Dimeuit? ... . ° Is Designing an Art, Scionco ora Form of Mathomatics?...... 10 Chapter 2 Traditional Methods... 8 Cratt evolution 18 Design-by-Draning - 20 (Chapter 3 The Need for New Methods o . oe Question 1: How do Traditional Designers Cope with Comp- rent? : Ey ‘Question 2: In What Ways are Modera Design Problems More ‘Complicates than Traditional Ones? 0 lon 3: What are the Interpersonal Obstacl Modorn Design Problems”... ‘Question 4: Why are the New Kings of Complanty Beyond the ‘Scope ol the Traditional Design Process? “ ou to Solving [Chapter 4 The New Methods Reviewed. ....csesssssssssssesssessceeesen Designers as Black Boxes . cee 48 Designers as Glass Boxos, co Designers as Soi Organizing Systema... . 5 Criteria for Design Project Control 37 Chapter § The Design Process Disintegrated...... 6 Designing as a Three-Stage Proce - 6 1. Divergence... - . a) 2 Transformation ss ccssssce - 66 3. Convergence, - 6 ‘The Consequences of Disintograting the Design Act..:.sessss 69 Prospects for the Relntogration of Designing. soe Th Callous Operationaliem or Collactve Insights?.........- 2wa conTENTS: Chapter 6 Choosing Strategies and Methods % Doslgn Stratogion ..-...sessescesee . 8 Choosing Design Methods 7 Exampl 8 PART 2 DESIGN METHODS IN ACTION a Introduction to Part2 2 Section 1 PREFABRICATED STRATEGIES (Convergence)... ry 41.4 Systomatic Search (The Decision Theory Approach) 96 4.2 Value Analysis . 108 1.8 Systema Engineering .......+0 2 1168 4.4 Man-Machine System Designing seve 128 1.8 Boundary Searching... sceesses 184 18 Cumulative Strategy “9 196 ‘Section 2 STRATEGY CONTROL - 168 24, Strategy Switching coeceeeneeseeeeeseneeesees 170 22 Matchett’s Fundamental Design Method (FOM). 178 ‘Section 3 METHODS OF EXPLORING DESIGNSITUATIONS (Divergence) 192 84 Stating Objectives. 194 82 Litoraturo Soarching.-...s++ee+ssee0e = 201 83. Searching for Visual Inconsistencies. soeees eens 200 84 Interviewing Users me 85 Questionnaires: : = 22 86 Investigating User Behaviour neaverecessTess iS 87 Systemic Testing......- 26 88 Selecting Scales of Measuroment........sce ssc essse+ 252. 89 Data Logging and Data Reduction... 259conrenrs a Section & METHODS OF SEARCHING FOR IDEAS (Divergence and Transformation). ae 44 Brainstorming + a4 42. Synectics.. 278 43, Removing Mental Blocks. = 206 200 44 Morphological Chart Section § METHODS OF EXPLORING PROBLEM STRUCTURE (Trans- formation) .sscsevsssse . 296 54 Intoraction Matrix . 200 52 Interaction Net... er 08 53. AIDA (Analysis of Interconnected Decision Areas). 310 54 System Transformation. se sees 318 55 Innovation by Boundary Shifting...... cence 985 at oe 350 360 see 58 Functional Innovation 57 Alexander's Mothod of Determining Components. 58 Classification of Design Information... Section 6 METHODS OF EVALUATION (Convergence). 81 Checklists ooo. .ee we 82 Selecting Criteria ee | 63. Ranking and Weighting 377 64. Specification Writing. 383 65 Quirks Reliability Index . 301 REFERENCES AND INDEX OF AUTHORS. 307 ‘SUBJECT INDEX TO PART 1INTRODUCTION ‘This book is a first attempt at understanding and describing the new design methods that have appeared in response to a world-wide dissatis- faction with traditional procedures. Most of the methods described here were invented, or borrowed from other disciplines, during the last decade for two by individuals working in isolation from each other in different esign professions or in new interdsciplinary occupations such as opera mal research, ergonomics and work study. The three British conferences fon design methods, at London in 1962, at Birmingham in 1965 and at Portsmouth in 1967, (00 Jones and Thornley, 1963, Gregory, 1966a, and Broadbent and Ward, 1969) enabled the pioneers to become aware of each ‘other's existence and brought the subject to the notice of many designers, design teachers and design students who were locking for some way of ‘exercising more control over the processes of designing and planning. ‘Similar conferences have been held in the US.A. and in Czechoslovakia, ‘The formation of the Design Research Society in the UK., and of the Design Methods Group in the US.A,, is now making possible regular ‘contacts between all concerned. ‘This recent interest in methodology is not limited to the designing and planning professions: it has been evident for several decades in other industrial activities such as management, production engineering, account- ing and marketing, as well as in non-industrial activities like acting, painting, musical composition, literary composition, philosophy, science, arianship, social work, teaching and miliary planning. New’ methods hhave appeared in all these arcas under such names as operational research, ‘work study. discounted cash flow. market research, “Method” acting, drip painting, serial music, stream-of-consciousness novel-writing, linguistic philosophy, the science of science, coordinate indexing, group dynamics, [programmed learning and war gaming. Together these new methods sus fest that we are collectively seeking, not only new procedures, but new ‘ims and a diflerent Jevel of achievement. Whereas the aim of traditional ‘methods was to make local improvements and changes, the new methods seems to be directed at the total situation, both outside the boundaries of traditional expertise and within the personal experience, or “inner world”, of individuals. ‘The purpose of this book is to provide practitioners and students of designing and planning with a review of the new design methods and with ‘examples of each, It may also be of interest to anyone outside the design professions who is concerned with ercative behaviour and with technolog- fcal change. Part 1, “The Developing Design Process”, is an attempt to relate the new methods to each other, to the new problems that they area INTRODUCTION intended to solve, and to the traditional methods that they are intended to replace. Part 2, “Design Methods in Action”, is a directory of thirty- five of the new methods each of which is illustrated by real or hypothetical examples, Readers who wish to try out these methods for themselves will find the need for skills that are well-developed among scientists, mathematicians or writers but which are often under-developed among designers. This is to be expected when one remembers that many of the mew methods have been borrowed from such disciplines as computer programming, psycho- therapy, behavioural science, electrical circuit theory and communications theory. The difference between the skills needed for traditional and new ‘methods may escape the notice both of designers who become keen on methodology and of experts from other subjects who attempt to apply their knowledge to design problems. ‘The results of this mutual unawareness of the underlying skills of other professions are twofold: the designers do not realize that they must lean to distinguish what they believe to be true from what can be proved to be true, while scientists, mathematicians and other experts may fail to realize that what they perceive as a well-defined problem can be invalidated by the new situations that are constantly taking form in the mind’s eye of a skilled designer. Designers who want to overcome this difficulty should precede their first attempts at using the new methods by practice in the Painful business of subjecting their written thoughts to the criticisms of scientists, mathematicians or professional writers: without such feedback they will never learn to observe their own thinking in an objective way. Non-designers who wish to apply their knowledge to design problems should precede their first attempts by the experience of getting deeply involved in the complexity and instability of design thinking. One way of doing 0 is to try to plan a house in detail to a fixed budget and to submit the results to the frank criticisms of architects and builders. This, like the designer's submission of his written thoughts for criticisms of scientists, ‘mathematicians and writers, is likely to be a slow and painful process but a highly informative one. in concluding this counsel for self-improvement it should be noted that many of the originators of the new methods described here had the good fortune to be experienced in both practical designing and in a non- designing profession such as science, mathematics, computing, work study ‘or some kind of professional writing. One should not expect the invisible but troublesome barriers between professions and between disciplines to be removed by methodology alone, The main requirement is that the persons concerned in inter-professional collaboration become so well acquainted with each other's criteria of judgement that the mutual mis-ierroucTion a understandings of mone-pofesional specialists are replaced by the over lapping. views of mult-profesional persons. Only im this way can We remove the interpersonal obstacles to appiying the toality of human knowledge and skill to the increasingly important question of planning and designing a man-made future. _ Macclesfield, January 1969.Sane li 1980 eDrsr0¥ fs review of new toptes [tke any cook-bock 1 19 hardly to Yo read Tight through wut Se to be used, in pieces, 2 and when one wante to lmow ‘bow to do 18", the very simplest and auiskest way to woe it to ‘to roat omy "questions to bo anked by a design tean' (fig 1.2) Gesiguing one ‘doing. ‘The next sinplase in to use the ortzeria fon pages 57-8 to ancwer the saan question. In shoceing astnods, At Le hetphd to compere thelr aims, which are listed at the tart of each section of Part 2, In Jeaming to use a method, Qe tue onartat the Grant, vegin mecnantcaily, etep-0y- you lmow wnat it fools Like and oan act intuitively. ending a method with the Coments, which explain its context. HOW 70 1AKE A ORARD AT-UOINO EK HENHODS fuooeooTuily than T thought while writing the book. Sone of thea ‘ako © Jot sons time than those unused to then aoe as worth spending om ‘recpropranning one's aind! snd einilar secondary fines it Se vary enoy, once started, to lose aight of what one Se doing, and to get dromed in data which one cannot se; the dnizial of none anthods ars Gifficult to carry out, at the first ‘attempt, partly because they involve the intuitive metacsicil of Sdontitying vase'e going to be saportant; ané most people tind atstioulty in drenching out, without experience, into a way of Aeoigning that is unfantlier, and quch more collaborative than ‘what they are ned to, In the face of these obstaclan 1 have found At best to Begin by using io methods only, 4.1 Bratnatorming fand 5.0 Claset¢ication, ao these vo together can be applied with ‘tvantage to alnost any problen. They include, in ainature, many fof the features of the more elaboraze methods.” Drainstoraing (a rationslistio vay of using imagination) gives one confidence in thewrits sharing of seas, unite clasaification (an intuitive way of acting rationally) gives experience of tho very necessary art of finding patterns in apyarentiy-jumbled inforaation that has not cone from one'a ova ain. Together, they quicly givo a birits eye view. Rico, Dr USING memHODs I find, in talking to readers of the book, that few are prepared for the rigour with whieh 4 49 necessary to follow « method if it 4s to make @ aifforonee to onete habitual vay of sotting about designing. There Le a tendency to let even simple methods, Like wrainstoming, degenerate into being soaething not usefully aifterent tron the Kind of undizected chatting and ‘research? that ‘takes place in any dooigm office. 0 use the methods provente’ here one has to be willing, yartoularly at first, £0 follow each step exactly a5 deserinod if one ie to get a different omer, oF scale, of result, Yor instance, in properly conducted brainstorm session, six people will alzcst certainly produce 70 to 150 ideas 4m about 30 minutes: in the kind of chatting that aost people call brainstorming they will produce only a dozen ideas, or less, The rigour of the method ie vaat permite a higher ain, a wider view. But of course the thinking mat be imaginative, not conventional. ‘mBAOHING masroN yomHODS let the stutents, not the teacher, find the problem, the aia “devise a context in which this is possible, encouraged “cont eriticiee the products, tut question the Hee. Sek for short, medium, and long-term designs (see ABC p.octit) ~denonstrate how you yourself design “try out, and desonetrate, new nechod: encourage students to abandon work that leaves then cold, and to be always ready to make a fresh tart encourage getting into enough confuaton to find something new ap learner, not expert mur 1 onsastvrsr? I ugually txy to avoid this vord, preferring the temas ‘inventive ness! or 'inagination'. Creativity seens to ‘sply too mich control, too Little sensitivity. Tt ie often thought of as an ability to think of alternatives (how many uses can you think of for a brick?). BRAINSTORMING ouruine 5. Rect th pt fm eaeseontox 2 How to Xeep afloat hile using new sethoas optes: Designing as learning choosing @ design method Designing the design process Procedure muadie Jing one's design proc xix A nore profound notion of creativity 1s that of being able to ‘change one!a view of things, and of oneself, to the point of ‘attempting something you thought vas inposeible, beyond you. Oneatsvity in design methods shows itself in the originality of ones questions, ats, classifications, processes, ete- DESIGNING AS LEARNING Mais 1s the principle upon which the book 1s organised. fof the methods deseribed heze 1s thought of as a way of answer Bach 4ing one of the questions that must be answered if one is to get ‘fron the ignorance-of-the-nev, with which one Regina, to the imowledge-of-the-nev, with which one ends (mowledse of ‘what ‘the protien really i8' ao voll as of solutions). Often a destes process endo with the thought "if we had ‘mow at the otart what Wve mow now we'd never have designe? St ike this". Ons of the Shain receons for seeking new methods is to avoid this "Learning too late'. My attennt at generalising the main questions that Gne a Likely to ask in any deaign process appears as the Six Snputa in the chart for choosing design methods (fig 6.0). Another sense of the toma 'Wesigning as learaing! is that ve ‘Ene all people whose pasts give only misleading ideas of "how fo Live with our desigs'. We change with then, ‘cHoosime A DBSroN METHOD th doviga method io any action one may take while designing. Te can be any one of the 35 methods described in this book; oF ie can be sone nore traditional action such as ‘make a araving* or tgonsult a colleague's or it can be sone action which one favente for the ciroumotance. 4 fairly automatic, and mechan [ent avay of choosing a method is to use the chart at the front Gf the Book. Dut, whatever one chooses to do, there ‘9 one Grinciple involved: choose Waatevor method will tel you what pea dont mow, but need to mov, in order to procesed. ry to (Goatity the question you should be asking now. ‘Then 100k Zor 2 good way 20 get the answer. of, one night decide to beein docigning a new typewniter Keyboard by asking ‘why io the Groveat keyooara an it 48?" and 00k the answer in a Library.To lear about Keyboartausing one sight use a film camera. DESIGNING THE DESTON PROCESS One's complete design process (for getting fron an initisl brief, or intention, to a finished design) ie a set of actions, o rnethode, to be carried out in series, or in parallel, In chapter 6 tala ie described as one'a ‘etrategy'. Now I would call 4¢ one's process, or idea of how to proceed. I think of this as a specially docigned ‘education, of ‘eourde', whion one devises, land udertakee, in orter to complete the design. At any moment one should be able to sey what course one is taking, though one is always free to ovap courses (to re-design the design process) Af what one learns on the way shows that one £2 on the wrong track This course-swapping 2 very Likely to cecar, designing being so informative an activity, If it does not happen then porhape it is 1 sign that one's aine are too modest to permit one to design anything really now. One of the main xeasone for ay inoistencs on sparing part of the design tixe for designing the process, not the protuct, is to give enough confidence, at the high level of mow ng that the process is right' to be able to tolerate much doubt about vhat'e going to emerge, and thuo be ‘more creative!, Another Feason 1s that, when tho design procese 1s discussable, collaboration 48 easier, And if one oan be happy about the Process, in itself, one nay have that very good feeling of Loaing oneself in the vari. In teaching deoign methods I have found ie very neceseary to make @ clear distinction between the procedure (te the paperwork) for ooping track of What one is doing and the process (ie the thinking) of designing itself. I ses now, but vas not so clesr about it at ‘tho tine of writing the book, that the sind mist be free to Jump about in any sequence, at any tine, frox one aspect of the problem, or ite solution, to anothor, as intuitively as possible, I alec ee that most of what 1s called ‘method*, and especially the collecting and sorting of information, 12 socondary to the free flow of mind, But, to support taat Clow, the paperwork has to be omar ly, A very simple procedure: keep three logbooks, for DATA, IDEAS, land DIARY OF EVENDS, and stop, ceoasionally, to review all three.wt yom Chaos, messiness, junping-in-at-the-deey-on4, creative disorder sssuthese well-known, and eatential, ingredienta of doigning appear insuzriciently in the book, I realise now that it doesnt matter at all if one abandons a well-ordered deci etrateay after a vntle, and allove onesel® to fall inte confusion (Zor tine st least). the purpose of any method of designing, orderly or muddled, 10 to get one's aind to become fani1iar with the unknown possibilities and Limizations of *the new! Defore making izrevocable decisions. te a question of socepting whatever mix of ortex/aisordor gives that inoteht. Tf, as T think now, the main puxpose of ‘the deasgn proot 4s oollestive learning, the deliberate seeking of nev ways of Living, then we must expect to make changes in our processes ‘and procedures (for this learning often takes the form of sudden inoighta). Method 2.1 Strategy Switching, which 1s one of the nost aiscontinious of the methods described in the book, can te takon ao a forual way of onouring that one's designing 4s sufficiently open to junps in perception of both problem ‘and solution. Tt can be regarded not 90 much as a sub-unit in a dooign strategy but av a means of conducting the occasion ‘al dooien reviews in which one's strategy e evaluated, and, Af necessary, abandoned, in favour of couething that ite the now state cf mind ono hao entered by carrying St out. One should expect confusion, oss of confidence, and procedural ‘chaos to arise out of one's original strategy and ve zeady to fuap to whet feels Detter, And only then zestore order. ASSESSING OMB'S DESIGN FROCESS John Gage, from whom T've learnt much about the newer methods Gesorived velow, ends his fanous Lecture on Nothing with th worde "AIL I imov about sethod ie that when I an not working T sometines think I know sonething, but whon T az working, © ke quite olesr chat I know nothing", ‘Tis dizficulty, that of being completely mable, while involved in doing something, ‘to aay How one ie doing st (but pexhape being able to give aett clear account aftervarde, or before) ia hardly mentioned in the Dook But Se a Big obstacle to acting on it. One has to be able to deserve one's methods before one can assess oF iaprove thes, ‘Tne vay round thio distieulty 19, of course, to Limit the ing of one's methods to occasions when designing is halted, ‘atthe: because one has begun to fee] unhapry about it, or for a routine check, T call these occasions ‘design reviews! and begin ‘oso by writing-up what Tivo just been doing in the "project tary! and by studying, once again, the record of progress so for. Ite tke navigation: not 90 necessary in fansliar waters, but essential hen far out in the ocean or when sailing in company, ‘the criteria Zor design project control on pages 57-8, which are derived from accounts of way design projects went wrong, are an excellent start ‘to avsossing one's process. If it fails to meet thex, change cour As 1s explained in Method 2.1, both objective date and one's inner feelings are given equal importance in design zeview Goa:S, OBYECEIVES, ERIBFS, 370 spoaroN 3 to organise Life by firet fixing the goal, and then planning @ Beploring what 1s yossitie serice of otepa by which it can be reached, with cortainty, 12 ‘the essential method of technology as we mow it so far, Tt is Topics: ‘the method of the produstion-line, the main source of industrial Goals, objectives, briefs, ett wealth. But it is the opposite of the vay of Living that is Interdepentonce of probe recomended by the wisest thinkers (consider the lilies of the ‘ana eolution field..they toil not, nether do they spin / the old gardener, 400, oF gustening on thse aeecrived ty Chuang Zeu, who knew of a clever contrivance that Delon cescareh Would sake hin ore productive but was tashaned to use it). Tt onset 4s tine that we vegin to de-nechanize our lives, that we dienantle ‘the monstrous extension of production methods to life itself, ag “™7*Tisentel Mving A€ ve, and everything else, existed only as a noans and never as fan ond, never ao sonathing good in itself. Tn design, this ui doing Of the mistakes of our industrial past can begin, not 2. abandoning goals altogether, tut by svitching from fixed goals to variable ones. The essential pre-requisite for thio is to negot~ ate, with those vho are paying for the designing to be done, an lagreoaont to reconsider the objectives, and the whole brief, when~ fever it becomes clear that the design process is teaching us that"to make a bieycle~syetom for focal journays in the ‘erty? A (immediate) Font A LOCAL DESIGN-ACTION GROUP FOR BIKE TRAVEL IN One AREA OF THE CITY 2 (three years) mou pesien-AcriON GROUPS Funovesiour the ciry TO Corompinare AND SUPPORT Bike PAAVEL| (ten years) REPLACE CENTRALIZED PLANING it Ere rman aren AND Saaatic’ we reoeeains oF GRSurS roe tines, rEDeSTRINS, Eee Blass, rans, TmvcKs. ere seit four initial thoughts wore motaken. 'Uo', in this case, 19 not Just tho designers but also the sponsors, and preferably any there wao are affected ty the design and are villing to loam, [TNPERDEPENDENCT OF FROBLIR AND SOWETO Ro think of designing as ‘problen-aolving' is to use a rather ‘lead metaphor for a Lively process and vo forget that deeien £0 fot so moh @ natter of adjusting tho status quo as of realising fnew possibilities and discovering our reactions to then. To wake oF invent something new 48 to change not only one's sur oundinge tat to change oneself and the way ono perceives: it 18 ‘to change reality a iittle. For this reason it is, I believe, & mietane to Degin deeigning by thinking ealy of the protien, as Wwe cali St, and to leave thinking of Rov st is to be eclved to eter etages, One's mind, though not one's yaper-work, 1s best kept in a constant interaingling of both problem and solution se ‘what the interdopendoncy of each is evident throughout. The initial oxprossion of objectives, or needs, hovever abstract and steolute 1 may seem, 12, I think, 2all of Maden asounztions [avout how the person stating it thinks it oan be satiatie’, of ‘the statement ‘solve the uneaploysent problen' could imply that wwe aro to become engaged in a search for jobs of ome Kind, but fan imaginative eaponse may well euggest waya of workieas Living 4m Waken unesploysent 1a no longer the probes. If realiced, ‘She inepired solution changes our minds, se, 08 meszorz0 ov anes ev 50428 a clap way of elivening cco design thinking no design on farec tins soslen, AB, 0. as she nommal te sofia srpreted ty the opmnore of thn toniens ag two youre Te aaaians produce thot into bo omyatitie wit the recouree mt eveiraser expected fe peeral in toe none fuoure, soe donger ting agaley soy ten Years savoning tat rercurees ant attieaies vin have ehangedy Fly in beepers to the evastinity of the nov caeigny waloh Sa {holt or to te enlioibie wtopla's A ta «any shatters esdan, Srimwtlate Lnporinssion, sonething that car bedoue Here ang ty te invent and ayer 20 Laprve the tivation Wy any meena te bane, The deniers uadertae to Laylecent the h donign thenmelvesy ap 0wxiy voluntary service, ani as & good wey to gst poactical understand ing of what Se really needed, Design B is what they are paid to do, prinarily for the benefit of the sponsor, and respecting all ‘he coonento and other Limits under which the work has to be done. Design C 1 coapleted not as product design but as a portrayal of what £t would be Like to experience living with the long-tera utopian design available, eg it could be a strip cartoon, or a videotare, portraying 1ife with the new deoign, The innodiate advantage of designing on three tine soalea 16 that any and every 40a that occurs to anyone in the team can be fitted into one of ‘these categories, and none need be ruled out as tunrealiotie ne ia free to deaim at the ccale of one's thoughta, Eston RESRAROH Section 3 of Part 2 of the book (nethods of exploring design sit= uations) 12, I think, the most valuable section, and the least used by designers. Bach of the nathods desorited there 1s nore arduous to use than are those of tho other sections, but, being partly scientific, 1s mich sore informative. The asaunption, in each, Se that onete prenconseptions of anything are likely to be wrong, and that the process of confronting reality, in detail, is Likely to jerk one out of a else picture of the aspect of 1ife fone 1s supposed to be tzying to improve, and of what the Lmprove- nents might really consist, Phe last method (5.9 data logging), ‘and particularly fig 3.9.1, could be useful to researchers, and research stulente,who have never been taught thov to do zesearcht, wonEs Colour sanslee, scale drawings, modelo of buildings, vind tunnel teata, munerical scales for reprosenting confort or opinion, mathe eantical nodels of heat flow or of the econony, and a desimer's om descriptions of *the provien’ or "the aolution',.....a11 of these are odels of sone reality hich is being changed out is not diectly present. In the face of the rapid growth of abstract Aynanie sodele (of which this book, in ite attenpted modelling of ‘the design process, is a part) it is essential to decane more avare than we needed to be in the past of the Limitations of models as these Limits are gotting harder to soe yot more danaging than Genrewe | aan fs gd Same Sant =, = A\Cc EXAMPLES B D EKAMPLES part of fig. 5.9.1eateeeteytie mpeg ed se aan ——— ‘een nat nero wg Designing at the scale of moter Intangible deotens Osliaborative designing Irolucing onesel? ‘they wore, Typical questions to ask are: What personal experience fof reality wont into tho making of the motel? Yuat doos it fail to represent? Dose it enlarge, oF dininioh, ona's view of reality, or of ourselves? EXPERDNWEAL LIVINO {fo olimb a moutain, to travel to the moon, to Join a commune, to re-enact stone age Life for a yoar.....those are all ways of Living expexinentally. here are plenty of people xeady to ondenn such actions as unreagonstie, and those who risk thon nay fing st aiztioult, or impossibie, to communicate to those who have not done then ‘what st feels ce" or ‘way do St". Tie guly etween doers and epectaters 18 very like that between those who ave experienced Living vith a new design and those vino have not. ‘The casential point se that experience of "the new! can completely transform one's view of both the new thing, and of the old thing fone was once adapted to. Design research, in the sense of con- Eronting twaat S04, dood not tell we all we need to lear in feciding how to shape the new. My ploture of the inprovad desten Tesoarch ve 60d now 1s of experimental villages, citigs, netvortoy ote, in which it is possible to explore and experience the social ‘and’ personal changes that can accoupany new products, systeas and fenvironpents, "Test it" 18 perhaps the best design method there 1 ‘Te word ‘design’ 19 2 big obstacle to understanding what this book Le about. "The docigm of WEAR?! people ok, when they hear of it, ‘and look a Little incredulous when T toll then that it 18 supposed to be about the design of ‘overything'. Tats reply io eisleating Decause it implies that design scthode are intended only for the Aeaign of ‘thinga', physical objects, and are @ substitute for the spectaiived Imowiedge and skills of arenitects, engineers, Indust pial designers, ote. It io truer to oay that design methods are Intended for the design of tall-things-together', the "total ‘situation’ a5 I called it in the original introduction, meaning the ‘fmetions and uses of thinge, the ‘aystena! into waton they are organied, or the ‘onvironnente! in which they operate. Thes1 vaich sxe hardly ‘things' in that they oan seldom jenvee-a-whole, are what I mean by ‘intangible ‘ut they are, nore 20 than the objects and products within thom, the operating wholes of which modem Life ie being formed and made: traffic aystens, computer software, educational prograss, hypemarkete, ete. This is the scale of design today. she Looked up. sand su th ‘feather float poet her wis. The change in scale, from physical objects to intangible systexs fand environments, 19 also a change froa designing~in-space to deoigning-in-oyase-and-tine, Design-by-draving, the treditional deoign method, depends alnost coapletely upon accurate modelling of dimensions in space. ‘he tine dinenaion, sf we may call 1t waat, Le Left to take onre of iteelf, An the coals of dootening ie increased (fron the designing of objects to tho designing of systeas, prograns, flows, communications, commmitios, and the ike) the way thinge are used, their 1ize-oyoles, decane ax much Aosigned as do thoir thoir chapos. At this point dovigners neod to acknowledge their relative igorance of "teuporal design’ and can perhaps learn from the ‘tine arte! (music, dance, theatre, fhlm, novel, poetry, ete) how to conposeain-tine with sone sense fof beauty. "70 design in tine is, more eo than vhen deaigning objects, to design 1ife itself, the very form of existence, and sureiy calle for a gentler touch than can be folt in tho incens— tive fore of cur production-systens, logal systons, tinetable ‘schedules, distritution-systens, ete. Clocktie, the preseat Dasie of cur organised thinking about tine, should perhaps be recognised for the toy-Like abatrantion it Sa and veplaced by a Seeethe Blood Le £4itere! by th formal vay of taking biological tise and personal tine as the KLdnoys...zore than a Lite measure. Its a question of finding how to design when the "shines blood passes through the Hint decigued' are living beings, ourselves, our Lives. every minute... ratt processes, as described in Chapter 2, operate at a very small physical and econonomic scale (that of the oub-component of a product, that of a aingle crattenn, that of « village). Aut, witnin these Limits, they operate at a very large goale: that of ali-tho-oraftemn-imovs, all-the-villagers-Imov, the seale of‘they say that a Little green 0 we gov-,Like reflex action into a defence of something we Delteve in very deeply.e+ wavs tmind', the largest there 4a, ‘That, pechaps, te why, to ue, ‘things ‘made by hand seen to be of euch high quality, and to bo ‘20 "hunan', whereas #0 much of modem 1ite does not, The noch= fanical way of organising 1ife has vastly inorsased tho phycieal ‘size of things, and the mumbers of people, but hae exoluded all We cannot caleulate, vast ean hardly be put inte vorda, ourselves fas pernons, not as things. In writing the book I agouned that ‘the new postenschanical methods of designing would be a part of ‘the process of putting thie right, but nov, ten yeare later, I hnave to adzit thas, where they have teen used, new methods such 20 eyotenndesigning, computing, ete, have nade life more =ield, nore nonogentzed, lees husan. ow getuods, potentially more ‘flexible, are still being uscd in the meohinical way. Why 12 ‘thie? T believe it ie because ve are still trying to graft the ynew aothods onto the old idea of designing: the idea that it is Limited to the capacity of a single expert mind, or of a team augmenting such a min¢. 4 single mind, trying to design for the variety of a millfon mingo, hae to reduce us all to munbers COLLABORATIVE DHSrONIHO Designer. Inventor. Architect. Genius, Leonardo da Vino. our now tradition, in the Yost, as boon to believe that oreat= Avonees is a matter for gifted individuals and that an ‘ordinary person", oF @ group, cannot do anything nev. I think thie ie a myth, Dut a diffioult one to dieprove, noleing bask now, at this ook, and at what hag become of design methods, [ think that this Ae the crus of the matter! the new aethods permit collaborative Gosigning whereas the old methods do uot. hey change the nature of decigning, or can if one Lote then. The eevential point s0 that the nev wethodo permit collaboration before "the concert’, the orgnising idea, the back-of-the-onvelope-sketoh, "the deaign’ nas energed (provided the leading designer Imove how to exiteh ‘fron teing the person responsible for the moult to being the one who ensures that "the proceso is right"). Tho now methods, prop erly used, release everyone frou the tyrmaay of imposed ideas and enable each to contribute to, and to act upon, the best that, ereryone a capable of imagining ant doing. Tate to not easy. It equines not only nev methoda but a new conseption of the solr.verti TNCUIDNG ONESELP Self-expresaion, in the sense of imposing one's ideas on ‘things! land on ‘otherat, has no place 4m designing as I'm trying to describe At hore. Collaborative uaing of now methods oatle for different intentions: to atscover (through ‘designing as Learning!) why "the problest exiete at all, and to try to aake it vanish, fo ae, this de the real magic of imagination: the power to tranefom reality © Little (provided one acoepte that one's own ideas are part of vhat 4s to be changed). The essential step 1s, T think, to "include fencseis!, one's deus and those of everyone olee, IN the protien, land, ty tondoing, to enlarge the roos for wancouvre to the point where underlying conflicts can be perceived, and a solution sought "esis got to be moeere, Am which they do not arise, ‘his is the new conception of the self: "...sone singer that vont, fa view, of onesels, of other: teninge', my Voré.-.ite ten-animeait but as beings, as relations, able to develop. rinutes to ten..." of ‘aociety", not aa fix DESIGNING AS PROCESS The shitt fron the idea of "progress' (towards & koa, « product) to the idea of ‘pwocees! (as all there ts) is surely a main event of ‘the twentieth century, im all fields of endeavour The design change (‘ua' voing designers, architects, engineers, ete). The change, in phyaice, wae froa the idea of epace, tins, atom, ete, a finalities, ap objects, to seeing thes aa uobile processes, evento, In art, the fixities of ‘object, ‘meaning’, ete, vere abantoned for the notion of "the aot of painting! or "the aot of looking at St! aa being the tart', So fary in deoigr, we have gone only part way (no doubt because, in changing how we act, ve affect not only perceptions and ideas, but also the technologies upon whieh every= "...one day in 55 1 nad a phot fone relies). We've changed fron ‘planning produst! to "planning cell. fro on advertising ogeuy preceas' tut welve yet to adnit Yast deaigming could becone not aking if we would sing a tile goal-ceeking but shared imaginative Living, oni-in-iteelt. for themes." we ARE wor ctay ‘spotton 5 A potter modelling a piece of clay into the tperfect' shape for a Designing without desin cup ia an ancient, and T think unhelpfit, setaphor for the proc of designing. When doaign was limited %0 the shaping of objects‘optes We are not olay ure design Foot-nocomien Contextual deesening cogeote st perhaps sufficed, but now, ven the soale has grovm 20 ‘that of ayotens of objecta, and the activities of peorie, the aetaphor has Decone destructive, We are not olay, not infinitely alleable, not dead. Waar {8 the right metaphor nov? ‘FORE DeSroH ‘Tals tera was fizet used ty Sinon Glynn in Mie attenpts to explain denign sethode te atudente of the Britian Open University who were theaselvea not profenaional deesgners or intending to decane 80. AYthougn at iret taken atack by the implication of ‘art for art's saxo! and 'wsoleesnoas!, I have since found the tera helpful in revealing th possibility of a new Rind of design that seene appropriate now: deasgning without purpose (or without a purpose ‘that was fixed before tho goaent of uso). I see evidence of this Untentional non-intention' in the trend te milti-purpoes designe (outiding-complesse, unit eyetens, modules, and the 1ike). And Z 00 a precedent in the astonishing way languages ariee and develop, ‘ithout any profession ‘word-nacere' or "Geaignere’, and with the surpore (the meaning) of a word changing eligntly each time st se fuged", used. hie, I feel, 42 the ind of metaphor whion 10 appropriate to designing ‘at the sosle of lite! fof a language, modules of sone Kind: tricks, playing cards, case etteo, pluge-ané-occkots, nuta-and-bolts, alshateta, nusbere, usicai notations, "eke page’ (as aubcodule of tthe book") aie is a different scale of designing from that of 'produat! c= ‘ooaplete eysten", one that opona out unending poostDilitiea Lor woly-deviga, aad uso, that extend far beyond vant desiznere of nodules could consider in any detail, or at all. Tt ta perhaps ‘ny of faniging inpantnty of ny erat inoviaton of tae, St, get fixed et the start), llow ie it done? One int Se to Anotuer 10 to gopanate the Logic of the abjects fron tho logic of tase. Bvolution, se far as ie imom, operates without precinovladge of whats to comey without deaign.‘POS?-HODERNISN Suddenly, im architecture and the arte, the modem age (the tine of progress, funetionaligs, abstraction, ete) 18 over. Instead we nave a now nostalgia, a revival of the pact, even of tho recent solemiot past. At firet eight thie ceena like @ lous of nerve, a ‘Light from the present. But, Dehind the apparent wealmess, joke yuese, of post~aodernist fashions, 18, T think, a nev wisdom, hitherto absont fron the thought of our time: the notion that progress, and ‘the new', need no longer zeplase the old. What ‘exists is good, in its own way; there is no need to destroy 4t. "Me new and the old can exter together, aidenbynaide. COWERROAL DESTONTNG It 19 umikely that "design particiyation', the sharing of the Process of design with those affected by ite results, will aake much difference until the nature of designing is iteolf changed, of by transferring xasyonsibility from desimers to makers and user Such a chango ie happening sponaneouoly in coupating, where soft— ware designers are also the aakere, sid can be usere too. It hae happened intentionally in uusic, where soae composers have given up control of the sounds to be heard when pexforere react to scores nich do not indicate notes, or tenpo, but perhaps only duration, type of inatranent, or state of mind. ‘The composer Beconea & Listenert as John Gage says. So aoe) the performer. And the aud= sence hae to be far sore creative than Lt was before, "But this se not mic! say the oritics. It is, if you accept that ve are cap- able of changing our minds, of loaming to enjoy sounds which form erly we'd nave ignored, veaution unexzocted. I believe that thi dig ehite in the responsibilities of coaposers, performers, and audiences Le a good model of what 1s needed now in design: a change dao the specttying of geonetry, physica! form, to the making of a context, @ situation, in which it ie posatble for others, for ua all as usere, makers, inaginers, to determine the geometry ou Tt requires a new tradition, @ new sensitivity, and much "to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to 1254567890 awertyutep asatensnli provbnes edbucHa 105 s22f0rg pute s210n) ‘T AHL PROCESS (marginal material) Walle devising and typing the text I considered, and reject— ed, coveral Kinds of i2iustra ‘tons: quotations troa other books, and trea this one; ‘things mentioned in the text, fe nodules, large-scale systems, natural objects, ete? chance selectea exanples of "the scale of modem Life’ og itene tron Yellow Passe, ty schedules, ote. Most of them’ seamed too obvious, divine snfiuences"....-.an anesent dea of the purpose of musicy T aged @ chance process (xandon numbers) to pick the quotation fron five that I! underlined yours ago in @ book from which I firet learnt of John Gage and togan to copy hia methods of com posing by chance. ‘he book io by Calvin Toskine. I never ex- pected to be typing the vond divine in this text and an a little (barrassed by it, though I an glad to be rosinded that the main effect of putting one's vorks unter the influence of chance is to Ye taken out of oneself and to be put into the sane position as ke everyone eluet that of resetving the wore ao coxething nov, fron outaide, that enlarges one's Life a Little. what happens by chanoo 16 outside the range of one's bias, or narrowness. To lok one quotation out of five is, of course, a vexy modest use of chance, It 42 vat I call ‘eystanatio chance’ in waich one First chooses a ‘source’ out of which one ia willing to accept any "Kea! that the chance process selects. Tt is better, T believe, Af the souoe 42 oie for whic you have sone atrone Feelings (for or against), and 4% 10 eosential to keep your promise hovever embarrassing to you the reouls may be. A braver fora of chance process 6 ‘indeterainacy' in whion the couree 18 anything thet way nappen', 9g Joma Cagete piece of augic 4135", four sinutes and thirty-three seconds of silence in which any sounds ocoursing ARE the music. The shone rings. Ta that Univac? PROGESS (text) ‘Te text was eompoved ‘fron the Yottoa pt ana aleo ‘from the top ‘town’ (Sn chapter § I uso the terme "in-out! and 'out-in'). I believe that apparent conflict between these tve ways of devising ‘sousthing is resolvel if one does both, ut alvays beginning from ‘the details so that, when one begine again ‘fren the topt one's organieing concept oan be well informed and St ia 1ikely that the devatie can be fitted to £t without etrain or conproaiee, T vegan with imowing that I vaa required to £111 16 pages exactly. E took 32 cara, intending to write about 2 topics por yage. T noted on these the firet topics that cane to mind (somo appear in ‘the iMustration to MUDDIE), adjusting thelr titles several tinesvoit, until I wae satiefied, Pop-dowm design took aonthe as T was very uicertain how to write this text at all and tried out any aift= ferent notions, eg ae inaginary reader's letters, ac a convorsat~ Son between reader and writer. Evontually T deoded on a little aictionary of new topics, in alphabetical order, and typed out ‘the 52 topiea to lengths decided in advance by chance proces. ‘Men 1 shoved taia "final version’ to Chris Cefclmay and ne said it lacked coherence and practicality, and vas not up to the standard of the book. So T added an exanple in the margin, 7e~ ferzing to all topics. Unhappy with thio T looked more closely ‘at the topics and sorted thea inte the 5 sections appearing hore, Losing 2 topice in the process. After typing the fimet 29 topica T added new marginal material, again using chance procosses. ‘Then I wrote topic 30, which floved more easily then any other. REFERENCES Jotn Cage's Leeture on Nothing appears in his book Silence, pub— Aenea ty Wesleyan University Press, Midaletowm, domnectiont, 1961, snd by Hazion Boyar, London, 1968. The book by Cavin Tonkins is Ahead of the Gaxe, Four Yerstons of the Avant Gane, published by Penguin Booke, Hamonloworta, 1968 (It appeared 29 ‘Tho Bride and the Bachelors In the USA in 1962). "Consider the Lilies! ie exon Sf, Hatenewte doone chapter 6 verse 28, Oauang ‘Touts story 1s frou fhe Texts of Tasisa, translated by Janes Logee, Dover Publications, New York, 1962, and Oxford Univeresty Prose, Oxford, 1891, Part 1, page 320. The notion of tprogress doconing process! 1 taken from a review of an imaginary book on ‘this thone in Bivin Schlossberg's text A Record of Stuiy in the Aron of Sotence/Literature (Institute for the Study of Soiexco im thunan Affaire, Oolunbia University, New York, 1970). Acrromzncmmres T an grateful to B4vin Schlossberg and John Cage for inspiration land exanple, to Chris Oriekmay for tinely eriticisn, and to the start of John Wiley and Sons for maicing possible thie edition, 3.0.4. London 1980 or too diatant fru the tet, to rerait one's mind to opcte Am the pace betveen tart att soiuetrations After completing all tut te Last topie T decided to stop ‘thinking about the Wlustntion themselves and to devise "pre ceases Zor velecting the, { ‘ried to devise a process for each section in the apteit of hat ig written tm eee. tr ‘the earlier sections this let nap to add what I thought «2m reader nost needed; for the Later ones 1 Led ne to tnt what chanoe might Bring. The AUlustrations to Mus care fron ay notes for tte text. The Dike-aysten coors fron the deesgn sehoo) MS Antwerp, The dusp story te fo am artiole of sine in Dein, Stuaies 1 5. Phe quotation potion 4 are the fizet varie heard, in that ond, on 5&7 and radio chamels, te laut An section 5 are of objects found, in that onder, at rade: powitions sn the space arms sme. ‘The last one, larcel Duchanp's Hotes snd Frviects for The Tange Glass (elite! ‘Arturo Schvars, Thazes & Hulzc, London, 1969) 19 a olassie tat of chance sn art.