2 - The Coming of Age of Constructive Design Research

Abstract

Most early writings on design research are built on rationalistic assumptions. Design became an exercise in mathematics, and the task of design research was to describe the natural and human rationalities that govern it. Rationalistic assumptions were particularly strong in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, the studio model of the Bauhaus became too limited to respond to the demands of increasingly complex and growing industries. However, rationalistic methods failed to get much of a following in design, probably because they barely tackled the human and artistic faces of design. After the demise of the design methods movement, designers turned to the behavioral and social sciences in their search to find new beginnings. In several places, user-centered design gained a foothold. This step was not radical, given designers' self image. Designers have long seen themselves as speakers for people in the industry. As definition shows, designers see themselves as proponents of people in the industry. This self-image has more than a grain of truth, especially when designers are compared to engineers. This self image has deep historical roots. The importance of studying people was first forcefully introduced to design in postwar America. However, it was in the 1990s that industrial design and the emerging interaction design went through the so-called user-centered turn. The key idea was that everyone has expertise of some kind and, hence, can inspire design. In retrospect, the most important ideas from this time built on usability and user-centered design.