Design Research, for What?

Abstract

The notion of research in the field of design has a relatively short history compared to other well established academic disciplines, and therefore the relationship between design academia and design practice is not very closely intertwined. Particularly this disconnecting phenomenon becomes more serious as the rapid introduction of new technologies such as AI is challenging the validity of the existing body of knowledge, methods, and processes. Faced with this new big changes the healthy cycle of coexistence of academia and practice is required more than ever. In addition, in order to establish a single academic discipline, mutual synergetic collaboration between academia and practice is inevitable. Practical designers regard research as something done in the pre-stage of the design concept development, whereas academia perceives research as an instrument for knowledge generation. Design research in practice and academia significantly differ in respect to goal, deliverables, applicability, methods, scope, venue, and other things. What are the diversifying factors of design research in academia and practice, and how can they be interconnected while maintaining the advantages of being diverse? The issue of diversity in design research will be addressed by some comparative research with interview with design researchers in industry and review of papers presented in design research conferences.