WEEK 1: Course Introduction & What is a designer?
DESIGN, CULTURE & SOCIETY II
SP2 2017
READING
Nigel Cross (1990) The Nature and Nurture of Design Ability
The paper by Nigel Cross (1990) discusses, as the title suggests, two main aspects around the consideration of "Design." That is, what designers do and how they think, in relation to engineers, artists and scientists. Cross also gets into the detail of left and right hemispheres of the brain, drawing on the biopsychological research and evidence for creative abilities vs. those which are more 'calculated.
Comparing designers with other types of problem-solvers for example, Cross cites the work of PH Levin (1966), noting that a designer knows that "some ingredient must be added to the information that he already has in order to arrive at a unique solution. This knowledge is in itself not enough in design problems, of course. He has to look for the extra ingredient, and he uses his powers of conjecture and original thought to do so.”
Similarly, Herbert Simon (1996) compares designers and scientists: “The natural sciences are concerned with how things are ...design, on the other hand, is concerned with how things ought to be.”The second part of the paper discusses 'new' approaches for the 'nurture' of design ability, or more accurately, the efforts made between 1970 and 1990 by Cross and colleagues at the Open University. Now almost 30 years ago, some of the technologies which are discusses are very much irrelevant today.
As well as the comparison between broadcast television and video-cassettes as teaching materials (!!), there seems to be an absence of the consideration of responsibility and environmental factors: “When a client asks a designer for 'a design', that is what they want, the description. The focus of all design activity is that end-point.” Where is the responsibility to and consideration for materials, embodied energy, use, abuse, reuse, disuse, refuse?
Interestingly, Cross undermines his own writing somewhat by acknowledging that design 'relies fundamentally on nonverbal media of thought and communication,' and that there may be 'distinct limits to the amount of verbalising that we can productively engage in about design ability.' Yet, he is still able to publish 13 pages on the subject. Daley (1982) supports this view, suggesting that design work is 'inexplicable...because these processes lie outside the bounds of verbal discourse: they are literally indescribable in linguistic terms.'
Importantly, it is noted that design and creativity are innate, although easily damaged or lost during childhood. This is an important concept discussed by Ken Robinson, who has dedicated much work to highlighting the problems of the education system which literally discourages or kills creativity early in life.
What do Designers do?
Designers solve problems, deliver novel and unexpected solutions, work with incomplete information, ask the right questions, use drawing and other types of modelling and creative practices to approach problem solving, use imagination, conduct research, think laterally and creatively, tell and explain stories, translate information, persuade, provoke, communicate, shape the future, reflect, interpret and change.
REFERENCES
SP2 2017
READING
Nigel Cross (1990) The Nature and Nurture of Design Ability
Comparing designers with other types of problem-solvers for example, Cross cites the work of PH Levin (1966), noting that a designer knows that "some ingredient must be added to the information that he already has in order to arrive at a unique solution. This knowledge is in itself not enough in design problems, of course. He has to look for the extra ingredient, and he uses his powers of conjecture and original thought to do so.”
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| Ken Robinson, TED California (2006) |
As well as the comparison between broadcast television and video-cassettes as teaching materials (!!), there seems to be an absence of the consideration of responsibility and environmental factors: “When a client asks a designer for 'a design', that is what they want, the description. The focus of all design activity is that end-point.” Where is the responsibility to and consideration for materials, embodied energy, use, abuse, reuse, disuse, refuse?
Interestingly, Cross undermines his own writing somewhat by acknowledging that design 'relies fundamentally on nonverbal media of thought and communication,' and that there may be 'distinct limits to the amount of verbalising that we can productively engage in about design ability.' Yet, he is still able to publish 13 pages on the subject. Daley (1982) supports this view, suggesting that design work is 'inexplicable...because these processes lie outside the bounds of verbal discourse: they are literally indescribable in linguistic terms.'
Importantly, it is noted that design and creativity are innate, although easily damaged or lost during childhood. This is an important concept discussed by Ken Robinson, who has dedicated much work to highlighting the problems of the education system which literally discourages or kills creativity early in life.
What do Designers do?
Designers solve problems, deliver novel and unexpected solutions, work with incomplete information, ask the right questions, use drawing and other types of modelling and creative practices to approach problem solving, use imagination, conduct research, think laterally and creatively, tell and explain stories, translate information, persuade, provoke, communicate, shape the future, reflect, interpret and change.
REFERENCES
- Cross, N (1990) The Nature and Nurture of Design Ability. Design Studies, 11(3), 127–140.
- Daley, J. (1982) Design creativity and the understanding of objects', Design Studies, Vol 3 No 3. Reprinted in Developments in design methodology
- Levin, PH. (1966) Decision making in urban design', Building Research Station Note EN 51166, BRS, Watford, Reprinted in Developments in Design Methodology.
- Robinson, K. (2006) Do Schools Kill Creativity? https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
- Simon, HA. (1996) The sciences of the artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Stuart this is a fantastic beginning point for your group's blog. Your summary and critical review of the reading/lecture is nicely insightful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points in relation to the age of the paper regarding lack of consideration to sustainability and the responsibilities that designers must consider with each and every decision we make.
Your referencing techniques are fantastic - keep this up guys!