Design theory: history, state of the art and advancements

Abstract

Over the last few years there have been important efforts to improve the rigor, unity and operationality of Design theories. This work builds on the multiple (but scattered) theoretical proposals in recent decades: General Design Theory and Axiomatic Design in the 80s, Coupled Design Process in the 90s, Infused Design and C-K Theory in the 2000s. These theories echoed issues in practices (e.g., new design tools, innovative design) and the advancements of other sciences (e.g., artificial intelligence, set theory, engineering sciences). They contributed to ground a research community that has been reinvigorated by several initiatives.1 Parallel to this effort, design theory is being debated in other disciplines such as information systems, management studies and industrial design following the flourishing of design thinking in these areas. This special issue was launched to gain better understanding of the early efforts in design theory, as well as showcasing promising contemporary research in design theory.A public call for papers (CFP) was published that attracted 19 submissions ranging from various aspects of design methods to values in engineering design including those addressed design theory directly. After an extensive review process we choose those papers that addressed directly Design theory as their primary object of inquiry. Submissions were handled by the guest editors and submissions whose authors were guest editors were handled directly by the journal Editor-in-Chief. Recommendations of the guest editors passed through the Editor-in-Chief to make sure that the stringent standards of the journal are enforced on the special issue. Six papers have been accepted following this review process.Of course such an issue cannot be exhaustive-it should be seen as a first attempt, to be followed and augmented by other publications. Nevertheless, the critical ambition of this issue is to better identify the object of design theory and to begin to overcome shortcomings of their current conceptions.

Design for human safety in manufacturing systems: applications of design theories, methodologies, tools and techniques

“…This is our main research issue. More precisely, in this paper, we address the following question: How can work situations be identified and analysed using these DMT and DTT? For more information on different DTM and/or DTT, the reader can refer to Andreasen (2011), Kroll (2013), Le Masson, Dorst, and Subrahmanian (2013), Lutters et al (2014) and Tomiyama et al (2009). These papers classified or provided an overview of DTM and/or DTT.…”

Process models in design and development

“…According to Reich (1995), ''each theory provides one perspective, broad, or limited, that may improve design understanding and practice.'' For further discussion of work in this category, the reader is referred to Eder and Weber (2006), Le Masson et al (2013), and Chakrabarti and Blessing (2015).…”

Theories and Models of Design: A Summary of Findings

“…Nevertheless, the main issues (see e.g. [15]) have not been resolved yet, as the list of main difficulties for research on Design Theory suggests Le Masson et al [48]:…”