Design Things

Abstract

A new perspective on design thinking and design practice: beyond products and projects, toward participatory design things. Design Things offers an innovative view of design thinking and design practice, envisioning ways to combine creative design with a participatory approach encompassing aesthetic and democratic practices and values. The authors of Design Things look at design practice as a mode of inquiry that involves people, space, artifacts, materials, and aesthetic experience, following the process of transformation from a design concept to a thing. Design Things, which grew out of the Atelier (Architecture and Technology for Inspirational Living) research project, goes beyond the making of a single object to view design projects as sociomaterial assemblies of humans and artifacts—“design things.” The book offers both theoretical and practical perspectives, providing empirical support for the authors' conceptual framework with field projects, case studies, and examples from professional practice. The authors examine the dynamics of the design process; the multiple transformations of the object of design; metamorphing, performing, and taking place as design strategies; the concept of the design space as “emerging landscapes”; the relation between design and use; and the design of controversial things.

The Matter of Space: Bodily Performances and the Emergence of Boundary Objects During Multidisciplinary Design Meetings

“…Most important for this study, as the upcoming analyses show, in both projects the museum spaces (exhibition rooms) emerge both as objects of design and as boundary objects in and through the different means-mock-ups, gestures, representations-that makes them present during design work. Here we follow Binder et al (2011), who differentiate between (a) object of design; (b) the design object or thing that the design work delivers as outcome; and (c) the object's constituents, which consist of the different artifacts and representations that are generated and used through the design process. By disentangling the notion of object of design from that of the thing that is handed over at the end of the design process, we can characterize the designers' relation with their object of design-here, exhibition rooms-without assuming that the final outcomes serve as the model for their actual performances during the design process.…”

Exphrasis: Verbalizing Unexisting Objects in the World of Design

“…They underscore the importance of designing rather than the designer, and the focus on complex sociocultural things, rather than the classic material thing (object). A thing, therefore, is much more than a designed object, since it incorporates norms and sociocultural conventions (Binder et al 2011). This approach correlates with our own thesis regarding the phenomenological aspects of design, stemming from the various design partners' perception of the combination of practice and theory.…”

“…This approach correlates with our own thesis regarding the phenomenological aspects of design, stemming from the various design partners' perception of the combination of practice and theory. The authors stress an architectural approach to the meaning of the designed object, highlighting its potential to influence the end user in an array of ways (Binder et al 2011).…”

Participatory heritage innovation: designing dialogic sites of engagement

“…The diversity of interests that surfaced through the workshop in many ways exceeded expectations and expanded the complexity of the 'object of design' (Binder et al 2011). The workshop was meant to give the participants responsibility for their own work, creating a dialogic space between the designers and youngsters for integrating interests and themes, into composing the most ideal working groups.…”