Weakly augmented reality

Creative practices in the design studio culture: collaboration and communication

“…This ecological richness of design studios stimulates creativity in a manner that is useful and relevant to the ongoing design tasks. The studio space is important for supporting and inviting design critiques (Uluoglu 2000) and the strongly ingrained designerly practice of showing work and eliciting feedback early and often (Cross 2006). Such practice encourages discourse and reflection during the design process (Schön 1983).…”

“…As Lawson (1979a, b) puts, designers use 'synthesis' when it comes to problem solving, whereas traditional scientists use 'analysis'. Designers' way of thinking focuses on quickly developing a set of satisfactory solutions, rather than, producing prolonged analysis of a problem (Cross 2006). Keeping this in mind, the design community has been working on developing tools [e.g., Electronic Cocktail Napkin (Gross 1996)] that do not demand great effort, commitment or precision and allow quicker production of their design ideas.…”

“…Moreover, methods frequently used by designers such as role playing (Boess 2008), body storming and design choreography (Klooster and Overbeeke 2005) are not limited to problem solving but also include understanding interactional, aesthetic and experiential qualities in designing interactive products. A much more detailed account of designer's work practices is provided in Nigel Cross's (2006) seminal text-Designerly ways of knowing.…”

“…The DESARTE project aimed at studying the spatial dimension of design studio settings and on its influence on the practice of the design community, as well as on the way people interact within and across project teams and with external visitors and customers. Their ethnographic studies explored that the sense of 'place' is not directly related to the perception of its spatial dimension, but rather to its capacity of bringing forth its main features from the practice point of view (De Michelis et al 2000). Results of their ethnographic studies have provided useful insights into the 'customizability' of physical workspaces.…”

“…For example, traditional ways of communicating and collaborating may not be so important for the design profession (as we will see later in this article). Designers' way of thinking focuses on quickly developing a set of satisfactory solutions, rather than, producing prolonged analysis of a problem (Cross 2006). Hence, there is a need to understand how designers differ from other knowledge workers in terms of their working practices.…”