Accidental Vagrant

A great new book edited by Tiiu Valkla-Poldma has just been released. This is a great collection of designers from a broad variety of backgrounds in design drawn together by Poldma's unique approach to designed space.

  Reviewing Don Norman’s most  recent blog  on design thinking on Core 77’s  site , I was drawn to an earlier post by Norman on the need for  design education to change . I agree that design education needs to change but for other reasons than posted in Norman’s piece. I don’t think design should be scientized or that designers need to become design scientists. I believe that good science is important to the work of designers and that designers need to work with competent scientists, and know how to recognize good science when they see it. It is ideal to have good scientists focused on researching design related issues. For example, sociologists and anthropologists can contribute descriptions and explanations of human behavior to the processes of design inquiry and action, thus assuring better outcomes in the end. Design is not just a form of science anymore than it is just a form of art. It is disciplined and rational but it has its own funda...

A brief encounter with a group of professionals interested in exploring ‘design research’ caused me to revisit a schema I have been developing recently which tries to show the relationship between scientific inquiry—i.e. ‘research’—and design inquiry—i.e. inquiry for action. Fig. 1 Design inquiry for action 'Design' inquiry is inclusive of ‘research’ inquiry, but also incorporates ‘assessment' inquiry and ‘search' inquiry. These three subsets of design inquiry are designed to facilitate wise action when integrated systemically. The three forms of inquiry support dramatically different means of learning and dramatically different learning outcomes separately. Both ‘assessment’ and ‘search’ are as demanding and disciplined as ‘research’ in their own unique ways. Design inquiry is learning what you need to know in order to do what needs to be done in order to secure desired outcomes. It is not only learning about the nature of the world, but also lear...

The Design Way is published by MIT Press Books published by the MIT Press are known for their distinguished authors, cutting-edge content, groundbreaking scholarship, and striking design. Through 11:59pm, June 3rd, we are sharing our accumulated knowledge across the known universe, offering every reader within the sound of the Internet 50% off every book purchased through the MIT Press website. Buy the beautiful art book that you’ve always wanted. Buy the scholarly monograph that is redefining a field. Buy the classic title that shaped a discipline. Fill your shopping cart with the brainy, the nerdy, the quirky. Do it now, before the sales ends June 3rd at 11:59pm! And tell your friends. Send them the discount code  SHARE50 --tweet it,Tumblr it, Facebook it, e-mail it, link it on your personal website, post a video on YouTube, or write it on the back of an envelope--to share the knowledge even...

PNCA Collaborative Design Blog Harold Nelson meets with Design Thinking and Cognitive Biases class   (PNCA’s Collaborative Design program) & Country Managers from Mercy Corp.

Book Review: The Design Way Book | Authors | Review By Gerd Waloszek , Design & Front Line Apps, SAP AG – May 21, 2013 "This review takes a personal look at Harold G. Nelson's and Erik Stolterman's book The Design Way – Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World (2nd Ed.) . Not having read the first edition, I will base my review solely on the second edition and also will not discuss any changes from the first to the second edition."