Future Design Knowledge
- Research and Practice in a Productive Dialogue
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In the future, design knowledge will be developed in networks involving a wide range of players in research and practice. This will not be a one-way process from research to invoicing but rather a productive exchange of many different perspectives in a common learning zone. Design research has already initiated this trend with projects that actively incorporate user input into the design process.
By Mads Nygaard Folkmann
The unique feature of design research – apart from its close links to concrete practice – is that it is a relatively young research discipline. Knowledge in the field of design research is knowledge that has to be translated into practice, the arena where new design and innovative solutions are developed. At the same time there is room to experiment in order to discover the most contemporary ways of producing new knowledge.
Investing In Knowledge
The digital design firm 1508 is one of the companies to actively accept the challenge of developing new tools and methods in collaboration with design researchers. 1508 was a key partner in the research project DAIM, Design-Anthropological Innovation Model, which was headed by The Danish Design School. The firm also acts as a consultant on a new project: Iscenesættelse af temporære rum for brugerdreven innovation (Performing Temporary Spaces for User-driven Innovation), which involves The Danish Design School, the Technical University of Denmark, and the University of Copenhagen.
Mikkel Jespersen, a partner in 1508, explains that the company takes part in order to stay up to date on research-based knowledge.
“It’s a matter of staying on the cutting edge of developments within our profession. We put a priority on taking part in research projects because it opens a range of new forms of collaboration and inspiring perspectives for us,” he says.
From Research to Practice
Mikkel Jespersen points to the dynamic that results when different perspectives within an area are brought together.
“The researchers and the design practitioners are in the same field. As practitioners, we operate within an everyday reality where budgets and deadlines are crucial, and where we constantly have to ‘close’ the design process in order to produce solutions. Researchers have a wider time horizon. They are able to keep the process open and challenge some of our ways of working. Naturally, for a company that is used to very rapid processes it can sometimes be frustrating to have a partner with a slower perspective, but at the same time, it’s our experience that the combination can be beneficial – and that something new emerges in the encounter between the different perspectives,” says Mikkel Jespersen.
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| Common platform. Design researchers and practitioners have to find a common language and a shared platform to ensure that both sides can make the most of the collaboration. This photo is from a project workshop in the DAIM project, where the participants were asked to bring various objects that were important to them, and which could therefore be used as a basis for sharing ideas and knowledge. Photo from the book Rehearsing the Future |
He points out that the new knowledge that emerges can be translated into practice. The DAIM project inspired the development of concrete methods that have now become part of everyday life for 1508. This includes the method FieldShop, where the encounter with users that takes place in field work is linked with methods for rapid prototyping, where the users’ impressions and ideas are converted and tested on the spot.
From Practice to Research
At The Danish Design School, Associate Professor Thomas Binder also points to the productive quality of an ongoing dialogue between practice and research.
“Previously, new knowledge would trickle down from the universities to the large companies, and from here it would spread to others. Basically, you could go to the major universities in the USA to find the knowledge that would later come into widespread use,” he explains.
“Today, we have a different situation. The new developments don’t emerge from one specific centre but develops in broad networks that involve people from a variety of disciplines. Researchers and practitioners are struggling with the same challenges – we are standing on the same plain, and new developments reach us simultaneously,” Thomas Binder explains.
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| Structured method. Within the framework of the DAIM project, inspirational materials have been developed to facilitate and guide the development of ideas. The material emerged in the cross-field of research and practice. Photo from the book Rehearsing the Future |
A Common Learning Zone
The Danish Design School carefully selects the agencies that are on the cutting edge of development, such as 1508 in Copenhagen and 3PART in Århus.
“As a research environment we need to include the agencies from the practice field that develop new approaches and help build new networks,” says Thomas Binder.
“We are part of a common learning zone where we act as a knowledge centre, and the agencies are knowledge-driven. In a mutual rapprochement we need to be able to do some of the things that they do: We should not only observe as researchers but also get involved and have the courage to experiment,” he says.
Thomas Binder points out that the common learning zone springs from new conditions for knowledge production. Knowledge has traditionally been defined as a theoretical, scientific discipline that one had to acquire. Today, knowledge is more frequently developed through practical trials. One example is the box for collecting discarded batteries that has been set up in the home design store Kop & Kande in Herlev, which provides new knowledge about the best methods for promoting recycling (see the Focus article Recycling Should Be Fun, Mind Design #31, September 2010).
Knowledge-generating practices typically unfold in networks. Therefore, the key today is to be part of the right knowledge network and to enter into the best possible constellations and alliances with others.
“Networks are the key, and another interesting aspect is that the networks are shrinking in size. Previously, they included large numbers of people, but today a knowledge-generating network may consist of as few as 10-30 individuals,” he says.
Reflection and Communication
Thomas Binder sees an advantage for research in taking a step back to grasp what is happening in the knowledge-generating processes.
“The agencies typically work with a broader palette than we do, and we work more slowly than they do,” he says.
“Instead, as researchers we have a particular interest in considering how knowledge arises, who has what knowledge at what stage in the process, how the network functions, etc.”
The research perspective of knowledge can contribute to the design agencies’ own understanding of how they work, and what they do. This requires research to be made accessible. For Thomas Binder, this pertains especially to the forms in which new knowledge is disseminated. For example, the results of the DAIM project have been presented in a book: Rehearsing the Future, with brief contributions from the researchers.
“The presentation form should offer optimum conditions for transferring and exchanging knowledge,” Thomas Binder explains.
“It may be a challenge to find formats that match the practitioners and researchers involved in the partnership as well as other interested parties in and around the project. Disseminating the knowledge as widely as possible is also part of the research effort,” he explains.
Book about the DAIM projectThe DAIM researchers have published their findings in a book: Halse, Joachim, Eva Brandt, Brendon Clark, & Thomas Binder (Eds.). (2010). Rehearsing the Future. Copenhagen: The Danish Design School Press, ISBN: 9788792016164. Read previous articles about the DAIM project:
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Top image: Focusing on the user. A common issue for design researchers and design agencies is the study of user behaviour. Here, the dual perspective of design research is to apply and to reflect on the applied methods.
Photo from the book Rehearsing the Future
Mind Design #31, 2010
Reproduction allowed and encouraged with indication of source
