Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research

by Nigan Bayazit

The following are extracted from the article:

What is Design Research?

Design research definition by L. Bruce Archer:
“Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal
is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition,
structure, purpose, value, and meaning in man-made things
and systems.”

What is Design Research??
A. Design research is concerned with the physical embodiment of man-made things, how these things perform their jobs.
B Design research is concerned with construction as human activity, how designers work, how they think, and how they carry out design activity.
C Design research is concerned with what is achieved at the end of a purposeful design activity, how an artificial thing appears, and what it means.
D Design research is concerned with the embodiment of configurations.
E Design research is a systematic search and acquisition of knowledge related to design and design activity

-Overall activities of design research = "science of artificial"
- Christopher Frayling states "Research through are art and design is less straight forward, but still identifiable and visible," consisting of material research, developmental work, and action research.

- De stijl: attempt and desire to "scientize" design in the 20s
- Bauhaus - methodological foundation for design education
-Gropius envisioned a desire to produce works of art and design based on objectivity and rationality.
- "Dymaxion" or "4D" - a "design science" that would obtain maximum human advantage from a minimum use of energy and materials.

Role of Design Methods in Design Research
- History of design methods and research began with applying large-scale NASA and military technical problems to civilian and other design areas in the 50s and 60s.
-After WWII, new inventions intrigued many designers to become interested in the methods and techniques.
- technological developments and mass production caused design interests to shift from hardware and form to consideration of human needs.

First generation Design Methodology had turned into a sort of academic subculture.

Second-Generation Design Methods
"What is design research that it is different from other forms of research?"
- Research in Europe concentrated on housing design and performance. After WWII. Prefabricated buildings were in need in Europe.
-Prefabricated building design, and research on the coordinated building elements and the building layout optimization were well-accepted research subjects in the universities as well as in the research centers.
-applying scientific methods to design problems in new housing construction.
- various environmental characteristics of housing were applied and encouraged.
"The first evidence of change originates from the period of the 2nd world war, and from the reconstruction and construction period.
-new and demanding needs in a highly developed industry.
- 70s labeled as the prime time for the initial development of design science.