Istanbul Technical University
Department of Industrial Design
EUT 138E , Spring 25
Design Theories and Methods
Design and design process
Dr. Pelin E lti
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Design and design process
De nition of design
“design is to design a design to produce a design” (John Heskett)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
“design is to design a design to produce a design” (John Heskett)
highlights the wide spectrum of design practice and terminology
• the eld, profession or discipline;
• the action;
• the expression of that process in the form of a plan, concept or proposal;
• the end product
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a problem solving activity” (Herbert Simon)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a problem solving activity” (Herbert Simon)
“solving a problem simply means representing it so as to make the solution
transparent”
• design as a logical search for satisfactory criteria that ful ll a speci c goal
• optimization methods
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“knowing in action” (Donald Schön)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“knowing in action” (Donald Schön)
“complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value con ict”
• re ective practice
• designers as practitioner
• re ection in action/ re ection on action
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a conversation with the situation” (Donald Schön)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a conversation with the situation” (Donald Schön)
• dialogue
Practitioners, while still having relevant prior experience, still treat each case as
unique, and thus “cannot deal with it by applying standard theories and
techniques.” The practitioner has “a re ective conversation” with the situation.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“making sense of things” (Klaus Krippendor )
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“making sense of things” (Klaus Krippendor )
• “product semantics”
• perception
• meaning making, interpretation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a hermeneutic circle” (Adrian Snodgrass and Richard Coyne)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of design
design is…
“a hermeneutic circle” (Adrian Snodgrass and Richard Coyne)
• ongoing interpretation
• part - whole
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA):
Industrial Design (ID) is the professional practice of designing products,
devices, objects, and services used by millions of people around the world
every day.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA):
Industrial Design (ID) is the professional practice of designing products,
devices, objects, and services used by millions of people around the world
every day.
Industrial designers typically focus on the physical appearance, functionality,
and manufacturability of a product, though they are often involved in far more
during a development cycle. All of this ultimately extends to the overall
lasting value and experience a product or service provides for end-users.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
World Design Organization (WDO):
Industrial Design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation,
builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative
products, systems, services, and experiences.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
World Design Organization (WDO):
Industrial Design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation,
builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative
products, systems, services, and experiences.
Industrial Design bridges the gap between what is and what’s possible. It is a
trans-disciplinary profession that harnesses creativity to resolve problems and
co-create solutions.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
World Design Organization (WDO):
Industrial Design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation,
builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative
products, systems, services, and experiences.
Industrial Design bridges the gap between what is and what’s possible. It is a
trans-disciplinary profession that harnesses creativity to resolve problems and
co-create solutions.
At its heart, Industrial Design provides a more optimistic way of looking at the
future by reframing problems as opportunities. It links innovation, technology,
research, business, and customers to provide new value and competitive
advantage across economic, social, and environmental spheres.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
De nition of industrial design
Endüstriyel Tasarımcılar Meslek Kuruluşu (ETMK):
Industrial Design is the profession which conceptually develops products
manufactured by industry for the end user according to criteria such as
functionality, taste of the target group and user needs, and which projects them
as new products suitable for production. Industrial design constitutes the
relationship between humans and products manufactured by industrial
methods.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
On the one hand, design is seen as amboyance and intuition, and on the
other, as an apparently logical, almost scienti c endeavour.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
Bruce Archer, John Chris Jones, Christopher Alexander and Horst Rittel
“using techniques developed during the war to make design more ‘scienti c’ in
areas such as industrial design, architecture and planning”
The rst generation of Design Methods Movement (of the 1960s) was based on
the application of systematic, rational, 'scienti c' methods.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
“The star designer sketches on a napkin and
hands it to his assistant. The design
department of a large corporation undertakes
a year’s worth of research, prototyping and
testing.”
Philippe Starck - Juicy Salif for Alessi
• surprising, poetic and subversive object
• artistic approach
• conversation trigger
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
• recognition of stakeholders’ importance during the design process
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
• recognition of stakeholders’ importance during the design process
Design methods evolve into a di erent form in which the designer was not the
sole owner of the expertise, rather its shared by all of the participants, and
design activity became a more democratic process with the involvement of
users.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design approach
• recognition of stakeholders’ importance during the design process
Design methods evolve into a di erent form in which the designer was not the
sole owner of the expertise, rather its shared by all of the participants, and
design activity became a more democratic process with the involvement of
users.
The second generation of Design Methods Movement (of the early 1970s)
moved away from attempts to optimize and from the omnipotence of the
designer (especially for 'wicked problems'), had introduced the notion of
'satis cing') and an 'argumentative', participatory process in which designers
are partners with the problem 'owners' (clients, customers, users, the
community).
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design linearity
Typical models of the design process describe it as a linear set of steps
where each must be completed successfully in order to continue to the next.
This linearity is broken only by failures that lead the designer back to earlier
steps to rectify whatever had caused the problem.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
Inspiration
Implementation Design
process
Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process - Pre-design phase (fuzzy front end)
The front end is often referred to as ‘fuzzy’
because of the ambiguity and chaotic
nature that characterise it.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process - Pre-design phase (fuzzy front end)
The front end is often referred to as ‘fuzzy’
because of the ambiguity and chaotic
nature that characterise it.
The goal of the explorations in the front end
is to determine what is to be designed and
sometimes what should not be designed
and manufactured.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
A typical design process chain contains: Brief
• Analyzing and de ning broad aims
• De ning speci c requirements
• Understanding context, needs, constraints, etc. Testing Research
Design
process
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
A typical design process chain contains: Brief
• Analyzing and de ning broad aims
• De ning speci c requirements
• Understanding context, needs, constraints, etc. Testing Research
• Empathizing with users
• Collecting insights
• De ning users' needs and problems Design
process
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
A typical design process chain contains: Brief
• Analyzing and de ning broad aims
• De ning speci c requirements
• Understanding context, needs, constraints, etc. Testing Research
• Empathizing with users
• Collecting insights
• De ning users' needs and problems Design
• Developing design concepts process
• Developing alternatives
• Exploring possible design solutions
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
A typical design process chain contains: Brief
• Analyzing and de ning broad aims
• De ning speci c requirements
• Understanding context, needs, constraints, etc. Testing Research
• Empathizing with users
• Collecting insights
• De ning users' needs and problems Design
• Developing design concepts process
• Developing alternatives
• Exploring possible design solutions
• Identifying the best possible solution
• Exploring limitations and the problems of the product
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process
A typical design process chain contains: Brief
• Analyzing and de ning broad aims
• De ning speci c requirements
• Understanding context, needs, constraints, etc. Testing Research
• Empathizing with users
• Collecting insights
• De ning users' needs and problems Design
• Developing design concepts process
• Developing alternatives
• Exploring possible design solutions
• Identifying the best possible solution
• Exploring limitations and the problems of the product
• Testing and analysing solutions Prototyping Ideation
• Exploring how people think, behave and feel
• Evaluating and redesigning
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process is a non-linear process
Brief
In design, we call this iteration. The situation itself
“talks back” through the unintended e ects and
practitioners have to listen and change the frame
appropriately. Testing Research
Design iteration drives the overall design process
Design
forward.
process
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design process is a non-linear process
In design, we call this iteration. The situation itself
“talks back” through the unintended e ects and
practitioners have to listen and change the frame
appropriately.
Design iteration drives the overall design process
forward.
Iterative design is a process where designers
continuously improve a product through repeated
cycles of testing and re ning.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design methods
Cross (2000) de nes a design method as “any identi able way of working"
aimed at improving the product development process. Thus, design can be
“any procedures, techniques, aids or 'tools' for designing”.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design methods
Cross (2000) de nes a design method as “any identi able way of working"
aimed at improving the product development process. Thus, design can be
“any procedures, techniques, aids or 'tools' for designing”.
Hubka (1980) de nes methods as ‘‘Methods are systems of methodological
rules that determine classes of possible procedures and actions that are likely
to lead on a planned path to the accomplishment of a desired aim’’.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design methods
Design methods have the following two main components:
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design methods
Design methods have the following two main components:
(1) purpose of a design method, for example, improving one or more aspects of
the design process;
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Design methods
Design methods have the following two main components:
(1) purpose of a design method, for example, improving one or more aspects of
the design process;
(2) means to achieve this purpose, for example, procedures, techniques, tools,
guidelines, etc.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Purposes of design methods
Formalization: Formalization systematically helps to understand the design
problem and to search for appropriate solutions. It “encourages and enables
you to think beyond the rst solution that comes into your head”.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Purposes of design methods
Formalization: Formalization systematically helps to understand the design
problem and to search for appropriate solutions. It “encourages and enables
you to think beyond the rst solution that comes into your head”.
Externalization: Externalization helps to “get your thoughts and thinking
processes out of your head and into the charts and diagrams that commonly
feature in design methods”. Externalization plays an important role in solving
complex problems.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Forms of design methods
It includes all possible ways for improving design tasks:
Design approach is an overall framework for doing design (user-centered
design, participatory design, empathic design, etc.)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Forms of design methods
It includes all possible ways for improving design tasks:
Design approach is an overall framework for doing design (user-centered
design, participatory design, empathic design, etc.)
Design guidelines include rules, principles and heuristics (usability principles,
etc.)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Forms of design methods
It includes all possible ways for improving design tasks:
Design approach is an overall framework for doing design (user-centered
design, participatory design, empathic design, etc.)
Design guidelines include rules, principles and heuristics (usability principles,
etc.)
Design tools include hardware and software for the embodiment of some
design approaches or design guidelines (associated with di erent stages of the
design process, di erent activities within a particular stage, and types of
products)
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Forms of design methods
Step-by-step guide to unleashing your creativity, putting the people you serve
at the center of your design process to come up with new answers to di cult
problems.
IDEO Design Kit
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
Forms of design methods
#TISDD Method Library
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
In-class exercise
Brief
Formulate a design process to improve the overnight
stay experience of design students in Taşkışla.
Testing Research
Design
process
Prototyping Ideation
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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Design and design process
In-class exercise
Brief
Formulate a design process to improve the overnight
stay experience of design students in Taşkışla.
- Brief: De ne your focus, constraints, and objectives. Testing Research
- Research: Consider how you can conduct research,
which research methods you will use, and which Design
problems you anticipate identifying. process
- Ideation: Think about which products, systems,
services, or experiences you can design, and how you
can enhance your ideas.
Prototyping
- Prototyping: Consider how you can prototype your Ideation
ideas e ectively.
- Testing: Think about how your ideas will be tested.
Dr. Pelin E lti Design Theories and Methods, Spring 25, Week 2
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