Enhancing the Reflective Capabilities of Professional Design Practitioners

According to Schon (1987), professional education should be centred on enhancing the practitioner’s ability to reflect before taking action. This is important to the designer for two reasons. The first of these concerns real world professional situations, which are rarely clear and lack ‘right answers’, the successful professional requires the ability to learn by doing in order to handle complex and unpredictable problems with confidence. The second concerns the nature of the designer’s relationship with design problems themselves. The designer’s exploration of his/her own awareness develops in parallel with problem definition. Dorst and Cross (2001) describe this as a co-evolution of problem and solution and English (2006) argues that we cannot frame the problem without including in that design space the person who designs. Thus the process of engaging with a design problem involves a journey of self-exploration for the designer who needs to be appropriately equipped for unknown terrain. A distance learning Masters programme was validated in 1999, supporting professional designers to develop as reflective practitioners. The course has run successfully for eight years with students based in Brazil, Canada, UK and Ireland, Holland, Greece, Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China. The author draws on the experience of delivering this programme to describe two approaches that have evolved in parallel to nurture the development of the reflective practitioner. The first of these encourages students to develop an action research process by applying reflective practice models as organising tools and recording templates. The second clarifies direction and focuses action to address fully and precisely the individual student’s aims, insights and motivation. Both these approaches encourage a synergy between practice and theory and involve visual modelling and collaborative reflection through communities of practice. The application of these approaches is shown to generate fundamental insights that positively influence the future actions of students in professional practice. The paper concludes that the consciousness of the expert designer is a critical element of design space and summarises how the disciplined process and clear focus of the approaches discussed contribute to the development of personal confidence and awareness. Keywords: creativity; reflective practice; design process ; design processes</p

Reflections on Multiple Perspective Problem Framing

The researchers have developed a system of value innovation modelling founded on the application of a multiple perspective problem framing theory (English 2008). This approach has been used to map the attributes of 43 businesses in order to reveal untapped value in these organisations, as described in a previous paper (2010). The system considers both the attributes of a company and the experience of the researchers as parameters in a design problem. This paper aims to show how the process can reveal value by taking the reader through a step-by-step guide, incorporating case studies to demonstrate the relationship between concepts and the development of the researcher’s awareness. An integrated mapping activity provides a clear overview of the company and describes relationships between technology, intellectual property and commercialisation. This mapping process is used to reveal patterns and disharmonies, enabling the researchers to identify gaps and make connections that can lead to new business opportunities. This paper describes the mapping process in detail and the researchers reflect on the way that insights have been revealed through their development of new perspectives on each company

Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles: New Parameters for Automotive Design

As the influence of vehicle emissions on our environment has become better understood, the UK government has recently placed urgent emphasis on the implementation of low carbon technologies in the automotive industry through: the UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy. The overall objective is to offer big incentives to consumers and support for the development of infrastructure and engineering solutions. This scheme however does not consider how the development of functional and experiential user value might drive consumer demand, contributing to the adoption of low carbon vehicles (LCVs) in the mass market. With the emergence of the North East of England as the UK’s first specialised region for the development of ultra-low carbon vehicles (ULCVs), ONE North East, as a development agency for the region's economic and business development, and Northumbria University Ideas-lab have supported a project to facilitate innovation through the collaboration of technology, research and development (R&D) and business. The High Value Low Carbon (HVLC) project aims to envisage new user value made possible by the integration of low carbon vehicle platforms with new process and network technologies. The HVLC consortium represents vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers as well as technology based companies and through an ongoing process of design concept generation the project offers a hub for innovation led enterprise. Whilst new technological developments in areas such as power generation, nano materials, hydrogen fuel cells, printed electronics and networked communications will all impact on future automotive design, the mass adoption of low carbon technologies represents a paradigm shift for the motorist. This paper aims to describe how the mapping of new parameters will lead to new transport scenarios that will create the space for new collaborative research on user experiences supported by innovative technologies and related services

Feeding the three headed monster of Higher Education

The integrated Taught Postgraduate framework (PGT) at Northumbria University supports a range of postgraduate programmes in design disciplines, design management and design practice by distance learning as well as professional doctorates. The framework provides rigorous taught modules dealing with subjects including creative thinking, research principles, intellectual property, design strategy, commercialisation, reflective practice, contemporary influences on design, design value and cross cultural communication. These theoretically grounded modules have been developed over a ten year period and provide the foundation for the PG provision at Northumbria. Students value the content of these modules but have in the past struggled to connect them and develop a mutually enforcing relationship between theory and practice. Northumbria, like many other UK universities, manages its Schools under three portfolios: Research, Enterprise and Teaching and Learning. Most academic roles operate within one of these ‘silos’ and it is often structurally problematic for academics to move between portfolios to combine their respective aims. This paper examines the difficulties faced by academics whose activities span research, enterprise and teaching and learning. It documents the recent evolution of the PGT framework at Northumbria to support the integration of these portfolios of activity for the benefit of the students, academics and school as a whole. The authors have developed a taught PG ‘lattice’ structure that maps theoretical modules of study against industry-based practice. Multidisciplinary teams of students carry out technology led projects for commercial clients supported by experts and specialists in the field. Hence the same theoretical concepts are applied from the standpoint of different disciplines within the same team. This structure has enabled the integration of distinctly theoretical areas of design expertise with their application in practice through industry based projects that: Provide teaching resources including materials, new technologies, industry specialists and commercially realistic parameters Create income and develop intellectual property leading to royalties, equity and spin off consultancy Generate research papers, publications and exhibitions. These outcomes align with teaching and learning, enterprise and research respectively. This paper presents an innovative PG model and describes case study material from strategic commercial projects with companies and consortiums

A postgraduate design learning experience: understanding the effects of community, cultural and contextual environment

This paper describes on going research that investigates how learning (students and tutors) takes place in a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural postgraduate design programme in the UK. The research maps and makes explicit the effects of community, cultural and contextual environment on learning. Initial findings have identified that learning is taking place within communities of practice and further research is used to explore reasons for its emergence. The authors evaluate and discuss the effects of learning in a post disciplinary and multi-cultural environment, and its value to current design postgraduate pedagogy. A social model of learning and communities of practice is evident in the design programme studied and preliminary findings indicates that this model is particularly relevant model to adopt in the current post-disciplinary era

Sustainable car life cycle design, taking inspiration from natural systems and thermodynamics

This paper exposes the search for a tool and method, which from a systems approach, adopts the rules and logic that govern our physical context (biosphere) in order to provide guidelines that the car industry could use to achieve an ideal state for ecological, economical and social sustainability

Value innovation modelling: Design thinking as a tool for business analysis and strategy

This paper explores the use of multiple perspective problem framing (English 2008) as a tool to reveal hidden value and commercial opportunity for business. Creative thinking involves the interrelationship of parameters held open and fluid within the cognitive span of the creative mind. The recognition of new associations can create new value that can lead to innovation in designed products, intellectual property and business strategy. The ‘Ideas-lab’ process is based on the proposition that a company’s capacity for innovation is dependent on the way the business is able to see its problems and opportunities. In this process the attributes of a company and the experience of the researchers are considered as the parameters of a design problem. It is therefore important to acknowledge the commercial experience of the project researchers, all of whom have a proven track record in helping businesses develop, exploit and protect their know how. Semi structured interviews were carried out with key individuals in 34 companies. The resulting data was assessed on a company-by-company basis through a process of multiple perspective problem framing, enabling key nodes, patterns and relationships to be identified and explored. A ‘Cornerstones of Innovation’ report was prepared to inform each company of the observations made by the researchers. The paper describes the methods adopted and summarises the feedback from participating companies. Case studies are highlighted to demonstrate ways in which the process influenced the actions of particular businesses, and the commercial outcomes that resulted. Finally the researchers reflect on the structure of the Ideas-lab process

Integrating Thermodynamics and Biology for Sustainable Product Lifecycle Design

The linkage between raw resources consumption and economic growth through product manufacture and disposal is creating an untenable pressure on the planet’s natural systems; therefore understanding and embracing the mechanics of the biology and physics of our context could lead to novel approaches in the design of human-built systems/products. Designers are, by active association, responsible for that pressure and much of the impact can be traced back to the early stages of the design process. For designers and engineers the main constraint is accessibility to knowledge of multiple and complex factors in easily digestible form when starting a project. Added to this is the possibility to transcend the realm of products and explore creative solutions throughout the entire life cycle, giving designers the opportunity to propose entire new business models and systems. This paper exposes the search for an intuitive soft modeling tool that considers some of these factors and inspires the innovation of business and systems innovation from a biophysical perspective. The aim of this tool is to enable the exploration of these factors in a playful intuitive way and relate these outcomes to the design of a business model operating within the principles of trophic levels. The first key question to the development of this approach has been: how does it work in nature? Organisms search for their food in other organisms and at the same time are the food of others; biomass and energy are transferred from one level to another, losses occur, higher qualities of energy are created and all is maintained in continuous cycles. The linear human production of goods can be rethought by taking into account this basic principle of thermodynamics and although this is not a technological problem, the relevant constrains need to be integrated for this approach to be feasible. These are from an economics origin: how to achieve a healthy business from a non-linear process? It is proposed that an analogy between natural and human systems: autotrophs = manufacturing, heterotrophs = distributors and consumers, their concentration and size, their possible combinations and their eventual business interpretations, is referred to as Trophic Economics. The envisioned tool will combine the exploration of the complex factors involved in the lifecycle of a product with the suggested Trophic Economics models. The outcome could be sketches of the possible boundaries and structures of new business and products, to be resolved later on the drawing board. In order to measure and keep track of the most relevant decisions, a designer must embrace tools like emergy accounting, MIPS and MI (Wuppertal Institute, 2002) used in related combination, plus indexes of CO2 emissions and relevant economic, social-demographic and ecosystems information about the countries involved in any give proposition of manufacture and use

Mapping key factors in value innovation

This is one of a series of six papers which explore the notion of the ‘expert designer’ as a critical element of design space. English’s paper explores the designer’s development of ‘value’ through the construction of what Dorst and Cross (2001) term ‘the design problem space’. The paper proposes that the source of innovation is the designer's choice of key value factors. Innovative potential, therefore, is dependent on the ability of designer to map the problem and to be aware of what is possible. Designer’s self-awareness in the construction of ‘design problem space’ is a much expanding field of research. Similar to English, Kimbell investigates the tolerance of ambiguity in design and highlights the instability of the creative process. The most significant parallel study however, is Nigel Cross' investigation of 'creative thinking by expert designers' (2004) and his earlier work with Kees Dorst on 'creativity in the design process' (2001), which accepts both the notion of ‘design problem space’ and ‘design solution space’, but then talks about them pairing as the creative event. English’s paper also explores ‘value distinction’; breaking it down to functional and experiential values and the value of social meaning. This idea was explored in English’s earlier paper, 'Design thinking - Value Innovation - Deductive Reason and the Designers Choice’, DRS conference, Lisbon (2006). English is currently working with the regional development agency ONE North East, and Ward Hadaway IP lawyers, to support SMEs realise their unmet commercial potential: http://www.ideas-lab.co.uk. English is also co-supervising doctoral student, Nick Spencer, whose research concerns the development of designer maturity and awareness. They are planning to submit the paper, ‘Creativity in the design process: Coping with uncertainty’, to Design Studies in December 2007

A design-relevant mindfulness device

This paper delineates the design of a study that aims to describe the development and measure the effects of a design-relevant mindfulness device. The relational nature of design and particularly multidisciplinary collaboration, implies that designers would benefit from the development of interpersonal skills. Science suggests that one of the many benefits of mindfulness is improved interpersonal skills which could reasonably lead to enhanced cooperation disposition. The mindfulness device becomes relevant to design through a process of intra-personal attuning that focuses attention on embedded values which impact awareness. The study aims to determine whether engagement with the device has significant effects on, and noteworthy correlations between aspects of mindfulness and of cooperation. Moreover, the study will generate reflective output that is expected to map designers’ conscious and subconscious values. Thus, the device would be imbued with research support to promote opportunities for the evolution of academic design experiences based on mindfulness, which can foster distinct skills in designers. This paper also explores how developing this skill may transform a designer’s relationship with tacit knowledge arising in intuitive design moments