Information and the design process

Information has, of course, always been the lifeblood of the design process, but the first specific study reported seems to have been in 1979.A panel of information experts was formed by the Council of Industrial Design (CD.J.D.) to evaluate submissions from industry, industrial research bodies and the technical press. Selected submissions formed part of the 'More Value by Design' exhibition at the Design Centre, London, in early 1971and were reported in one of the papers at the First Symposium on Information Systems for Designers held at the University of Southampton later that year. Two further symposia followed in 1974 and 1977. Amongst the many interesting papers presented at the Second Symposium were those by Nordstrom on 'Designers information problems,and Wall on 'The Education of Design Engineers in Information Retrieval,.The Third Symposium also covered a very broad range of issues, but most significantly the first impacts of the Information Technology revolution were reported. A new sytem, DIALTECH, was described which had been made possible by the installation of a minicomputer and communications equipment at the Technology Reports Centre of the Department of Industry. This system allowed designers to carry out literature searches by using ordinary telephone lines at their own computer terminals

Online and connected: two years on

It is now nearly two years since the decisions were taken to make Design and Technology Education: An international journal open access and take it online. The reasons for taking these decisions were outlined in the Editorial and a Statement from the Design and Technology Association Executive in Issue 13.1 and this Editorial provides an update on progress

Taking stock, scholarship and getting online

In his Keynote Address to the inaugural IDATER Conference1 in 1988, the late Professor John Eggleston discussed the challenges that the introduction of the National Curriculum in England and Wales in 1990 would present. Eggleston was concerned about the preparedness of the D&T education profession to face these challenges and particularly about the research foundations

The teaching and learning of technology for design

This paper presents a non-linear model of design and technology that illustrates the concept of technology for design. Technology’s relationship with science is discussed and research evidence concerning the emergence of new technology for a polymer acoustic guitar is described. This demonstrates the existence of knowledge, skills and values that are derived from designing and making rather than science. Learning ‘by doing’ and teaching ‘by showing’ and their pedagogical implications are discussed. Examples are given from the author’s teaching of undergraduates and from a resource pack on kite design and technology for Key Stage 3. The paper shows the importance of sustaining designing and making in the next century

Innovation in design and technology : the polymer acoustic guitar and the case for the relegation of 'the design process'

Innovation and creativity are key aspects of design and technological activity. The development of the polymer acoustic guitar at Loughborough University has been recognised as a highly innovative project having received three innovation awards from major bodies. This paper describes three key aspects of the development, in particular the capability to imagine future possibilities, the role of knowledge and appropriate prototyping. These aspects lie at the heart of the innovation, although, of course, the whole activity was supported by key design skills, such as drawing and CAD. Some aspects of design epistemology (ways of knowing that facilitate designing) are discussed using evidence from this project, for example, the roles of ‘knowing that’ and ‘knowing how’ and the supposed tension between ‘craft skills’ and ‘modern technology’. The importance of fitness for purpose when prototyping is emphasised and the link to the problems associated with product outcomes and innovation noted. A model of design and technological activity is discussed which emphasises the role of knowledge in realising design possibilities. This model was first presented at DATA’s Millennium Conference (Norman 2000) and is a modification of one discussed by Roberts (1992). It incorporates the idea of technology for design as the summation of knowledge, skills and values (Norman, 1998) and provides an alternative way of thinking about design and technological activity. It is argued that existing ideas surrounding ‘the design process’, as represented by a series of stages derived from systems analysis, are a significant stumbling block to promoting innovation

Towards the capture of design intelligence - a focus on independent learning materials and calculation software for the analysis of structures

Many writers have claimed that designing requires particular ways of knowing, but there has only been limited progress towards identifying what these are . This paper explores one area of design pedagogy: technology for design and, in particular, the interaction of the creation of form and structural analysis. Prior work concerning architectural students is noted and the approach adopted to making order-of-magnitude estimates with Industrial Design and Technology undergraduates at Loughborough University is discussed. A transparent ‘system’ involving text-based flexible learning materials and calculation software has been developed and trialled. The materials were used by 118 students in 1995/96 and 116 students in 1996/97 with a total teaching contact time in the Foundation Technology module of 17 hours. Feedback was obtained by analysing the students’ performances on a Foundation Technology assignment, from the subsequent design practice activity and from questionnaires. The feedback was supportive of the judgements made concerning the required foundation studies and the flexible learning approach. Its success points the way forward towards a more encoded system

Our heritage and opportunity

In July this year I was fortunate to see one of my long-held ambitions beginning to emerge as a reality. www.dater.org.uk…an online hub with open-access research archives, together with an online conference and journal. The search facility allows the IDATER and Design & Technology Association International Research Conference and NADE journal archives, as well as this journal, and the Orange Series to be searched simultaneously. Further resources are being added, including all the back issues of the Journal of Design and Technology Education (1995- 2004) and Design & Technology Teaching (1990-1995) in the near future. Permission has recently been granted by Trentham Books Ltd to eventually add all of the back issues of Studies in Design Education, Craft and Technology in its various guises back to 1968

A Neo-Darwinian view of technological literacy: a curiosity gene, technicity and ‘learning by doing’

Langrish’s 5 basic requirements for Darwinian evolution are explored in the context of product development, particularly guitars. Thistlewood’s three categories of designing – artefactual, evolutionary and historicist – are discussed and the constant probing at the boundaries of the guitar and other musical instrument families is noted. Doyle’s concept of technicity as a potential explanation for such restlessness is examined. Evidence supportive of Doyle’s concept from Loughborough University’s ‘polymer guitar project’ is included. The paper concludes by discussing the validity of a product evolution analogy and the implications of a neo-Darwinian perspective for design and technology education. ‘Learning by doing’ is discussed and the view that the ultimate goal of design and technology education is bridging the gap between technological literacy and technological capability is suggested

Expert systems in the design process

Computers have been used to aid the design process for well over twenty years. Initially there were just draughting systems, but now 3-D modellers and finite element analysis packages are commonplace. As computing power has become cheaper to buy and smaller to house so the applications for these systems have proliferated and all designers are now taking an interest. Expert systems, which try to imitate human decisionmaking capability, are much newer, but as with the draughting and analytical tools they will eventually find their way into the world of computer-aided design. This article discusses the possible roles of expert systems in the design process and illustrates the use of two shells - TIMM and INSIGHT - in relation to detailed design decisions. Using a shell will impose constraints on the way the problem must be formulated and the application of TIMM to the costing of turned components and INSIGHT to the selection of a manufacturing process demonstrate the kind of structures it will be necessary to use

Living in interesting times

There is a rumour that the phrase “may you live in interesting times” is an English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb (or curse), but Chinese scholars have not yet been able to confirm its origins. However, whatever its origins it seems to aptly capture the essence of the environment currently surrounding design and technology education. On a global scale, issues of sustainability and globalisation and their relationships to peace, democracy and human well-being are becoming ever more immediate. At an international level, the role of design within successful knowledge-based economies is being explored ever more deeply. And at a national level, the role of design education is coming increasingly under the spotlight. There can hardly have been a more ‘interesting’ time to be involved in design education