Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research

Author(s): Nigan Bayazit

Source: Design Issues, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter, 2004), pp. 16-29
Published by: MIT Press
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 Design:A Reviewof
Investigating
FortyYearsof DesignResearch
NiganBayazit

What Is Design Research?

This paper will start to answer the above question with the definition
of L. Bruce Archer: "Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal
is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composi-
tion, structure, purpose, value, and meaning in man-made things
and systems." 1
In this paper, looking at design research from the design
methodology and design science perspectives restricts our view in
a sense that is necessary for such a topic. Design research tries to
answer the obligations of design to the humanities:
A Design research is concerned with the physical embodiment
of man-made things, how these things perform their jobs,
and how they work.
B Design research is concerned with construction as a 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.

The objectives of design research are the study, research, and inves-
tigation of the artificial made by human beings, and the way these
1 L.B.Archer, "AViewof theNatureofthe activities have been directed either in academic studies or manu-
DesignResearch" in Design:Science: facturing organizations. As Simon indicates, we can call overall
Method, R.Jacques,J. A.Powell,eds.
activities of design research, "the sciences of the artificial." 2 Some
(Guilford,
Surrey:IPCBusinessPressLtd.,
1981),30-47.L.BruceArcher gavethis of the art, craft, and design people call what they do for art and
definition
at thePortsmouth DRSconfer- design "research." That kind of research is not the subject of this
ence. paper. An artist's practicing activities when creating a work of art or
2 H.A.Simon,TheSciencesof the a craftwork cannot be considered research. Yet it is possible for an
MA:MITPress,
Artificial(Cambridge,
external observer to do research into how an artist is working on his
ThirdEdition,1999).
or her work of art to make a contribution to the common knowledge.
3 C.Frayling,
"Research inArtandDesign,"
RoyalCollegeofArtResearch Papers1:1 These can be observable phenomena. As Christopher Frayling3says,
(1993/4). "Research through art and design is less straightforward, but still

( 2004 MassachusettsInstituteof Technology

16 Design Issues: Volume20, Number1 Winter2004

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 identifiable and visible," consisting of materials research, develop-
mental work, and action research. Architects and engineers have
applied these definitions of design research since the 1960s.
All design research reports are related to the history or past
activity of the subject area under study. Studies of the present are
part of the past because every research report has to prove its roots
in the past.4I will try to identify some instances of the state of the art
4 AsJacquesBarzun andHenry F.Grafindi-
catedintheirbook,ModemArastirmaci from some research papers as well as books on design research. This
intoTurkish
(translated fromthe Modern paper will provide a summary of design research history concerning
Researcher),
(Ankara:TUBITAK, 1993). design methods and scientific approaches to design.
5 NigelCross,"DesignerlyWaysof Many writers5 have pointed to De Stijl in the early 1920s as
Knowing:DesignDisciplineVersus
an example of the desire to "scientize" design. The roots of design
DesignScience"inDesignPlusResearch,
Proceedings diMilano
of thePolitenico research in many disciplines since the 1920s are found within the
Conference,SilviaPicazzaro,
Amilton Bauhaus, which was established as the methodological foundation
Arruda,andDijonDeMorales, eds.(May for design education. After the Bauhaus closed, most of the staff
18-20,2000),43-48. moved to the U.S., Britain, or Russia, where they were well accepted
6 G.Broadbent,"TheDevelopment of
and took the Bauhaus tradition to other institutions. Moholy-Nagy
DesignMethods," DesignMethods and
moved to the U.S., where he finally became the director of the "New
Theories13:1(1979):41-45.
7 NigelCrosshasseveralpublications Bauhaus," which became the Institute of Design at the Illinois
invariousconferencesin"TheRecent Institute of Technology in 1949. Gropius went to Harvard, and
of Post-Industrial
History Design brought a new line of thought to that side of the U.S. Le Corbusier
Methods" inR.Hamilton, ed.,Designand described the house as an objectively designed "machine for living."
Industry(London:TheDesignCouncil,
He envisioned a desire to produce works of art and design based on
1980).
8 N.Cross,Developments inDesign objectivity and rationality. During this same period, Buckminster
Methodo/ogy(Chichester,UK:JohnWiley Fuller sought to develop a "design science" that would obtain maxi-
&Sons,1984). mum human advantage from a minimal use of energy and materials.
9 N.Cross,"AHistory of Design In 1929, he called his concept of design "Dymaxion" or "4-D."
Methodology" inDesignMethodology
andRelationship withScience,NATO ASI
Role of Design Methods in Design Research
Series,M.J. DeVries,N.Cross,andD.P.
Grant,eds.(Dordrecht:Kluwer Academic Main sources for the history of design methods and design research
Publishers,1993). can be found in various publications. Some historical reviews of
10 V.Hubka, E.Eder,DesignScience design methods have been written by Geoffrey Broadbent,6 Nigel
(London:Springer Verlag,1996). Cross,7,8'9Vladimir Hubka and Ernst Eder,10 Nigan Bayazit,11Margolin
11 N.Bayazit,Endistri Orunleri
Tasariminda
and Buchanan,12 at various conferences.13 14, 15, 16
veMimarlikta TasarlamaMetotlarina
to DesignMethods
Girif(Introduction Horst Rittel17made the following statement in an interview:
inIndustrialProductDesignand The reason for the emergence of design methods in the late
Architecture),
[InTurkish]
(Istanbul: '50s and early '60s was the idea that the ways in which the
Literatur
Yayinevi 1994). large-scale NASA and military-type technological problems
12 V.Margolin andR.Buchanan, TheIdea
had been approached might profitably be transferred into
A DesignIssuesReader
of Design:
MA:TheMITPress,1995).
civilian or other design areas.
(Cambridge,
13 DoctoralEducation inDesign:
Proceedings of theOhioConference After World War II, the new techniques that had been used in the
(8-11October, 1998). design and development of arms and wartime equipment, and the
14 In1986,theDesignMethodsGroup methods and techniques used in developing many new inventions,
celebrateditstwentiethanniversary
attracted many designers. Creativity methods were developed
withsomespecialreviewsinitsjournal.
D.Grant editedtheanniversary issueof mainly in the U.S. in response to the launching of the first satellite,
DesignMethodsandTheories Joumalof
DMG 20:2(1986).

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 the Soviet Union's "Sputnik," which caused the American govern-
ment to free up quite a lot of money to do research on creativity.
18,19,20

During the 1960s, it became evident that designers no longer

15 "Foundation oftheFuture: Doctoral could rely solely on their ability to focus upon the product as the
Education inDesignConference" at La
center of a design task. Due to technological developments and the
Clusaz,France (9-12July2000).
16 Thisconference
implications of mass production, interest had to be shifted from
broughttogethertheHfG
peopleandstate-of-the-art reviewers of hardware and form to the consideration of human needs. This
designresearch, DesignPlusResearch, required a new look at the subject of design methods.21
Proceedings of thePolitecnico diMilano
Conference (May18-202000). First Generation Design Methods
17 Inan interview withHorstRittelinthe
The influence of systems analysis and systems theory on design
1972issue"Sonof Rittelthink" in The
DMG5thAnniversary Report, hegavethe established the grounds for the foundation of "systematic design
basicreasonsfordesignmethods. methods," which Horst Rittel22later called "first generation design
18 D.H.Edel,Introduction toCreative methods." The Conferenceon Design Methods, which was organized
Design(Englewood Cliffs,NewJersey: by J. C. Jones and D. G. Thornley,23was the first scientific approach
Prentice-HallInc.,1967).
to design methods in England. The methods proposed at that confer-
19 J. R.M.AlgerandC.V.Hays,Creative
SynthesisinDesign(Englewood
ence were simplistic in character. Everyone was systematizing his or
Cliffs,
NewJersey:Prentice-Hall Inc.,1964). her own approach to design, and externalizing it as design method.
20 M.S. Allen,Morphological Creativity: Morris Asimow, a chemical engineer, wrote the book Introduction
TheMiracle of Your Hidden BrainPower to Design, published in 1962, about engineering design. L. Bruce
(Englewood Cliffs,NewJersey:Prentice- Archer, the previous HfG teacher, became the head of the Design
HallInc.,1962).
Research Unit in the Royal College of Art in 1964, and published
21 B.Jerrard, R.Newport, andM.Trueman,
Managing NewProduct Innovation his book Systematic Methodsfor Designers in 1965. His method was
(London,Philadelphia:Taylor &Francis, based on critical path analysis, a model of operations research, and
1999). gave design research examples. These publications can be considered
22 H.Rittel,TheDMG5thAnniversary pioneering examples of design methods and scientific approaches
Report(1972).
to design.
23 J. C.JonesandandD.G.Thornley,
Conference onDesignMethods (Oxford
The first Ph.D. thesis in design methods by Christopher
University Press,1963).Thisconference Alexander,24, 25 entitled "Notes on the Synthesis of Form," broke new
wastheturning pointof designstudies. ground in architecture. S. Chermayeff and C. Alexander26dedicated
24 C.Alexander, "TheDetermination of their book, Community and Privacy, to Walter Gropius. It applied
Components foran Indian Village" in
"pattern language," using the same approach as Alexander in his
Conference onDesignMethods, J. C.
Ph.D. thesis. Alexander tried to split the design problems into solv-
JonesandD.G.Thornley, eds.(Oxford
University Press,1963).Themethodin able small patterns by applying information theory. He sorted out
hisPh.D.thesiswasexplained forfirst those that interacted with each other, and solved the problems of
timeatthisconference. each group by drawing a diagram in which the interactions-either
25 C.Alexander, NotesontheSynthesis of fit or misfit-of user requirements were resolved between the
Form (Cambridge, MA:Harvard University
components within and among patterns.
Press,1964).
26 S. Chermayeff andC.Alexander,
In 1965, Sidney Gregory's27 paper, included in The Design
Community andPrivacy: Toward a New Methodproceedings of the conference he organized in Birmingham,
Architecture of Humanism (NewYork: defined for the first time the concept of "design science." That
Doubleday andCo.Inc.,1963).This conference contained papers on design research, as well as the design
bookcontainstheradiospeechesof
methods used in different engineering disciplines. The late Nobel
Chermayeff andalsoAlexander's method
laureate Herbert A. Simon from Carnegie Mellon University, invited
forpatterns onthehousingneighbor-
hood. to deliver the Karl Taylor Crompton lectures at the Massachusetts
27 S. A.Gregory, ed., TheDesignMethod Institute of Technology in the spring of 1968, used this opportunity
(London:Butterworth Press,1966. to present the thesis that had been central to his research. It was

18
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 published under the title The Sciencesof the Artificialthat same year.28
He proposed applying the extensive scientific approach to the
sciences of the artificial in economics as well as to engineering and
other disciplines, in which the design of the artificial is the subject of
its own discipline. The artificial here includes all kinds of the man-
made things and organizations. He and his colleagues presented
artificial intelligence (Al) in design at Carnegie Mellon University.
During that period, research approaches to design became
common in Europe and the U.S. The conference/course, "The
Teaching of Design-Design Methods in Architecture," was held
in HfG in Ulm in April 1966, and following that at the 1967 Design
Methods in ArchitectureSymposium29 held in Portsmouth. Organized
by Geoffrey Broadbent and Anthony Ward, the symposium looked
at the design research approaches to design.
Broadbent commented on the symposium as follows:
The 1967 Symposium was held at a particular moment in
history when general change in consciousness was taking
place of the kind which Kuhn (1962) would have called
paradigm shift. This was having profound effects on society
and on social organizations in general including-which is
important for us-the role of the designer in society.30

Design methods people were looking at rational methods of incorpo-

rating scientific techniques and knowledge into the design process to
make rational decisions to adapt to the prevailing values, something
that was not always easy to achieve. They were attempting to work
out the rational criteria of decision making, and trying to optimize
the decisions.
Some designers thought that their approaches were a waste
of time. This view was not exactly true. The design problems in
architecture and in engineering after World War II were severe. The
postwar diminished male labor force was a very important influence,
and required new production methods, and new designs to meet
the new needs of the society in Europe and in the U.S. The Cold
War with the Eastern Block countries gave impetus to new human
requirements, with scientific approaches to design in this new era
generated from political decisions.
As Broadbent3"said after the Portsmouth Symposium in
1967:
28 H.A.Simon,TheSciencesof the
1 (Cambridge,
MA:MITPress,
The Symposium had been set up by Tony Ward to include
Artificial,
1968). a specific confrontation between those whom he saw
29 G.Broadbent andA.Ward,eds.,Design as behaviorists, representing a mechanized, quantified
MethodsinArchitecture (London:Lund view of design and those (including himself) he saw
Humphries, 1969). as existentialist/phenomenologist (formerly Marxist)
30 G.Broadbent, of Design"
"TheMorality
concerned, above all, "with the humanness" of human
inDesign.Science.Method(l981),
309-328. beings.
31 G.Broadbent inDesign.Science.Method His "behaviorists" included Bruce Archer; Tom Markus
(1981):309. above all; Ray Struder, whose very title "The Dynamics of

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 Behavior-Contingent Physical Systems" summarized what
they were all about. Design was to be "scientific"-Struder
was looking for a "unit of analyses in design measurable,
in his words, against dimensions that are both relevant and
empirically accessible." The designer has to start by analyz-
ing human behavior, from which he could derive "quanti-
ties, qualities, and relationships."

Meanwhile, a design methods group was established at the

University of California, Berkeley in 1967, and began to publish a
newsletter called Design Methods Group (DMG) Newsletter. 32 This
newsletter provided information about research in progress, as well
as publications in the fields of design research covering planning,
architecture, and industrial design mainly from the U.S. and UK,
but seldom from Europe.
In June 1968, the DMG International Conference was orga-
32 (DMG) Newsletter,published bySage
nized at MIT. The purpose of the conference was identified in the
Publications.GaryMoorewastheeditor
of thefirstissueofthesecondvolume;
"DMG Design Methods Group Conference Purpose and Program"33
andJ. C.Jones,Murray Milne,Barry leaflet:
Poyner, HorstRittel,Charles
W.Rush, The First Annual International Conference is a research
andHenry SanoffweretheEditorial conference in the theory and application of design, plan-
Committee. C.Alexander, M.Starr,G. ning, and engineering methodology. The purpose of the
Nadler,W.Issard,M.B.Teitz,andB.
conference is twofold: first to provide a format for research-
Harriswereamongthemembers ofthe
ReviewCommittee forthenewpublica- ers to present their current work for evaluation from their
tion. peers and, second, to encourage dialogue between the
33 DMGDesignMethods Group,"First researchers and the practitioners who are interested in the
Annual InternationalConferencePurpose application of this work. Because the conference is directed
andProgram," MIT(Cambridge, MA:
both at the researcher and the practitioner, the responsibil-
June2-4, 1968).
34 Ibid.
ity for the level of communication lies with the speaker.34
35 SiegfriedMaser,HorstRittel,Jurgen
Joedicke,Hans-Otto Shulte,John In 1973, The Design Activity International Conference in London, in
Luckman, WestChurchman, HorstHofler, 1977, the California-Berkeley Design Methods in Action Conference,
andmanyotherswereamongthewriters and in 1976, the Portsmouth Changing Design Conference all were
ofthesepublications.
indicators of the interest by designers and neighboring disciplines
36 IGMA, Arbeitsberihte
zurPlanungsmethodik 1: in design research.
Bewertungsprobleme inderBauplanung In West Germany in 1970, the Institute for the Basis of Modem
(Stuttgart/Bern:KarlKramerVerlag, Architecture (Institute fur Grundlagen der Modernen Architectur)
1970). began to produce a series of publications called Studies Related to
37 IGMA, Arbeitsberihte zur
Planning Methods (Arbeitsberichtezur Planungsmethodik).These stud-
Planungsmethodik 4:Entwurfsmethoden
inderBauplanung (Stuttgart/Bern:
Karl
ies were following the design methods movement in the U.S. and
35, 36, 37, and 38
Kramer Verlag,1970). UK
38 IGMA, Arbeitsberihte zur In the '70s, two leaders who were pioneers of design meth-
Planungsmethodik 6:Nutzbeteiligung
an odology announced a manifesto against the design methodology of
Planungprozessen(Stuttgart/Bern:
Karl the era. Christopher Alexander39 said:
Kramer Verlag,1972).
The odd thing is that people have lost sight completely of
39 C.Alexander, "StateofArtinDesign
Methodology: InterviewwithC. this objective. They have very definitely lost the motiva-
Alexander" DMGNewsletter(March tion for making better buildings. I feel that a terrific part
1971):3-7. of it has become an intellectual game, and it's largely for

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 that reason that I've disassociated from the field. I resigned
from the Board of Editors of the DMG Newsletter because I
felt that the purpose which the magazine represents is not
really valuable, and I don't want to be identified with them.
Even though he rejected the idea of design methods, he
continued to apply his own pattern language to design problems and
user design participation utilizing ready-made patterns, in various
places of the world. Although he wrote the first comprehensive book,
which comprised almost all of the methods relevant to design up to
the 1970s, Christopher Jones first refused to be a professor of design
discipline at the Open University, and then rejected design methods
in the first issue of Design Methods and TheoriesJournal in 1977. He
explained that his rejection aimed at the computer use, behaviorism,
and continued attempts to fix all of life into logical frameworks.4oHe
moved into another field of design, literature.
People like Churchman had warned at least eight or ten years
earlier of the consequences of the illegitimate simplifications of the
first generation design techniques. But the reaction had led to a kind
of unintentional self-elimination. The first-generation design meth-
odology had turned into a sort of academic subculture.41

Second-Generation Design Methods

Herbert Simon, in his book The Sciences of the Artificial, defined
design problems as "wicked" problems, for which finding appro-
priate solutions was very difficult and each solution to a problem
created new problems to be solved. Reactions against design meth-
ods by Christopher Alexander surprised newcomers to the field.
Horst Rittel, calling the paradigm shifts in design "generations,"
saved the design methods, according to Nigel Cross42in his article.
Horst Rittel's proposal of the idea of generations for design let
newcomers find new ways for themselves. First-generation design
methods were simplistic, not matured enough, and not capable of
meeting the requirements of complex, real-world problems. The
design methodologists were trying to apply OR models and systems
theory to design problems in a very abstract way for every problem.
The first-generation design methods were formulated and applied
by scientists and designers. The objectives of the design problem also
were identified by them during the design process, which caused
rigidity in design decisions and unexpected failures. These simplistic
methods were necessary at the beginning.
40 J. C.Jones,"HowMyThoughts about Horst Rittel proposed new argumentative methods as
DesignMethodshaveChanged During "second- generation design methods." His methods, argumentative
theYears,"DesignMethodsand method, and IBIS (Issue Based Information System) were problem
Theories:Joumalof DMGandDRS11:1 identification methods, which were influenced by the British philoso-
(January- March,
1977).
pher Karl Popper. These second-generation design methods began
41 H.Rittel,TheDMG5thAnniversary
Report(1972). to compensate for the inadequacy of the first-generation design
42 N.Cross,DesignMethodologyand methods. User involvement in design decisions and the identifica-
Relationship
withScience(1993). tion of their objectives were the main characteristics of the second-

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43 N. Bayazit,Abstracts: Architectural generation design methods. User participation was a new democratic
Design:"Interrelations amongTheory, approach parallel to the prevailing political movements of the era.
Research,andPractice," Design The Design Participation Conference in Manchester was organized
Methodsand Theories,12:3/4(1978).
by Nigel Cross in 1971. As indicated by Bayazit:43,44
44 N.Bayazit, (GuestEditor ofthe
issue),Papers: Architectural design. User participation to P&D is a very wide and comprehensive
"Interrelations amongTheory, Research, subject, with its political, ideological, psychological, managerial,
andPractice," DesignMethods and administrative, legal and economical aspects in relation to various
Theories 13:3/4,(1979). countries. The concept of user participation is as wide and variable
45 H.A.Simon,"Rational Choiceand
as that of democracy.
theStructure oftheEnvironment,"
The success of the participatory design process depended on
Psychological Review63(1956):129-
138. the designer's awareness of user values, and obliged professionals to
46 L.B.Archer, Systematic Methodsfor collaborate with social scientists as well as anthropologists to carry
Designers (London: TheDesignCouncil, out design research. There were some obstacles in the application of
1965). participatory design in larger-scale projects, such as those in urban
47 G.Pask,"TheConception of a Shapeand
planning.
theEvolution of a Design" inJ. C.Jones
andD.G.Thornley, eds.,Conference
onDesignMethods (Oxford: Pergamon Development of Scientific Research in Design
Press,1963). In the manufacturing industry, design has been formally acknowl-
48 G.Broadbent, DesigninArchitecture edged as a separate activity for at least the last 150 years. From the
(London: JohnWileyandSons,1973),
beginning of the twentieth century, the concept of design systems
115.
and operations was familiar to the people who developed and used
49 Leading designresearchers oftheera
werePeterCowanattheUniversity the methods of work-study. In the U.S. in 1909 and 1917, Gilbert's
of Sydney, Herbert A.SimonandAlan motion study was based on the intelligent observation of people at
Newellat Carnegie MellonUniversity, work. Through the end of World War I, the equipment and machines
andHorstRittelat theUniversity of in factories used by the war industries were relatively unsophisti-
California at Berkeley.
cated. During that war, new kinds of weapons such as aircraft and
50 M.Langfort, Personal Hygiene Attitudes
andPractices in 1000Middle-Class tanks came into widespread use, and were designed for mechanical
Households (Ithaca, NewYork: Cornell efficiency. The first research studies focused on the design of aircraft
University Agricultural Experiment to improve the performance of the product. Throughout the 1920s,
Station,NewYork StateCollegeof Home industrial fatigue research became the most important subject.
Economics, 1965).
Volkswagen was another initiator of performance studies aimed at
51 A.KiraTheBathroom (Newand
increasing the efficiency of the car for the German public. In 1937,
expanded edition),(Ithaca,NewYork: The
Viking Press,1966). Volkswagen sought to produce cheap as well as physically powerful
52 Cornell researchers alsodidvarious and long-lasting cars. Thousands of repeated performance tests influ-
studiesonhousing. See G.H.Beyer, enced their engineering as well as industrial design, and inspired the
Housing andPersonal Values, Memoir development of new and unusual designs. It became a good model
364(Ithaca, NewYork: Cornell, University
for the design of cars and a host of other products.
Press,1959):officefurniture, as well
as different energy-consuming activi- Facing social and economic problems after World War II,
ties of workers inE.C.Bratton, Oxygen and for the purpose of solving complex design problems and
Consumed inHousehold Tasks (Ithaca, meeting user requirements, the fact of design was considered as
NewYork: Cornell UniversityPress, a problem-solving and decision-making activity. The scientific
1950):E.C.Bratton, SomeFactors of Cost
developments during World War II made great contributions to the
to theBodyinStanding andSittingto
Work UnderDifferent Postural Conditions
solutions of design problems, especially in the engineering disci-
(Ithaca, NewYork: CornellUniversity plines. Multidisciplinary teams were set up consisting of engineers,
Press,1 959):E.Knowles, Postures and industrial designers, psychologists, physiologists, and above all,
OtherPhysiological Responses of the statisticians. Especially on the engineering side after the war, it was
Working SurfacesinHousehold Ironing
(Ithaca, NewYork: CornellUniversity
Press,1943).
22 DesignIssues:Volume
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2004

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 necessary to move faster and faster to reconstruct Europe from its
53 A. Forty,Objectsof Desire:Designand rubble. Cybernetics developed during the war by Norbert Wiener as
Society 1750-1980(London: Thames the science of management became the model for rational behavior
andHudson,1986),131-132 employed in economics, and obtaining information and making
54 Ibid.,131-132 decisions using computer systems.45 Consequently, cybernetics
55 S. Giedion,Mechanization Takes
influenced many design methodologists and design theoreticians.
Command(New York:Oxford University
Design theoreticians such as L. Bruce Archer46and Gordon Pask47
Press,1948).
56 M.Mead,Cultural PattemsandTechnical saw the similarities between designers' design behavior and the
Change(UNESCO, 1955). organisms' self-control systems, and developed their own theories
57 J. Noble,"HowandWhyof Behaviour: accordingly.
SocialPsychology fortheArchitect," The The study of human performance and man-machine rela-
Architects'Joumal(March 6, 1963).
tionship developed great momentum. Ergonomics and work-study
58 F.J. Langdon, "TheDesignof Mechanized
Offices," TheArchitects'Joumal (May1
were well known by many people, and applied to designs during the
and22, 1963). war. Scientific management gave workers a healthier environment,
59 P Manning, ed.,OfficeDesign:"A and introduced new designs of office furniture, thereby improving
Studyof Environment, Department of worker comfort. Changing postures with furniture reduced fatigue,
Building Science,"Universityof Liverpool
and made workers happier and more efficient.
(Liverpool:Pilkington
Research Unit,
As Broadbent48said:
1965),27.
60 Ibid.,45-51. After the war, it became necessary, therefore, to identify
61 Morethan928different anthropometric their combined interest in such a way that they could
measurements, as wellas dimensional continue to contribute to it with a real sense of purpose. So,
literatureondwellingequipment, under in 1949, Murrell and others arranged an interdisciplinary
thetitleof "Anatomy forPlanners"
meeting of anatomists, physiologists, industrial medical
werecollectedbytheNational Swedish
InstituteforBuildingResearch Ergonomic officers, industrial hygienists, design engineers, archi-
Studieswerenecessaryinthesecoun- tects, illuminating engineers, and so on, out of which the
triesbecausepeopleinthepastwere Ergonomic Research Society was formed.
sleepingina sittingposture,andhad These experiences stimulated interest in design research in the
bedlengthsshorter thantheheightof an
1950s.
averagepersonwhichwasnothealthy.
62 E.Berglund, Svenska
Cornell University, MIT, the University of Sydney, Carnegie
Bord(Stockholm:
Slojdforeningen,1957). Mellon University, and the University of California were the centers
63 E.Berglund, Skap(Stockholm: Svenska for this development line, especially in the design science and
Slbjdfbreningen,1960). computer aids to design by the leading theorists.49One of the first
64 Styrelsen Kugl,God,BostadldagtochI social research studies was conducted at the Cornell University
morgon, (Stockholm: Bostada1964).
Agricultural Experiment Station on one-thousand army personnel
65 L.B.Archer, Systematic Methodfor
Designers(London: TheDesignCouncil, to investigate hygienic behaviors and attitudes." That was followed
1965). by one of the ergonomics as well as cultural studies on bathroom
66 S. E.Harrison,WorkStudyOfficer of and sanitary fixtures, which was conducted by Alexander Kira,"1
the NorthEastMetropolitan Regional and influenced the sanitary fixture market with its new approach
Hospital Board,conducted thetrials.
to human body and cleanliness concepts all over the world, starting
During theresearch study,nolessthan
onemillionitemsof information
in the U.S. and the UK.52Cultural anthropology and its influence on
were
recorded. Atthesametime,sociologists design began during the 1950s.3'54'55'56 In the UK, the application of
underthedirection of JoanWoodward social psychology to design started in the 1960s.57 58'59,60
In Sweden,
of theImperialCollegeof Scienceand various ergonomics studies were made on housing, especially on
Technology wereengagedinfindingout bedrooms and other home spaces.6" 6263,64In the UK, Loughborough
theopinions of patientsandstaffabout
was another center for scientific research related to ergonomics. At
conventional andprototype bedsteads
at KingEdward's Hospital(Designof the Royal College of Art, Misha Black and L. Bruce Archer were
Bedsteads, KingEdward's Hospital,
London, 1967).

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1 Winter2004 23

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 doing extensive design research for industry. In his book, L. Bruce
Archer65mentions research work on hospital beds that derived from
work-study observations in the "Design of Hospital Bedsteads."66,
67

The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) was

founded in 1970, and the first EDRA conference was organized by
Henry Sanoff that same year, and continued annually, mainly in the
U.S. Their research topics were concentrated on evaluative studies
of architecture and environmental planning. The first collaborative
studies for the investigation of user requirements were made by soci-
ologists, psychologists, social psychologists, and design profession-
als, and began to develop research methods for the artificial. Also
man-environment research (MER) began in various universities in
the U.S., and new journals such as Environmentand Behaviorand the
Journalof ArchitecturalPlanning and Researchbegan to be published
in the United States. Sometime later in Europe, the International
Architectural Psychology Society (IAPS) was established, and served
as the European counterpart of EDRA and MER.
Meanwhile, the Design Research Society (DRS) was founded
in London in April 1966. Design Methods Group (DMG) and
DRS started to publish the DMG-DRS Journal instead of the DMG
Newsletter until 1979, when DRS started the Design Studies journal,
edited by Nigel Cross since then. In 1980, the Design: Science:
Method Conference was organized at Portsmouth, in which design
research and the contribution of science to design were the subjects
of discussion. The conference organizers put forward the question
to all of the members of the Design Research Society, as did L. Bruce
Archer in his paper in the conference entitled, "What Is Design
Research that It Is Different from Other Forms of Research?" 68 At
that same conference, the author of this paper presented the exist-
ing situation in design research. That paper was published in Design
Studies.69We tried to categorize the research areas in that paper such
as profession-based theories, user-based theories, user-profession-
based theories, theories dealing with building appearance, and theo-
ries dealing with the profession. Also, fundamental design research
tools and techniques up to that time were classified in the same
paper. The Design Policy Conference brought together increasing
numbers of design researchers in 1982 at the Royal College of Art.
That conference was the most comprehensive one of that period.
The influence of British philosopher Karl Popper showed itself on
the design theory building and scientific formulations of design
research.
67 Kenneth Agnew,alongwitha support- Four years later, between 1986 and 1993, the Institute of
ingteam,designedthe bedsteadinthe
Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology began to issue the
RoyalCollegeof Art,as citedby
Design ProcessesNewsletter, edited by Charles Owen. That newslet-
L.B.Archerin "Systematic Method
forDesigners"(1965). ter was concerned with design research approaches of ID, design
68 L.B.Archer,
Design:Science:Method management, and design policy. It contained articles on a variety of
(1981). topics of interest to the design community. They were presenting the

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 projects and the research works of their faculty, as a leading design
research institution in industrial design in the world.
In the meantime, in official government organizations and
in other international organizations such as National Bureau of
Standards in the U.S., CSTB in France, the Building Research Station
in England, the Center International de Batiment (CIB) in Holland,
Government Research Centers in Sweden and Denmark, and in
many other countries, user requirement studies began in the 1960s
and continued up the 1980s. Research in Europe concentrated on
69 N.Bayazit,N.Esin,andA.Ozsoy, housing design and performance problems, because there still was
"AnIntegrative Approach to Design a great shortage of housing in Europe after World War II, and the
Techniques," DesignStudies,2:4(1981).
prefabricated buildings were indispensable.
70 C.T.Larson, ed.,SER2: School
Environmental Research, University of Prefabricated building design, and research on the coordi-
Michigan (1965). nated building elements and the building layout optimization, were
71 L.Mosley,"ARational DesignTheory well-accepted research subjects in the universities as well as in the
forPlanning Basedonthe
Buildings, research centers. Building performance studies were initiated in
AnalysisandSolutions oftheCirculation
government research centers and universities, mainly in engineer-
Problems," TheArchitects'Joumal,
ing design, applying scientific methods to design problems in new
(September 11,1963):525-537.
72 T.A.Markus, ed.,Building Performance housing construction. Various environmental characteristics of hous-
(NewYork: JohnWiley,1972). ing were subject to evaluation in these studies. In the U.S., during
73 J. Gero,ComputerApplications in the Cold War, the government supported environmental studies on
Architecture(London:Applied Science topics such as windowless buildings, and school environmental
Publishers,
1977).
research (SER).70Starting in the 1960s, research areas such as acous-
74 J. Gero,"Artificial
Intelligence in
Design,"Proceedings of theFourth tics, heat transfer, and climatic comfort in architecture were well
Intemational Conference onthe accepted, and continued to develop.
Applications ofArtificial
Intelligence Researchers began to produce interactive computer graph-
inEngineering, Cambridge, UK ics systems. Wireframe and polygonal modeling schemes were
(Southampton: Springer-Verlag, 1989).
developed. Mosley71 developed one of the first layout optimiza-
75 J. Gero,Artificial
IntelligenceinDesign
'91 (Oxford,
UK:Butterworth-Heinemann,
tion programs for hospital operating units. Beginning in the 1970s,
1991). computer scientists became interested in systematic design methods
76 J. Gero,Artificial
Intelligencein and design science. They were trying to program and evaluate build-
Design'94(Boston: Kluwer Academic ing performance to justify scientific design decisions. At the National
Publishers,
1994). Bureau of Standards in the U.S., the first International Congress on
77 M.Asimow,Introduction toDesign
Performance Concept in Building was organized in 1972. It brought
(Englewood Cliffs,NewJersey:Prentice-
HallInc,1962). a new perspective to design research in architecture. Thomas A.
78 T.T.Woodson, Introductionto Markus72and Thomas Maver had been working on building perfor-
Engineering Design(NewYork: McGraw- mance at Strathclyde University. Thomas Maver, a computer-aided
Hill,1966). design programmer, started to work on the programming of envi-
79 V.Hubka, Konstruktionwissenschaft
ronmental building performance evaluation programs. Also, Peter
(DesignScienceinEnglish translation),
Cowan established the building research center at the University of
VDI-Zeitschrift
116:11(1974):899-905,
and1087-1094. Sydney in Australia. Building science and computer-aided design
80 V.Hubka,Principlesof Engineering were well developed by the end of 1960s, and the beginning of
Design(Guilford, UK:Butterworth 1970s. They still are leaders in the field of artificial intelligence in
Scientific
Press,1982). design.73' 74, 75, 76
81 V.Hubka andE.Eder,"AScientific
On the engineering side, Morris Asimow,77ThomasWoodson,78
Approach to Engineering
Design,"Design
Studies8:3(1987):123-137. Vladimir Hubka,79'80Vladimir Hubka and Ernst Eder,81'82introduced
82 V.Hubka andE.Eder,DesignScience a new generation of systematic design methods. As Vladimir Hubka
(London:SpringerVerlag,1996),49-66. and Ernst Eder wrote:

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 The first evidence of change originates from the period of
the Second World War, and from the reconstruction and
construction period. [What] were the particular features of
these situations which have caused the need for improve-
ments? On one hand [there was] an unusual pressure
toward performance in a highly developed industry,
especially new and very demanding needs.... Up to [the]
year 1967, we could only find some widely scattered and
isolated groups or individual experts who proposed [a]
certain solution for [the] improvement of [the] design work.
The next period after about 1967 until today and especially
in the seventies, can be labeled as the prime time for the
initial development of design science.

Vladimir Hubka organized the first International Conference on

Engineering Design (ICED, a series since 1981) in 1967. Vladimir
Hubka established "Workshop-Design-Construction, WDK," and
called their approach "design science," which we can call a theoreti-
cal scientific approach to engineering design methods. They were
the representatives of the European engineering designers. In their
own words, they differentiate themselves from English-speaking
researchers:
Continental Europeans tend to being outward-looking
and trans-national, but also more formal and systematic;
English-speakers tend to become more insular and isola-
tionist, with any "foreign" language as a perceived cultural
barrier, but also more intuitive and casual, and less formal.83

Vladimir Hubka and Ernst Eder both spent several years in industry,
83 Ibid.,50.
84 M.Asimow,Introduction toDesign working and/or leading design teams. They defined design science
(1962). in the same book as: "The term 'design science' is to be understood
85 J. C.Jones,DesignMethods: Seedsof as a system of logically related knowledge, which should contain and
Human Futures
(2ndrev.ed.),(NewYork: organize the complete knowledge about and for designing."
Reinhold VanNostrand,1992).
English-speaking engineering design methodologists were
86 N.Cross,Engineering DesignMethods:
StrategiesforProduct Design(Chichester, Morris Asimow,84John Christopher Jones,85Nigel Cross,86L. Bruce
UK:JohnWileyandSons,1994). Archer,87T. T. Woodson,88Stuart Pugh,89David Ullman,90and many
87 L.B.Archer, Innovation
Technological others.
(London: SciencePolicyFoundation In the U.S. in 1984, Nam Suh, who was then the assistant
SpecialPublicationSeries,1971).
director for engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF),
88 T T.Woodson, Introduction
to
Engineering Design(1966).
created the Design Theory and Methodology Program. Among his
89 S. Pugh,"TheDesignAudit:Howto Use goals in creating this program was developing a science of engi-
It,"Proceedingsof DesignEngineering neering design and then establishing design as an accepted field of
Conference, NEC,Birmingham: NEC, engineering research. From 1986 to 1988, this program was directed
1979).
by Susan Finger, followed by Jack Dixon.91
90 D.G.Ullman, TheMechanical Design
Some of the design researchers and design methodologists
Process(NewYork: McGraw-Hill,1992).
91 S. L.Newsome,W.R.Spillers, andS. were working in the field of computer-aided design, and develop-
Finger,DesignTheory '88(NewYork: ing their methods in relation to architectural and engineering design
Springer-Verlag,
1989). problems, applying the models of OR and systems analysis. These

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 approaches caused some problems in the fields of design method-
ology and design research, because they were thought to be too
restrictive in nature.
There was a close relationship between design research and
the developments in the IT field, especially in cognitive sciences, and
"/artificialintelligence" (Al) and expert systems. Marvin Minsky,92'
93was one of the leaders in the application of cognitive science to
Al. Studies on Al researchers affected the development of studies
on designers, as experts. "Think-aloud" techniques and "protocol
analysis" 94 were adopted by designers. Charles Eastman95was a
92 M.Minsky,"StepstowardArtificial computer-aided design practitioner as well as a design theoretician.
Intelligence,"
Proceedings of the IRE
He published an article related to intuitive bathroom design and, for
49 (1961):8-30.
93 M.Minsky, Semantic Information the first time, focused on the designer's behavior. Donald Sch6n96at
Processing(Cambridge, MA:MITPress, MIT opened a new paradigm in design research, and his book, Reflec-
1968). tive Practitioner,did not seem to relate to computer science at first, but
94 K.A.Ericsson andH.A.Simon,Protocol it actually was about the designing behavior of expert designers.
Analysis.VerbalReports as Data
Immense efforts have been made, mainly by the scientists
(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1993).
somehow related to computer-aided design, in the development of
95 C.Eastman,"OntheAnalysis of Intuitive
DesignProcess" inG.Moore,ed., the cognitive aspects of expert designers all over the world.97-101 One
Emerging MethodsinEnvironment and of the first contributions to this field was by Omer Akin,102at the
Planning(Cambridge, MA:MITPress, 1978 "Architectural Design: Interrelations among Theory, Research
1970),21-37. and Practice" conference.103'104His Ph.D. thesis, "Psychology of Arch-
96 D.A.Schon,TheReflective Practitioner
itects," 105at Carnegie Mellon University was one of the recognized
(NewYork: BasicBooks,1983).
97 0. Akin,"AnExploration oftheDesign research works and first publications in this field.
Process,"DesignMethodsandTheories, The 1980s and 1990s opened a new era in design research.
13(1979):115-119. Many U.S. departments of design began to establish new academic
98 N.Cross,K.Dorst,andN.Roozenburgh, research units, which were brought about from the government's
eds.,Research inDesignThinking (Delft,
release of funds on design research, and the encouragement and
TheNederlands: DelftUniversity Press,
demand by American industry. The "Ohio Conference on Doctoral
1992).
99 N.Cross,H.Cristiaans, andK.Dorst, Education in Design" in 1998 was one of the first research appeals
eds.,Analysing DesignActivity to education in design (in industrial design and in graphic design)
UK:JohnWiley&SonsInc.,
(Chichester, in the U.S. According to Buchanan:
1996). The Proceedingsof the Ohio Conferenceon DoctoralEducation
100 J. Gero,Artificial
IntelligenceinDesign
in Design focus on the nature and current state of doctoral
(1991).
101 K.Dorst,Describing Design.A Compar- education in design around the world. This volume
isonof Padigms (Vormgeving Rotterdam: explores the foundations of design as a field of inquiry, the
GrafischOntwerp en druk,1997). role of research in alternate models of doctoral education,
102 0. Akin,AnExploration of theDesign the relationship between doctoral education and profes-
Process(1979).
sional practice, and other issues that are central to the
103 N.Bayazit,Abstracts. Architectural
Design:InterrelationsamongTheory,
development of design as an emerging field of investiga-
Research,andPractice (1978). tion. Included are discussions of many existing and planned
104 N.Bayazit,Papers. Architectural Design. doctoral programs around the world.116
Interrelations
amongTheory, Research,
andPractice(1979). Significant growth in all areas of design research took place during
105 0. Akin,PsychologyofArchitectural
the 1990s. New professional demands on design research, and
Design(London: PionLtd,1986).
106 DoctoralEducationinDesign: the new educational confrontations for restructuring knowledge
Proceedingsof theOhioConference, changed the context of design. Universities around the world are
(8-11October,1998). developing models of doctoral education in design. Philosophies and

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 theories of design are popular subjects for discussion. Foundations
and methods of design research are being reevaluated. The form and
structure for the doctorate in design still is under development. The
relationship between practice and research in design has become an
important focusing topic among the academic as well as the profes-
sional communities.

Conclusion
The history of design research with reference to design methodolo-
gies, as well as design science, is a wide and comprehensive subject
that needs additional extensive research. Only a brief review of
research history on this relatively new discipline of design has been
covered here. Generally, articles and book chapters concerning state-
of-the-art reviews, the history of the discipline, or original conference
proceedings and other documents were used in this paper.
Design research and its relevance to design methodology,
as well as scientific research, are reviewed. Most design research
studies were made in architecture because of the requirements of
the societies after World War II. Scientific developments during the
war, and the shortage of resources in postwar societies obviously
necessitated and gave impetus to the creation of new ways to solve
existing problems. Future studies in various design disciplines may
benefit from the experience and progress in disciplines concerned
with building as well as engineering.
107 N. Bayazit,Abstracts:Architectural
Here, I tried to look at design research and its relevance to
Design:Interrelationsamong Theory,
Research,and Practice(1978). design methods and design science from a Turkish perspective.
108 N. Bayazit,Papers:ArchitecturalDesign: Mutual influences of information technologies and design research
Interrelationsamong Theory,Research, were the requirements of the era, although that is not mentioned
and Practice(1979). in many relevant publications. Another area of studying design
109 N. Bayazit, M. Tapan,N. Ayiran,and
research is the utilization of the methods of disciplines in such areas
N. Esin, Tasarlama
(Dizayn)I. Ulusal
Istanbul
KongresiBildirileri(Istanbul:
as psychology, social psychology, management, economics, seman-
TeknikUniversitesiMimarlikFakultesi, tics, and ergonomics. Here, only main starting points have been
1982). indicated concerning the various disciplines.

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 Epilog
Academics in Turkey were following the developments in the UK
and U.S. on design methodology and the scientific approaches to
design because the Ph.D. was an obligatory stage of academic life
by law in every field-even in architectural design. Consequently,
the Architectural Design Methods Chair was established in the
ITU Faculty of Architecture in 1973. In Turkey, architectural design
methods was recognized by the National Central Authority of
Universities as an academic discipline that same year. The first
international conference on design in Turkey, "Architectural
Design: Interrelations among Theory, Research, and Practice," was
held at ITU in 1978 in collaboration with DRS from the UK. Selected
abstracts107and papers108of this conference were published in the
U.S. journal Design Methods and Theories. Even though it must be
confessed that the idea and the intention were very good, the confer-
ence received few papers concerned with design research and its
relevance to design practice; but it gave an impetus to further Ph.D.
studies in architecture.
In 1982 in Turkey, the First National Design Conference also
was organized in the ITU Faculty of Architecture.109It was the first
national design conference in Turkey covering the disciplines of
architectural design, engineering design, and industrial design.

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