Wicked Problems in Design Thinking

Author(s): Richard Buchanan

Source: Design Issues, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 5-21
Published by: The MIT Press
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 Richard Buchanan
in DesignThinking
WickedProblems

Introduction
This essay is based on a paperpresented at Despite effortsto discoverthe foundationsof designthinkingin
'Colloque Recherches sur le Design:
Incitations,Implications,Interactions,"the the fine arts,the naturalsciences,or most recently,the socialsci-
first French university symposium on ences,designeludesreductionandremainsa surprisinglyflexible
design research held October 1990 at
l'Universit6de Technologiede Compiegne,
activity. No single definition of design, or branchesof profes-
Compiegne, France. sionalizedpracticesuchas industrialor graphicdesign,adequately
coversthe diversityof ideasandmethodsgatheredtogetherunder
the label. Indeed,the varietyof researchreportedin conference
papers,journalarticles,andbooks suggeststhatdesigncontinues
to expandin its meaningsand connections,revealingunexpected
dimensionsin practiceas well as understanding.This follows the
trendof designthinkingin the twentiethcentury,for we haveseen
designgrowfroma tradeactivityto a segmentedprofession to afield
for technicalresearchandto what now shouldbe recognizedas a
new liberalart of technologicalculture.
It may seem unusualto talk aboutdesignas a liberalart,par-
ticularlywhen many people are accustomedto identifying the
liberalartswith the traditional"artsand sciences"that are insti-
tutionalizedin colleges and universities.But the liberalarts are
undergoinga revolutionarytransformationin twentieth-century
culture,anddesignis one of the areasin whichthis transformation
is strikinglyevident.
To understandthe changethatis now underway,it is important
to recognizethatwhat are commonlyregardedas the liberalarts
todayarenot outsideof history.Theyoriginatedin theRenaissance
andunderwentprolongeddevelopmentthatculminatedin thenine-
teenthcenturyasa visionof anencyclopediceducationof beauxarts,
belleslettres,history,variousnaturalsciencesandmathematics, phi-
losophy, and the fledglingsocial sciences.This circleof learning
was divided into particularsubjectmatters,each with a proper
methodor set of methodssuitableto its exploration.At theirpeak
as liberalarts,thesesubjectmattersprovidedan integratedunder-
standingof humanexperienceandthe arrayof availableknowledge.
By the end of the nineteenthcentury,however,existingsubjects
were exploredwith progressivelymorerefinedmethods,andnew
subjectswere addedto accordwith advancesin knowledge.As a

Design Issues: Vol. VIII, Number 2 Spring 1992 5

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1) From Richard McKeon, "The result,the circleof learningwas furtherdividedand subdivided,
Transformation of theLiberalArtsin
the Renaissance,"Developmentsin untilall thatremainedwas a patchworkquiltof specializations.
ed. BernardS.
the EarlyRenaissance, Today, these subjectmattersretainan echo of theirold status
Levy (Albany:State University of
New YorkPress,1972),168-69.
as liberalarts,buttheyflourishas specializedstudies,leadingto the
perceptionof an evermorerichanddetailedarrayof factsandval-
2) Neo-positivism,pragmatism, andvar-
ious formsof phenomenologyhave
ues.Althoughthesesubjectscontributeto theadvanceof knowledge,
stronglyinfluenceddesigneducation they alsocontributeto its fragmentation, as they havebecomepro-
andpracticein thetwentiethcentury. gressively narrow in scope, more numerous, and have lost
If design theory has often tended
towardneo-positivism,designprac- "connectionwith eachotherandwith the commonproblemsand
tice has tendedtowardpragmatism mattersof daily life from which they select aspectsfor precise
andpluralism, withphenomenologists
in bothareas.Suchphilosophicaldif- methodologicalanalysis." The searchfor
new integrativedisci-
ferencesareillustrated in thesplitthat plinesto complementthe artsand scienceshas becomeone of the
developedbetweenthetheoretical and
studiocoursesat the Hochschulefur
centralthemesof intellectualandpracticallife in the twentiethcen-
Gestaltung (HfG)Ulmbeforeitsclos- tury. Without integrative disciplines of understanding,
ing. The split between theory and communication, andaction,thereis littlehope of sensiblyextend-
practicein designis anechoof thedif-
ferencebetweenthe predominantly ing knowledge beyond the libraryor laboratoryin orderto serve
neo-positivistphilosophyof science the purposeof enrichinghumanlife.
andtheexceptionally diversephiloso-
phiesof practicingscientists.Design The emergenceof designthinkingin the twentiethcenturyis
history,theory, and criticismcould importantin this context.The significanceof seekinga scientific
benefitfrom closer attentionto the
of
pluralismof views that guide actual basisfor designdoes not lie in the likelihood reducing
designto
design practice. one or anotherof the sciences-anextensionof the neo-positivist
3) WalterGroupiuswasoneof thefirstto
projectandstillpresentedin thesetermsby somedesigntheorists2
recognizethebeginningsof a newlib- Rather,it lies in a concernto connectandintegrateusefulknowl-
eralartin design.In an essaywritten edge from the artsand sciencesalike,but in ways that are suited
in 1937,he reflectedon the founding
of the Bauhaus as an institution to theproblemsandpurposesof the present.Designers,areexplor-
groundedon the ideaof an architec- ing concreteintegrationsof knowledgethat will combinetheory
tonic art: "Thus the Bauhauswas
inaugurated in 1919with the specific with practicefor new productivepurposes,and this is the reason
objectof realizinga modernarchitec- why we turnto designthinkingfor insightinto the new liberalarts
tonicart,whichlikehumannaturewas
meantto beall-embracing in itsscope. of technologicalculture3
. . . Our guidingprinciplewas that
designis neitheran intellectualnor a Design and Intentional Operations
materialaffair,but simplyan integral The beginningof the study of designas a liberalartcan be traced
partof the stuffof life, necessaryfor
everyonein a civilizedsociety."Scope to the culturalupheavalthatoccurredin the earlypartof the twen-
of Total Architecture(New York: tieth century.The key featureof this upheavalwas describedby
CollierBooks,1970),19-20.Theterm
in thiscase,transcends
"architectonic,"
JohnDewey in TheQuestforCertaintyas the perceptionof a new
the derivativeterm "architecture" as centerof the universe.
it is commonlyused in the modern Theold centerof theuniversewasthemindknowingby.
world.ThroughoutWesternculture,
the liberalarts have similarlybeen meansof anequipmentof powerscompletewithinitself,
describedas "architectonic" because andmerelyexerciseduponanantecedentexternalmate-
of theirintegrativecapacity.Groupius
appearedto understand thatarchitec- rial equallycompletewithin itself. The new centeris
ture,regarded asa liberalartin itsown indefiniteinteractionstakingplacewithin a courseof
rightin the ancientworld,was only
one manifestation of the architecton- naturewhichis notfixedandcomplete,butwhichis capa-
ic art of design in the twentieth ble of directionto new anddifferentresultsthroughthe
century.
mediationof intentionaloperations.'
4) JohnDewey,TheQuestforCertainty:
A Studyof theRelationof Knowledge WhatDewey describeshereis the root of the differencebetween
and Action (1929; rpt. New York:
CapricornBooks,1960),290-91. the old andnew liberalarts,betweenspecializationin the factsof a
subjectmatterandtheuseof new disciplinesof integrativethinking.

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 Dewey observes,however,that the meaningand implications
of the new directionarestill not fully understood.
Nowadayswe havea messyconjunctionof notionsthat
are consistentneitherwith one anothernor with the
tenorof our actuallife. Knowledgeis still regardedby
mostthinkersasdirectgraspof ultimatereality,although
thepracticeof knowinghasbeenassimilatedto thepro-
cedureof theusefularts;-involving, thatis to say,doing
that manipulatesand arrangesnaturalenergies.Again
while science is said to lay hold of reality,yet "art"
insteadof beingassigneda lowerrankis equallyesteemed
5) John Dewey, Experience and Nature andhonored.
(1929; rpt. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1958), 357.
Carryingtheseobservationsfurther,Dewey exploresthe new rela-
tionshipbetweenscience,art,andpractice.He suggestsin Experience
and Nature that knowledgeis no longerachievedby directcon-
formity of ideas with the fixed orders of nature;knowledge is
achievedby a new kind of artdirectedtowardordersof change.
Butif moderntendenciesarejustifiedin puttingartand
creationfirst, then the implicationsof this position
shouldbe avowedand carriedthrough.It would then
be seen that scienceis an art, that art is practice,and
thatthe only distinctionworthdrawingis not between
practiceandtheory,but betweenthose modesof prac-
tice that are not intelligent, not inherently and
immediatelyenjoyable, and those which are full of
6) Dewey, Experience and Nature, 357- enjoyedmeanings.
58.
Althoughthe neo-positivistscourtedDewey for a time, it was
apparentthat his understandingof the developmentof sciencein
the twentiethcenturywas quite differentfrom theirunderstand-
ing7.Insteadof treatingscienceas primaryand art as secondary,
7) The neo-positivist International
Encyclopedia of Unified Science,
Dewey pointedtowardscienceas art.
which included Charles Morris's Theconsiderationthatcompletesthe groundfor assim-
Foundations of the Theory of Signs,
ilating science to art is the fact that assignment of
also included Dewey's Theory of
Valuation. However, Dewey's Logic scientificstatusin anygivencaserestsuponfactswhich
was ignored or ridiculed by neo-pos- areexperimentallyproduced.Scienceis now the prod-
itivist logicians and grammarians.
uct of operationsdeliberatelyundertakenin conformity
with a planor projectthathasthepropertiesof a work-
ing hypothesis.
8) John Dewey, "By Nature and By Art," WhatDewey meansby "art"in thiscontextis crucialto understand-
Philosophy of Education (Problems
of Men) (1946; rpt. Totowa, New ingthenew roleof designandtechnologyin contemporary culture.
Jersey: Littlefield, Adams, 1958), 288. Aftera periodin whichnaturalknowledgeprogressed by
borrowing from the industrial
crafts,scienceenteredupon
a periodof steadyandever-accelerated growthby means
of deliberateinventionof such applianceson its own
account.Inorderto markthisdifferential featureof theart
whichis science,I shallnow usetheword"technology."
... Becauseof technologies,
acircular relationship between
9) Dewey, "By Nature and By Art," 291- theartsof productionandsciencehasbeenestablished.
92.

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 What Dewey defines as technology is not what is commonly
understoodin today'sphilosophyof technology.Insteadof mean-
ing knowledgeof how to makeand use artifactsor the artifacts
themselves,technologyfor Dewey is anartof experimentalthink-
ing. It is, in fact, intentionaloperationsthemselvescarriedout in
10) For Dewey, the artsof production, the sciences,the artsof production,"or socialandpoliticalaction.
includethefinearts.He makesno sharp
distinction
betweenfineandusefularts. We mistakenlyidentify technology with one particulartype of
product-hardware-that may result from experimentalthink-
ing, but overlookthe artthatlies behindandprovidesthe basisfor
creatingother types of products.
Fromthis perspective,it is easy to understandwhy designand
design thinkingcontinueto expandtheir meaningsand connec-
tions in contemporaryculture.Thereis no areaof contemporary
life wheredesign-the plan,project,or workinghypothesiswhich
constitutesthe "intention"in intentionaloperations-is not a sig-
nificantfactorin shapinghumanexperience.Design evenextends
into the coreof traditionalscientificactivities,whereit is employed
to cultivate the subject mattersthat are the focus of scientific
curiosity.But perceivingthe existenceof such an art only opens
the door to furtherinquiry, to explainwhat that art is, how it
operates,andwhy it succeedsor failsin particularsituations.The
challengeis to gaina deeperunderstandingof designthinkingso
that more cooperation and mutual benefit is possible between
thosewho applydesignthinkingto remarkablydifferentproblems
andsubjectmatters.Thiswill helpto makethepracticalexploration
of design,particularlyin the artsof production,more intelligent
and meaningful.
However,a persistentproblemin this regardis thatdiscussions
betweendesignersand membersof the scientificcommunitytend
to leavelittle room for reflectionon the broadernatureof design
andits relationto the artsandsciences,industryandmanufactur-
ing,marketing anddistribution,andthegeneralpublicthatultimately
uses the resultsof designthinking.Insteadof yieldingproductive
integrations,the resultis oftenconfusionanda breakdownof com-
munication,with a lack of intelligentpracticeto carryinnovative
ideasinto objective,concreteembodiment.In turn,thisundermines
effortsto reacha clearerunderstanding of designitself,sometimes
drivingdesignersbackinto a defenseof theirwork in the context
of traditionalartsandcrafts.Withoutappropriate reflectionto help
clarifythe basisof communicationamongalltheparticipants, there
is littlehope of understanding the foundationsandvalueof design
thinkingin an increasinglycomplextechnologicalculture.
The Doctrine of Placements
By "liberalart"I meana disciplineof thinkingthatmaybe shared
to some degreeby all men andwomen in theirdaily lives and is,
in turn,masteredby a few peoplewho practicethe disciplinewith
distinctiveinsightandsometimesadvanceit to new areasof inno-

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 vative application.Perhapsthis is what Herbert Simon meant in The
Sciencesof the Artificial, one of the major works of design theory
in the twentieth century, when he wrote: "the proper study of
mankind is the science of design, not only as the professional com-
ponent of a technical education but as a core discipline for every
11)HerbertA. Simon,TheSciencesof the liberallyeducatedman.""One may reasonablydisagreewith aspects
Artificial(Cambridge:M.I.T.Press,
1968),83
of Simon's positivist and empiricist view of design as a science
(as one may disagreewith the pragmaticprinciplesthat stand behind
12)AlthoughSimon'sTheSciencesof the Dewey's observation of the importance of intentional operations
Artificialis citedrepeatedlyin design
literaturebecauseof its definitionof in modern culture),"3but there is little reason to disagree with the
design,it is oftenreadwithlittleatten- idea that all men and women may benefit from an early under-
tion given to the full argument.A
carefulanalysisfromthe standpoint standing of the disciplines of design in the contemporary world.
of industrialdesignwould be a use- The beginning of such an understanding has already turned the
fulcontribution Such
to theliterature.
a readingwould revealthe positivist study of the traditional arts and sciences toward a new engage-
featuresof Simon'sapproach andhelp ment with the problems of everyday experience, evident in the
to explainwhy manydesignersare
somewhat disenchantedwith the
development of diverse new products which incorporate knowl-
book. Nonetheless, it remains an edge from many fields of specialized inquiry.
exceptionallyusefulwork. To gain some idea of how extensively design affects contem-
13) See RichardBuchanan,"Designand porary life, consider the four broad areasin which design is explored
TechnologyintheSecondCopernican throughout the world by professional designers and by many oth-
Revolution,"Revuedes scienceset
techniquesde la conception (The ers who may not regard themselves as designers. The first of these
Journal of Design Sciences and areas is the design of symbolic and visual communications. This
Technology, January,1992),1:1.
includes the traditional work of graphic design, such as typogra-
phy and advertising,book and magazine production, and scientific
illustration, but has expanded into communication through pho-
tography, film, television, and computer display. The area of
communications design is rapidly evolving into a broad explo-
ration of the problems of communicating information, ideas, and
arguments through a new synthesis of words and images that is
14)Thephrase"bookishculture"is used transforming the "bookish culture" of the past.'4
by literarycriticGeorgeSteinerand The second area is the design of material objects. This includes
is a themein a forthcomingbook by
IvanIllich,IntheVineyard
of theText. traditional concern for the form and visual appearanceof everyday
products-clothing, domestic objects, tools, instruments, machin-
ery, and vehicles-but has expanded into a more thorough and
diverse interpretation of the physical, psychological, social, and
culturalrelationshipsbetween products and human beings.This area
is rapidly evolving into an exploration of the problems of con-
struction in which form and visual appearancemust carry a deeper,
more integrative argument that unites aspects of art, engineering
15)Thedesignof materialobjectsincludes, and natural science, and the human sciences. 5
of course,new workin materialssci-
ence,wherea highlyfocusedformof
The third area is the design of activities and organized services,
designthinkingis evident. which includes the traditional management concern for logistics,
combining physical resources, instrumentalities,and human beings
in efficient sequences and schedules to reach specified objectives.
However, this area has expanded into a concern for logical deci-
sion making and strategic planning and is rapidly evolving into an
exploration of how better design thinking can contribute to achiev-
ing an organicflow of experiencein concrete situations,makingsuch

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 experiences more intelligent, meaningful, and satisfying. The cen-
tral theme of this area is connections and consequences. Designers
are exploring a progressively wider range of connections in every-
day experience and how different types of connections affect the
16)Someof the psychologicalandsocial structure of action.'6
dimensions of thisareaareillustrated in
worksas diverseas GeorgeA. Miller,
The fourth area is the design of complex systems or environ-
EugeneGalanter, andKarlH. Pribram, mentsfor living, working, playing, and learning. This includes the
PlansandtheStructure ofBehavior (New traditionalconcerns of systems engineering,architecture,and urban
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1960);LucySuchman, PlansandSituated planning or the functional analysis of the parts of complex wholes
Actions: The Problemof Human- and their subsequent integration in hierarchies. But this area has
MachineCommunication (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,1987);and also expanded and reflects more consciousness of the central idea,
MihalyCsikszentmihalyi, Flow:The thought, or value that expresses the unity of any balancedand func-
Psychologyof Optimal Experience
(NewYork:Harper& Row,1990). tioning whole. This areais more and more concernedwith exploring
the role of design in sustaining, developing, and integrating human
beings into broader ecological and cultural environments, shaping
these environments when desirable and possible or adapting to
17)Oneof theearlyworksof systemsengi- them when necessary.
neeringthatinfluenced designthinking
Reflecting on this list of the areasof design thinking, it is tempt-
is ArthurD. Hall,A Methodologyfor
SystemsEngineering (Princeton,New ing to identify and limit specific design professions within each
Jersey:D. Van NostrandCompany, area-graphic designers with communication, industrial designers
1962).For morerecentdevelopments
in systemsthinking,see Ron Levy, and engineers with materialobjects, designers-cum-managerswith
"CriticalSystems Thinking:Edgar activitiesand services,and architectsand urbanplannerswith systems
Morin and the French School of
Thought,"Systems Practice,vol. 4 and environments. But this would not be adequate, because these
(1990).Regarding thenew"systemics," areas are not simply categories of objects that reflect the results of
seeRobertL.FloodandWernerUlrich,
"Testament to Conversations onCritical design. Properly
understood and used, they are alsoplaces of inven-
Systems Thinking Between Two tion sharedby all designers,placeswhere one discoversthe dimensions
Systems Practitioners," Systems of design
Practice,vol. 3 (1990), and M. C.
thinking by a reconsiderationof problems and solutions.
Jackson, "The Critical Kernel in True, these four areas point toward certain kinds of objectivi-
ModernSystemsThinking,"Systems ty in human experience, and the work of designers in each of these
Practice,vol. 3 (1990).For an anthro-
pological
approach to systems,seeJames areas has created a framework for human experience in contem-
Holston, The ModernistCity: An porary culture. But these areas are also interconnected, with no
AnthropologicalCritiqueof Brasilia
(Chicago: Universityof ChicagoPress, priority given to any single one. For example, the sequence of signs,
1989). things, actions, and thought could be regarded as an ascent from
confusing parts to orderly wholes. Signs and images are fragments
of experiencethat reflectour perceptionof materialobjects.Material
objects, in turn, become instruments of action. Signs, things, and
actions are organized in complex environments by a unifying idea
or thought. But there is no reason to believe that parts and wholes
must be treated in ascending rather than descending order. Parts
8
18)Compare thePlatonic, and and whole are of many types and may be defined in many ways.
Aristotelian,
classicmaterialist treatmentsof parts Depending on how a designer wishes to explore and organize expe-
andwholes.Thesethreeapproaches to
theorganization of experience arewell rience,the sequence could just as reasonablybe regardedas a descent
represented intwentieth centurydesign from chaotic environments to the unity provided by symbols and
thinking.Forexample, seeChristopher
Alexander, Notes on the Synthesisof images. In fact, signs, things, actions, and thoughts are not only
Form(Cambridge: Harvard University interconnected, they also interpenetrate and merge in contempo-
Press,1973).
rary design thinking with surprising consequences for innovation.
These areassuggest the lineage of design's past and present, as well
as point to where design is headed in the future.

10

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 It is easyto understand thatindustrial
designersareprimarilycon-
cernedwith materialobjects.But the researchreportedin design
literatureshows thatindustrialdesignershavefoundnew avenues
of explorationby thinkingaboutmaterialobjectsin the contextof
signs, actions,and thoughts.For example,some have considered
materialobjectscommunicative, yieldingreflectionson the seman-
tic andrhetoricalaspectsof products.Othershaveplacedmaterial
objectsin the contextof experienceand action,askingnew ques-
tions about how productsfunctionin situationsof use and how
they maycontributeto or inhibitthe flow of activities.(Of course,
this is a significantshift from questionsabout the internalfunc-
tioningof productsandhow thevisualformof a productexpresses
suchfunctioning.)Finally,othersareexploringmaterialobjectsas
partof largersystems,cycles,andenvironments, openingup a wide
rangeof new questionsandpracticalconcernsor reenergizingold
debates.Issuesincludeconservationandrecycling,alternative tech-
nologies, elaboratesimulationenvironments,"smart"products,
virtualreality,artificiallife,andtheethical,political,andlegaldimen-
sions of design.
Comparablemovementsareevidentin eachof the designpro-
fessions:theirprimaryconcernbeginsin one area,but innovation
comeswhen the initialselectionis repositionedat anotherpoint in
the framework,raisingnew questionsandideas.Examplesof this
repositioningabound.For example,architecturehastraditionally
been concernedwith buildingsas largesystemsor environments.
Fornearlytwentyyears,however,a groupof architectshaveaggres-
19)Suchjudgmentsarethe measureof objec- sively sought to reposition architecturein the context of signs,
tivity in contemporarydesign thinking.
Withoutobjectivityto groundthe possi- symbols, and visual communication,yielding the postmodern
bilitiesdiscoveredin
design,designthinking experimentand trends such as deconstructionistarchitecture.
becomesdesignsophistry.
Oxymoronssuchas "deconstructionist architecture" areoftenthe
20) ArchitectRichardRogersseeks to repo- resultof attemptsatinnovativerepositioning. Theyindicatea desire
sition the problems of architecturein a
new perceptionof multipleoverlapping
to breakold categories,as in the now familiarandaccepted"con-
systems, rejecting the notion of a sys- structivistart"and"actionpainting."Thetest,of course,is whether
tem as "linear,static, hierarchicaland experimentsin innovationyieldproductiveresults,judgedby indi-
mechanical order." According to
Rogers: "Today we know that design vidualsandby society as a whole.'9Someexperimentshavefallen
based on linear reasoning must be like deadleavesat the firstfrost,sweptawayto mercifuloblivion.
superseded by an open-ended archi-
tecture of overlapping systems. This At present,the resultsof deconstructionistarchitecturearemixed,
'systems' approachallows us to appre- but the experimentwill continueuntilindividualsor groupsrepo-
ciate the world as an indivisiblewhole;
we are,in architecture,as in other fields,
sition the problems of architectureand shift generalattention
20
approachinga holistic ecological view toward new questions.
of the globe and the way we live on it."
Architecture: A Modern View (New
A strikinglydifferentrepositioningis now beginningin thepro-
York:Thamesand Hudson Inc., 1991), fession of graphicdesign and visual communication.In the late
58. Rogers's notion of "indeterminate nineteenthand earlytwentiethcenturies,graphicdesignwas ori-
form" derives not from the ideas of lit-
erary deconstruction but from his entedtowardpersonalexpressionthroughimagemaking.It was an
innovative view of multiple systems. extensionof the expressivenessof the fine arts,pressedinto com-
For more on Rogers'spointed criticism
of postmodern architecture from the mercialor scientificservice.Thiswas modifiedunderthe influence
perspective of multiple systems, see of "communicationtheory"and semioticswhen the role of the
Architecture:A Modern View, 26.
graphicdesignerwas shiftedtowardthatof an interpreterof mes-

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 sages.Forexample,the graphicdesignerintroducedemotionalcol-
orings of corporateor public "messages"or, in technicalterms,
the graphicdesigner"coded"the corporatemessage.As a result,
the productsof graphicdesignwere viewed as "things"or "enti-
21) Althoughstil a common andusefuilway ties" (material texts) to be "decoded" by spectators. Recently,
of studying visual communication,this
however, a new approach in graphic design thinking has begun to
approachhaslost some of its initialforce
in actualdesign practicebecause it has question the essentially linguistic or grammaticalapproachof com-
moved into personalidiosyncracyanda munications theory and semiotics by regarding visual
searchfor novelty,which often distracts
one from the central tasks of effective communication as persuasiveargumentation.As this work unfolds,
communication. This is evident, for it will likely seek to reposition graphic design within the dynam-
example,amongthose graphicdesigners
who have made pedestrianreadingsof ic flow of experience and communication, emphasizing rhetorical
deconstructionist literary theory the relationships among graphic designers, audiences, and the content
rationalefor their work. Visual experi-
mentationisan importantpartof graphic
of communication. In this situation, designers would no longer be
design thinking, but experimentation viewed as individuals who decorate messages, but as communica-
must finallybe judgedby relevanceand
tors who seek to discover convincing arguments by means of a
effectivenessof communication.For a
discussionof the limitsof semioticsand new synthesis of images and words. In turn, this will shift atten-
design, see Seppo Vakeva, "What Do tion toward audiences as active participantsin reachingconclusions
We Need Semiotics For?," Semantic
Visions in Design, ed. Susann Vihma rather than passive recipients of preformed messages.
(Helsinki:Universityof IndustrialArts What works for movements within a design profession also
UIAH, 1990),g-2.
works for individual designers and their clients in addressing spe-
22) Swiss graphicdesignerRuedi Ruegg has cific problems. Managers of a large retail chain were puzzled that
recently spoken of the need for more
fantasy and freedom in graphicdesign
customers had difficulty navigating through their stores to find
thinking. Based on his approach, one merchandise.Traditional graphicdesign yielded largersigns but no
might argue that efforts to introduce
apparentimprovement in navigation-the largerthe sign, the more
deconstructionist literary theory into
graphicdesignhaveoften led to a loss of likely people were to ignore it. Finally, a design consultantsuggested
freedom and imagination in effective that the problem should be studied from the perspective of the
communication,contraryto the claims
of its proponents. flow of customer experience. After a period of observing shoppers
walking through stores, the consultant concluded that people often
navigate among different sections of a store by looking for the
most familiar and representative examples of a particular type of
product. This led to a change in display strategy, placing those
products that people are most likely to identify in prominent posi-
tions. Although this is a minor example, it does illustrate a double
repositioning of the design problem: first, from signs to action,
with an insight that people look for familiarproducts to guide their
movements; second, from action to signs, a redesign of display strat-
egy to employ products themselves as signs or clues to the
organization of a store.
There are so many examples of conceptual repositioning in
design that it is surprisingno one has recognized the systematicpat-
tern of invention that lies behind design thinking in the twentieth
century. The pattern is found not in a set of categoriesbut in a rich,
diverse, and changing set of placements, such as those identified
by signs, things, actions, and thoughts.
Understanding the difference between a category and a place-
ment is essential if design thinking is to be regarded as more than
a series of creative accidents. Categories have fixed meanings that
are acceptedwithin the framework of a theory or a philosophy, and

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 serve as the basis for analyzingwhat alreadyexists. Placements
haveboundariesto shapeandconstrainmeaning,butarenot rigid-
ly fixed and determinate.The boundaryof a placementgives a
contextor orientationto thinking,but the applicationto a specif-
ic situationcan generatea new perceptionof that situationand,
hence, a new possibility to be tested.Therefore,placementsare
sourcesof new ideasandpossibilitieswhenappliedto problemsin
23) The concept of placementswill remain concretecircumstances
difficult to graspas long as individuals
aretrainedto believe that the only path
As an orderedor systematicapproachto the inventionof possi-
of reasoningbeginswith categoriesand bilities, the doctrine of placementsprovides a useful means of
proceeds in deductivechainsof propo-
understandingwhat many designersdescribeas the intuitiveor
sitions. Designers are concerned with
inventionas well as judgment,and their serendipitousqualityof theirwork.Individualdesignersoftenpos-
reasoning is practicalbecause it takes sessapersonalsetof placements, developedandtestedby experience.
place in situationswhere the resultsare
influenced by diverse opinions. The inventivenessof the designerlies in a naturalor cultivatedand
artfulabilityto returnto thoseplacementsandapplythemto a new
24) Some placementshavebecome so com-
mon in twentieth-century design that situation,discoveringaspectsof the situationthat affectthe final
they hardly attract attention. design.Whatis regardedas the designer'sstyle,then,is sometimes
Nonetheless, such placementsareclas-
sic features of design thinking, and in
morethanjustapersonalpreference forcertaintypesof visualforms,
the hands of a skilled designer retain materials,or techniques;it is a characteristic
way of seeingpossibil-
their inventive potential. Designer Jay
ities throughconceptualplacements.However,when a designer's
Doblin sometimes employed a cascade
of placementsstemmingfrom the basic conceptualplacementsbecomecategoriesof thinking,theresultcan
placement"intrinsic/extrinsic."Doblin's be manneredimitationsof an earlierinventionthat areno longer
placements serve as a heuristic device
to revealthe factors in design thinking relevantto the discoveryof specificpossibilitiesin a new situation.
andproductdevelopment.Other place- Ideasarethenforcedonto a situationratherthandiscoveredin the
ments are described by Doblin in
"Innovation,A Cook Book Approach,"
particularitiesandnovelpossibilitiesof thatsituation..2
n.d.(Typewritten.)Withdifferentintent, For the practicingdesigner,placementsareprimaryand cate-
Ezio Manzini recently arguedthat the
designerneeds two mentalinstruments
gories are secondary.The reverseholds true for design history,
with opposite qualities to examine a theory,andcriticism,exceptat those momentswhen a new direc-
design situation: a microscope and a tion for inquiryis opened.At such times, a repositioningof the
macroscope.The mentalmicroscope is
for examining"how thingswork, down problemsof design,such as a changein the subjectmatterto be
to the smallest details,"particularlyin addressed,the methodsto be employed,or the principlesto be
regardto advancesin materialsscience.
A further series of placements fill out explored,occursby meansof placements.Then, history,theory,
the microscope to give it efficacy. See or criticismare "redesigned"for the individualinvestigatorand
Ezio Manzini, The Materials of
Invention: Materials and Design
sometimesfor groupsof investigators.As the disciplineof design
(Cambridge:M.I.T. Press, 1989), 58. studiesaddsa reflectiveandphilosophicdimensionto designhis-
25) The ease with which placements are
tory, theory, and criticism,positive consequencesare possible.
converted into categoriesshould make Historians,for example,may reconsiderthe placementof design
any designer or design educator cau-
tious in how they sharethe conceptual
historyas it hasbeenpracticedthroughoutmost of the twentieth
tools of their work. The placements century and work to discover other innovative possibilities.
thatmightshapean innovativeapproach Discontentwith the resultsof currentdesignhistorysuggeststhat
for the founder of a school of design
thinking often become categories of new repositioningsarecalledfor if the disciplineis to retainvital-
27
truthin the handsof disciplesor descen- ity andrelevanceto contemporaryproblems.
dants.
The doctrineof placementswill requirefurtherdevelopmentif
26) Thomas Kuhn was interested in the it is to be recognizedas a tool in designstudiesanddesignthink-
repositioningsthatmarkrevolutionsin
scientifictheory. His study of this phe-
ing, but it can also be a surprisinglypreciseway of addressing
nomenon, perhaps contrary to his conceptualspaceandthenon-dimensional imagesfromwhichcon-
28
initial expectations, has helped to alter cretepossibilitiesemergefor testingin objectivecircumstances.
the neo-positivist interpretationof the
history of science. But Kuhn's The naturaland spontaneoususe of placementsby designersis

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 "paradigmshifts"were neverdevel- alreadyevident;an explicitunderstanding of the doctrineof place-
opedto theirfullestintellectualroots
in rhetoricalanddialecticalinvention, ments will makeit an important elementof designas a liberalart.
whicharebasedon thetheoryof top- All men and women requirea liberalart of designto live well
ics.ChaimPerelman hasdevelopedan
importantcontemporary approachto in the complexityof the frameworkbasedin signs,things,actions,
what is called here the doctrine of andthoughts.On one hand,such an artwill enableindividualsto
placements.SeeChaimPerelmanand
L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New
participatemore directlyin this frameworkand contributeto its
Rhetoric:A Treatiseon Argumentation development. On the other,professionaldesignerscouldbe regard-
(Notre Dame:Universityof Notre ed as mastersin its exploration. The abilityof designersto discover
DamePress,1969).Seealso,StephenE.
Toulmin, The Uses of Argument new relationships
among signs,things,actions,andthoughtsis one
(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity indicationthat designis not merelya technicalspecializationbut
Press,1958)fora moderndiscoveryof
dialecticaltopics. Althoughremote a new liberalart.
fromtheimmediate interestsof design-
ers,theseworksarecitedbecausethey The WickedProblemsTheory of Design
dealwithpracticalreasoningandhave Recent conferenceson design are evidenceof a coherent,if not
important bearingon aspectsof design
theory,includingthelogicof decision alwayssystematic,effortto reacha clearerunderstanding of design
making discussed in Simon's The as anintegrative discipline.However,theparticipants, who increas-
Sciencesof the Artificial.
ingly come fromdiverseprofessionsandacademicdisciplines,are
27)In orderto solvesuchproblems,more not drawntogetherbecausethey sharea common definitionof
attentionshouldbe givento the vari-
ous conceptionsof design held by
design;a commonmethodology,a commonphilosophy,or evena
designersin thepast.Thiswouldrepo- common set of objects to which everyone agreesthat the term
sition design history from material "design"shouldbe applied.They aredrawntogetherbecausethey
objects or "things"to thought and
action.In otherwords,whatdesign- sharea mutualinterestin a common theme:the conceptionand
erssayanddo, the historyof theirart planningof theartificial.Differentdefinitionsof designanddiffer-
asphilosophyandpractice.Fora dis-
cussionof thesubjectmatterof design ent specificationsof the methodologyof designarevariationsof
history,see VictorMargolin'sforth- this broadtheme,eacha concreteexplorationof whatis possiblein
coming"DesignHistory or Design
Studies:SubjectMatterandMethods," the developmentof its meaningsandimplications.Communication
DesignStudies. is possibleat suchmeetingsbecausethe resultsof researchanddis-
28)Thephrase"non-dimensional images"
cussion, despite wide differences in intellectual and practical
refersto allimagescreatedin themind perspectives,are alwaysconnectedby this theme and, therefore,
aspartof designthinkingand,in par- supplemental. This is only possible,of course,if individualshave
ticular,to thevariousschematizations
of conceptualplacements(e.g.hierar- the wit to discoverwhatis usefulin eachother'swork andcancast
chical, horizontal,or in matrixand the materialin termsof theirown vision of designthinking.
tableform)thatmayaidinvention.
Membersof the scientificcommunity,however,mustbe puz-
29)Thislistcouldalsoincludethehuman- zled by the types of problemsaddressedby professionaldesigners
andthefinearts,because
isticdisciplines
thereis as muchdifficultyin commu- and by
the patternsof reasoningthey employ. While scientists
nicating between some traditional sharein the new liberalartof designthinking,they arealso mas-
humanistsand designersas between
designers andscientists.Thisis evident
ters of specializedsubjectmattersand their relatedmethods,as
inthepersistent viewthatdesignis sim- found in physics,chemistry,biology, mathematics, the socialsci-
ply a decorativeart, adaptingthe ences,or one of the manysubfieldsinto whichthesescienceshave
principlesof thefineartsto utilitarian
ends,heldby manyhumanists. been divided. This createsone of the centralproblemsof com-
municationbetweenscientistsanddesigners,becausetheproblems
30)WilliamR.Spillers, ed.,BasicQuestions
of DesignTheory(Amsterdam: North addressedby designersseldomfallsolely withinthe boundariesof
HollandPublishingCompany,1974). any one of these subjectmatters.
Theconference, fundedby theNational
Science Foundation, was held at The problemof communicationbetweenscientistsanddesign-
ColumbiaUniversity. ers was evidentin a specialconferenceon design theory held in
31) VladimerBazjanac,"Architectural
New York in 1974.30This conferencewas interestingfor several
DesignTheory:Modelsof theDesign reasons,the most significantdirectlyrelatedto the contentof the
Process,"BasicQuestionsof Design meetingitself.Reviewedin one of the initialpapers,"the "wicked
Theory,3-20.

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 problems"approachto designprovedto be oneof thecentralthemes
to whichtheparticipants oftenreturnedwhenseekinga connection
betweentheirremarkablydiverseandseeminglyincommensurate
32) Graph theory, developed by the math- applicationsof design. Also significantwasthedifficultythatmost
ematicianFrankHarary,also servedto
of the participantshad in understandingeachother.Althoughan
connect the work of researchers in
manyareas.It was reportedby the orga- observationof an outsideron the dynamicsof the meeting,it is an
nizers that Harary, who attended this excellentexampleof a "wickedproblem"of designthinking.
conference and delivered the paper
"Graphs as Designs," suggested that The wickedproblemsapproachwas formulatedby Horst Rittel
the basic structure of design theory in the 1960s,when designmethodologywas a subjectof intense
could be found in his work on structural
models. Whether or not Harary made
interest.33A mathematician,designer,and formerteacherat the
such a suggestion,it is possible to see in Hochschulefur Gestaltung(HfG) Ulm, Rittelsoughtan alterna-
graphtheory, and, notably, the theory
of directed graphs, a mathematical
tive to the linear,step-by-stepmodel of the designprocessbeing
expression of the doctrine of place- exploredby manydesignersanddesigntheorists.34Althoughthere
ments. Comparison may establish a
aremanyvariationsof the linearmodel,its proponentsholdthatthe
surprisingconnection between the arts
of words and the mathematicalarts of designprocessis dividedinto two distinctphases:problemdefini-
things, with furthersignificancefor the tionandproblemsolution.Problemdefinitionis ananalyticsequence
view of design as a new liberal art.
"Schemata"arethe connectinglink, for in whichthe designerdeterminesallof the elementsof theproblem
placementsmay be schematizedas fig- and specifiesall of the requirementsthata successfuldesignsolu-
uresof thought,and schemataareforms
of graphs, directed or otherwise. For tion must have.Problemsolutionis a syntheticsequencein which
more on graph theory see F. Harary, the variousrequirementsarecombinedand balancedagainsteach
R. Norman, and D. Cartwright,
StructuralModels: An Introductionto
other,yieldinga finalplanto be carriedinto production.
the Theory of Directed Graphs (New In the abstract,such a model may appearattractivebecauseit
York: Wiley, 1965).
suggestsa methodologicalprecisionthatis, in its key features,inde-
33) A series of conferences on Design pendentfrom the perspectiveof the individualdesigner.In fact,
Methods held in the United Kingdom manyscientistsandbusinessprofessionals,aswell as somedesign-
in 1962, 1965, and 1967, led to the for-
mation of the Design ResearchSociety ers,continueto find the ideaof a linearmodelattractive,believing
in 1967,thattoday continuesto publish thatit representsthe only hopefor a "logical"understanding of the
the journal Design Studies. Parallel
interest in the United States led to the designprocess.However,somecriticswerequickto pointout two
establishment of the Design Methods obvious points of weakness:one, the actualsequenceof design
Group in 1966, which published the
DMG Newsletter (1966-71), renamed
thinkinganddecisionmakingis not a simplelinearprocess;andtwo,
the DMG-DRS Journal: Design the problemsaddressedby designersdo not, in actualpractice,
Research and Methods, and then
renamed in 1976 and published to the
yield to any linearanalysisandsynthesisyet proposed.
present as Design Methods and Rittelarguedthatmost of the problemsaddressedby designers
36
Theories. For one attempt to describe arewickedproblems. As describedin the firstpublishedreportof
and integratea set of methods used in
design thinking, see J. Christopher Rittel'sidea,wickedproblemsarea "classof socialsystemproblems
Jones, Design Methods: Seeds of whichareill-formulated, wheretheinformationis confusing,where
Human Futures(1970; rpt New York:
John Wiley & Sons, 1981).Many of the therearemanyclientsanddecisionmakerswith conflictingvalues,
methodsJones presentsareconscious- and where the ramificationsin the whole system are thoroughly
ly transposed from other disciplines.
However, they all can be interpreted
confusing."37 This is an amusingdescriptionof what confronts
as techniques for repositioning design designersin every new situation.But most important,it points
problems, using placementsto discov-
er new possibilities.
towarda fundamentalissue thatlies behindpractice:the relation-
ship betweendeterminacyand indeterminacyin designthinking.
34) Rittel, who died in 1990,completed his The linearmodelof designthinkingis basedon determinateprob-
careerby teaching at the University of
California at Berkeley and the lemswhichhavedefiniteconditions.Thedesigner'staskis to identify
University of Stuttgart.For a briefbio- those conditionspreciselyand then calculatea solution. In con-
graphicalsketch,see HerbertLindinger,
Ulm Design: The Morality of Objects trast, the wicked-problemsapproach suggests that there is a
(Cambridge:M.I.T. Press, 1990), 274. fundamentalindeterminacy in all but the most trivialdesignprob-

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35) Bazjanacpresents an interesting com- lems-problems where, as Rittel suggests,the "wickedness"has
parisonof linearmodels and the wicked
problems approach. alreadybeentakenout to yield determinateor analyticproblems.
To understandwhatthismeans,it is importantto recognizethat
36) The phrasewicked problems was bor-
rowed from philosopher Karl Popper. indeterminacy is quitedifferentfromundetermined.Indeterminacy
However, Rittel developed the idea in impliesthat thereareno definitiveconditionsor limits to design
a different direction. Rittel is another
exampleof someone initiallyinfluenced
problems.This is evident,for example,in the ten propertiesof
by neo-positivistideaswho, when con- wickedproblemsthat Rittel initiallyidentifiedin 1972.3
fronted with the actual processes of
practicalreasoningin concretecircum-
(1) Wickedproblemshave no definitiveformulation,
stances, sought to develop a new buteveryformulationof a wickedproblemcorresponds
approachrelatedto rhetoric. to the formulationof a solution.
37) The first published report of Rittel's (2) Wickedproblemshaveno stoppingrules.
concept of wicked problems was pre- (3) Solutionsto wickedproblemscannotbe trueor false,
sented by C. West Churchman,
"Wicked Problems," Management only good or bad.
Science, (December 1967), vol. 4, no. (4) In solvingwickedproblemsthereis no exhaustivelist
14, B-141-42. His editorial is particu-
larlyinterestingfor its discussionof the
of admissibleoperations.
moralproblemsof design and planning (5) Foreverywickedproblemthereis alwaysmorethan
that can occur when individuals mis-
one possibleexplanation,with explanationsdepending
takenlybelievethatthey haveeffectively
taken the "wickedness"out of design on the Weltanschauung of the designer.39
problems. (6) Every wickedproblem is a symptom of another,
38) See Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. "higherlevel,"problem."
Webber, "Dilemmas in a General (7) No formulationand solution of a wickedproblem
Theory of Planning," working paper
presentedat the Instituteof Urban and
has a definitivetest.
Regional Development, University of (8) Solvinga wickedproblemis a "oneshot"operation,
California,Berkeley, November 1972.
See also an interview with Rittel, "Son
with no room for trial and error. 1
of Rittelthink,"Design MethodsGroup (9) Everywickedproblemis unique.
5th AnniversaryReport January1972),
(10) The wicked problem solver has no right to be
5-10; and Horst Rittel, "On the
Planning Crisis: Systems Analysis of wrong-they arefully responsiblefor theiractions.
the First and Second Generations," Thisis a remarkable list,andit is temptingto go no furtherthan
Bedriftsokonomen,no. 8:390-96.Rittel
graduallyadded more propertiesto his elaboratethe meaningof eachproperty,providingconcreteexam-
initial list. ples drawnfromeveryareaof designthinking.But to do so would
39) Weltanschauungidentifiesthe intellec-
leavea fundamental questionunanswered.Whyaredesignproblems
tual perspective of the designer as an indeterminateand, therefore,wicked?Neither Rittel nor any of
integralpart of the design process.
thosestudyingwickedproblemshasattemptedto answerthisques-
40) This property suggests the systems tion,so thewicked-problems approach hasremainedonlya description
aspect of Rittel's approach. of thesocialrealityof designingratherthanthebeginningsof a well-
41) Rittel's example is drawn from archi- groundedtheoryof design.
tecture,whereit is not feasibleto rebuild However, the answerto the questionlies in somethingrarely
a flawed building. Perhapsthe general
property should be described as considered: thepeculiarnatureof thesubjectmatterof design.Design
.entrapment"in a line of design think- problemsare"indeterminate" and"wicked"becausedesignhasno
ing. Designers as well as their clients or
managersare often "entrapped"dur- specialsubjectmatterof itsown apartfromwhata designerconceives
ing the development phase of a new it to be.Thesubjectmatterof designis potentiallyuniversalin scope,
product and are unable, for good or
bad reasons,to terminatea weak design.
becausedesignthinkingmaybe appliedto anyareaof humanexpe-
For a brief illustration of entrapment rience.Butin the processof application,the designermustdiscover
in the product development process of or inventaparticularsubjectout of the problemsandissuesof spe-
a small midwestern company, see
RichardBuchanan,"WickedProblems: cific circumstances.This sharplycontrastswith the disciplinesof
Managing the Entrapment Trap," science,which are concernedwith understandingthe principles,
Innovation (Summer, 1991), 10:3.
laws,rules,or structures
thatarenecessarily embodiedin existingsub-
ject matters. Such subject matters are undetermined or
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 under-determined, requiring further investigation to make them
more fully determinate.But they are not radicallyindeterminatein
42
42)Thereisonecaseinwhicheventhesub- a way directly comparableto that of design.
ject matters of the sciences are Designers conceive their subject matterin two ways on two lev-
indeterminate. Theworkinghypothe-
ses of scientists invariablyreflect els: general and particular.On a general level, a designer forms an
distinctivephilosophic on
perspectives
idea or a working hypothesis about the nature of products or the
andinterpretations of whatconstitutes
natureandnaturalprocesses.Thisis a nature of the humanmade in the world. This is the designer's view
factorin accounting for thesurprising of what is meant, for example, by the "artificial"in relation to the
pluralism of philosophiesamongprac-
ticingscientistsandsuggeststhateven "natural."In this sense, the designerholds a broadview of the nature
scienceis shapedby an application of of design and the proper scope of its application. Indeed, most
designthinking,developedalongthe
linesof Dewey'snotionof "intention- designers, to the degree that they have reflected on their discipline,
al operations." Even from this will gladly, if not insistently, explain on a general level what the
perspective,however, arecon-
scientists
cernedwithunderstanding theuniversal subject matter of design is. When developed and well presented,
propertiesofwhatis,whiledesigners are these explanationsarephilosophies or proto-philosophies of design
concernedwith conceivingandplan-
ningaparticular thatdoesnotyetexist.
that exist within a plurality of alternativeviews. 3 They provide an
Indeterminacy forthescientistisonthe essentialframeworkfor each designerto understandand explore the
whilethesub-
levelof second-intention, materials, methods, and principles of design thinking. But such
ject matterremains,at the level of
first-intention,
determinateintheman- philosophies do not and cannot constitute sciences of design in the
ner described. For the designer, sense of any natural, social, or humanistic science. The reason for
indeterminacy belongsto both first-
andsecond-intention. this is simple: design is fundamentally concerned with the particu-
lar, and there is no science of the particular.
43)Fora briefdiscussionof differentcon-
ceptionsof subjectmatteron thislevel In actualpractice,the designer begins with what should be called
heldby threecontemporary designers, a quasi-subjectmatter, tenuously existing within the problems and
Ezio Manzini,GaetanoPesce, and
EmilioAmbaz,seeRichardBuchanan,
issues of specific circumstances. Out of the specific possibilities of
"Metaphors, Narratives, andFablesin a concrete situation, the designer must conceive a design that will
New DesignThinking," DesignIssues lead to this or that particular product. A quasi-subject matter is
VII-1 (Fall, 1990): 78-84. Without
understanding adesigner'sviewof sub- not an undetermined subject waiting to be made determinate. It is
jectmatteron thegenerallevel,thereis an indeterminate subject waiting to be made specific and concrete.
intheshiftsthatoccur
littleintelligibility
whena designermoves,for example, For example,a client's brief does not present a definition of the sub-
fromdesigningdomesticproductsto ject matter of a particulardesign application. It presents a problem
graphicdesignor architecture. Such
shiftsareusuallydescribedin termsof and a set of issues to be considered in resolving that problem. In
the designer's"personality" or "cir- situations where a brief specifies in great detail the particularfea-
cumstances," ratherthanthecontinued
development of a coherentintellectual
tures of the product to be planned, it often does so because an
perspective on theartificial. owner, corporate executive, or managerhas attempted to perform
the critical task of transforming problems and issues into a work-
ing hypothesis about the particular features of the product to be
designed. In effect, someone has attemptedto take the "wickedness"
out. Even in this situation, however, the conception of particular
features remains only a possibility that may be subject to change
44)Failureto includeprofessional
design- through discussion and argument.
ersas earlyas possiblein theproduct
This is where placements take on special significance as tools of
developmentprocess is one of the
sourcesof entrapmentin corporate design thinking. They allow the designer to position and reposi-
culture.Professional
designersshould tion the problems and issues at hand. Placements are the tools by
be recognizedfortheirabilityto con-
ceiveproductsas well as planthem. which a designer intuitively or deliberately shapes a design situa-
tion, identifying the views of all participants, the issues which
concern them, and the invention that will serveas a working hypoth-
esis for exploration and development. In this sense, the placements
selected by a designer are the same as what determinate subject

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 mattersarefor the scientist.They arethe quasi-subjectmatterof
design thinking, from which the designer fashions a working
hypothesissuitedto specialcircumstances.
Thishelpsto explainhow designfunctionsas anintegrativedis-
cipline. By using placements to discover or invent a working
hypothesis, the designerestablishesa principleof relevancefor
knowledgefromtheartsandsciences,determining how suchknowl-
edgemaybe usefulto designthinkingin a particularcircumstance
withoutimmediatelyreducingdesignto one or anotherof thesedis-
ciplines. In effect, the working hypothesis that will lead to a
particularproductis the principleof relevance,guidingthe efforts
of designersto gatherall availableknowledgebearingon how a
productis finallyplanned.
Butdoes the designer'sworkinghypothesisor principleof rele-
vancesuggestthattheproductitselfis a determinate subjectmatter?
Theanswerinvolvesa criticalbutoftenblurreddistinctionbetween
designthinkingand the activityof productionor making.Once a
productis conceived,planned,andproduced,it mayindeedbecome
an objectfor study by any of the artsand sciences-history, eco-
nomics,psychology,sociology,or anthropology. It mayevenbecome
an objectfor studyby a new humanisticscienceof productionthat
we couldcallthe "scienceof the artificial,"directedtowardunder-
standingthe nature,form,anduses of humanmadeproductsin all
45) The earliestexampleof thisscienceis of their generic
kinds.45But in all such studies, the activitiesof design
Aristotle'sPoetics.Althoughthiswork
is directedtowardtheanalysisof liter- thinking are easilyforgottenor arereducedto the kindof product
ary productions and tragedy in thatis finallyproduced. Theproblemfordesignersis to conceiveand
Aristotle
particular, discusses
frequently
usefulobjectsin termsof the princi-
planwhat does not yet andthisoccursinthecontextof theinde-
exist,
plesof poetic "Poetics,"
analysis. from terminacy of wicked problems, beforethe finalresultis known.
theGreekwordfor "making," is used
by Aristotleto referto productivesci-
This is the creativeor inventiveactivitythatHerbertSimonhas
ence or the science of the artificial, in mindwhenhe speaksof designas a scienceof the artificial. What
whichhedistinguishes bothfromthe- he meansis "devisingartifactsto attaingoals"or, more broadly,
oretic and practicalsciences. Few
investigatorshaverecognizedthatpoet- "doctrineabout the designprocess."46 In this sense, Simon'ssci-
icanalysiscanbeextendedto thestudy ence of the artificialis perhapscloser to what Dewey meansby
of making "useful"objects. When
designerandarchitectEmilioAmbaz technology as a systematicdisciplineof experimentalthinking.
refersto the"poeticsof thepragmatic," However, Simon has little to say about the differencebetween
he meansnot only estheticor elegant
featuresof everydayobjects,but also designing
a productandmakingit. Consequently,the "search" pro-
a methodor disciplineof analysisthat ceduresanddecision-making protocolsthathe proposesfor design
maycontributeto designthinking. his view of the deter-
are largelyanalytic,shapedby philosophic
46) Simon,The Sciencesof the Artificial, minaciesthatfollow fromthe naturallawsthatsurroundartifacts.
52-53. For allof the insightSimonhasin distinguishingthe artificialas
47)ForSimon,the"artificial" is an"inter- a domainof humanmade productsdifferentfromobjectscreatedby
face" created within a materialist naturalprocesses,he does not capturethe radicalsense in which
reality:"Ihaveshownthata scienceof
artificial phenomena is always in designersexplore the essenceof whattheartificialmaybe in human
48
imminentdangerof dissolvingand experience.Thisis a syntheticactivityrelatedto indeterminacy,not
vanishing.The peculiarpropertiesof
the artifactlie on the thin interface
an activityof makingwhat is undeterminedin naturallaws more
betweenthenaturallawswithinit and determinatein artifacts.In short,Simonappearsto haveconflated
thenaturallawswithout."Simon,The two sciencesof the artificial:an inventivescienceof designthink-
Sciencesof the Artificial,57. This is
ing which has no subject matteraside from what the designer
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 one expression of the positivist or conceives it to be, and a science of existing humanmade products
empiricist philosophy that guides
Simon's theory of design. whose nature Simon happens to believe is a manipulation of mate-
49
rial and behavioral laws of nature.
48) For Simon, the equivalent of a wicked
problem is an "ill-structured prob-
Design is a remarkably supple discipline, amenable to radical-
lem." For Simon's views on how ly different interpretationsin philosophy as well as in practice. But
ill-structured problems may be
the flexibility of design often leads to popular misunderstanding
addressed, see "The Structure of Ill-
Structured Problems," Models of and clouds efforts to understand its nature. The history of design
Discovery (Boston: D. Reidel, 1977), is not merely a history of objects.It is a history of the changingviews
305-25. This paperhas interestingcon-
nections with the doctrine of of subject matter held by designers and the concrete objects con-
placements because placements may ceived, planned, and produced as expressions of those views. One
be used to organize and store memo-
ries, and Simon is particularly could go further and say that the history of design history is a record
concerned with the role of long-term of the design historians' views regarding what they conceive to be
memory in solving ill-structuredprob-
lems. But Simon's methods are still
the subject matter of design.
analytic, directed toward the discov- We have been slow to recognize the peculiar indeterminacy of
ery of solutions in some sense already
known rather than the invention of
subjectmatterin design and its impacton the natureof design think-
solutions yet unknown. ing. As a consequence, each of the sciences that have come into
contact with design has tended to regarddesign as an "applied"ver-
49) Although Simon's title, The Sciences
of the Artificial,is a perfectly adequate sion of its own knowledge, methods, and principles. They see in
translation of what we have come to design an instance of their own subject matter and treat design as a
know in Western cultureas Aristotle's
Poetics, Simon seems unaware of the practicaldemonstrationof the scientificprinciplesof that subjectmat-
humanistic tradition of poetic and ter. Thus, we have the odd, recurring situation in which design is
rhetoricalanalysis of the artificialthat
followed from Aristotle. This is not
alternately regarded as "applied" natural science, "applied"social
an antiquarianissue, becausethe study science, or "applied"fine art. No wonder designers and members
of literary production-the artificial
formed in words-prefigures the issues
of the scientific community often have difficulty communicating.
that surround the study of the artifi-
cial in all other types of useful objects.
Design and Technology
Aristotle carefully distinguished the Many problems remainto be explored in establishingdesign as a lib-
science of the artificialfrom the art of
rhetoric.When Aristotle comes to dis-
eral art of technological culture. But as it continues to unfold in the
cuss the thought that is presented in work of individualdesignersand in reflection on the natureof their
an artificial object such as a tragedy, work,50 design is slowly restoring the richer meaning of the term
he pointedly refers the reader to his
treatiseon the inventive art of rhetoric "technology" that was all but lost with the rise of the Industrial
for the fullest elaboration of the issue. Revolution. Most people continue to think of technology in terms
However, Simon deserves less criti-
cism for overlooking this connection of its product ratherthan its form as a disciplineof systematicthink-
than humanists who have been amaz- ing. They regardtechnology as things and machines,observing with
ingly neglectful, if not scornful, of the
rise of design and technology in the
concern that the machinesof our culture often appearout of human
twentieth century. control, threateningto trapand enslaveratherthan liberate.But there
was a time in an earlierperiod of Western culture when technology
50) One example of such reflection is the
interdisciplinaryconference"Discovering was a human activity operating throughout the liberal arts. Every
Design,"organizedby R. Buchananand liberalart had its own technologiaor systematic discipline. To pos-
V. Margolinand held at the University
of Illinois at Chicago in 1990. The col- sess thattechnology or disciplineof thinkingwas to possess the liberal
lectedpapersfromthisconferencewill be art, to be human, and to be free in seeking one's place in the world.
published as Discovering Design:
Explorationsin Design Studies. Design also has a technologia, and it is manifested in the plan
for every new product. The plan is an argument, reflecting the
51) RichardMcKeon, "Logos:Technology,
Philology,andHistory,"in Proceedings
deliberations of designers and their efforts to integrate knowledge
of the XVth World Congress of in new ways, suited to specific circumstances and needs. In this
Philosophy:Varna,Bulgaria,September
17-22, 1973 (Sofia: Sofia Press
sense, design is emerging as a new discipline of practical reason-
Production Center, 1974), 3:481-84. ing and argumentation,directedby individualdesignerstoward one
or another of its major thematic variations in the twentieth cen-

Design Issues: Vol. VIII, Number 2 Spring 1992 19

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 tury:designas communication, construction,
strategic planning,
52) For Rittel's view of argumentationin orsystemic Thepowerof designasdeliberation
integration.52 and
design, see Rittel and Webber,
Dilemmas, 19. Also discussed in
argumentlies in overcomingthe limitationsof mereverbalor
Bazjanac,"Architectural Design Theory: symbolicargument-theseparation of wordsandthings,or the-
Models of the Design Process," Basic
Questions of Design Theory. Students
oryandpractice thatremains a sourceof disruptionandconfusion
reportthat late in his careerRittel came in contemporary culture.Argumentin designthinkingmoves
to recognize the affinity between his towardtheconcreteinterplay andinterconnection of signs,things,
approachand rhetoric.
actions,andthoughts.Everydesigner'ssketch,blueprint,flow
chart,graph,three-dimensional model,or otherproductpropos-
al is anexampleof suchargumentation.
However, thereispersistent
confusion aboutthedifferent modes
of argumentation employedby thevariousdesignprofessions. For
example, industrialdesign,engineering,andmarketing eachemploy
the disciplineof designthinking,yet theirarguments areoften
framedin sharplydifferentlogicalmodalities.Industrial design
tendsto stresswhatispossiblein theconceptionandplanningof
products; engineering tendsto stresswhatis necessary in consid-
53) The necessary is sometimes referred eringmaterials,mechanisms,structures,and systems; while
to as "capacity"or "capability"in engi-
neering. For a useful introduction to
marketing tendsto stresswhatis contingent in thechanging atti-
engineering design, see M. J. French, tudesandpreferences of potentialusers.Becauseof thesemodal
Invention and Evolution: Design in differencesin approaching designproblems,threeof the most
Nature and Engineering (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1988). important professions of designthinkingareoftenregarded asbit-
teropponentsinthedesignenterprise, irreconcilablydistantfrom
54) Philip Kotler, the internationally rec-
ognized expert on marketing, has
eachother.54
suggested that what many industrial Whatdesignasa liberalartcontributes to thissituationis a new
designersobject to in marketingshould
not be regardedas marketingitself, but
awareness of how argument is the centralthemethatcutsacross
as bad marketing. For new develop- the manytechnicalmethodologies employedin eachdesignpro-
ments in marketing,see Philip Kotler,
"Humanistic Marketing: Beyond the
fession.Differences of modalitymaybe complementary waysof
Marketing Concept," Philosophical arguing-reciprocal expressions of whatconditions andshapesthe
and Radical Thought in Marketing, "useful" in humanexperience. Asa liberalartof technological cul-
eds. A. Fuat Firat,N. Dholakia, and R.
P. Bagozzi (Lexington, Massachusetts: ture,designpointstowarda newattitudeabouttheappearance of
Lexington Books, 1987). products.Appearance mustcarrya deeper,integrative argument
aboutthenature oftheartificialinhumanexperience. Thisargument
is a synthesisof threelinesof reasoning: theideasof designers and
manufacturers abouttheirproducts; theinternaloperational logic
of products; andthedesireandabilityof humanbeingsto useprod-
uctsin everyday lifeinwaysthatreflectpersonal andsocialvalues.
Effectivedesigndependson theabilityof designers to integrateall
threelinesof reasoning.Butnot as isolatedfactorsthatcanbe
addedtogetherin a simplemathematical total,or asisolatedsub-
jectmattersthatcanbe studiedseparately andjoinedlatein the
productdevelopment process.
Thenewliberalartof designthinkingis turningto themodality
of impossibility.It points,forexample, towardtheimpossibility of
rigidboundaries betweenindustrial design,engineering, andmar-
keting.It pointstowardtheimpossibility of relyingon anyoneof
thesciences (natural, social,orhumanistic) foradequate solutionsto
whataretheinherently wicked problems of designthinking. Finally,
20

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 it pointstowardsomethingthatis oftenforgotten,thatwhatmany
peoplecall"impossible"mayactuallyonly be a limitationof imag-
inationthatcanbe overcomeby betterdesignthinking.Thisis not
thinkingdirectedtowarda technological"quickfix" in hardware
but towardnew integrationsof signs,things,actions,andenviron-
mentsthataddressthe concreteneedsandvaluesof humanbeings
in diverse circumstances.
Individualstrainedin the traditionalartsandsciencesmaycon-
55) "Neoteric" is a term often associated tinueto be puzzledby the neotericartof design."But the masters
in Western culturewith the emergence
of new liberal arts. Neoteric arts are
of this new liberalart arepracticalmen and women, and the dis-
arts of "new learning." For a discus- ciplineof thinkingthattheyemployis graduallybecomingaccessible
sion of neoteric and paleoteric liberal to all individualsin everydaylife. A commondisciplineof design
arts, see Richard Buchanan, "Design
as a Liberal Art," Papers: The 1990 thinking-more thanthe particularproductscreatedby that dis-
Conference on Design Education, cipline today-is changingour culture,not only in its external
Education Committee of the
Industrial Designers Society of manifestationsbut in its internalcharacter.
America (Pasadena, CA, 1990).

Design Issues: Vol. VIII, Number 2 Spring 1992 21

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