Thesis Paper Presentation Celebration!

My thesis paper presentation was today, and all went well enough. Though I think I confused a few people, and took some heat from Richard Buchanan, who ask if the design knowledge embodied in the knower is not just habit. The answer, of course, is no. But that’s...

How Designers Think

Yes! Yes! Yes! No, this post is not about sex. It’s about Bryan Lawson’s How Designer Think, which is an orgasm of design process and thinking. On nearly every page I found an idea I could relate to as a designer and often thought the book should be...

Starting to Think About Theses

Monday we had a meeting regarding choosing a thesis project and paper for the upcoming year. Over the course of the next month, it was suggested we start talking to faculty to see where there is a synergy in interests. Currently, I have no clear thoughts about what I...

Pluralism and Objectivity

My graduate seminar class with Dick Buchanan ended yesterday. For this last class, we discussed pluralism and objectivity, which Buchanan states as the fundamental problem of design. Why is it a problem? There is no subject matter in design. Designers make their...

Practicing Design on Wicked Problems

In response to a previous comment, I tried to define what an interaction designer does in rebuttal to the assertion that the goal is to build a better mousetrap. I wrote: From an interaction design standpoint, you might ask why we have mousetraps? Are mice the real...