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Over the course of the school year, my thesis paper went through quite a metamorphosis as I explored many text and wrestled with what I wanted to say about design. In the end, I titled my paper “The Thinking Behind Design.” Here is the abstract I submitted with my final paper.

What designers do—the thinking behind design—is not fully understood. Design is still often viewed as a black art rather than a rigorous discipline. Designers themselves have difficulty explaining how they make the connections that lead to the final solution and why those judgments are valid. While good design work can be done without understanding these forces, it is my hypothesis that the more designers know about the forces involved in design thinking and process, the better they will become as designers and the better they will be able to communicate design to others. This paper examines design as an approach to solving problems and what makes it different from other approaches. It examines design thinking as desire for a particular outcome, a philosophic viewpoint, a conversation, imagination, reason, judgment, wisdom, and a skill. And it explores the nonlinear, dialectical, and unique nature of the design process. Finally, it suggests that designers can view the development of understanding and ability as a design endeavor itself, and that it is possible to design oneself as a designer. Though the audience and focus is on designers, it is my belief that a better understanding of design along with increased ability to communicate design’s rigor and value will ultimately benefit and advance the discipline as a whole.

It’s not a huge change from the previous abstract, but it’s definitely very different from the first, which had to do with making the leap from user research to solution. While I am pleased with the final paper, it’s not exactly the masterpiece I had hoped it would be. I absorbed so much from my readings that I often became overwhelmed or sidetracked on tangents, which is why I had to rewrite the entire paper over spring break. There is much that I had to neglect.

Personally, the process of writing a thesis paper has had tremendous impact on my thinking as a designer. This thinking has impacted both the way I practice and how I talk about design. It certainly provides a sense of mastery in design that required the exploration and struggle I went through. But it has also humbled me with the knowledge that with increased understanding there is also more ignorance, for I now know that there is more that I don’t know, and that becoming a master in anything is an endless pursuit. Still, this it was a worthwhile endeavor that has helped me grow as a designer and a human.

Download the final paper (pdf)

At 10am this morning, I turned in my signed thesis paper and thesis project, making me officially done with grad school. It’s been pretty quiet on this site the past couple weeks as I tried to get everything complete. This short post is meant to break that silence. But as I have spent many sleepless nights the past week, I’m exhausted and in dire need of a beer, I am keeping this brief.

Graduation is on Saturday. It’s a relief to be done, though I don’t think the reality of what that means has sunk in yet. Congratulations to all of my peers.

Look forward to a longer, more reflective post to come, when I have more energy.

If you follow this blog regularly, you will have noticed that I have not been regularly updating as of late. Time has been very limited, and the brain power needed for blogging has been diverted to other tasks, like thesis, thesis, teaching, coursework, and, of course, finding a job.There are six more weeks left of my grad school life. Hard to believe.Here’s a quick synopsis of what I’ve been up to instead of blogging…

Thesis Paper

During spring break, I completed an entirely new draft of my thesis paper. The previous version had too many structural issues. So I threw it out and didn’t look back, not using one word of the 8,000+ I had written. The end result was much better. I just got feedback from my advisor, Jodi Forlizzi, who says, “It’s almost there!”

Thesis Project

My thesis project, now called MetaMe, a mobile application that helps college freshmen project, explore, and understand their identity, is starting to take shape after months of formlessness. This week I’m creating scenarios and wireframes that I will then share with some fellow grad students to get some feedback. After some refinement, I plan to validate with freshmen next week.

Teaching

My Basic Interaction class is going well. My students just completed their first big project, a communication device/service for various user groups. They chose to prototype their solutions on the iPhone, though some also made web interfaces and physical prototypes. The next project is to design an ebook reader with a focus on gestural interaction.

Job Hunting

Talking to potential employers has kept me quite busy, especially over the last week. I’m looking at both New York and San Francisco, but I’m also in talks with a firm in Sydney, Australia. I just got back from San Francisco for interviews with Adaptive Path and Nectarine, and next week I’m headed to New York to talk to Moment. After that, I’m back in silicon valley to meet with SAP. Frog Design also expressed interest, and I’m trying to set something up with their New York office. Also, I’m talking to 2nd Road in Sydney. As you can see, there are some very different companies in different locations. I’m keeping an open mind to ensure I make the best decision. Overall, I’m thrilled with the opportunities and interest I have received. But I can’t wait to have it all figured out.

My thesis paper explores the thinking aspect of design to understand what it is designers actually do so that we can understand our value and communicate it to others. To this end, I read several books, including The Design Way, The Reflective Practitioner, How Designers Think, and Thoughtful Interaction Design. In addition, I reference The Sciences of the Artificial, Designerly Ways of Knowing, and Design Methods.

Advisor: Jodi Forlizzi

Abstract

What designers do—the thinking behind design—is not fully understood. Design is still often viewed as a black art rather than a rigorous discipline. Designers themselves have difficulty explaining how they make the connections that lead to the final solution and why those judgments are valid. While good design work can be done without understanding these forces, it is my hypothesis that the more designers know about the forces involved in design thinking and process, the better they will become as designers and the better they will be able to communicate design to others. This paper examines design as an approach to solving problems and what makes it different from other approaches. It examines design thinking as desire for a particular outcome, a philosophic viewpoint, a conversation, imagination, reason, judgment, wisdom, and a skill. And it explores the nonlinear, dialectical, and unique nature of the design process. Finally, it suggests that designers can view the development of understanding and ability as a design endeavor itself, and that it is possible to design oneself as a designer. Though the audience and focus is on designers, it is my belief that a better understanding of design along with increased ability to communicate design’s rigor and value will ultimately benefit and advance the discipline as a whole.

Download the final paper (pdf)

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 all behind me, and a bit of a break ahead (or a tonight off, at least).

While I recuperate, entertain yourself with Tufte talking about the iphone. “If the information is in chaos, don’t start throwing out information. Fix the design.”

Next Friday is thesis paper presentation day, where each second-year graduate student has 10 minutes to present his or her thesis paper and five minutes to be interrogated about it. This is a major milestone of this year. Lucky me, I get to present first!

In preparation, I had to submit the thesis title and abstract for the program. This was difficult because, while I have around 8,000 words written, the argument as a whole is still being shaped. Naturally, I spent the whole day coming up with the title and the 250-word abstract, finishing exactly at 5 pm. Or you might say that in typical designer fashion, I worked solidly until the absolute last second tweaking it.

Here’s the final tweak.

The Thinking Behind Design

For the past several hundred years, science and humanities have enjoyed prominence in our culture and education. Science and a scientific approach to solving problems have received bias in our educational systems and our work. But increasingly, design is being recognized as a valuable approach to solving complex problems and creating inventive solutions. However, understanding what designers do—the thinking behind design—is not fully understood. Design is still often thought of as a black art rather than a rigorous discipline. If design is to advance as a discipline, understanding design thinking becomes paramount. Design is a relationship between the design way of thinking, the process of carrying out that thinking, and the embodiment of the thinking and the process within the designer. The process of developing design thinking is a design process in itself. It therefore may behoove designers to recognize designing oneself as a designer as fundamental to improving design ability. Understanding design thinking will also help designers articulate their value and communicate what is it they actually do in a way that demystifies the process and instills a sense of trust in their solutions. This paper examines how designers think and the relationship between design thinking and the design process to better understand what designers do, the rigor of their process, and the value of skilled designers.

And if you want to compare, here are the previous iterations:

• Version 3
• Version 2
• Original

After my Thanksgiving thesis paper writing blitz, I realized I needed to once again revise the abstract to more coherently attempt to express the aim of my paper. While I’m still not 100 percent happy with it, the following abstract represents my latest direction for my paper.

It is difficult to talk about the design process without also talking about design thinking, for almost everything of importance in the design process is a result of thinking. Understanding the design process is therefore not just about procedures and models, but also involves understanding the mindset of the designer and the designer’s role within the process. In fact, bringing design to a situation is not simply a matter of following a predefined model or method, because each process is unique. This is a result of the design process itself needing to be designed. Models of the process, therefore, can only act as abstract representational tools that aid the designer in designing the design process. The effectiveness of the design process is thus contingent on the ability of the designer. To be good at design, designers need to understand the nature of design thinking and how it differs from scientific thinking. Designers also need to be reflective of their process, challenging their own thinking and assumptions. This is critical in tackling complex design problems, which inherently have no given solution. Developing ones design ability, or design judgment, requires critical reflection of both the design problem and solutions. For it is through recognition of good design that design judgment skills are cultivated. Highly developed judgment skills are what form the rigor of the design process, and provide the means to make the creative leaps necessary to transcend the limitations of the present and design successful products and services of the future. It therefore may behoove designers to recognize designing oneself as a designer as paramount to achieving good solutions from the process of design. Understanding the design process, design thinking, and the role of the design will also help designers articulate their value and communicate what is it they actually do in a way that demystifies the process and instills a sense of trust in their solutions.

Feedback is welcome.

Thanksgiving break for me means time to focus on my thesis paper for more than a day. And I am thankful for that.

However, I continue to struggle to stay focused. My paper calls for me to review my notes. My notes lead me to the books I read. The books I read beg for me to read them again. Chapters that probably aren’t relevant become extremely interesting. The next thing I know I’m not writing any more, and am wondering if my paper isn’t really about whatever I’m reading, or possibly something else I haven’t read.

Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman might call what I’m experiencing as a combination of analysis paralysis—generation of too much divergent information without a means for convergence—and holistic paralysis—attempting to be comprehensive.

“We can never know all there is to know and can go on gathering facts forever. As designers, we must face this reality and not expect to be completely comprehensive; instead, we must endeavor to construct meaning out of the complexity and chaos that constitutes the real world. This is an action of exploration of possibility.” —Nelson and Stolterman, The Design Way

This snippet came at the right time. Like the design process, I need to move forward with what I have, trusting myself to make meaning out of the complexity and chaos I have already uncovered. By the end of this weekend, I will have finished a complete draft of what I intend my thesis paper to be—an action of exploration of possibility.

When examining the design process, you cannot leave out the designer herself. As I have been exploring different readings and thoughts about the process, several questions have come to mind:

• What is good design?
• What is a good designer?
• How does one become a good designer?

Thoughtful Interaction Design by Jonas Lowgren and Erik Stolterman devotes a whole chapter to the designer, a subsection that addresses design ability.

“Every designer needs knowledge and skill related to her specific profession. Having knowledge means understanding the vast amount of specific information and techniques existing within any design field. Skill concerns the necessary craftmanship. Both knowledge and skill are needed if a person wants to be a good designer.”

Continuing, abilities required to be a good interaction designer are stated thusly:

• Creative and analytical ability
• Critical judgment
• Rationality and ability to communicate
• Knowledge of technology and material
• Knowledge of technology use
• Knowledge of relevant values and ideals
• Ability to appreciate and compose aesthetic qualities

It is suggested that developing these abilities is a personal journey: “everyone has to develop her own way of becoming a good designer.” Lowgren and Stolterman then suggest that becoming a good designer is a question of “designing oneself as a designer.”

For me, this statement collides with my thesis project, which explores identity and self expression: how products, services, and perhaps people you know act as a means of designing yourself. I have wondered about designing myself as a designer, transforming myself into an interaction designer through school, embracing of the subject matter, and surrounding myself with markers and stickies.

Well, perhaps. Lowgren and Stolterman say, “that to act as a designer, you have to be able to think about yourself as a designer.” They continue, “Becoming a good designer is to some extent a design endeavor, and not an easy one.”

I agree, becoming a good designer isn’t easy, which is why there is a lot of bad design, and will likely continue to be a lot of bad design. The situation reminds me of writing. Nearly everyone can write. Just like everyone can design by picking out clothes to wear and paint for their houses. However, not everyone can write well. Nor can everyone design well.

This post is really just a collection of thoughts stemming from my last thesis paper meeting. I’m still mostly reading at this point and sort of framing the argument along the way.

My original inquiry had to do with the leap of faith from design research to design concepts. This has led me to a focus on design process and how designers approach problems.

Some ways of shaping my argument include:

• Can we teach the “black art” of design to non-designers?
• Ways for non-designers to become comfortable with the design process.
• If we can’t talk about design, how do we tell it to others?
• Clients are OK with visual design and product design, so why is everyone so freaked out by interaction design?
• Why do people want models? Process?

Some recent great quotes I’ve pulled from How Designers Think include:

• “None of the writers quoted here offer any evidence that designers actually follow their map.”
• “It is often not possible to say which bit of the problem is solved by which bit of the solution.”

One idea that has some resonance with me has been that the actual design process cannot be explained, and that every attempt is a reflective act that makes the process seem more logical than it actually is. This may be the problem I have had with trying to define the design process all along, as I recognized mid-process that I couldn’t explain how things were moving forward while acknowledging that the progress was in fact fruitful.

I’m not sure if that notion makes the step-by-step lists for plowing through the design process a useful act of faith or just completely useless to non-designers. Perhaps I will gain more insight the more I read and digest.

After finishing How Designers Think, I plan to move onto The Reflective Practitioner in earnest, and also Thoughtful Interaction Design, which arrived today.

So why do people want to model the design process? It’s complicated and mysterious, and like me, people want to understand. But what if the answer turns out to be, for all our effort, we can’t understand the design process, at least not in full?