Design Research

Design research is a term that covers a multitude of different kinds of research activity conducted by those concerned with, or engaged in, the field of design. It is often subdivided according to a distinction that Christopher Frayling adapted from Herbert Read's ideas on art education, distinguishing between research into art and design, research through art and design and research for art and design. This division is not entirely satisfactory, both because it camouflages the important diversity of approaches and agenda encompassed by each of Frayling's categories and because there are many types of design research that either traverse these categories or fail to sit comfortably within them. Nevertheless, an expanded and qualified version of Frayling's categories can still usefully articulate the field, as follows.

Research undertaken into the activity of design involves the following:

• Researchers who seek to analyze the activity or process of design in order to articulate it as a transportable or translatable tool: This group includes cognitivist researchers interested in developing a ‘science’ of design that can be mobilized in fields such as artificial intelligence and software development as well as pragmatists interested in developing ‘rule-of-thumb’ methods for fostering creativity and entrepreneurial thinking, whether in design education, in business contexts or in developing strategies for social change. The models of the design process that have been developed by researchers in this area have strong similarities with models of the action research process, as has been widely noted.
• Designers who research their own activity as a way of extending themselves and the potential of their field: Note that this particular category of design research is characteristically not only into design but also through design and for design. This research may be informed by a creative arts framework, an action research approach or philosophies of practice as given, for example, in the work of Hubert Dreyfus or in the ‘practice theory’ of Theodore Schatzki and Andreas Reckwitz.

Research undertaken through the activity of design involves the following:

• Designers who design provocative or engaging objects, insertions or interventions into the worlds that they participate in and design for, as a means of uncovering understandings about those worlds: Such provocation through design may deliver insights quite different from those revealed by the usual research methods. This approach was pioneered by Bill Gaver, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby in the 1990s.
• Designers who use design as a way of collaboratively engaging with communities, in order to draw out understandings relevant to those communities: This approach is often referred to as a co-design and is used in participatory design scenarios. In this instance, design is being used as a tool for collaboratively [Page 246]researching the needs, desires and possibilities of a community. The two above approaches have much in common with Participatory Action Research. Further, to the extent that the design process echoes the process of action research, parallels can be drawn between research through design and action research. Just as action research is conducted simultaneously through and for the practice being researched, these kinds of design research are typically conducted not only through design but also for design.

Research undertaken for the activity of design involves the

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