Welcome to Design For Non Majors. In this course, you'll learn what design is and the major concepts involved in the domain. This is the first presentation of the course. It helps define what we'll be talking about for the semester.

1. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
What Is Design?
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2. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Is Design?
“A goal-directed problem solving activity.”
(Archer, 1965)
“Decision making, in the face of uncertainty,
with high penalties for error.” (Asimow,
1962)
“The performing of a very complicated act
of faith.” (Jones, 1966)
“The imaginative jump from present facts
to future possibilities.”(Page, 1966)
“Design is to design a design to produce
a design.” (Heskett, 2002)
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3. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Is Design?
“Design” is both a noun and a verb. It can refer
either to the end product or to the process.
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4. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Is Design?
Design involves a sophisticated mental
process capable of manipulating many
kinds of information, blending them all
into a coherent set of ideas and, finally,
generating some realization of those
ideas.
One of the essential difficulties and
fascinations of designing is the need to
embrace so many different kinds of
thought and knowledge.
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5. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Is Design?
Thanks to rising prosperity and
advancing technology, good design
is more accessible than ever, which
allows more people to partake in its
pleasures and become
connoisseurs of what was one
specialized knowledge.
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6. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
Role Of The Designer
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7. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
The Role Of The Designer
“Good design is a renaissance attitude that
combines technology, cognitive science,
human need, and beauty to produce
something that the world didn’t know it
was missing”
Paola Antonelli,
curator of architecture and design,
Museum of Modern Art.
“Businesspeople don’t need to understand
designers better. They need to be
designers.”
Roger Martin,
Dean,
Rothman Management School.
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8. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
The Role Of The Designer
The design professions are traditionally
defined by the physical objects that they
each produce.
In more recent years, though, the role of
the designer is not just a creator of
objects, but is now an enabler of
experiences.
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9. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
The Role Of The Designer
“It’s essential to soften the technology, to
make it transparent. As designers we have
to think about how users enjoy the
experience of whatever it is that they’re
doing, not the object. The object should
become transparent—it’s the action that
people want the object to do,
and the experience of doing it
that is important”
ERIC CHAN,
New York based industrial designer.
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10. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
What Makes A Designer?
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11. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Makes A Designer?
What makes a designer?
technically competent, well-
developed aesthetic
appreciation, and more
importantly, an understanding of
the user and its needs.
Traditionally we tend define a
particular designer by the end
products they create.
Many designers dabble in fields
other than those in which they
were trained (as Mies van der
Rohe, Philippe Starck, Mariscal,
Santiago Calatrava)
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Designed by
Michael Graves

12. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
What Makes A Designer?
Professional designers read
(and obsess over) design
magazines. So should you
(except for the obsess part).
Reading design magazines,
or just leafing through them,
can sharpen your eye and
inspire your mind.
Blogs:
Swiss Miss
Core 77
IxDA
AIGA
Design Council
Experientia
Smashing Magazine
Frog Design
IDEO
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13. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
Design Thinking & Innovation
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14. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
Design Thinking & Innovation
Design thinking has
spread as the key
differentiator to
innovation.
The d.school at Standford
outlines design thinking
and innovation in this way.
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15. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
Design Thinking & Innovation
Is it NEW?
It needs to do something new.
Is it ADVANCED?
It needs to overcome difficult hurdles, whether they be technological,
operational, financial, or commercial.
Is it USEFUL?
It needs to make a difference to a significant segment of the population.
Is it SUSTAINABLE?
It needs to sustain the long term health of the environment, society, culture,
or economy.
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16. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
Design Thinking & Innovation
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17. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
In-Class Discussion
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18. Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
DESIGN 230
In-class Discussion
In the groups at your table, think about
design innovation. Find an approach,
model, situation, or example that
describes how an innovative thing was
created.
Take a few minutes and as a group,
decide on one innovation and list reasons
why you feel it was innovative.
When you’re done, we’ll present your
ideas to the class.
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19. DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN DESIGN 230
Design 230 | Created 09/2010 Revise 09/2010
Questions?
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