Design
Process & Methods
L.Galli
(2011-2013)
Copyright of this presentation is by referred sources for quoted/reproduced content (text & images) and/or Luca Galli for original content.
Original content by Luca Galli is released as Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND 2.0

This short deck is mainly meant to help with my Design Studies
lessons to undergraduate students at NABA, Media Design and
Multimedia Arts School, Milan (http://www.lgalli.it/teaching/).
These slides are supposed to come with a live commentary for
the class; sorry if you wish to have more explicit context and
liaisons. Please see referred sources to this purpose.

What is designing?
John Chris Jones opening question in
Design Methods, 1970-1992
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
J.C.Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley; see also J.C.Jones What is Designing? in Clark-Brody 2009 (ed. by), Design Studies, Berg

Rather than pursue the question “What is design?” [...]
let us ask a different (and perhaps better) question:
“What is the archetypical activity of design”?
Bill Buxton, 2007
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
B.Buxton 2007, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann, p.97

For Jones (1992) the answer would be drawing [...]
Fallman’s answer [...] would be sketching.
In agreeing with him, I am not alone.
Bill Buxton, 2007
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
B.Buxton 2007, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann, p.97

Photo credits:“Sketching” by NathanaelB - Nathanael Boehm (2010) published under Creative Commons terms CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Retrieved on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4325067780/
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Photo credits:“Prototyping at OpenAustralia hackfest” by NathanaelB - Nathanael Boehm (2009) published under Creative Commons
terms CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 - Retrieved on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/3621432701/sizes/o/
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Sketching in HCI [Human-Computer Interaction]
differs in some ways from sketching in other design fields
[because of] the need to deal with issues such as
interactivity, temporality, tangibility,
immersion, sound and haptics [...]
Daniel Fallman, 2003
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
D.Fallman 2003, Design-oriented Human-Computer Interaction, CHI 2003 Proceedings,ACM

L.Galli Design Process & Methods
B.Buxton 2007, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann

Some definitions of process:
[...] progress, advance <in the process of time>; [...]
a series of actions or operations conducing to an end;
Middle English proces, from Anglo-French procés,
from Latin processus, from procedere. [...]
Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, consulted online on 27th Apr. 2013 http://www.merriam-webster.com
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

In most professions, process is a dirty word [...]
But in design, nothing could be further from the truth.
For designers, process is the language of rigor,
and a particular process
nearly guarantees a desired outcome.
Jon Kolko, 2013
J.Kolko (2013) Trusting the design process, in Interactions
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

[...] we had better look outside the process itself
and try to defining design by its results.
J.C. Jones, 1970-1992
J.C. Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

[...] we had better look outside the process itself
and try to defining design by its results.
J.C. Jones, 1970-1992
J.C. Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Look at the chain of events that begin with
the sponsor’s wish and moves through the actions of
designers, manufacturers, distributors, consumers
to the ultimate effects of a newly designed thing
upon the world at large
J.C. Jones, 1970-1992
John Chris Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

J.C. Jones (badly) interpolated to look for
some media design emphasis:
“Look at the chain of events that begin with
the [client/investor/producer]’s wish and moves
through the actions of
[agencies/studios/suppliers], [retailers]
and [audience/users/people]
to the ultimate effects of a newly designed
[media/service/hybrid(*)] upon the world at large”
cf. J.C. Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley; insertions are mine.
See also B. Latour 1993,We have never been modern, Harvard University Press
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
(*) Hybrids à la Bruno Latour

[...] the effect of designing is
to initiate change in man-made things.
J.C. Jones, 1970-1992
John Chris Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Photo credits:“Untitled” by By M0J0jojo - Jojo Korsh (2011) published under Creative Commons terms CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Retrieved on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/jojofosho/6333830266/
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Notice a number of roles, or “stakeholders”(*).
Roles are played by actors
(some actors play more than one role at once,
but monologues are very rare;
we design for others, if not for all).
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
(*) “Stakeholders” is a form of bad “office jargon” according to some. I tend to agree.
See the article of Steven Poole quoted in the footer.
Re:”Stakeholders”, see Steven Poole, 10 of the worst examples of management-speak, 25th Apr. 2013,The Guardian, consulted online,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/25/top-10-worst-management-speak?CMP=twt_gu

Bill Buxton’s (double) design funnel
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
see B.Buxton 2007, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann, p.144

see John Chris Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
Divergence Transformation Convergence
L.Galli Design Process & Methods
J.C. Jones’ design phases

Methodology should not be a fixed track
to a fixed destination but a conversation
about everything that could be made of happen.
Jones, 1970-1992
John Chris Jones 1970-1992, Design Methods,Wiley
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Starting
point
Design Process
Focal
point
Elaboration
Opportunity-seeking:
from singular to multiples
Reduction
Decision-making:
from broad to specific
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see B.Buxton 2007, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann, p.144
Bill Buxton’s design funnel (in detail)

Methods & techniques
(there are many of them and
they apply all along the process)
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Design methods are like toothbrushes.
Everyone uses them,
but no one likes to use someone else’s.
John Zimmerman, 2011
John Zimmerman quoted by Steve Harrison and Deborah Tatar 2011, On Methods, in Interactions,ACM
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

Listed below there are a few very notable books on design
process and methods that I would recommend.
Design Methods (1970-1992), by John Chris Jones,
is a classic title on the topic.
Design Research (2003), edited by Brenda Laurel, while
focused on research, it is also relevant for design in general.
The same it goes for Sketching User Experiences (2007),
by Bill Buxton, which combines discussions on interaction
design, design history and technology R&D.
Universal Methods of Design (2012), by Bruce Hanington
and Bella Martin, is an extensive survey that follows the
similarly conceived Universal Principles of Design
(2003-2010), by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden
and Jill Butler.
L.Galli Design Process & Methods

References:
Bill Buxton (2007) Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann
Hazel Clark and David Brody (2009) ed. by, Design Studies.A Reader, Berg
Daniel Fallman (2003) Design-oriented Human-Computer Interaction, CHI 2003
Proceedings,ACM
Steve Harrison and Deborah Tatar (2011) On Methods, in Interactions vol. XVIII
n. 2, ACM
John Chris Jones (1970-1992) Design Methods,Wiley
Jon Kolko (2013) Trusting the design process, in Interactions vol. XX, n. 2, ACM
L.Galli Design Process & Methods