This document discusses design thinking and meaning. It defines design thinking as focused on creating artifacts that shape culture, as opposed to scientific thinking which discovers fundamental knowledge. Design thinking draws on scientific thinking to achieve its goals of making better things. Meaning is how people evaluate their interactions with the world and is constructed rather than received. Meaning related to design thinking is evaluated based on significance, satisfaction, and success. The intended meaning of a design reflects what the designers believe is significant, though other people's interpretations may differ based on their own experiences and perspectives.
The Social Construction of Gender, in Sociology by Boundless,.docxchristalgrieg
Â
The Social Construction of Gender, in Sociology by Boundless, is used under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. Š 2014, boundless.com
1
The Social Construction of Gender
Social constructivists propose that there is no inherent truth to gender; it is
constructed by social expectations and gender performance.
Learning Objective
īˇ Explain Judith Butler's concept of gender performativity
Key Points
īˇ Social constructionism is the notion that people's understanding of reality is
partially, if not entirely, socially situated.
īˇ Gender is a social identity that needs to be contextualized.
īˇ Individuals internalize social expectations for gender norms and behave
accordingly.
Terms
īˇ social constructionism
The idea that social institutions and knowledge are created by actors within the
system, rather than having any inherent truth on their own.
īˇ Gender performativity
Gender Performativity is a term created by post-structuralist feminist philosopher
Judith Butler in her 1990 book Gender Trouble, which has subsequently been
used in a variety of academic fields that describes how individuals participate in
social constructions of gender.
īˇ essentialism
The view that objects have properties that are essential to them.
Social Constructionism
The social construction of gender comes out of the general school of thought entitled
social constructionism. Social constructionism proposes that everything people "know"
or see as "reality" is partially, if not entirely, socially situated. To say that something is
socially constructed does not mitigate the power of the concept. Take, for example,
money. Money is a socially constructed reality. Paper bills are worth nothing
independent of the value individuals ascribe to them. The dollar is only worth as much
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
2
as value as Americans are willing to ascribe to it. Note that the dollar only works in its
own currency market; it holds no value in areas that don't use the dollar. Nevertheless,
the dollar is extremely powerful within its own domain.
These basic theories of social constructionism can be applied to any issue of study
pertaining to human life, including gender. Is gender an essential category or a social
construct? If it is a social construct, how does it function? Who benefits from the way
that gender is constructed? A social constructionist view of gender looks beyond
categories and examines the intersections of multiple identities and the blurring of the
boundaries between essentialist categories. This is especially true with regards to
categories of male and female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite.
Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categ ...
Process
Nathaniel Barr, PhD
What is creativity, anyway?
âCreativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel and appropriateâ
~ Sternberg & Lubart
âHumans are animals that specialize in thinking and knowing, and our extraordinary cognitive abilities have transformed every aspect of our lives. In contrast to our chimpanzee cousins and Stone Age ancestors, we are complex political, economic, scientific and artistic creatures, living in a vast range of habitats, many of which are our own creation.â
-Cecelia Hayes
3
Systems view of Creativity
Hennessey & Amabile, 2010,
Annual Review of Psychology
âThe term âcognitionâ refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations... Given such a sweeping definition, it is apparent that cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do; that every psychological phenomenon is a cognitive phenomenon.â
Ulric Neisser, 1967, Cognitive Psychology
5
Spontaneous or deliberate creativity
Spontaneous: Insight
Deliberate: CPS
Meliorism
âhumans can, through their interference with processes that would otherwise be natural, produce an outcome which is an improvement over the aforementioned natural oneâ
In order to interfere with processes and improve them, we need to know how things workâĻ
Understanding your mind
Interfering with the natural way you think
Improvement of performance
Deliberate creativity
J.P. Guilfordâs 1950 APA Address
âThe neglect of this subject by psychologists is appallingâĻI examined the index of the Psychological Abstracts for each year since its origin. Of approximately 121,000 titles listed in the past 23 years, only 186 were indexed as definitely bearing on the subject of creativity.â
-Guilford
J.P. Guilfordâs 1950 APA Address
âIn other words, less than two-tenths of one per cent of the books and articles indexed in the Abstracts for approximately the past quarter century [1925-1950] bear directly on this subject.â
-Guilford
Intelligence
âSome of you will undoubtedly feel that the subject of creative genius has not been as badly neglected as I have indicated, because of the common belief that genius is largely a matter of intelligence and the IQ.â
-Guilford
Galton, Cattell, Cox, Terman, Spearman
Not just intelligence
Guilfordâs address marked the âthe emergence of a wider psychological interest in the non-intellective components of cognitive performance.â
-Shouksmith, 1970, p. 205
Increased attention
In decade following Guilfordâs address, more than 800 records exist
-Arons, 1965
1927-1950: 4.5 papers per year
1950-1960: 80 papers per year
Ways of thinking, not just raw ability
âIt took the genius of thinkers like Alex Osborn, an advertising executive, and Sidney Parnes, an academic research, to realize that ...
The Social Construction of Gender, in Sociology by Boundless,.docxchristalgrieg
Â
The Social Construction of Gender, in Sociology by Boundless, is used under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. Š 2014, boundless.com
1
The Social Construction of Gender
Social constructivists propose that there is no inherent truth to gender; it is
constructed by social expectations and gender performance.
Learning Objective
īˇ Explain Judith Butler's concept of gender performativity
Key Points
īˇ Social constructionism is the notion that people's understanding of reality is
partially, if not entirely, socially situated.
īˇ Gender is a social identity that needs to be contextualized.
īˇ Individuals internalize social expectations for gender norms and behave
accordingly.
Terms
īˇ social constructionism
The idea that social institutions and knowledge are created by actors within the
system, rather than having any inherent truth on their own.
īˇ Gender performativity
Gender Performativity is a term created by post-structuralist feminist philosopher
Judith Butler in her 1990 book Gender Trouble, which has subsequently been
used in a variety of academic fields that describes how individuals participate in
social constructions of gender.
īˇ essentialism
The view that objects have properties that are essential to them.
Social Constructionism
The social construction of gender comes out of the general school of thought entitled
social constructionism. Social constructionism proposes that everything people "know"
or see as "reality" is partially, if not entirely, socially situated. To say that something is
socially constructed does not mitigate the power of the concept. Take, for example,
money. Money is a socially constructed reality. Paper bills are worth nothing
independent of the value individuals ascribe to them. The dollar is only worth as much
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
2
as value as Americans are willing to ascribe to it. Note that the dollar only works in its
own currency market; it holds no value in areas that don't use the dollar. Nevertheless,
the dollar is extremely powerful within its own domain.
These basic theories of social constructionism can be applied to any issue of study
pertaining to human life, including gender. Is gender an essential category or a social
construct? If it is a social construct, how does it function? Who benefits from the way
that gender is constructed? A social constructionist view of gender looks beyond
categories and examines the intersections of multiple identities and the blurring of the
boundaries between essentialist categories. This is especially true with regards to
categories of male and female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite.
Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categ ...
Process
Nathaniel Barr, PhD
What is creativity, anyway?
âCreativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel and appropriateâ
~ Sternberg & Lubart
âHumans are animals that specialize in thinking and knowing, and our extraordinary cognitive abilities have transformed every aspect of our lives. In contrast to our chimpanzee cousins and Stone Age ancestors, we are complex political, economic, scientific and artistic creatures, living in a vast range of habitats, many of which are our own creation.â
-Cecelia Hayes
3
Systems view of Creativity
Hennessey & Amabile, 2010,
Annual Review of Psychology
âThe term âcognitionâ refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations... Given such a sweeping definition, it is apparent that cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do; that every psychological phenomenon is a cognitive phenomenon.â
Ulric Neisser, 1967, Cognitive Psychology
5
Spontaneous or deliberate creativity
Spontaneous: Insight
Deliberate: CPS
Meliorism
âhumans can, through their interference with processes that would otherwise be natural, produce an outcome which is an improvement over the aforementioned natural oneâ
In order to interfere with processes and improve them, we need to know how things workâĻ
Understanding your mind
Interfering with the natural way you think
Improvement of performance
Deliberate creativity
J.P. Guilfordâs 1950 APA Address
âThe neglect of this subject by psychologists is appallingâĻI examined the index of the Psychological Abstracts for each year since its origin. Of approximately 121,000 titles listed in the past 23 years, only 186 were indexed as definitely bearing on the subject of creativity.â
-Guilford
J.P. Guilfordâs 1950 APA Address
âIn other words, less than two-tenths of one per cent of the books and articles indexed in the Abstracts for approximately the past quarter century [1925-1950] bear directly on this subject.â
-Guilford
Intelligence
âSome of you will undoubtedly feel that the subject of creative genius has not been as badly neglected as I have indicated, because of the common belief that genius is largely a matter of intelligence and the IQ.â
-Guilford
Galton, Cattell, Cox, Terman, Spearman
Not just intelligence
Guilfordâs address marked the âthe emergence of a wider psychological interest in the non-intellective components of cognitive performance.â
-Shouksmith, 1970, p. 205
Increased attention
In decade following Guilfordâs address, more than 800 records exist
-Arons, 1965
1927-1950: 4.5 papers per year
1950-1960: 80 papers per year
Ways of thinking, not just raw ability
âIt took the genius of thinkers like Alex Osborn, an advertising executive, and Sidney Parnes, an academic research, to realize that ...
OBJECTIVITY IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Ruby Med Plus
Â
Objectivity is considered as an ideal for scientific inquiry, as a good reason for valuing scientific knowledge, and as the foundation of the authority of science in society. It expresses the thought that the claims, methods and results of science are not, or should not be influenced by particular perspectives, value commitments, community bias or personal interests, to name a few significant factors. Scientific objectivity is a feature of scientific claims, methods and results.
This tediously sourced and highly detailed work argues for a large-scale change in human culture, specifically in the context of economic practice. The dominant theme is that the current socioeconomic system governing the world at this time has severe structural flaws, born out of primitive economic and sociological assumptions originating in our early history, where the inherent severity of these flaws went largely unnoticed.
I conduct a workshop on Social Design & Design for Social Design at Design and Business Schools. This one was conducted at the India campus of LÊcole de design Nantes Atlantique, in Bangalore, with the students of the Transcultural Design class.
What is life (600 Words) - PHDessay.com. Beautiful Essay On Meaning Of Life ~ Thatsnotus. Life Essay | Short and Long Essay on Life for Students in English .... Essays on the meaning of life - Reliable Essay Writers That Deserve ....
What is life (600 Words) - PHDessay.com. Beautiful Essay On Meaning Of Life ~ Thatsnotus. Life Essay | Short and Long Essay on Life for Students in English .... Essays on the meaning of life - Reliable Essay Writers That Deserve ....
Sources of my IdentityIntroduction My personal identity deal.docxrafbolet0
Â
Sources of my Identity
Introduction
My personal identity deals with the philosophical questions that arise about humans by the virtue of being individuals or people. However, this argument contrasts with any questions that entail the virtues of human beings as conscious beings or material objects. Many people will seek to understand their identity by asking the questions of what am I? When did I come to being? What will happen when I die? It is such questions that probe possible other questions that seek to have several answers regarding the indemnity of an individual. The sources of identity will mostly differ differently from one person to another, as they are influenced by a wide range of external factors throughout oneâs period of growth(Payne 17).
Human beings have an unchanging need for uniqueness, and quite often, the search for this happens through the use of meaning and symbolism with the help of products and brands such as surroundings, time, and exposure to other variables. The mentioned meanings and symbolisms are at times not necessary as the brands of products, and wares may be inherent making one person to be completely different from the other in terms of behavior, thinking, or reasoning. This augment concedes with that of McCrae and Costa, which suggests that oneâs cultural meanings take part in making up for oneâs identity, which is the personality (Payne 17). Culture anticipates for use of symbols for identity working outwardly to construct the social world and inwardly to construct self-identity. In this way, personal identity plays a vital role when it comes to dictating oneâs inner and outer circumstances. Every human is different from the others as anticipated his or her personality. This can be justified by the way people communicate socially.
The study of the psychology of personal identity has existed as organized entity since 1940s. There have been two major theories of human personality; one was dispositional or trait theory and the other one is person-situational theory. The trait theory did account for the centralist approach and internal constructs with governed behavior in a given or a particular situation derived mainly from internal characteristics of personality. In the west that is the western world, a laymanâs understanding of personality is related tothe trait approach, and this laid its basis or roots from the 19th-century liberalism
The trait theory posted broad stable factors, traits, or behavioral dispositions as its fundamental units. Its primary goal was to characterize individuals in terms of a comprehensive nevertheless, preferably and finite small set of stable dispositions that have always remained invariant across situations and that were distinctive for a person determining a wide range of important behavior. In the recent years, the trait theory has been personified in the big five-model of human personality. This model reduced the large numbers of adjectives that described personal ident.
OBJECTIVITY IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Ruby Med Plus
Â
Objectivity is considered as an ideal for scientific inquiry, as a good reason for valuing scientific knowledge, and as the foundation of the authority of science in society. It expresses the thought that the claims, methods and results of science are not, or should not be influenced by particular perspectives, value commitments, community bias or personal interests, to name a few significant factors. Scientific objectivity is a feature of scientific claims, methods and results.
This tediously sourced and highly detailed work argues for a large-scale change in human culture, specifically in the context of economic practice. The dominant theme is that the current socioeconomic system governing the world at this time has severe structural flaws, born out of primitive economic and sociological assumptions originating in our early history, where the inherent severity of these flaws went largely unnoticed.
I conduct a workshop on Social Design & Design for Social Design at Design and Business Schools. This one was conducted at the India campus of LÊcole de design Nantes Atlantique, in Bangalore, with the students of the Transcultural Design class.
What is life (600 Words) - PHDessay.com. Beautiful Essay On Meaning Of Life ~ Thatsnotus. Life Essay | Short and Long Essay on Life for Students in English .... Essays on the meaning of life - Reliable Essay Writers That Deserve ....
What is life (600 Words) - PHDessay.com. Beautiful Essay On Meaning Of Life ~ Thatsnotus. Life Essay | Short and Long Essay on Life for Students in English .... Essays on the meaning of life - Reliable Essay Writers That Deserve ....
Sources of my IdentityIntroduction My personal identity deal.docxrafbolet0
Â
Sources of my Identity
Introduction
My personal identity deals with the philosophical questions that arise about humans by the virtue of being individuals or people. However, this argument contrasts with any questions that entail the virtues of human beings as conscious beings or material objects. Many people will seek to understand their identity by asking the questions of what am I? When did I come to being? What will happen when I die? It is such questions that probe possible other questions that seek to have several answers regarding the indemnity of an individual. The sources of identity will mostly differ differently from one person to another, as they are influenced by a wide range of external factors throughout oneâs period of growth(Payne 17).
Human beings have an unchanging need for uniqueness, and quite often, the search for this happens through the use of meaning and symbolism with the help of products and brands such as surroundings, time, and exposure to other variables. The mentioned meanings and symbolisms are at times not necessary as the brands of products, and wares may be inherent making one person to be completely different from the other in terms of behavior, thinking, or reasoning. This augment concedes with that of McCrae and Costa, which suggests that oneâs cultural meanings take part in making up for oneâs identity, which is the personality (Payne 17). Culture anticipates for use of symbols for identity working outwardly to construct the social world and inwardly to construct self-identity. In this way, personal identity plays a vital role when it comes to dictating oneâs inner and outer circumstances. Every human is different from the others as anticipated his or her personality. This can be justified by the way people communicate socially.
The study of the psychology of personal identity has existed as organized entity since 1940s. There have been two major theories of human personality; one was dispositional or trait theory and the other one is person-situational theory. The trait theory did account for the centralist approach and internal constructs with governed behavior in a given or a particular situation derived mainly from internal characteristics of personality. In the west that is the western world, a laymanâs understanding of personality is related tothe trait approach, and this laid its basis or roots from the 19th-century liberalism
The trait theory posted broad stable factors, traits, or behavioral dispositions as its fundamental units. Its primary goal was to characterize individuals in terms of a comprehensive nevertheless, preferably and finite small set of stable dispositions that have always remained invariant across situations and that were distinctive for a person determining a wide range of important behavior. In the recent years, the trait theory has been personified in the big five-model of human personality. This model reduced the large numbers of adjectives that described personal ident.
Similar to An Essay On Meaning In Design Thinking (20)
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
How to Add Chatter in the odoo 17 ERP ModuleCeline George
Â
In Odoo, the chatter is like a chat tool that helps you work together on records. You can leave notes and track things, making it easier to talk with your team and partners. Inside chatter, all communication history, activity, and changes will be displayed.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
Delivering Micro-Credentials in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingAG2 Design
Â
Explore how micro-credentials are transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with this comprehensive slide deck. Discover what micro-credentials are, their importance in TVET, the advantages they offer, and the insights from industry experts. Additionally, learn about the top software applications available for creating and managing micro-credentials. This presentation also includes valuable resources and a discussion on the future of these specialised certifications.
For more detailed information on delivering micro-credentials in TVET, visit this https://tvettrainer.com/delivering-micro-credentials-in-tvet/
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Â
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
This presentation was provided by Steph Pollock of The American Psychological Associationâs Journals Program, and Damita Snow, of The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), for the initial session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session One: 'Setting Expectations: a DEIA Primer,' was held June 6, 2024.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
1. An Essay On Meaning in Design Thinking
Jerry Diethelm â July 2012
Design Thinking
It shouldnât come as too big a surprise that human thinking can be directed in more than
one way when there are different ends in mind. This essay is primarily about the path
called design thinking, which is being distinguished from its more famous cousin scientific
thinking because of its focus on creating the artifacts of an evolving culture. Scientific
thinkingâs path leads toward the discovery of fundamental knowledge, a rigorous process of
sifting experience into facts. Design thinkingâs job, as James Joyce modestly described it, is
merely the creation of the âreality of experience.1â
It also shouldnât come as too big a surprise that these paths often cross or that design
thinking draws deeply upon scientific thinking to achieve its ends. Scientific thinking, which
is focused on understanding things better, is necessarily woven into design thinkingâs
project of making better things. Design thinking depends on the reliable to pursue a
preferred future that is desirable, possible, useful, and potentially wonderful.
The concept of design thinking, while gaining much attention, remains somewhat
controversial. There is disagreement over what it includes and how such thinking works,
but increasing evidence that the subject is important and highly effective.2,3 A number of
major universities are now offering courses in design thinking.4 Typically, such courses
focus on the literature available on how successful designers work with stakeholders and
others in the intentional production of cultural products and services. This growing
recognition in research universities of the efficacy of teaching design thinking in fields
ranging from the arts to business to the design and policy professions is a welcome step
toward increased understanding.
Design thinking, as it is being used here, is grounded in Nobel scientist Herbert Simonâs
formulation (and its many useful elaborations) that designing is about âchanging existing
situations into preferred ones,â from his book, âThe Science of the Artificial.5âTo Simon,
designing was about transforming what is into what ought to be. This conscious and
purposeful channeling of our mental resources toward cultural production in
transformative situations is essentially a normative, valuing process. Willing, wanting,
needing, desiring, and feeling all figure prominently in the purposeful creation of
meaningful artifacts and in the transformation of existing situations into desirable futures â
from what people perceive that they have to what they would prefer.
Design thinking, then, weighs perceived situational differences and guides the transformation
of needs, wants and desires into such intentional artifacts as designs, plans, policies, places,
products, actions and services. Design thinking is also central to the processes of evaluation of
those artifacts as they are experienced, assimilated and accommodated in culture.
Design thinking is probably derived from early situational thinking for survival. Fear rather
than need or desire would have been the primary emotional driver. The ability to
instantaneously conflate purposeful representation and evaluation, which made possible
the immediate turning of mental acts into survival actions in dangerous situations, would
have been critical. Plus, the ability to fund that evaluation and decision making with
2. 2
knowledge from what had worked before under similar circumstances would have provided
a distinct selective advantage.
Today, the culturally normative forces of desire, want and need replace the primacy of fear
in driving design thinking. Purposeful, critical representation and projection in
transformative situations is afforded a more leisurely evaluation of how to fill the gap
between existing and preferred, have and want. And being on safer ground, the required
action to be taken is able to shift from survival actions toward cultural expressions of life
support and life enhancement.
It is also probable that culture making and knowledge making have coâevolved, that they
have always coâexisted like tension and compression. Ironically, while the former has given
us cathedrals that took a century to build, the latter has struggled for centuries over the
separation of church and fact, while still buttressing one another.
One of early Modernismâs great goals was the unifying of thinking and feeling, where of
course, rational, logical thought was primarily considered thinking. A century later the
thinking about thinking is that its make up and workings are far more entangled and
complex. We know now that not all of our thinking is consciously present or immediately
available to the waking mind. We suspect now that even strict Behaviorists have them.
Interest in design thinking is a natural consequence of modernismâs inward focus on the
workings of human consciousness as it continues to be uncovered by scientific research and
revealed through philosophy and the arts. We are told that human consciousness is
fundamentally purposeful and emotional.6 There is ample historical evidence that human
thinking is a morally complex cognitive, conative and affective cocktail capable of producing
everything from cathedrals to quagmires and that enlightenment remains an incomplete
project.
Meaning
Meaning is a catchall concept for how we evaluate our ongoing encounters and interactions
with the world. In everyday experience its principal usage refers to understanding what
someone has said or written. Typically, this is taken as being synonymous with the
successful sending and receiving of information.
But it doesnât quite work that way, and this has important implications for meaning in
design thinking. Information theory tells us that meaning isnât something that you get. Itâs
something that you have to build. The reason that someone doesnât âgetâ a poem or
painting is that nothing was sent. There is no decoding of a coding to be done. The
communication metaphor of sending and receiving that is the built in bias of everyday
language disguises the modern realization that all meaning is a human construction.7 This,
of course, is the insight behind Susan Sontagâs use of the famous Samuel Goldwyn response
about not âgettingâ a work of art that, âMessages are for Western Union.â
In linguistic communication, a successful construction of meaning requires a shared
symbolism (common language, dictionary, thesaurus, OED) and an adequate overlapping
repertoire of relevant experience with the producers of a text or speech to make the
building of an understanding possible. But of course the life experience that is brought to a
construction site can vary widely, and that is why, for example, that Magic Mountain, War
3. 3
and Peace and Ulysses can be such different books at different stages in oneâs life. To the
younger reader of Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus is heroic and Leopold Bloom pathetic. The
older reader is far more likely to sympathize with Bloom.8
Unlike language, however, the artifacts of designing have no comparable, reliable, and stable
symbolism to fall back on for their meaning.9 There is no general or official dictionary of
design meanings to refer to. Polished stone doesnât always symbolize skin. Red isnât always
madness or blood (âAs [in] a madman shakes a dead geraniumâ).10 Relationships,
associations, settings and contexts all affect meaning construction.
Attempts to fill this referential gap, as for example through semiotics, ultimately must fail
because the signs and symbolic expressions associated with cultural production vary too
widely in their designations, compositions and contexts to ever constitute a languageâlike
system.
On what basis then is artifactual meaning constructed? If the meanings of a building, film,
play, painting, policy, or gardenâĻ â of cultural products generally â are constructed on the
less than certain ground of interpretations and opinions, what guides the meaningâmaking
of such experience?
Meanings off the rack, that is, meaning constructed out of the cultural expectations and
traditions of everyday, funded experience is the most direct and common source. And these
are shaped and guided by the bespoke responses of professional critics, whose greater
knowledge of an area or type of work allows them to articulate, contextualize and influence
such evaluations through the wellâestablished practice of criticism.
Criticism is a central, generative source of artifactual meaning. Its job is to cultivate
meanings through explication and evaluation, not overt condemnation, as the term tends to
misleadingly imply.
One meaning of culture is the best of the best produced, and it is the task of criticism to
weigh and measure a productâs overall achievement. Typically this is done through
comparison, comparison with like others within a type or genre, as well as comparison
within a single producerâs body of work in order to establish its relative contribution and
significance. Information about a producerâs intent may or may not shape the criticâs
construction of meaning. Architects philosophizing about their work, to the New York
Timeâs architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, was like âlistening to cowboys debating
Aristotle.11â
Criticism typically will include an insightful qualitative appreciation of a work: how and
how well something is presented or expressed, whether it pleases or displeases, whether it
is prized or disprized, elegant or ordinary. Included in the measure of overall success is the
central roll that human feltâexperience, which ranges âfrom raw emotion to intellectual
delight,12âplays in meaning. What something means and how it fits into a culture is a rich
composite of everyday response, professional evaluation and historical reevaluation not
adequately left up to the limited insights of cults, accountants or technicians.
The territory covered by criticism is vast but its underlying model is quite predictable and
clear. Criticism constructs meaning by establishing that something means, how it means
and what it means. That something means is the base case for establishing relative
4. 4
significance. An appreciation and appraisal of how something means determines relative
satisfaction. What something means is an accumulation related to its overall success. And
overall success, the historical significance and satisfaction of an artifact in culture, its
meaningfulness, takes time.
Criticismâs underlying model of the that, how, and what of meaning construction begs the
question of where the model comes from. The most likely answer is that it reflects back on
the kinds and dimensions of thinking that brings artifacts into being. If meaning is
constructed out of the experience of its everyday and professional users, then the basis for
that construction must be traceable back to the meaningâmaking thinking of its makers. On
this view we might smile and, turning toward languageâs more expressive side, suggest that
criticism is design thinking spelled backwards.
How then does meaning relate to the conative, affective and cognitive processes of design
thinking? Like meaning in criticism, the presence of meaning in design thinking must
function as an evaluator of that thinkingâs multiple and intermixed dimensions. And once
we are prepared to see it, the that, how and what of design thinking becomes apparent.
Meaning in transformative situations is at first an acknowledgement that a situation is
significant, that it matters. And mattering is meaning in action.
Transformative situations are evaluated for an adequate awareness of difference between
have and want, a meaningful difference, a âdifference that makes a difference,â13 enough of a
difference to drive transformative action. Design attention is aroused, focused and kept in
transformative situations that are meaningful, that matter enough. And once the elephant
has appeared it is easy to see a manifestation of meaningâs presence in design thinking at
every stage of the making process.
Dissatisfaction with perceived difference is one how (and how much) a situation matters.
Confidence in the betterment of transformation is another â the lure of the possible that
appears achievable and is better than the devil you know. A satisfactory articulation of the
desires, needs, and wants driving a transformative situation matters. These forces of
purpose from affective life provide the inspiration, motivation, and pressure for change.
Important hows of their expression in design thinking include a shared conviction in the
value of the desired change and the willful commitment, dedication, participation,
cooperation and leadership of stakeholders in the transformative process.
What a transformative situation means is a composition and expression of what it is about,
its âwhatâabouts,â and aboutness matters. Aboutness covers what are perceived to be the
critical interests and concerns of a situation, which is not a list of things but a model of
expressed differences, some of which are always more important than others.
Aboutness is both quantitative and qualitative and implies intent.14 Aboutness covers both
moral and aesthetic meaning and all other relevant human values that matter. The
vocabulary of concepts used to express aboutness also matters deeply, because it carries the
root meanings, the building blocks, of a conversation. When it goes unnoticed that the root
meanings of a conversation have exceeded their shelf life, they become fundamental
impediments to design thinking and distortions of desirable change.
5. 5
Collectively, design thinking shapes aboutness into a socially constructed narrative for
change. That socially constructed narrative, however, is not a description in the factual
sense, but a description of differences that are in service to evaluation â that are meaningful.
The meaning of a narrative, the transformative story, of an âexisting situationâ is found in
the what and how of its whole, relational structure and parts. Its success depends on
achieving a convincing clarity of purpose and destination, and an adequate elegance of
expression, sufficient to move stakeholders and project forward.
The transformation from one state to another, the intentional and formative heuristic
processes of designing, is meaningful work. The many hows of goal setting, envisioning,
abducting, and modeling all contribute to the successful embodiment and expression of
meaning in a cultural product.
A meaningful transformation grows out of the dedicated work of skillful stakeholders and
their agents turning a successful narrative, useful diagrams, convincing images, good goals
and goal arrays, and visions of desired destinations into the materiality of a preferred other.
Again, there is no firm guide for the embodiment and expression of intent. A successful and
satisfying material expression of each desire, each need, each part, and each key
relationship must be uncovered, discovered, represented and recomposed into a successful
and satisfying meaning of the whole.
There is meaning in transformative situations and their processing, meaning in the goal
setting, envisioning and the heuristic recycling of projected prototypes and possibilities,
meaning in the composing of elements and their materiality, meaning in the emphasis given
some elements over others, as well as meaning in the production and presentation of
products to their intended users. Meaning created out of the making experience is gifted to
its users, who must then create their own meaning out of the reality of their experience.
Meaning in design thinking is like the elephant in the room that it is hidden in plain sight.
Once seen, meaning is everywhere manifest as a kind of shadow thinking of that, how and
what evaluation, which is always present. And like the model of criticism, it is constantly in
the process of applying such evaluative measures as significance, satisfaction and success in
all design thinking dimensions. Human consciousness is perhaps better understood as
being purposeful, emotional and meaningful.
Whose Meaning?
A designed work must naturally reflect what it believes to be significant. A richer aboutness
complicates the process of embodiment, expression and composition but expands the
potential for significance. Intended meaning is fineâtuned in composition by emphasizing
some elements of expression over others in the same way that an actor will rehearse a line
ten ways to find the one best suited to the character and moment of the play.
It follows that those closest to the creation of an artifactâs meanings are best able to
evaluate its correspondence with their intent. Their evaluation of its significance,
satisfactions and success will depend on the productâs affordance with their projections and
specifications. How useful and emotionally pleasing and/or intellectually delightful they
find its overall expression depends on their taste and judgment.
6. 6
The meanings constructed by those at a greater social distance from the original intent will
depend less and less on their knowledge of the generative situation and more and more on
the repertoire of who they are that they bring to the experience. They may have no intimate
knowledge of intent. But where there is enough of a correspondence between the
experience of meaning in the production of a work and the users own experience, the
production and construction of meaning, even if never exact, can culturally connect.
In constructing a meaning of artifacts from deep cultural time, such as the cave paintings of
Altamira and Lascaux or ancient petroglyphs, the connection becomes progressively more
tenuous and even more apparent that it is our meaning that is being made. The best we can
do under such circumstances is to draw upon what it is that we are able to bring to the
experience â an understanding of our common humanity â an historical sense of who we
humans are, how we think, what we care about and do.
The shadow of evaluation that is meaning is itself a kind of thinking that follows, evaluates
and reflects back on design thinking along its path wherever it goes. The over all critical
evaluation of a workâs meaning is constructed out of the same design thinking processes
that created it. But constructed meaning takes on its own life and affordance. Once let loose,
the locus of its affordance is limitless. It has the potential to go viral and ripple around the
world.
Footnotes
1. Joyce, James (1916 ). A portrait of the artist as a young man. New York: B.W. Huebsch.
2. Kimbell, L. (2011). âRethinking design thinking.â Design & Culture, 3(3): 285-306.
3. Kimbell, L (2012). âRethinking design thinking: part 2.â Design & Culture, 4(2)
4. Design Thinking course syllabi from The Open University (UK); Simon Frasier University (BC);
University of Minnesota (US); and Swinburne University (Aus)
5. Simon, H. A. (1986). The sciences of the artificial (Third ed.). Cambridge, Mass, and London: The
MIT Press.
6. Dennett, D. C. (1991). Consciousness explained. Boston. Toronto. London: Little, Brown and
Company and London: The University of Chicago Press.
7. Reddy, M. J. (1993). âThe toolmaker's paradigm and the conduit metaphor.â In A. Ortony (Ed.),
Metaphor and thought (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Chabon, Michael (July 12, 2012). âWhat to make of Finneganâs Wake?â The New York Review
of Books.
9. Langer, S. K. (1967,1972). Mind: An essay on human feeling vol.I, & vol.II. Baltimore and
London: The John Hopkins University Press.
10. Eliot, T.S. (1920). From: âRhapsody of a windy nightâ
11. Huxtable, Ada Louise (Dec. 8, 1983). âAfter modern architecture.â The New York Review of
Books.
12. Tuan, Yi-fu (Mar. 1978). âLandscapeâs affective domain: raw emotion to intellectual delight.â
Landscape Architecture, 132-134.
13. Bateson, G. (1979). Mind and nature. New York: E.P.Dutton.
7. 7
14. Rorty, R. (1995). Truth and progress. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.