The Structure of the Design Process
01 Jan 1986-pp 213-220
TL;DR: Three model structures are proposed: the macro-st structure, the micro-structure and the model of decomposition in designing, which permit a full description of the structure of the real design process and they can be used in superposition.
Abstract: The notion of the design process structure is given, as well as the reasons for analysis and synthesis of the structure. There are proposed three model structures: the macro-structure, the micro-structure and the model of decomposition in designing. They describe three different approaches to the design process. They are of a wide generality and, where appropriate, they permit a full description of the structure of the real design process, and they can be used in superposition.
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TL;DR: There are a set of invariant features in the problem spaces of design situations that collectively constitute a design problem space, according to the claim that there are important generalizations about problem solving in design activity that reach across specific disciplines.
572 citations
TL;DR: The development and application of a methodology that uses protocol studies of designers engaged in design to investigate the process of designing is described and results are shown that illustrate the utility of this approach in gaining some insight into how designers design.
509 citations
TL;DR: The benefits derived by combining parametric modeling and genetic algorithms to achieve a performance oriented process in design, with specific focus on architectural design are discussed, and ParaGen is presented as a tool to support the exploration of the parametric design alternatives.
308 citations
Cites background from "The Structure of the Design Process..."
...Bruce Archer [5] emphasizes there is no distinction in tackling architectural, engineering and industrial design; even more so, Sid-...
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..., optimize, evaluate, or select), based on a pre-determined range of solutions, modeling the design process as a problem-solving process [5,94] usually prevails, by also including the notion of ill-defined problems [80,95]....
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...The motivation and viewpoint in approaching the concept of design process and design is shared with Bruce Archer [6], who emphasizes his ultimate interest in the design process, not for the means, but for the end product....
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...Bruce Archer [5] emphasizes there is no distinction in tackling architectural, engineering and industrial design; even more so, Sidney Gregory [39] extends the consideration to any other discipline....
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07 May 2009
TL;DR: This paper analyzes the mutual nesting of practical problems and knowledge problems, derives some methodological guidelines from this for design science researchers, and gives an example of a design science project following this problem nesting.
Abstract: Design science emphasizes the connection between knowledge and practice by showing that we can produce scientific knowledge by designing useful things. However, without further guidelines, aspiring design science researchers tend to identify practical problems with knowledge questions, which may lead to methodologically unsound research designs. To solve a practical problem, the real world is changed to suit human purposes, but to solve a knowledge problem, we acquire knowledge about the world without necessarily changing it. In design science, these two kinds of problems are mutually nested, but this nesting should not blind us for the fact that their problem-solving and solution justification methods are different. This paper analyzes the mutual nesting of practical problems and knowledge problems, derives some methodological guidelines from this for design science researchers, and gives an example of a design science project following this problem nesting.
303 citations
TL;DR: This article makes a preliminary attempt to differentiate design problem solving from nondesign problem solving by identifying major invariants in the design problem space.
Abstract: The notion of generic design, although it has been around for 25 years, is not often articulated; such is especially true within Newell and Simon's (1972) information-processing theory (IPT) framework. Design is merely lumped in with other forms of problem-solving activity. Intuitively, one feels there should be a level of description of the phenomenon that refines this broad classification by further distinguishing between design and nondesign problem solving. However, IPT does not facilitate such problem classification. This article makes a preliminary attempt to differentiate design problem solving from nondesign problem solving by identifying major invariants in the design problem space.
221 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1970
TL;DR: In this article, the Seeds of Human Futures Journal of the Operational Research Society: Vol 32, No 12, pp 1158-1159, the authors present a design method for seeds of human futures.
Abstract: (1981) Design Methods: Seeds of Human Futures Journal of the Operational Research Society: Vol 32, No 12, pp 1158-1159
500 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: The Structure of Design Processes: ideal and reality in Bruce Archer's 1968 doctoral thesis as discussed by the authors is a part of his pioneering attempts in the 1960s to create a science of design -a project he later looked back on with some regret.
Abstract: This document is the doctoral thesis of L Bruce Archer. It is a part of his pioneering attempts in the 1960s to create a science of design - a project he later looked back on with some regret. For a discussion, see Boyd Davis & Gristwood 2016 "The Structure of Design Processes: ideal and reality in Bruce Archer’s 1968 doctoral thesis" http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1721/ and Boyd Davis & Gristwood 2018 "‘A dialogue between the real-world and the operational model’ – the realities of design in Bruce Archer’s 1968 doctoral thesis" http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/3116/.
This version of the thesis document (which is the same as that held by the British Library dissertation service Ethos) is a photocopy that includes hand-corrections and amendments made onto the typescript. It seems to have been prepared as copy for a book: the closing remarks in the document thank "the designer of this book, Brian Grimbly" (one-time art editor of Design magazine). No such book was ever published.
Archer's introduction states:
"This thesis attempts to set up a framework within which the set of skills, sensibilities and intellectual disciplines that, taken together, constitute the art of designing might be logically related so as to form the basis of a science of design. No attempt is made here to distinguish between architectural, engineering and industrial design. Indeed, it is an essential element in the philosophy underlying this thesis that the logical nature of the act of designing is largely independent of the character of the thing designed. By the same token, no attempt is made here to define 'good design'. The argument presented is concerned with the theory of navigating towards a chosen destination rather than with the identity or merit of the destination itself.
"A logical model of the design process is developed, and a terminology and notation is adopted, which is intended to be compatible with the neighbouring disciplines of management science and operational research. Many of the concepts and techniques presented are, indeed, derived from those disciplines. A primary purpose of this work is to provide a conceptual framework and an operational notation within which designers might work and upon which case study analyses might be based.
"The range of techniques and disciplines which might be employed at various stages in the conduct of a design project are referred to only in general terms. Different design problems, and different classes of design activity, call for different techniques and different emphases at various stages. There is no suggestion here that all design should be conducted according to a given formula - only that the logic of any design problem may be better perceived against the background of a common framework.
"In certain instances, the general form of the laws which are thought to connect certain phenomena common to most design problems is indicated. It is hoped that the logical model, terminology and notation presented will facilitate the accumulation of the case study data, and the derivation of the more precise general laws, upon which an emergent science of design must be based."
A note on accuracy
This PDF of the Archer doctoral thesis has been processed for Optical Character Recognition with a reasonable degree of accuracy for the typescript parts. It has not been hand-corrected. The captions and other textual parts of the figures, being in handwriting, have not been processed.
18 citations