DS 110: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (EPDE 2021), 2021
Design education has looked for different approaches to teaching ethics and ethical behaviour. In... more Design education has looked for different approaches to teaching ethics and ethical behaviour. In this paper I want to add an approach that is coming from the collaboration between design research and philosophy of technology. Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive number of theories and reflections about the impacts of technology and innovations on our daily lives and social behaviours. To make the reflections from philosophy of technology more tangible for design engineering students we experimented over the years with different tools and practical approaches in order to integrate these perspectives directly in the design process. In analogy with the empirical turn before, we named this closer integration with design 'the Practical Turn in Philosophy of Technology'. My argument now is that by using these insights, one can cultivate ethical reflection with design engineering students by directly informing their design process in what I call 'practicing the practical turn'. In this paper I will show this approach alongside the results of a one week workshop with a group of students from the University of Antwerp in the context of responsible design for public space.
In this paper the application of the 'rules of unruly design' are explored in demand driv... more In this paper the application of the 'rules of unruly design' are explored in demand driven design practice. The rules of unruly design are a set of design rules that were derived from design history to form an inspirational tool for the design and styling of meaningful objects in a postmodern context. Traditionally, the design of the new, the strange and the weird and wonderful is largely the domain of the artistically oriented author driven design practice. The rules of unruly design are an attempt to transfer some of their accomplishments to the demand driven practice of industrial design engineers. The rules were explored in two master students graduation projects. From the results of the projects one can conclude that the set of rules stimulates creativity in the development of concepts of form and use, and acts as a brainstorm tool for the synthesis of new objects and object types.
Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive amount of theories and reflections about the ... more Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive amount of theories and reflections about the impacts of technology and innovations on our daily lives and social behaviours. Combining this conceptual toolkit with design, with its capability of actually changing things, promises a powerful approach to developing critical future-making practices. This implies that philosophy of technology moves beyond thinking and discussing concepts and starts to engage more closely with practical probing. In philosophy of technology there has been an empirical turn, towards the study of concrete technologies in society. Our proposal is to further develop this, with a change from ‘study and description’ to ‘interventions by design’, into the actual redesign of technologies and correlated ways of doing. Therefore, in analogy with the empirical turn before, we present this collaboration with design as the ‘Practical Turn in Philosophy of Technology’. In this paper we explore this in a design case st...
Designers have responsibility by the very nature of their activities; bringing new products and s... more Designers have responsibility by the very nature of their activities; bringing new products and services into the world of the user. Recently there is also raising interest in specifically addressing social issues by deliberate design interventions. Within the University of Twente, we strive to shape this responsibility in the context of the design of Human-Technology Relations, combining human-technology interaction with scenario-based, user-oriented product design. The research groups associated with design have each developed their own perspective on how to implement this responsibility in design research and practice. Three different design strands, each of which are strengthened with methods and tools. Although these three strands can support responsible design, they also have their limitations. In this paper we describe how we broadened the three research strands into a multidisciplinary research agenda through a workshop with a diverse group of participants. Providing the stage for a "Twente School" in responsible design.
This book is an attempt to develop rules that can provide guidance for the contemporary product d... more This book is an attempt to develop rules that can provide guidance for the contemporary product designer in a postmodern society. Somewhere at the end of the 20th century, the focus of product design has shifted from primarily offering functionality, towards experience and emotion driven product characteristics. According to the theory of product phases, the design of mature product types will end in a phase characterized by extended segmentation, individualization or awareness. In these states the affective, emotional, and abstract product values become more important. Within this development, the usability, or utility factor of products becomes less important, in favour of their significance, or the meaning they represent. At the same time, according to French philosopher of culture Baudrillard, the image of the product becomes more important than the product itself. Placed in cultural context, an historical survey has lead to a ‘history of unruly design ideas’ that formed the bas...
Creative Technology is a new bachelor programme at the University of Twente. Goal of Creative Tec... more Creative Technology is a new bachelor programme at the University of Twente. Goal of Creative Technology is to design products and applications that improve the quality of daily life in its manifold aspects, building on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The application domains range from recreation to work, from entertainment to learning and from health to art. A paradigm of Creative Technology is to make use of existing technology in novel combinations –in contrast to developing new technology. In this paper we identify and elaborate the Design Methods of Creative Technology in a consistent overview. On one side, the focus on human daily life suggests that user centred design approaches from Industrial Design and Interaction Design are relevant for Creative Technology. On the other side, the development of prototypes will make use of "classical" engineering design principles. Between these areas of design is a field that is not covered by other disciplines: ...
The development of a student’s skills during design education partly depends on the amount of sel... more The development of a student’s skills during design education partly depends on the amount of selfconfidence. Optimizing the speed and level of growth can be done by influencing factors related to self-confidence that students have to cope with throughout their studies. Six main factors can be distinguished and have been explored in order to discover how teachers can improve sketching education. Several methods of improving sketching courses have been developed, tested and described based on these factors. Experience showed that by positively influencing self-confidence during courses, skills develop faster and to a higher level. Especially optimisations based on the field of reference factor rendered good results in our practice. Being aware of the possible influences which a teacher can have on the development of the six factors that influence these can make a noticeable difference.
Buy an identity' and 'surprise your senses' are two of the ideas that were the outcome of a cours... more Buy an identity' and 'surprise your senses' are two of the ideas that were the outcome of a course 'Design for a specific Theme' (in the year 2006-07) held for 4th grade students of Industrial Design Engineering at Twente University. The theme in the title of this course was philosophical, based on the theory of globalisation of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. In the following year 2007-08, the theme of the course was 'leisure', and it proved again that the structure of this course was particularly suitable for the conversion of such abstract themes in tangible product design. This paper describes the structure and the associated teaching methods of the course, gives examples of student results and discusses the points of interest and application possibilities of this type of course.
Collaboration between Design Research and Philosophy of Technology seems very promising. The refl... more Collaboration between Design Research and Philosophy of Technology seems very promising. The reflective, philosophical perspective brings the societal implications of design to the fore and this is an interesting focus for reinforcing research approaches for design. Since the philosophy of technology in the current of the 'empirical turn' aims to study concrete technologies and contexts, contributions from philosophy to design have become all the more feasible. Design Research can use the frameworks of philosophers to theorize the findings from practice, to make sense of the past, and for ethical reflection on the impacts of design and the moral responsibilities of designers. Or, still more practical, philosophical insights in the relationships between humans and technology can contribute to design for usability and design for behaviour change. On the other hand, the practice of designing actual things provides a laboratory for putting philosophical frameworks to the test and to use in the real world. Following the 'empirical turn' before, the present search for collaboration with design can be termed a 'practical turn' in the philosophy of technology (as will be further elaborated in the first paper, by Eggink and Dorrestijn). Under this notion of a practical turn in the philosophy of technology this track brings together papers which are in one way or another about 'philosophical tools in design research'. All research projects apply insights from philosophy of technology to real world problems and design solutions; or the other way around, they use insights from philosophy of technology to reflect on designs that were actually made. We will now give an overview of the papers in which we mention the tools and philosophical backgrounds used in each paper. So diverse as the philosophical tools are, so are the design contexts: from service design to infant healthcare, and from the physical to the digital, the emotional and the political. The order of the papers is from the more practical to the more reflective papers, with a more general perspective in the first and the last paper. The first paper Philosophy of Technology x Design: The Practical Turn (Wouter Eggink & Steven Dorrestijn)-apart from elaborating on the theme of the track-reports on applying the approach of technical mediation (Peter-Paul Verbeek, Don Ihde, Bruno Latour) to design projects by way of the Product Impact Tool.
This paper is part of a research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoret... more This paper is part of a research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoretical background for the design of everyday things in a postmodern society. Unruly design is defined in this research as: all objects that are designed with the intention to undermine the existing design-paradigm of the functionalists. The paper will present the research background, research approach, and findings in the form of the first five design practices that have been identified as a set of 'rules of unruly design'. These five rules of practice can be considered a toolkit for the contemporary designer to make meaningful objects.
The Product Impact Tool is the application-oriented result of the research project Product Impact... more The Product Impact Tool is the application-oriented result of the research project Product Impact on User Behavior, aiming to investigate the impact of technology on users and to make the insights applicable in the design process (Dorrestijn 2012). The impact of technology on users and society is an important topic in research on technology in reflexive research fields (philosophy of technology, media studies). Especially in recent empirically oriented philosophy of technology and the related interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies this has resulted in concepts that promise to be of interest for application in design as well. For example, the notions of script and of delegation of action from humans to technologies (Latour 1992) may be compared to research at the interface of psychology and design on affordances (Norman 1988), persuasive technology (Fogg 2003), and nudges (Thaler & Sunstein 2008).
The University of Twente has developed the DesignLab initiative to feed the “high tech, human tou... more The University of Twente has developed the DesignLab initiative to feed the “high tech, human touch” mission of the organisation. The combination of high tech and human touch was made one of the spearheads of the future, in order to bank on the universities unique position as a ‘dual-core university’ with both a strong science and engineering faculty on the one hand and a social sciences faculty at the other. This DesignLab has the mission to integrate the expertise of both academic kernels in “science2design4society”, which means that design knowledge is used to make new technologies available for users and that, together with the latest insights in humanities and business, these are used to tackle problems in contemporary society. To make this happen, the DesignLab needed a dedicated space for doing design in multidisciplinary teams. Because a lot of the prospective users of the lab would not be trained as a designer, it was decided that the actual space of the lab should support ...
There are different ways to tell stories with design. This paper shows possibilities of telling s... more There are different ways to tell stories with design. This paper shows possibilities of telling stories by envisioning the future. Overall, design has the very ability to envision, visualize and express things that do not exist yet. We introduce the Future Scenario Development Design methodology as a process for research through design. This methodology consists of a six step scenario development approach, combined with a general conceptual design phase. The scenario of a (plausible and thinkable) future society provides the requirements, the opportunities and the constraints for the design. So, while the creative design process is free, an 'anything goes' and an 'anything will apply' approach will not 'work'. With a case study, based on the results of an Industrial Design Engineering Master course concerning the design of Future Museums, we show how this Design of the Future methodology is able to explain the present and future interplay between Society, Cul...
Within the Bachelor's programme Industrial Design Engineering we created a 15EC elective rese... more Within the Bachelor's programme Industrial Design Engineering we created a 15EC elective research module "Scientific Challenges". One of the possible research subjects of this module is “Author Driven Design project”, which means exploring the Design of objects from your own intrinsic motivation, rather than from an external demand driven assignment. The rationale behind this subject is that demand driven and author driven design practices both have strengths and weaknesses and that the two approaches can benefit from each other. By letting the students, that are regularly trained as a demand driven designer, execute an author driven design project, we serve two purposes. The students learn more about themselves and about different design approaches, and we as researchers learn more about how the two approaches can influence and inform each other.
DS 110: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (EPDE 2021), 2021
Design education has looked for different approaches to teaching ethics and ethical behaviour. In... more Design education has looked for different approaches to teaching ethics and ethical behaviour. In this paper I want to add an approach that is coming from the collaboration between design research and philosophy of technology. Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive number of theories and reflections about the impacts of technology and innovations on our daily lives and social behaviours. To make the reflections from philosophy of technology more tangible for design engineering students we experimented over the years with different tools and practical approaches in order to integrate these perspectives directly in the design process. In analogy with the empirical turn before, we named this closer integration with design 'the Practical Turn in Philosophy of Technology'. My argument now is that by using these insights, one can cultivate ethical reflection with design engineering students by directly informing their design process in what I call 'practicing the practical turn'. In this paper I will show this approach alongside the results of a one week workshop with a group of students from the University of Antwerp in the context of responsible design for public space.
In this paper the application of the 'rules of unruly design' are explored in demand driv... more In this paper the application of the 'rules of unruly design' are explored in demand driven design practice. The rules of unruly design are a set of design rules that were derived from design history to form an inspirational tool for the design and styling of meaningful objects in a postmodern context. Traditionally, the design of the new, the strange and the weird and wonderful is largely the domain of the artistically oriented author driven design practice. The rules of unruly design are an attempt to transfer some of their accomplishments to the demand driven practice of industrial design engineers. The rules were explored in two master students graduation projects. From the results of the projects one can conclude that the set of rules stimulates creativity in the development of concepts of form and use, and acts as a brainstorm tool for the synthesis of new objects and object types.
Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive amount of theories and reflections about the ... more Philosophy of Technology has produced a substantive amount of theories and reflections about the impacts of technology and innovations on our daily lives and social behaviours. Combining this conceptual toolkit with design, with its capability of actually changing things, promises a powerful approach to developing critical future-making practices. This implies that philosophy of technology moves beyond thinking and discussing concepts and starts to engage more closely with practical probing. In philosophy of technology there has been an empirical turn, towards the study of concrete technologies in society. Our proposal is to further develop this, with a change from ‘study and description’ to ‘interventions by design’, into the actual redesign of technologies and correlated ways of doing. Therefore, in analogy with the empirical turn before, we present this collaboration with design as the ‘Practical Turn in Philosophy of Technology’. In this paper we explore this in a design case st...
Designers have responsibility by the very nature of their activities; bringing new products and s... more Designers have responsibility by the very nature of their activities; bringing new products and services into the world of the user. Recently there is also raising interest in specifically addressing social issues by deliberate design interventions. Within the University of Twente, we strive to shape this responsibility in the context of the design of Human-Technology Relations, combining human-technology interaction with scenario-based, user-oriented product design. The research groups associated with design have each developed their own perspective on how to implement this responsibility in design research and practice. Three different design strands, each of which are strengthened with methods and tools. Although these three strands can support responsible design, they also have their limitations. In this paper we describe how we broadened the three research strands into a multidisciplinary research agenda through a workshop with a diverse group of participants. Providing the stage for a "Twente School" in responsible design.
This book is an attempt to develop rules that can provide guidance for the contemporary product d... more This book is an attempt to develop rules that can provide guidance for the contemporary product designer in a postmodern society. Somewhere at the end of the 20th century, the focus of product design has shifted from primarily offering functionality, towards experience and emotion driven product characteristics. According to the theory of product phases, the design of mature product types will end in a phase characterized by extended segmentation, individualization or awareness. In these states the affective, emotional, and abstract product values become more important. Within this development, the usability, or utility factor of products becomes less important, in favour of their significance, or the meaning they represent. At the same time, according to French philosopher of culture Baudrillard, the image of the product becomes more important than the product itself. Placed in cultural context, an historical survey has lead to a ‘history of unruly design ideas’ that formed the bas...
Creative Technology is a new bachelor programme at the University of Twente. Goal of Creative Tec... more Creative Technology is a new bachelor programme at the University of Twente. Goal of Creative Technology is to design products and applications that improve the quality of daily life in its manifold aspects, building on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The application domains range from recreation to work, from entertainment to learning and from health to art. A paradigm of Creative Technology is to make use of existing technology in novel combinations –in contrast to developing new technology. In this paper we identify and elaborate the Design Methods of Creative Technology in a consistent overview. On one side, the focus on human daily life suggests that user centred design approaches from Industrial Design and Interaction Design are relevant for Creative Technology. On the other side, the development of prototypes will make use of "classical" engineering design principles. Between these areas of design is a field that is not covered by other disciplines: ...
The development of a student’s skills during design education partly depends on the amount of sel... more The development of a student’s skills during design education partly depends on the amount of selfconfidence. Optimizing the speed and level of growth can be done by influencing factors related to self-confidence that students have to cope with throughout their studies. Six main factors can be distinguished and have been explored in order to discover how teachers can improve sketching education. Several methods of improving sketching courses have been developed, tested and described based on these factors. Experience showed that by positively influencing self-confidence during courses, skills develop faster and to a higher level. Especially optimisations based on the field of reference factor rendered good results in our practice. Being aware of the possible influences which a teacher can have on the development of the six factors that influence these can make a noticeable difference.
Buy an identity' and 'surprise your senses' are two of the ideas that were the outcome of a cours... more Buy an identity' and 'surprise your senses' are two of the ideas that were the outcome of a course 'Design for a specific Theme' (in the year 2006-07) held for 4th grade students of Industrial Design Engineering at Twente University. The theme in the title of this course was philosophical, based on the theory of globalisation of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. In the following year 2007-08, the theme of the course was 'leisure', and it proved again that the structure of this course was particularly suitable for the conversion of such abstract themes in tangible product design. This paper describes the structure and the associated teaching methods of the course, gives examples of student results and discusses the points of interest and application possibilities of this type of course.
Collaboration between Design Research and Philosophy of Technology seems very promising. The refl... more Collaboration between Design Research and Philosophy of Technology seems very promising. The reflective, philosophical perspective brings the societal implications of design to the fore and this is an interesting focus for reinforcing research approaches for design. Since the philosophy of technology in the current of the 'empirical turn' aims to study concrete technologies and contexts, contributions from philosophy to design have become all the more feasible. Design Research can use the frameworks of philosophers to theorize the findings from practice, to make sense of the past, and for ethical reflection on the impacts of design and the moral responsibilities of designers. Or, still more practical, philosophical insights in the relationships between humans and technology can contribute to design for usability and design for behaviour change. On the other hand, the practice of designing actual things provides a laboratory for putting philosophical frameworks to the test and to use in the real world. Following the 'empirical turn' before, the present search for collaboration with design can be termed a 'practical turn' in the philosophy of technology (as will be further elaborated in the first paper, by Eggink and Dorrestijn). Under this notion of a practical turn in the philosophy of technology this track brings together papers which are in one way or another about 'philosophical tools in design research'. All research projects apply insights from philosophy of technology to real world problems and design solutions; or the other way around, they use insights from philosophy of technology to reflect on designs that were actually made. We will now give an overview of the papers in which we mention the tools and philosophical backgrounds used in each paper. So diverse as the philosophical tools are, so are the design contexts: from service design to infant healthcare, and from the physical to the digital, the emotional and the political. The order of the papers is from the more practical to the more reflective papers, with a more general perspective in the first and the last paper. The first paper Philosophy of Technology x Design: The Practical Turn (Wouter Eggink & Steven Dorrestijn)-apart from elaborating on the theme of the track-reports on applying the approach of technical mediation (Peter-Paul Verbeek, Don Ihde, Bruno Latour) to design projects by way of the Product Impact Tool.
This paper is part of a research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoret... more This paper is part of a research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoretical background for the design of everyday things in a postmodern society. Unruly design is defined in this research as: all objects that are designed with the intention to undermine the existing design-paradigm of the functionalists. The paper will present the research background, research approach, and findings in the form of the first five design practices that have been identified as a set of 'rules of unruly design'. These five rules of practice can be considered a toolkit for the contemporary designer to make meaningful objects.
The Product Impact Tool is the application-oriented result of the research project Product Impact... more The Product Impact Tool is the application-oriented result of the research project Product Impact on User Behavior, aiming to investigate the impact of technology on users and to make the insights applicable in the design process (Dorrestijn 2012). The impact of technology on users and society is an important topic in research on technology in reflexive research fields (philosophy of technology, media studies). Especially in recent empirically oriented philosophy of technology and the related interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies this has resulted in concepts that promise to be of interest for application in design as well. For example, the notions of script and of delegation of action from humans to technologies (Latour 1992) may be compared to research at the interface of psychology and design on affordances (Norman 1988), persuasive technology (Fogg 2003), and nudges (Thaler & Sunstein 2008).
The University of Twente has developed the DesignLab initiative to feed the “high tech, human tou... more The University of Twente has developed the DesignLab initiative to feed the “high tech, human touch” mission of the organisation. The combination of high tech and human touch was made one of the spearheads of the future, in order to bank on the universities unique position as a ‘dual-core university’ with both a strong science and engineering faculty on the one hand and a social sciences faculty at the other. This DesignLab has the mission to integrate the expertise of both academic kernels in “science2design4society”, which means that design knowledge is used to make new technologies available for users and that, together with the latest insights in humanities and business, these are used to tackle problems in contemporary society. To make this happen, the DesignLab needed a dedicated space for doing design in multidisciplinary teams. Because a lot of the prospective users of the lab would not be trained as a designer, it was decided that the actual space of the lab should support ...
There are different ways to tell stories with design. This paper shows possibilities of telling s... more There are different ways to tell stories with design. This paper shows possibilities of telling stories by envisioning the future. Overall, design has the very ability to envision, visualize and express things that do not exist yet. We introduce the Future Scenario Development Design methodology as a process for research through design. This methodology consists of a six step scenario development approach, combined with a general conceptual design phase. The scenario of a (plausible and thinkable) future society provides the requirements, the opportunities and the constraints for the design. So, while the creative design process is free, an 'anything goes' and an 'anything will apply' approach will not 'work'. With a case study, based on the results of an Industrial Design Engineering Master course concerning the design of Future Museums, we show how this Design of the Future methodology is able to explain the present and future interplay between Society, Cul...
Within the Bachelor's programme Industrial Design Engineering we created a 15EC elective rese... more Within the Bachelor's programme Industrial Design Engineering we created a 15EC elective research module "Scientific Challenges". One of the possible research subjects of this module is “Author Driven Design project”, which means exploring the Design of objects from your own intrinsic motivation, rather than from an external demand driven assignment. The rationale behind this subject is that demand driven and author driven design practices both have strengths and weaknesses and that the two approaches can benefit from each other. By letting the students, that are regularly trained as a demand driven designer, execute an author driven design project, we serve two purposes. The students learn more about themselves and about different design approaches, and we as researchers learn more about how the two approaches can influence and inform each other.
This project is about research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoretic... more This project is about research into the history of unruly design, which aims at finding theoretical background for the design of everyday things in a postmodern society. At the end of the 20th century, the focus of product design has shifted from primarily offering functionality, towards experience and emotion driven product characteristics. Within this development, the usability, or utility factor of products becomes less important, in favour of their significance, or the meaning they represent. All together it has become clear that the central idea of the functionalists, the 'Form Follows Function' cannot play its central role in the development of aesthetics anymore. Therefore unruly design is defined in this research as: all objects that are designed with the intention to undermine the existing design paradigm of the functionalists. The research presents a frame of reference, a research approach, and findings in the form of the first five design practices that have been identified as a set of 'rules of unruly design'. The conclusion in this research has two sides; a cynical one and a positive one. The cynical conclusion can be that the postmodernist experiment in itself has failed; although the central idea was "anything goes (as long as it is not modernist)" it showed that postmodern design largely followed shared paths. In the end, unruly design followed its' own rules. The positive conclusion however is that the identification of the five rules of unruly design can support designers to understand the implementation of meaning into demand driven design practice, and therefore extends the possibilities for making meaningful objects. These five rules of practice can be considered a toolkit for the contemporary designer to make meaningful objects.
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Papers by Wouter Eggink