Design and the aesthetics of research

DESIGN AND THE AESTHETICS OF RESEARCH MARK ROXBURGH University of Technology Sydney ABSTRACT Mark Roxburgh’s research over the past decade has focused on the evolving conceptualization, discourse and development of research methodologies for design. This has lead him to question the historical pattern of design whereby the methods and epistemologies of other disciplines are used without addressing the differences between them and design. Design is a complex activity enmeshed in many aspects of our lives. In his article in Design Issues (1992), ‘Prometheus of the Everyday: The Ecology of the Artificial and the Designer’s Responsibility’, Manzini foregrounds the relational nature of this complexity by conceiving design (the artificial) as having an ecology. Roxburgh has written about these matters but his critique has conformed to the conventions of academic publishing and he has found articulating aspects of such complexity constrained by the limits of written language. Increasingly, in design, visualization is used to map complex relationships between things, ideas and actions. In this essentially visual essay, Roxburgh is attempting to graphically identify and explore the relationships of some of these concepts in a manner that echoes these trends and his own research practice. He is aware that sketches of complex phenomena, through a process of interpretation and abstraction, become somewhat reductive. The moments he draws on in crafting the depictions of his views are presented episodically rather than chronologically. Roxburgh sketches out three key historical conceptions of design and the ramifications they have had on our perceptions and practice of it. He depicts these conceptions as being drawn from traditions outside of design and suggests that an alternative strategy may lie within design itself. This strategy calls for an engagement with what he calls the aesthetics of research. He suggests that it is imperative that design encompasses an aesthetic engagement with the world at all levels, and most importantly at the point of design research and conception, for our experience of design is fundamentally aesthetic. He is aware that there is an apparent irony in his use of non design theories to frame aspects of his view but this is a necessary strategy to critique the ontological assumptions inherent within the conceptions of design that he characterizes (one could even say ‘caricatures’). Roxburgh takes the position that there is nothing essentially given about design consciousness. Rather, the characterizations of design consciousness that he outlines all carry (usually implicit) ontological assumptions that may be inappropriate and/or limit design practice. The depiction of design that he offers is based instead on an alternative ontology. While this cannot be empirically verified (no ontology can), he proposes it as a way of extending and critiquing usual conceptions of design practice. No doubt this in turn will be found to have shortcomings of its own. KEY WORDS aesthetics of research • design research • visual argumentation THE ART OF DESIGN Frames design as an artistic practice. Is reliant on the Myth of Creativity (Roxburgh, 2006). Is seen as a subject determinate activity. Design is about doing (making) (Manzini, 1992). CREATIVITY inspiration............................DESIGNER.........................materials...........................object }{ The inspirational experience, of the designer, is all. Nikolaus Pevsner (1936) argues that the individual artistic skill and creativity of the designer ensure good quality design. This conception of design places its faith in a romantic concept of artistic genius. I argue that in such a view creativity = quality (of individuals) i.e. creativity is an attribute of individuals, not humankind in general and from there that the quality (of individuals) = innovation (of things) i.e. gifted individuals are wholly responsible for well-designed things. 426 Visual Communication 9(4) THE SCIENCE OF DESIGN Frames design as procedural. Is reliant on the Fallacy of Rationality (Roxburgh, 2006). Is seen as an object or process determinate activity. Design is about producing (things) (Manzini, 1992). PROGRESS need..................materials.................PROCESS/PRODUCTION.................consumption }{ The management of the design process is all. Herbert Simon (1969) argues for the development of an empirical science of purposeful human action (design). As design intervenes in the natural ≠ progress is not evolutionary ≠ therefore design = artificial This conception of design places its faith in the modernist concept of progress. Manzini (1992) argues that in such a view progress = quantity (of things) i.e. the more things we have the more progress we have made. and from there that the quantity (of things) = simplicity (of reality) i.e. the more things we have the easier our lives will be. Roxburgh: Design and the aesthetics of research 427 THE SOCIOLOGY OF DESIGN Frames design as a network of relations. Is constrained by what I call the Limits of Narrativity.1 Objects and subjects are seen as co-determinate. Design is described as reproducing ideology and identities. distribution manufacturing marketing materials RELATIONS social contexts designers clients ... ... ... users }{ Relational contexts of design and meaning are all. Victor Margolin (2002) argues that design should model itself on sociology given its embeddedness in the social. This conception of design challenges the modernist notion of progress. Manzini (1992) argues that quality = complexity (of reality) i.e. our actions (subjective choice) have far more complicated ramifications than we’ve previously conceived. 428 Visual Communication 9(4) subjective choice implies ethics what kind of world do to live in and what world do we want to ture generations to we want kind of leave fulive in? THESE EVOLVING SCHEMAS OF DESIGN, FROM THINGS, ART OF DESIGN designers and things SCIENCE OF DESIGN management of the processes of designing things SOCIOLOGY OF DESIGN analysis of relational contexts of designers, processes, use and things ECOLOGY OF DESIGN contexts of experience and use as key creative drivers for design TO EXPERIENCE. 2 HERALD A SHIFT IN DESIGN’S FOCUS Roxburgh: Design and the aesthetics of research 429 design }{ is enacted within and upon the social and material world. It is part of that world AND what makes the f/actual world (what we believe to be concrete) real. Ezio Manzini (1992) argues that the world we inhabit is increasingly artificial as a consequence of human action (design). the ecology of the artificial = design doing as reproduction where our existence is the goal Manzini argues that this ecology is the interaction of and competition between the BIOSPHERE [ SEMIOSPHERE ][ characterized by a scarcity of resources so limit use + in which limits constrain objects, subjects, experience and meaning 430 Visual Communication 9(4) ] characterized by an abundance of messages so limit signals the ecology of the artificial ANECDOTAL OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE F/ACTUAL WORLD IS ANECDOTAL [NOT OPEN TO CARTESIAN VALIDATION] AND THUS... F/ACTUAL WORLD WHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE CONCRETE. IT IS MADE REAL BY OUR AESTHETIC [COGNITIVE AND SENSORY] EXPERIENCE OF IT, WHICH IS... { } CONJECTURAL = F/ACTUAL WORLD FOR VISUAL COMMUNICATION THIS IMAGE IS OFTEN BOTH THE PLAN AND THE THING. ABSTRACT CONJECTURAL HOW WE IMAGINE WE WANT THAT WORLD TO BE AND THE EXPERIENCES WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE OF IT IS ALSO ABSTRACT. FOR MOST OF DESIGN THIS IMAGE WE HAVE TAKES THE FORM OF THE PLAN, TEMPLATE OR PROTOTYPE OF THE THING THAT GETS MADE WHICH THEN BECOMES THE... THE MENTAL IMAGE WE HAVE OF THE F/ACTUAL WORLD [THROUGH OUR EXPERIENCE OF IT] IS OUR REALITY OF THE WORLD YET IT IS ABSTRACT. HOW WE IMAGINE WE WANT THAT WORLD TO BE IS... Roxburgh: Design and the aesthetics of research 431 design [the ecology of the artificial] is concerned with IMAGINING and IMAGING the world we’d like to experience and the experiences we’d like of the world. IMAGINING implicates (RE)PRODUCTION IMAGING implicates (RE)PRESENTATION } have been in CRISIS of the real reality constructed, ideological, contested; of representation photographs as constructed texts; of the artificial (Roxburgh, 2005) the constructedness of the design process. (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996: 234). 432 Visual Communication 9(4) Given these crises where do we take our cues to design the experiences we would like to have? How do we gather this information? QUESTION DESIGN CONCEIVED IN THE SHADOW OF OTHER WAYS OF KNOWING. LOOK TO DESIGN ITSELF AS A WAY OF KNOWING. DESIGN FRAMED BY ITS OWN LOGIC. Which is THE DESIGN OF DESIGN! That encompasses an { } ETHICAL IMPERATIVE ‘act always so as to increase the number of choices’ (Von Foerster, 1991, cited in Glanville, 2003: 88) and an AESTHETICAL IMPERATIVE ‘if you desire to see, learn how to act’ (p. 88) 434 Visual Communication 9(4) To which I would add what I call the DESIGN IMPERATIVE IF YOU DESIRE TO DESIGN (ACT) LEARN HOW TO SEE (AESTHETICALLY) The design of design is PHENOMENOLOGICAL and concerned with how The design of design is guided by our The design of design is concerned with the (RE)PRESENTATION of our and our understanding of experience, it is EMPIRICAL. which operates at a level of the ABSTRACT. EXPERIENCE is understood and interpreted and is fundamentally ANECDOTAL. How do we see the ecology of the artificial? This is a sociological task, where we are LOOKING FOR MEANING, and can be characterized by the question... ? “ what do I know and what do I need to know about this situation and how will I interpret and describe it ” ? (Roxburgh, 2006) exemplified by visual anthropology (Pink, 2006) + the anthropology of the senses to which design has turned and where ANTHROPOLOGICALLY SOUND DATA = PHENOMENOLOGY x A REALIST FRAME This is concerned with SCRIPTION DE EPISTEMOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES 436 Visual Communication 9(4) How do we see the ecology of the artificial? through This is a design task, where we are LOOKING FOR MAKING, and can be characterized by the question... ? “ what do I know and what do I need to know about this situation and how will I interpret and transform it ” ? (Roxburgh, 2006) characterized by what I call where I propose DESIGN + THE AESTHETICS OF RESEARCH DESIGNERLY SOUND DATA = PHENOMENOLOGY x AN ABSTRACT FRAME This is concerned with PRODUCTION RE ARE LOST IN TRANSLATION Roxburgh: Design and the aesthetics of research 437 How do we transform the ecology of the artificial? This is a design task, where we are LOOKING FOR MAKING, and we must first ask the question... ? “ how am I going to collect and use this knowledge for to design ” ? (Roxburgh, 2006) DESIGN DOING AS (RE)PRODUCTION OF THE ECOLOGY OF THE ARTIFICIAL ! AESTHETICS OF RESEARCH: VALUING THE SENSORY AND EXPERIENTIAL PARAMETERS AND ATTRIBUTES OF OUR RESEARCH METHODS ! 438 Visual Communication 9(4) 3 NOTES 1 The pre-occupation with meaning over experience and the limits of words to describe design experience. 2 This shift doesn’t render the design object redundant. Rather it frames the experience we have of things and, more significantly, the experiences we would like to have of things, as increasingly important creative drivers of design activity. In this way design’s focus is less concrete and more abstract. It also sees the world we inhabit and design as fundamentally artificial. 3 Drawn from ancient Greek aisthëtikos: of sense perception aisthëta: perceptible aisthanësthai: to perceive. REFERENCES GLANVILLE, R. (2003) ‘Heinz von Foerster’, Systems Research and Behavioral Science 20(1): 85—9. KRESS, G. R. and VAN LEEUWEN, T. (1996) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge. MANZINI, E. (1992) ‘Prometheus of the Everyday: The Ecology of the Artificial and the Designer’s Responsibility’, Design Issues 9(1): 5—20. MARGOLIN, V. (2002) The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. PEVSNER, N. (1936) Pioneers of the Modern Movement: From William Morris to Walter Gropius. New York: Frederick A. Stokes. PINK, S. (2006) The Future of Visual Anthropology: Engaging the Senses. London: Routledge. ROXBURGH, M. (2005) ‘Seeing and Seeing through the Crisis of the Artificial’, DESIGNsystemEVOLUTION, European Academy of Design Conference Proceedings, University of the Arts, Bremen, Germany. ROXBURGH, M. (2006) ‘The Utility of Design Vision and the Crisis of the Artificial’, in A. BENNETT (ed.) Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. SIMON, H. (1969) The Sciences of the Artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Mark Roxburgh is a senior lecturer in Visual Communication at the University of Technology Sydney and a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra. His research interests include the use of photo observation for visual communication research and practice; the aesthetics of research; the language of visual communication practitioners; the representation and role of visual processing and thinking in visual communication practice; and photo imaging practice and theory and issues of representation. Address: School of Design, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway 2007, Australia. [email: mark.roxburgh@uts.edu.au] SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC: http://vcj.sagepub.com) Copyright © The Author(s), 2010. Reprints and permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalspermissions.nav/ Vol 9(4): 425-439 DOI 10.1177/1470357210385616 Roxburgh: Design and the aesthetics of research 439