Variations in design process: A case study about tool and task as design variants

Abstract

Several researchers question the nature of design. Although design has specificcharacteristics that distinguish it from other cognitive activities, it also takes ondifferent forms depending on the main factors of the design setting.To test this idea, this study has adopted design tools and tasks as the factorsthat change a design situation. In order to do that, a case study with one graduatestudent enrolled in Design Computing Program at Istanbul Technical University,Istanbul is conducted. The case is composed of four design sessions, each consistingof a unique combination of a tool and task.The analysis of the protocol aims to show how the different phases of a designprocess come together in different weights when working on the task dependingon the problem given and the tool adopted.This study can be framed as adopting an activity based model where the actionsof the participant are in a problem-oriented setting that requires re-productionbefore re-iteration and are assessed through an analytical approach of coding activityin order to understand the impact of the design tool as a variant of theprocess.The results suggest that tools have a diverging effect on the process as theyrequire different operational methods. On the other hand, the nature of designtasks converge designer’s thoughts into a predictable pattern. The combination ofthe divergence and the convergence yields a spectrum of unique design situations.