Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom

by Ilpo Koskinen, John Zimmerman, Thomas Binder

Businesses and the HCI and Interaction Design communities have embraced design and design research. Design research as a field blends methodologies from several disciplines - sociology, engineering, software, philosophy, industrial design, HCI/interaction design -- so designers can learn from past successes and failure and donOCOt have to reinvent the wheel for each new design (whether itOCOs a digital product, a building, an airplane or furniture). They take into account form, function, and, ultimately, users.Many books exist in the research and academic realm for this field, but none create a usable bridge to design practice. Although business people are embracing design, they are not going to become designers. Design researchers need tools to apply their research in the real world."Design Research through Practice" takes advanced design practice as its starting point, but enriches it to build a design process than can respond to both academic and practical problems. The aims of the book are to study three design research traditions that cover methodological directions in current leading research community. Taking you from the Lab, Field and to the Showroom, Ilpo Koskinen and his group of researchers show you successful traditions in design research that have been integrated into processes and products.a Bridging the gap from design research to design practice, this is a must have for any designer.OCo Gathers design research experts from traditional lab science, social science, art, industrial design, UX and HCI to lend tested practices and how they can be used in a variety of design projectsOCo Provides a multidisciplinary story of the whole design process, with proven and teachable techniques that can solve both academic and practical problemsOCo Presents key examples illustrating how research is applied and vignettes summarizing the key how-to details of specific projects"

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Research

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Kars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of very limited utility to designers outside of academia but for someone coming from industry and entering into research this was a very helpful introduction into what is most commonly known as research through design or what is here called 'constructive design research'. The lab/field/showroom taxonomy is a useful one for orienting my own approach, and I also found the talk about research programs interesting. Recommended if you're starting out in design research, particularly if you're a practitioner and want to leverage your existing skillset.

[Nelson Zagalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical and influential book that frames design research through three main contexts: lab, field, and showroom. Each setting has strengths and limitations, and together they provide a robust framework for constructive design research. Essential as both a teaching tool and a reference for understanding how design operates between science, society, and art.