Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society

by Karl T. Ulrich

Ulrich's book Design provides a unifying framework for understanding how artifacts are created in society. His audience is students of design, and their instructors, from engineering, industrial design, architecture, or business. The treatment includes both a discussion of elements of design process (e.g., problem definition and exploration) as well as topical issues (e.g., aesthetics in design).

Contents

Preface
1. Introduction to Design
2. Problem Solving and Design
3. Design Problem Definition
4. Exploration
5. Users, Experts, and Institutions in Design
6. The Architecture of Artifacts
7. Aesthetics in Design
8. Variety
9. Conclusion

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Colophon

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Science, Reference

137 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Karl T. Ulrich is CIBC Endowed Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also professor of mechanical engineering. His most recent project was the design and construction of Tangen Hall, the largest facility in the world for student entrepreneurship. He cofounded Venture Lab, the Weiss Tech House, and the Integrated Product Design Program, institutions fostering innovation in the university community.

He is coauthor of The Innovation Tournament Handbook (Wharton School Press, 2023); Product Design and Development (7th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2019), a textbook used by a quarter of a million students worldwide; Innovation Tournaments (Harvard Business Review Press, 2009); and Winning in China (Wharton School Press, 2021).

Reviews

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful and eclectic introduction to design that assumes no specific disciplinary training and whose distinguishing characteristic is its insightful and unobtrusive intertwining with introductory marketing perspectives. Design is defined from the very start as an activity that builds some sort of useful artifact that fills a perceived gap. The would be designer is urged to think of different ways to fill that gap, creating virtual or physical prototypes to explore possible gap-filling artifacts. Ulrich does not stop there but also helps make clear that in order to be really successful, design must be followed by production and commercialization and provides some useful pointers for the would be designer-entrepreneur on this subject. Thus for Ulrich:

[D]esign is part of a human problem-solving activity beginning with a perception of a gap in a user experience, leading to a plan for a new artifact, and resulting in the production of that artifact

Logically enough design activities can then be grouped into the following framework:

* Sense the gap.

* Define the problem: "problem definition is the creation by the designer of an explanation of why the user experiences a gap. This diagnosis can be thought of as an identification of user needs that are not being met in the current state and/or the recognition of criteria for a high-quality solution".

* Explore alternatives.

* Select plans.

As the author points out:

The central theme of this book is that a unifying framework informs the human activity of design across all domains. With few exceptions, each idea in this book applies to graphics,
environments, products, software, services, machines, and buildings. I dream that the design process could be integral to the primary, secondary, and postsecondary education of all individuals in modern society. This book is an attempt to lay out some of the ideas that would form that education.

A tall order, but the book is certainly a correct step in that direction. It is also used in a wonderful (and at the time of writing) free Coursera e-learning course (https://class.coursera.org/design-201...) which I highly recommend to anyone interested in learning to design.

Chapters 2,3 and 4 proceed to introduce the framework and its more characteristic activities with an artless ease that has to be read to be appreciated. In these few pages, Ulrich also manages to toss off comments that clearly show he is an unassuming master of his craft and a thoughtful researcher in the field.

The rest of the chapters are essays that allow him to pursue some interesting topics not usually covered in an introductory text on design such as:

The differences between design by users, design by third-party experts and industrial design, in which he gently nudges the reader towards the economics of design (chapter 5)

An interesting typology of design architectures distinguishing between modular and integral architecture and the importance of paying particular attention to coupling between components or artifacts which eventually allows him to present possible "relationships between component production process flexibility, the architecture of an artifact, and the ability to deliver variety." (chapter 6)

Tantalizing fragments that could eventually provide a foundation for a theory of design aesthetics (chapter 7)

A reflection on product variety, distinguishing between three kinds of varieties (fit, taste, and quality), motives for variety, the costs of variety and possible moral limits on variety.

The weakest part of the book is its claim to include service design -while it is true that the framework can be stretched to include it, I consider that all the examples and developments are much better geared towards product design than toward service design, or for that matter, graphic design. In keeping with the introductory nature of the book, he also glosses over the political dimensions of design, a key dimension in areas like information systems engineering or urban planning which requires the designer to reconcile conflicting interests amongst stakeholders and in which sterling work has been carried out by scandinavian schools of design amongst others. His roots show, in spite of the claim he makes in the preface:

My roots are in engineering design, and much of my professional life has been centered on product design. However, in the past 15 years, stints as an entrepreneur and a university administrator have broadened my conception of design [...]

Having said that, I still highly recommend this book. The first part of the book can help teach you how to design (especially if you take the aformentioned Coursera e-course) and the second part reminds me of the idiosyncratic and ultimately great books on product design like Henry Petroski´s "The Evolution of Useful Things" and Donald Norman´s "The Design of Everyday Things". I strongly believe that Ulrich is right and that society needs to promote more design (and more ethics!) in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education and I wish him luck and success in this highly important endeavour.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Design matters!

This book has been helping me to identify the gaps of my research topic in a more systematic way. I never thought that design can be applied in almost every aspect of our life and discipline.

[Darina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the process of design in all of its forms: from architecture to web design. Although there are a fair amount of examples, the material still feels a bit dry; it is written for problem solvers capable of higher levels of abstraction.

[Jonathan Jeckell · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~ulrich

[Anthony Francavilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to design thought. The works cited gave me books and articles to read for months which will hopefully allow me to utilize the design thinking methodology when problem solving.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ulrich's descriptive examination and explanation of the general design process urges you to see how to apply design thinking broadly, but may just be too short and dense to absorb well.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched but not necessarily thought provoking.

[Mohammad Shaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like as I've wished. Maybe it's a bit out of context sometimes, lacking many principles on the way.

[Karim Faramawy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useless for architects and designers. Don't waste your time with it.

[Tamster Hawk]

recommended by Niel