Design Process Models IIM lecture 2000
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
1
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
The Morphology
of Design
Training
Brief
Experience
Programming
Analytical
Phase
Observation
Measurement
Inductive Reasoning
Data Collection
Evaluation
Judgement
Deductive Reasoning
Decision
Analysis
Creative
Phase
Synthesis
Development
Executive
Phase
Solution
Bruce Archer, 1964
Communication
Description
Translation
Transmission
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . July 1997
Design Concepts & Concerns, PEP Third Semester
This classical model of the design process offered by Prof. Bruce Archer in 1964
influenced the design community deeply and for many decades the linear flow of
decision making held sway on the minds of design theorists. However practising
designers went about their tasks of design systhesis in a rather intuitive manner leaving
the final decisions to the managers and entrepreneurs. However a large number of
engineers followed this model as a prescription. This left a large gap in the area of
design synthesis without adequate explanation. Many questions of creativity and
methods of complexity resolution were left unanswered.
It was only when the real complexities of design decision making were realised in the
post environmental awareness era of the eighties did the design community take a
serious look at alternate models of iterative processes that took the feedback loops
seriously enough to invest in detailed user research and life-cycle audits of products
and technologies as part of the process of design analysis and synthesis.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
2
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Entrepreneur
Client
Industry
Society
Design
Managers
Domain
The
Interface
Front Office &
Field Tasks
Business Vision
Concern for Stakeholders
Domain Knowledge, etc.
Strategic &
Tactical
Decisions
Emerging Context
for Design Practice
USER STUDIES (by Clients)
Design
Management
Entrepreneurial vision
Trade & Service Expertise
Marketing Savvy
Investment & Risk
Feasibility Studies, etc.
The Interface
Back Office,
Studio &
Field Tasks
Designer's
Domain
Designers &
Design Teams
with
Consultants &
User Groups
Prepared for Faculty Seminar at the
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, August 1995
Design
Processes
Visualisation
of Tangible
Scenarios
USER STUDIES (by Designers)
Understanding Real Needs,
Problems & Opportunities
Early Prototyping & Testing
Modelling & Evaluation
Concern for Users
Concern for Environment
Concern for Values, etc.
Observations of Users
Interactions with Users
User Trips & Experiments
Protocol Analysis, etc.
© M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug 1995 - rev Aug 2000
Design Management and Design Processes are concurrent activities that help create
new products and services in the corporate sector and in the social sectors. Design
management is practised typically by managers, entrepreneurs while the back office
tasks carried out by the core design teams are called design processes. Both groups
are looking deeply into the needs and expectations of the users using different tools and
skills to develop insights that help reduce risks of investments and increase the
possibility of the acceptance of the solutions by the user groups in question.
While the entrepreneurs define strategy and direction the design teams provide the
tangible scenarios through a process of visualisation. The greater the flow of information
between the two groups the better the resolution of the complex sets of variables that
make up the decision framework leading to design synthesis and the selection of a
particular design solution.
Designers create scenarios and models that can be tested in the real world and in this
way they are able to involve actual users in the design process. This user centered
process is being increasingly being adopted by design led companies to create great
products that are accepted by users with a high emotional commitment that strengthens
the brand.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
3
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Concepts & Visualisation
Word Concepts
Image Concepts
An image is worth a thousand words they say .........
A word can conjure a million images
Pine
Oak
Mango
Banyan
Palm ....
Old Trees
Tall Trees
Big Trees ...
Tree
Forest
Garden
..... Orchard
Image Refinement & Variety
Design Concepts & Concerns
Foundation Programme, 1997
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug. 1997
The myths about the creative process needs to be dispelled through an understanding
of the process of visualisation. Designers are trained to express metaphors in visual
form and this is a central ability that helps offset the problem of incomplete or
inadequate information in a climate of extreme ambiguity in which design decisions and
explorations must take place. If everything were known about the problem or
opportunity the task is no longer one of design. Design therefore deals with the
unknown and gives shape to this unknown future and in this process creates a new
vision of the future that can be adopted through a rigorous process of evaluation and
testing.
The use of metaphors and abstractions to capture the essence of the idea is a common
approach to concept generation. The creation of visual representations in response to
verbal clues and the image contributing to the discovery of new patterns is a cyclical
process of search and discovery.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
4
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Designers offer Tangible
Solutions and Alternate
Scenarios through Creative
Visualisation Processes.
Attitudes
Action
Abilities
Designers build
Models and
Specifications
Abstract & Intangible
Designers study
People
Perception
L R
Cognition
Qualities
Concepts
Sensitivity
Creativity
Flexibility
Responsibility
Feasibility
Accountability
Desirability
Designers think with
Moving Images and
Words : Creatively
Concrete - Real & Tangible
Doodles Sketches Diagrams Image-Concepts Drawings Models Prototypes
Formulae Hypotheses Theories Word-Ideas Evocative Descriptions
Design Concepts & Concerns,
Foundation Programme, 1997
Visualisation
in Design
Image Concept
Word Concept
‘Tree’
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Jan. 1997
Visualisation is a unique process that is used by designers to create tangible
alternatives through cognitive and external modelling activities. Perception as
represented by user studies and observation of user behaviour leads to the
development of critical insights that guide the concept explorations of the designer. The
concept lies in a space that is iteratively explored and articulated by a series of
diagrams, models and prototypes till an appropriate solution is found. This is sometimes
a meandering process that moves between abstract and the concrete expressions, and
this movement from the general to the particular is the hallmark of design thinking.
Digital tools have been developed to manage the process of visualisation but these are
still very deficient to handle the flexibility needed in the early stages of the process of
design visualisation. CAD drafting and modelling tools are no match for the “pencil and
paper technology” at this early stage of flux and in the more advanced stages where the
tasks and targets are more clearly defined the traditional tools have already yielded to
the new and powerful softwares that are the standard today. However there is no
replacing the cognitive processes that are used by the designers in discovering and
articulating new and interesting relationships that give shape to our future products,
services, environments and events that shape our lives.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
5
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Data: Information: Knowledge: Wisdom: Vision
Design Decisions:
Possibilities & Specifications
Why? What? How Much? Better? Worse?............
Infinit e Cone of
Specificat ions
Cone of
Possibilit ies
Alternative A
Minimum
Specifications
Maximum
Possibilities
Alternative B
Alternative C
St r at egic
Decisions
Tact ical
Decisions
Decision Time Line
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design
Design Concepts & Concerns, Foundation Pro
All new products and services are created and developed through a process of
innovation where a goal is achieved through the pursuit of a strategic vision. In this
process the search for solutions helps articulate desirable specifications in a
progressive manner till a specific concept is embodied in the form of a final solution or a
set of alternatives. The relationship between the decisions taken at various stages and
the process of embedding the desired specifications into a product as it is being created
is illustrated by this model.
The decision time line moves from left to right. As the cone of possibilities narrows down
to offer a particular embodiment of the new product and feature set the cone of
specifications gets expanded in an inverse relationship. The final product embodiment
can have infinite levels of specification which makes the task of technology and design
transfer a very elaborate task and could run into hundreds of thousands of pages of text
and illustrations.
The specifications would eventually cover all attributes of the product – its features, the
stages of manufacture, its material qualities and its market characteristics and a host of
other attributes that can be described. When new products are created the learning
process is rich and well endowed with the knowledge of possibilities and failures while
the importation of the same product technology leaves the recipient agency
impoverished and perennially dependent on the source of the innovation.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
6
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Levels of Design Interventions:
The New Industrial Design
Every design project
addresses all levels in
varying degrees...
Strategic
Level
Systems Thinking
Opportunity Mapping
Strategic Initiatives
Creates New Industries
Creates New Markets
Re-engineering strategies
Mass Customisation strategies
Eco-Friendly strategies
Anticipatory strategies....
Vision Led Design
Improves....
Quality
Performance
Cost
Finish
Colour
Ornament....
Tactical
Level
Creative
Level
DESIGN
Inventive
Innovative
Creative
Form
Colour
Detail
Technology
Finishes
Tools
Ornamentation
Practical Know How
Skill Led Design
Sense Led Design
Breakthrough Products
Novel Constructions
Innovative Processes...
Patent Led Design
Elaborative
Level
Variety & Style
Differentiation
Choice / Fashion
Product Differentiation
Product Collections
Style and Fashion
Market Segmentation..
Market Led Design
© M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
This model is more fully explained in the papers by the author titled “Levels of Design
Interventions in a Complex Global Scenario” , Brazil, 1998 and the call for strategic use
of design is outlined in the paper titled “Design before Technology: The Emerging
Imperative”, Osaka, 1999.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Design Methodologies and Issues
1
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
The Morphology
of Design
Training
Brief
Experience
Programming
Analytical
Phase
Observation
Measurement
Inductive Reasoning
Data Collection
Evaluation
Judgement
Deductive Reasoning
Decision
Analysis
Creative
Phase
Synthesis
Development
Executive
Phase
Solution
Bruce Archer, 1964
Communication
Description
Translation
Transmission
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . July 1997
Design Concepts & Concerns, PEP Third Semester
This classical model of the design process offered by Prof. Bruce Archer in 1964
influenced the design community deeply and for many decades the linear flow of
decision making held sway on the minds of design theorists. However practising
designers went about their tasks of design systhesis in a rather intuitive manner leaving
the final decisions to the managers and entrepreneurs. However a large number of
engineers followed this model as a prescription. This left a large gap in the area of
design synthesis without adequate explanation. Many questions of creativity and
methods of complexity resolution were left unanswered.
It was only when the real complexities of design decision making were realised in the
post environmental awareness era of the eighties did the design community take a
serious look at alternate models of iterative processes that took the feedback loops
seriously enough to invest in detailed user research and life-cycle audits of products
and technologies as part of the process of design analysis and synthesis.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
2
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Entrepreneur
Client
Industry
Society
Design
Managers
Domain
The
Interface
Front Office &
Field Tasks
Business Vision
Concern for Stakeholders
Domain Knowledge, etc.
Strategic &
Tactical
Decisions
Emerging Context
for Design Practice
USER STUDIES (by Clients)
Design
Management
Entrepreneurial vision
Trade & Service Expertise
Marketing Savvy
Investment & Risk
Feasibility Studies, etc.
The Interface
Back Office,
Studio &
Field Tasks
Designer's
Domain
Designers &
Design Teams
with
Consultants &
User Groups
Prepared for Faculty Seminar at the
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, August 1995
Design
Processes
Visualisation
of Tangible
Scenarios
USER STUDIES (by Designers)
Understanding Real Needs,
Problems & Opportunities
Early Prototyping & Testing
Modelling & Evaluation
Concern for Users
Concern for Environment
Concern for Values, etc.
Observations of Users
Interactions with Users
User Trips & Experiments
Protocol Analysis, etc.
© M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug 1995 - rev Aug 2000
Design Management and Design Processes are concurrent activities that help create
new products and services in the corporate sector and in the social sectors. Design
management is practised typically by managers, entrepreneurs while the back office
tasks carried out by the core design teams are called design processes. Both groups
are looking deeply into the needs and expectations of the users using different tools and
skills to develop insights that help reduce risks of investments and increase the
possibility of the acceptance of the solutions by the user groups in question.
While the entrepreneurs define strategy and direction the design teams provide the
tangible scenarios through a process of visualisation. The greater the flow of information
between the two groups the better the resolution of the complex sets of variables that
make up the decision framework leading to design synthesis and the selection of a
particular design solution.
Designers create scenarios and models that can be tested in the real world and in this
way they are able to involve actual users in the design process. This user centered
process is being increasingly being adopted by design led companies to create great
products that are accepted by users with a high emotional commitment that strengthens
the brand.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
3
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Concepts & Visualisation
Word Concepts
Image Concepts
An image is worth a thousand words they say .........
A word can conjure a million images
Pine
Oak
Mango
Banyan
Palm ....
Old Trees
Tall Trees
Big Trees ...
Tree
Forest
Garden
..... Orchard
Image Refinement & Variety
Design Concepts & Concerns
Foundation Programme, 1997
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Aug. 1997
The myths about the creative process needs to be dispelled through an understanding
of the process of visualisation. Designers are trained to express metaphors in visual
form and this is a central ability that helps offset the problem of incomplete or
inadequate information in a climate of extreme ambiguity in which design decisions and
explorations must take place. If everything were known about the problem or
opportunity the task is no longer one of design. Design therefore deals with the
unknown and gives shape to this unknown future and in this process creates a new
vision of the future that can be adopted through a rigorous process of evaluation and
testing.
The use of metaphors and abstractions to capture the essence of the idea is a common
approach to concept generation. The creation of visual representations in response to
verbal clues and the image contributing to the discovery of new patterns is a cyclical
process of search and discovery.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
4
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Designers offer Tangible
Solutions and Alternate
Scenarios through Creative
Visualisation Processes.
Attitudes
Action
Abilities
Designers build
Models and
Specifications
Abstract & Intangible
Designers study
People
Perception
L R
Cognition
Qualities
Concepts
Sensitivity
Creativity
Flexibility
Responsibility
Feasibility
Accountability
Desirability
Designers think with
Moving Images and
Words : Creatively
Concrete - Real & Tangible
Doodles Sketches Diagrams Image-Concepts Drawings Models Prototypes
Formulae Hypotheses Theories Word-Ideas Evocative Descriptions
Design Concepts & Concerns,
Foundation Programme, 1997
Visualisation
in Design
Image Concept
Word Concept
‘Tree’
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design . Jan. 1997
Visualisation is a unique process that is used by designers to create tangible
alternatives through cognitive and external modelling activities. Perception as
represented by user studies and observation of user behaviour leads to the
development of critical insights that guide the concept explorations of the designer. The
concept lies in a space that is iteratively explored and articulated by a series of
diagrams, models and prototypes till an appropriate solution is found. This is sometimes
a meandering process that moves between abstract and the concrete expressions, and
this movement from the general to the particular is the hallmark of design thinking.
Digital tools have been developed to manage the process of visualisation but these are
still very deficient to handle the flexibility needed in the early stages of the process of
design visualisation. CAD drafting and modelling tools are no match for the “pencil and
paper technology” at this early stage of flux and in the more advanced stages where the
tasks and targets are more clearly defined the traditional tools have already yielded to
the new and powerful softwares that are the standard today. However there is no
replacing the cognitive processes that are used by the designers in discovering and
articulating new and interesting relationships that give shape to our future products,
services, environments and events that shape our lives.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
5
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Data: Information: Knowledge: Wisdom: Vision
Design Decisions:
Possibilities & Specifications
Why? What? How Much? Better? Worse?............
Infinit e Cone of
Specificat ions
Cone of
Possibilit ies
Alternative A
Minimum
Specifications
Maximum
Possibilities
Alternative B
Alternative C
St r at egic
Decisions
Tact ical
Decisions
Decision Time Line
M P Ranjan . National Institute of Design
Design Concepts & Concerns, Foundation Pro
All new products and services are created and developed through a process of
innovation where a goal is achieved through the pursuit of a strategic vision. In this
process the search for solutions helps articulate desirable specifications in a
progressive manner till a specific concept is embodied in the form of a final solution or a
set of alternatives. The relationship between the decisions taken at various stages and
the process of embedding the desired specifications into a product as it is being created
is illustrated by this model.
The decision time line moves from left to right. As the cone of possibilities narrows down
to offer a particular embodiment of the new product and feature set the cone of
specifications gets expanded in an inverse relationship. The final product embodiment
can have infinite levels of specification which makes the task of technology and design
transfer a very elaborate task and could run into hundreds of thousands of pages of text
and illustrations.
The specifications would eventually cover all attributes of the product – its features, the
stages of manufacture, its material qualities and its market characteristics and a host of
other attributes that can be described. When new products are created the learning
process is rich and well endowed with the knowledge of possibilities and failures while
the importation of the same product technology leaves the recipient agency
impoverished and perennially dependent on the source of the innovation.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
Discussion notes for lecture at the IIMA scheduled on 28th September 2000
Design Methodologies and Issues
6
Prof. M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Levels of Design Interventions:
The New Industrial Design
Every design project
addresses all levels in
varying degrees...
Strategic
Level
Systems Thinking
Opportunity Mapping
Strategic Initiatives
Creates New Industries
Creates New Markets
Re-engineering strategies
Mass Customisation strategies
Eco-Friendly strategies
Anticipatory strategies....
Vision Led Design
Improves....
Quality
Performance
Cost
Finish
Colour
Ornament....
Tactical
Level
Creative
Level
DESIGN
Inventive
Innovative
Creative
Form
Colour
Detail
Technology
Finishes
Tools
Ornamentation
Practical Know How
Skill Led Design
Sense Led Design
Breakthrough Products
Novel Constructions
Innovative Processes...
Patent Led Design
Elaborative
Level
Variety & Style
Differentiation
Choice / Fashion
Product Differentiation
Product Collections
Style and Fashion
Market Segmentation..
Market Led Design
© M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design
This model is more fully explained in the papers by the author titled “Levels of Design
Interventions in a Complex Global Scenario” , Brazil, 1998 and the call for strategic use
of design is outlined in the paper titled “Design before Technology: The Emerging
Imperative”, Osaka, 1999.
MPR - DC&C - IIMA 2000
© 2000 M P Ranjan, National Institute of Design