CHAPTER 3 pdf (468 Kb)

In the contextual inquiry the role of existing designs in the generation of new concepts was identified as ubiquitous and important, yet not very well understood and supported. Being solutions to previous problems, these precedents provide designers with important frames of reference in the generation and development of new product forms. Reflecting certain elements of convention, which have been developed in a society in the relation between function, form and use of a product, these precedents embody design knowledge which can be applied by the designer in new design situations. However, because of the unique and specific character of these situations in an ill-structured problem domain such as design, the designer can not simply 'copy' such knowledge from existing designs and 'paste' it into the design task at hand. Thus successful transfer of design knowledge from precedents would require some form of active adaptation by the designer. How, then, does this adaptation process proceed, how can it be influenced and in what way should a design support tool be organized to augment it?

DISPLACEMENT OF CONCEPTS

As a first step in answering these questions, a framework to describe the role of existing products in the generation and development of new form concepts was constructed through a theoretical exposé on the formation of new ideas. It was argued that these come about through a ‘displacement of concepts’, a process in which old concepts do not literally get transferred to new situations, but are to be restructured in response to the characteristics of the new situation.

CLASSIFICATION

By projecting the old concept onto the new situation, the old would become a program for the exploration of the new, through which aspects and qualities of new concepts can be envisioned and evaluated. Classification plays a key role in this process, in that possible candidates for displacement would manifest themselves as basic-level concepts that can be distinguished in the existing structure of the new situation. Projection of these basic-level concepts to either a more general or more specific level of knowledge organization would then induce the formation of new concepts.

FORM CREATION

This general framework was then made more specific for the form-creation phase of the product design process. A special form of classification, ‘Typification’, was presented as a means to identify and structure the design knowledge which products embody. By grouping together products on their shared typicality regarding function, form or meaning, product types are formed, in which the product-specific knowledge of the individual instances is organized on a problem-independent level. This specific character then affords the projection of these types to new design situations. Three product typologies were developed each representing a body of design knowledge on a different level of organization. Throughout the form-creation phase the designer then alternates between these levels, to identify relations between forms, materials and functions of products, or between forms, materials and socially and culturally determined uses of products.