Digital Commons Network^™

What Is Design Knowledge?, Ulrik Lie

DRS Biennial Conference Series

How do designers move from believing, or assuming, to knowing in the course of action? In industrial design this move involves using theories under different ontology from different domains, and bridging them is an act that is epistemologically uncertain. The article discusses the nature of design knowledge, starting from a literature study and a model of the minimum knowledge needed for designing. Practising designers need to justify their assumptions in a large number of ways in order to arrive at a solution. If this amalgam of justificatory arguments is to be taken up by researchers in design methodology it poses …