I get it. Design scholars are interested in health, sustainability, psychology, education, etc... I am. However, a design scholar doing research is expected to research design, not other fields.
I read/review manuscripts so often with introductions on health, sustainability, etc., that do not mention design work! We can do better. If you are a design scholar, tell me what design theory, design background, and design work there is. I want to know the knowledge gap in design, not in other fields. I don't care about wonderful theories of health, sustainability, etc. I care about design theory.
Hey, what about transdisciplinary work? Sure, show me that, but do not label something transdisciplinary to hide the fact that there is no relevant contribution to the field of design.
Rubric: Are you studying design artifacts, design practitioners, design processes, design histories, and design activities? If so, you are probably a design scholar.
I am working on a project called the "Five-space model" which aims to expand traditional two thematic spaces to five thematic spaces.
Traditionally, designers tend to use the following two thematic spaces for their creative thinking:
1. Problem space
2. Solution space
In Nov 2022, I developed the Strategic Curation model and suggested the following five thematic spaces:
1. Experience Space: It refers to the facts of the Past.
2. Challenge Space: It refers to the problems in the Present
3. Response Space: It refers to the solutions for the Future
4. Reference Space: It refers to reliable and validated knowledge for thinking
5. Speculative Space: It refers to imaginative thinking such as Counterfactual Thinking about the Past and Prefactual Thinking about the Future.
What does Strategic Curation mean?
It refers to using a specific strategy to curate pieces of experience, knowledge, and resources into a meaningful whole for a better future.
The Strategic Curation model is designed with two types of Thematic Spaces:
1. “Thinking” Thematic Space
2. “Doing” Thematic Space
Is it a Design Research project? or a Strategy Research project?
Design is a traditional discipline. Since Design expanded its objects, the boundary of the discipline became fuzzy.
In 2015, Preece, Sharp, and Rogers published the fourth edition of Interaction Design: Beyond Human-computer Interaction. They shared the diagram below with readers.
In this diagram, some fields are not named with the word "Design". For example, CSCW, HCI, Cognitive Ergonomics, Human Engineering, etc. Do they belong to the discipline of "Design"?
From the perspective of the Division of Labor, I'd like to suggest that there are four types of design knowledge creators:
1. Design Theorists: they produce new design theories.
2. Design Scholars: they produce academic design knowledge by working on non-theory empirical studies.
3. Design Researchers: they work on domain-specific design-related research, such as UX Researchers, etc. The outcome aims to improve practical activities such as business and communities.
4. Designer: they are not researchers and scholars, but they share their subjective experiences of design as a creative life.
I used this "Four Thematic Areas" model to study Psychological Knowledge Engagement from Sept 2023 to Dec 2023. Maybe we could apply it in the field of Design.
