Alternative experimental approaches in design for systematic methods

“Waiting like listening and meandering is best when it is an active and not a passive state”

Ann Hamilton

Since the recognition of design as a profession, design theories, definitions, approaches, and teaching methods have always changed. It sometimes leaned towards science and systematic methods, sometimes towards art and intuition, although these tendencies were always controversial. Today, under the influence of technological developments, complexities of upcoming problems, increasing belief in the competence of scientifically based standards research, and growing interest in materials research among designers, design is closer to science. However, the question remains that while the science-based enframing is seen by many philosophers and thinkers as a potential danger, whether this strong direction toward science or systematic methods is wise. This thesis endeavors to introduce alternative approaches for relying on the information, systematic design methods, and scientific research in the design process.

This work sees the problem in the missing concept of poiesis in the science-based design process. It suggests that this concept can be achieved through active experience, an exploratory approach, which is attained in different ways, such as not-knowing, unlearning, and exformation. In this path, what to make and why to make are the questions that poiesis responds to. Here, I should emphasize that poiesis in design does not indicate returning to craftsmanship but merely an attempt to re-think design philosophy and the designer’s worldview before any ideation and making. My dissertation explores the semantic and structural connection between design and poiesis. It will illustrate how design is an evolutionary learning process, a process of active experiencing, exploring, discovery, intuition, understanding, and interpretation.