What is design theory?
Firstly you need to look at ‘design theories’ initially as two separate entities ‘Design’ & Theory, otherwise there is a problem understanding them together. This problem
arises because the two terms together are moderately contradictory, theory and
design are thought of as two separate practices (1). Design is a physical practice of which a functional outcome is created. A
process of creation achieves a design solution (Hooker, pg1). As examples you
can design a coffee table or even computer software but cannot design an idea.
This thus confirms that ‘design’ is indeed a process as opposed to ‘art (2)’, which doesn’t necessarily need to have a solution.
“Art for art's sake” (3)
(Cousin, Early 19th Century)
Theory (4) is a way of understanding the world and making it more intelligible. Theory not
only try’s to explain how things are, but also leads to an understanding of why things
are as they are (Hooker, pg3). The properties that closely enable the claims of
theories are thought of more as a rule this being known as ‘lawlike’. If you look at the famous writings of Nelson Goodman (1965) who came up with
the concept of ‘grue’ this will give you an alternative understanding of the theory process.
“Let something be ‘grue’ if it is green until the year 2010
and blue thereafter” (Hooker, pg4)
This means that if I was to observe that the colour of grass is currently green
(2009) it therefore will not be ‘grue’ but in 2010 the colour could be ‘grue’. Unless I have multiple indications of a ‘lawlike’ example confirming the grass is indeed green the grass therefore could be blue.
Although confusing Goodman was trying to show how difficult it can be to
determine what constitutes ‘lawlike’ hypotheses. If we can’t constitute a rule to quantify something then we will not be able to confirm
anything.
So when we start evaluating ‘Design Theory’ we need to understand that design is a practice, therefore we need to organise
our knowledge of the design practice. In order to do this we must be able to
theorise the procedures of how a designer has learned their practice, what
steps of creation are followed and when working in a team of designers how do
they interact? John Dixon (145-157) asked the question what would happen if
people designed differently? Focusing on the methods a designer would follow in
order to create good design. He surmised that when working in a collaborative
team, design procedures would be followed and steps of action would be taken.
So since design is a practice, theory of design must be theory of the practice
of design, but this is a contradiction in terms, therefore it can only mean
this in a socio-psychological
(5) sense.
How does consciousness fit in?
Firstly I will try to explain the basics of how we perceive basic consciousness.
‘Consciousness’ refers to how each of us has unique thoughts and individual awareness of our
personal memories, sensations, feelings and surrounding environment. Throughout
our lives our consciousness is constantly updating our experience and thoughts.
“Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a
phenomenon
that people don’t know how to think about – yet” (Dennett, pg21)
An example of this would be that perhaps while you are reading this paper your
mind has without warning shifted to a memory that has been triggered by the
text within this paper, then your attention is drawn away from that memory and
you are feeling uncomfortable because the chair you are sitting on is too hard
and the room you are in is too stuffy. Then your attention is then drawn away
to what you would like to have for your next meal. All of these thoughts and
sensations may have happened to you within seconds and of course without you
being aware of the shifts in your thoughts and how this experience is seamless
and without any required effort.
Below are a few interesting ideas on consciousness.
Whilst I have illustrated an idea of my own perception of consciousness one can
never truly give a final verdict or understanding to what consciousness is.
This is because each experience that we encounter is personal to ourselves and
cannot be quantified by other people’s own experiences. This problem is often academically expressed by the terms ‘qualia (6)’ the ‘qualitative’ or ‘phenomenal’ features of our conscious states of mind. The stance that one can take on the
issue of ‘qualia’ is that it is a decisive choice point in respect to the mind-body problem (Kim,
p20). That being said I will endeavor to give you examples of three different
areas of philosophical theory that try through consciousness to further advance
design procedure.
The theory of Phenomenology
When discussing whether phenomenology has purpose as a designer you first have
to gain an understanding of its heritage.
In philosophical terms phenomenology did not emanate from a design background,
it originated from a mathematical background. Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) a
philosopher was one of the first to gain an understanding and is indeed widely
regarded as implementing the methodology of phenomenology. ‘He sought to develop a new philosophical method which would lend absolute
certainty to a disintegrating civilization” (Eagleton, p54) is how Husserl’s theory was described. Vandenberg (p11) backs up this theory describing Husserl
as “the fountainhead of phenomenology in the twentieth century”.
Husserl believed that objects existed independently within the world. This made
the objects information reliable to theorize about.
He believed that a person could rely on something’s appearance within their own consciousness, making anything outside of their
immediate experience should then be ignored, this reduces the external world to
the contents of self consciousness (Fouche, p87-112). Husserl wanted people to
examine objects in one hand and experience of them in the other hand. Husserl
was to name this new brand of philosophical method ‘phenomenology’ this being the science of pure ‘phenomena’ (Eagleton, p55)
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) a student of Husserl was to make further
controversial advances in phenomenology. He re-introduced the concept of ‘Dasein’ (Being there) this is a dialogue between a person and the world. In Heidegger’s book titled ‘Being and Time’ he made distinctions between ‘authentic’ and ‘inauthentic’ styles of Dasein. To understand this you need to think of ‘authentic’ as the individual character or human being that is compromised by conformity to
inherited social structures. The ‘inauthentic’ meaning to live within a pre-determined structure, which is in accordance to
the activities of everyday life. In ‘Being and Time’ Heidegger makes further leaps by deconstructing ‘Dasein’ from the ordinary inauthentic everyday life to arrive at ‘Being-Towards-Death’ this being major factor of Dasein’s existence (Malpas, 1998).
