Studies in Material Thinking, [Link]

org Associate Professor Lisa Grocott

Vol. 6 (2012), ISSN 1177-6234, AUT University Parsons The New School for Design
Copyright © Studies in Material Thinking and the author. grocottl@[Link]

p. 1
 DESIGNERLY WAYS OF RESEARCHING THE CRITICAL ACT OF FIGURING This visual essay deploys figuring as a method for re-
DESIGN KNOWING AND THE PRACTICE OF RESEARCHING searching the potential of design praxis in the context of research. In valuing that the
visual artefact can be productively ambigious the thesis came to respect the critical
DESIGN-LED RESEARCH, REFLECTIVE PRACTICE, DESIGN KNOWING, VISUAL THINKING value of working towards, rather than fixing, an understanding of the somewhat elu-
sive nature of design knowing. With an emphasis on becoming, the project recognises
the value of operating in a suspended state of figuring out, rather than determining a
I have spent almost a decade questioning, exploring, advocating for a world where
fixed position on how designers’ should undertake research. The sequence of the es-
research into the practice of design was not predominantly shaped by philosophers,
say reflects the multi-modal interplay between reflection and action that defined the
cognitive psychologists, historians or engineers. This pre-occupation with the role
research process. The diagrams initiate a way of thinking through a fragment from
of the practitioner in design research led me to undertake a PhD that considers the
a theoretical paper, and the text presents a formalised way to extrapolate from and
ways in which research into design might better reflect a designer’s perspective, ex-
make explicit the reflective conversation enacted by the situated process of figuring.
pertise and motivations. Yet, in a world that is coming late to the realisation that our
problems cannot be addressed by one discipline alone, I have come to wonder how Figuring is the name I adopted for a designerly way of drawing. The drawing style
misplaced my motivation was to defend the legitimacy of practice-led research. I now evolved over a period of years, showing it to be a thoughtfully critical process for sus-
find myself questioning the loyalty (or myopia) that led me to accentuate the positive taining a period of speculative reflection. Figuring allowed me to extend the process
of practice-led research while ignoring the limitations of a research approach centred of negotiating complex ideas, which as a researcher I found to be a useful strategy for
on practice. However, with some critical distance I now see the value of being pushed drawing attention to the often-times tacit process of designing. A close reading of the
into a corner to defend one’s territory. For arguably it is the contested nature of de- affordances of this visualisation process led me to Terrence Rosenberg’s proposition
sign research that has productively driven the breadth of multi-modal methods and that outlines the “fragile balance” of creative practice (2000). Adapting Bakhtin’s idea,
strategies that we now see emerging. In a world that increasingly calls for research Rosenberg describes the tension at the heart of creative practice as coming from ne-
p. 2 collaborations that transcend any conventional notion of discipline it is imperative gotiating the centripetal and centrifugal forces at play. The centripetal impulse pulls p. 3
that we have an informed respect for other disciplinary approaches, just as it is im- the practitioner toward what he or she knows, drawing connections with established
portant that we have our own way of understanding what design practice has to offer practices. This pull is countered by the practitioner’s centrifugal impulse to seek the
the context of research. unknown, to deviate from the normal in search of new possibilities.

Aligning criteria for research with design practice this essay proposes characteristics In this visual essay, this push and pull is negotiated through the process of figuring
of designing that may resonate with practitioners interested in research that respects what I came to call a proposition diagram. The term proposition diagram refers to the
the core values of design. Responding to the question of how research into the practice coming together of two modes of drawing that Bryan Lawson describes as being at
of design might better reflect a practitioner’s perspective, expertise and motivations the heart of the design process: the diagram and the proposition sketch (2004). Given
this essay speaks to the capacity of design to be performative, negotiative, adaptive, that these modes of drawing serve quite different functions a practitioner would nor-
situated and discursive. The insights presented in this visual essay are extrapolated mally choose between the possibilities-driven agency of the proposition sketch or the
from a design-oriented research project undertaken by the author, that specifically reflective utility of the evaluative diagram. In this way figuring seeks to intentionally
questions how visualising as a research method might interrogate the often only manipulate the push and pull of creative practice by bringing together these two
tacitly understood praxis of design. This visualisation research case study developed essential visual tools and designerly attributes we associate with design praxis. To
a critically, reflective process I called figuring and it is the insights from this research do this figuring interlaces the diagram’s ability to provisionally fix certain elements
experience that inform this essay. This essay proposes that figuring is a design-led re- so the designer can navigate complex moving pieces, with the proposition sketch’s
search strategy conceived to amplify the back talk of designing in a research context. speculative capacity to put forth possible ideas for a situation the designer is still
The essay aligns the research method with the output, working with the speculative- exploring. Emerging from the earlier visualisation research case study, the proposi-
yet-reflective nature of figuring to visually interrogate ways in which design practice tion diagram presents a visual strategy that draws on both the material and cognitive
might align with basic principles of what we understand research to aspire to be. knowing of the designer.
 RESEARCHING DESIGN KNOWING I am a practitioner-researcher driven to explore
the potential of designing as a method for investigating how designers’ think and act
in the world. This project is framed by philosophical discourse into design knowing
while being committed to the situated, action-research of project-based research. And
there lies the challenge.

Nigel Cross identifies methods for researching design thinking to include interviews,
protocol studies, simulation trials, observations and case studies, plus reflection and METHODICAL & PERFORMATIVE
theorising — noticeably ignoring the practice of designing as a research method in The blades mark the cyclical nature
and of itself (2007). Even as Cross makes a strong argument for why designers have a of design-oriented research

disciplinary responsibility to account for how they think and act in the world, he pays
no attention to how his phrase designerly ways of knowing might offer a complemen-
tary method for investigating how designers’ design. At the risk of oversimplifying this
complex situation, there appears to be two basic sides to this disconnect. First, there PURPOSIVE & NEGOTIATIVE
The paths trace a design-led approach
is the broad issue of how we evaluate good research and how we make sense of the
to problem-identification
limitations and opportunities presented by designing as a research method. Second,
there is the issue of what motivates designers and how research methods might reso-
nate and work with a designer’s strengths. From both perspectives the tension arises
from conventional approaches to research often appearing at odds with how design-
INQUISITIVE & ADAPTIVE
ers might intuitively approach a project. Motivated to address the limited participa-
The arrows seek out the speculative,
p. 4 tion of the designer as researcher this essays explores models for research that work p. 5
centripetal push of creative practice
with the expertise of the designer, while acknowledging the need to consider this in
the context of a broader conversation of research standards.

With reference to Bruce Archer, Cross outlines a basic set of five characteristics by
INFORMED & GROUNDED
which to assess the methods and intentions of what he calls good research (2007).
The vortex signals the centrifugal
This visual essay explores the possibility that these characteristics – “purposive, in- pull of creative practice
quisitive, informed, methodical and communicable” – can accommodate a design-
led approach for researching design praxis (Cross, 2007, p126). In aligning designerly
ways of knowing with criteria for research the design community does not need to
emulate the kinds of knowing generated by other disciplines, but instead to be able
COMMUNICATIVE & DISURSIVE
to understand how a practitioner’s knowing might complement the perspectives an The splines draw attention to the
interdisciplinary community of researchers’ bring to the scholarship of design. The reflective back talk of designing
goal then need not be to produce evidence-based research or a fully theorised posi-
tion on design praxis, but to present appropriate strategies for designers’ interested
in interrogating the oftentimes tacit knowing of creative practice. This project seeks
to model how a design-oriented investigation might ultimately offer strategies for
articulating, triangulating and ultimately translating situation-specific insights. The
goal being to enable the practitioners’ perspective to play a part in informing how we
build higher order understandings of design praxis.
 METHODICAL & PERFORMATIVE

[Practice-led researchers’] tend to

‘dive in’, to commence practising to see
what emerges...This is not to say these
researchers work without larger agen-
p. 6 p. 7
das or emancipatory aspirations, but
they eschew the constraints of narrow
problem setting and rigid methodological
requirements at the outset of a project.
(HASEMAN 2006, P3)
 PURPOSIVE & NEGOTIATIVE

Designers tend to use solution conjectures

as the means of developing their under-
standing of the problem. Since ‘the prob-
lem’ cannot be fully understood in isolation
p. 8
from consideration of ‘the solution,’ it is p. 9

natural that solution conjectures should

be used as a means of helping to explore
and understand the problem formulation.
(CROSS 2007, P102)
 INQUISITIVE & ADAPTIVE

The designer often telescopes a mass of

fragmented bits of information and then
usually after a period of incubation
p. 10 p. 11
invents a coherent and often elegant prop-
osition that embodies all or most of the
rag-bag of bits.
(SWANN 2002, P54)
 INFORMED & GROUNDED

Research by design conciliates theory and

practice. Such research helps build a gen-
uine theory of design by adopting an epis-
temological posture more consonant with
p. 12 what is specific to design: the project...The p. 13

epistemological figure is that of embed-

ded, implicated, engaged, situated theory.
Situated in what? In the project, of course.
(FINDELI 1999, P108)
 COMMUNICATIVE & DISCURSIVE

Elements of the design situation meet the

designer in the virtual world of the de-
sign and express desires, capacities and
resistances…And this is why it is back-
p. 14 talk; it is not informational feedback, data p. 15

about this or that, but words, metaphors,

conversational phrases, sensations that
have a cognitive component, but also an
affective or performative component.
(TONKINWISE 2007, NP)
 METHODICAL & PERFORMATIVE PURPOSIVE & NEGOTIATIVE
MULTI-FACETED, PRACTICE-LED, ACTION-ORIENTED: PROPOSE, MAKE, DISCUSS, REFLECT SOLUTION-FOCUSSING, CENTRIFUGAL PULL & CENTRIPETAL PUSH, CO-EVOLUTION

One of the five criteria that Cross names when he identifies the attributes we should The design attribute that seeks to address Cross’s call for research to be purposive is
look for in strong research is the need for research to be methodical. So to what ex- the “solution-focussed” nature of designing (Cross, 2007, p29). In considering the need
tent can the practice-led orientation of design address this criteria for a “disciplined” for a topic to be identifiable and capable of investigation we can make the connection
approach to research (2007, p126). If we accept that different disciplines appropriately to how a designer works with the speculative, opportunistic nature of designing in
have different ways of accounting for how to be ‘methodical’ it becomes possibile to the process of problem-identification. Haseman’s call for a performative approach to
envision a methodical approach to research that respects the nature of enquiry em- research embraces practitioners’ responding to the questions or hunches that emerge
bedded within the domain of design. from practice rather than counter-intuitively setting out to fix a hypothesis or an area
of investigation from the outset. This approach could potentially be interpreted as
With consideration for how design-led research might be methodical it is worth pulling
the researcher neglecting the requirement that research be clearly identified and yet
back from the process of designing to reflect on the practice-led, iterative nature of de-
by beginning with a question of direct relevance to the researcher there is immedi-
sign practice. For the thinking-through-making aspect of figuring can
ately an argument for the hunch being worthy of investigation. This
also be understood in relation to how the situated practice frames the
performative approach establishes an investment on the part of the
action and critique that drives the design process. Recasting the con-
researcher and potential resonance for other practitioners.
ventional action research cycle of: plan > act > observe > reflect the
figuring research project proposes a methodological approach that The reason this hunch-driven approach can still move the research
cross-appropriates aspects of action research and grounded theory. purposefully forward is connected with the designer’s capacity to be
In adapting methodologies from other disciplines it becomes pos- pro-active in the process of problem framing. The process of simul-
p. 16 sible to define a purposeful yet intentionally revisable action plan: taneously evolving the problem by exploring solutions potentially p. 17
propose > make > discuss > reflect. offers a new way of identifying and investigating areas of research.

Consistent with Haseman’s observation Stephen Scrivener makes a The figuring project used this notion of co-evolution of problem and
case for why practice-led researchers might not benefit from begin- solution to define the research program, the object of study, the de-
ning a research project by reviewing the literature of the field (2004). sign projects, and ultimately the main argument of a thesis. Figuring
Scrivener further argues that the act of making is the central driver teases out this principle of solution-focussing by attending to the
for the practitioner and generates the material for thought when already mentioned push/pull of creative practice. The iterative ap-
it comes to modes of studio-led research. These insights illuminate proach of figuring diagrams is conceived to facilitate the way a de-
why it may be counter-productive for the designer-researcher to interpret methodical signer negotiates the incommensurate conditions at play. In this respect the primary
as adhering to a pre-conceived sequence of steps. In accord with the nature of design goal of ‘troubling’ the centripetal/centrifugal tension is to ‘notice’ or pay attention to
enquiry it is useful for research strategies to support the feedback loop between the what is being negotiated. This can provide a guiding strategy for incrementally at-
designer-researcher and the design work, as well as between the research audience tuning the research to stay on course, effectively charting a purposeful, yet flexible
and the research situation. The crafting of a research program that enhances feedback approach to the research program. Focusing on the core negotiations of the figuring
calls for multiple research activities, the consideration of the subject from multiple diagrams helped to make explicit the thinking-through-making space at the heart
perspectives and the communication of the research through multiple modes. The of design practice. In drawing attention to the embodied act of figuring the research
multi-faceted nature of this research program may not lend itself to pre-determining challenged and advanced my base understandings of design. By making explicit the
the research direction yet it can tap into the cognitive discipline a practitioner brings “continual process of positing possibilities” I better understood the potential of ‘nego-
to the act of designing. The fluid yet complex character of such a research program tiating’ when it comes to framing research (Dilnot, 2005, pp10). I see this designerly
requires a researcher who can successfully navigate input from multiple fronts and way of knowing as central to what is distinctive about a design-oriented approach to
negotiate the reflective conversations generated by the different modes of enquiry. the practice of researching.
 INQUISITIVE & ADAPTIVE INFORMED & GROUNDED
SPECULATIVE, OPPORTUNISTIC, PROPOSITION SKETCH, SYNTHESIS, EMERGENT REFLECTIVE, PROJECT-BASED, DIAGRAM, PROVISIONAL SOLUTION, SITUATED

Cross also draws out the importance of the research being inquisitive, making explicit Complementing the idea that research be explicitly seeking to generate new knowledge,
that the research must seek to acquire new knowledge. This underscores the necessity Cross outlines the need for research to be informed by previous and related work. When
for the goals of research to trump the distinctly different set of ambitions that guide it comes to design-led research how does the project-based orientation fit with this no-
professional design practice. But assuming a commitment to make a scholarly con- tion of informed research? Alain Findeli introduces the notion of “project-grounded re-
tribution to the domain of design then the question becomes whether the designer’s search” by characterising this approach, developed within a doctoral program, as a hy-
interest in synthesising ideas from a range of diverse inputs is an appropriate strategy brid between action research and grounded theory research (1999, p111). His approach
for knowledge seeking. Just as a scientist uses deductive thinking to research notions of grounds the research in the projects, allowing the theory to emerge from the applied
universal truth, it is consistent with the cultural values of design (“practicality, ingenuity, project experience and ensuring that the researchers are valued for their academic and
empathy”) that the designer use abductive thinking to research the most “appropriate” professional design expertise. However, Findeli does caution that although we must
proposition (Cross, 2007, p18). The abductive leap allows the researcher to work with the recognise the importance of the design project it is also critical that we not mistake the
designer’s ability to tackle situations from multiple perspectives. In project as the central purpose of the research.
seeing connections across and between disparate sources of content
Design precedents clearly inform the practice of a designer, as does
it becomes possible for new ways of seeing the research problem to
the reflective practitioner’s “repertoire” of previous experiences that he
be disclosed. This inquisitive approach seeks a different kind of know-
or she draws upon when designing in an unfamiliar situation (Schön
ing, a knowing evaluated for how successfully the research insights
1983). Yet in a research context perhaps the gift of the project to design
propose new understandings of the field that ultimately transform the
research is the ‘field’ the project provides as a space where research
research situation. In this way the creative process offers an approach
p. 18 questions can be iteratively reformulated and reflection be “stimulated p. 19
to knowledge seeking that usefully establishes the conditions for re-
and nourished” (Findeli p111).
alising what has not been seen before (Scrivener and Chapman, 2004).
Literature on design epistemology, philosophy and creative praxis
Figuring facilitates this mode of enquiry by working with the propo-
unquestionably informed initial first moves when I began one of the
sition sketch, embracing the emergent, adaptive nature of the design
various visual essay projects that comprise the figuring case study.
process. Building on the previous argument that the ‘co-evolution
Yet once the process of designing began the diagram presented the
of the problem and solution’ presents a strategy for identifying the
primary tool I used to interrogate how my own tacit understand-
research problem, the speculative material act of generating a design
ings of praxis sat in relation to the theoretical positions. Using the
proposition feeds the abductive leap. This iterative process of prototyping potential
diagram to provisionally fix certain elements I could propose visual frameworks as a
solutions allows the researcher to tackle the kinds of ‘fuzzy’ problems and situations
strategy for thinking through theoretical arguments. As a strategy for exploring the
that are not easily defined at the outset but can be considered by proposing into the
tacit nature of design praxis the process of figuring diagrams enabled me to negoti-
research situation (Rittel and Webber, 1973). Figuring works with the capacity of the
ate my own position as I proposed design iterations, half-formed theories or tentative
proposition drawing to graphically ask “what if?” — a strategy for seeing unforeseen
conceptual frameworks. In this way the field of the project creates a space for the
opportunities, disclosing new ways of understanding, and refining the insights of a
practitioner where each move offers a step toward becoming better informed about
research situation (Lawson 2004, p53). The ‘becomingness’ of figuring suits a mode of
the topic under investigation. The diagram can support Donald Schön’s notion of
enquiry that values leaving some questions unanswered…if not unexamined. Argu-
reflective conversation between the designer and the grounded project, as well as
ably the material artefact does have limitations as an outcome of research, but the
the back-and-forth between the established discourse and the designer’s embodied
adaptive, emergent process of moving ‘toward’ an understanding is something design
knowing (Schön 1992). In this way the project productively drives the recursive na-
is equipped to negotiate. I settled on the verb ‘figuring’ since it resists locking-in a
ture of design enquiry, allowing the research to be informed by the iterative, situated,
conclusive theoretical position by intentionally visually representing ideas that elude
grounded context of practice.
being all figured out (Rosenberg 2007).
 COMMUNICATIVE & DISCURSIVE CONCLUSION This essay works with insights that emerged from a research proj-
MULTI-MODAL, PROPOSITION DIAGRAM, REFLECTIVE CONVERSATION, BACK TALK ect where visual essays were designed as a practice-led method for exploring, from
multiple perspectives, the topic of design praxis. In the process of ‘figuring’ out what
The fifth and last research characteristic Cross mentions emphasises the value of
could be learned from the previous research project this visual essay adopts the
generating results that are accessible to others (2007). A design-oriented approach
speculation-led reflective process outlined here and works with the same visual
is less interested in whether the research is ‘repeatable’ but does seek to produce
language to explore how design-oriented research might work with Cross’s criteria
insights whose relevance for others can be corroborated. Exploiting the multi-modal
for good research. While acknowledging the value of “situated knowledges” and the
nature of design practice, a design-oriented approach can potentially work with the
“partial perspectives” they disclose (Haraway 1988), the essay extrapolates from this
act of dissemination as a discursive, evolutionary practice that supports corrobora-
experience to illuminate ways in which the practitioner might deepen a designer’s
tion. A multi-modal approach may be useful for drawing an audience into ‘critique’
expertise and understanding to support the evolution of his or her own approach to
research insights since the designer’s practice of alternating between different activi-
design-oriented research. More generally the paper shares discursive diagrams and
ties (for example, designing, writing and framing) is connected to his or her ability to
proposes a critical framework as steps toward visually and theoretically prototyping
disclose new ways of seeing (Akin and Lin, 1995). Integrated into a research program,
ways in which the practice community might come to articulate the different ways
these modal shifts can do more than provide a space by which the
that designers’ might legitimately navigate the research experience.
practitioner can independently ‘notice’ new insights; multi-modal
enquiry can help the audience to potentially see things from a new One thing we do not seem to learn from experience, is that we do not often
perspective by advancing a new conceptualisation of the content learn from experience alone. (MASON 2002, P8)
(Doloughan 2002). Framing the act of dissemination as an ongoing, Given the emphasis in the essay on reflective practice and designing as research
interpretative process allows research presentations and publishing methods it was essential that I had the skills for creating some critical distance from
to be a discursive phase whereby the researcher can evaluate the my own experience, to effectively be able to see my own familiar practice anew. John
p. 20 potential of insights based on how the ideas resonate with his or her p. 21
Mason ascribes the “discipline of noticing” as essential to the work of researching
peers. your own practice (Mason 2002). In this context figuring presents a process for critical
Figuring worked with this multi-modal approach by allowing the thinking through action that works with the idea of productive disturbance, offering
keywords, captions or annotations for the proposition diagrams to in turn a strategy for deepening the designer-researcher’s conversation with the situ-
evolve in conversation with the ideas and for the work to be critiqued ation. If conventionally, in creative practice, the desire to deviate is moderated by the
throughout the process. Resisting the default graphic design position impulse to stabilise, I propose that when a designer is figuring this creative tension is
of communicating a fixed idea the figuring projects intentionally in- troubled in a way that allows the designer to be more conscious of the negotiation in
troduce ambiguous elements to the visual language. This speculation-led approach play. Yet figuring does not pretend to on it’s own facilitate a level of critical distance,
to reflection amplifies what Schön calls the ‘back talk’ of practice. In this way figuring nor does it work independently as a tool for communicating research. My experience
attends to the reflective conversation between ‘the designer’ and ‘the situation’, the concurs with Findeli’s claim that the practice element is primarily here to support the
design and ‘the audience.’ The conversation with the situation highlights the ways a research. Disclosing key practice insights from a design research project requires the
speculative move might serve to evaluate the conditions, forces and agencies at play. insights to be translated into higher order understandings of praxis and the creative
The immersive conversation with the design is the force behind the grounded push artefact has limited capacity for doing this.
from the known and the speculative pull to the unknown. Lastly, the back talk with It is beyond the scope of this paper to detail the ways in which approaches to grounded
the audience is embodied in the invitation to engage the audience in figuring his or theory and action research became an integral part of the overall research program.
her own understanding of design praxis. This reflective conversation with the overall Still, it is important to note the value of the practice-led project. For the close reading
research situation allows the researcher to synthesise an analytical approach of as- of the agency of figuring highlighted the value of speculation-led reflection and the
sessing “what is” with a design-led projective approach of wondering “what shall be” role negotiation plays in amplifying the back talk of designing, empowering me to
(Jonas, 2007, p206). use these insights to appropriate strategies from other disciplines who have wrestled
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p. 24

NOTE A more comprehensive account of the figuring case study and the broader research
project: Design Research and Reflective Practice: the facility of design-oriented research to
translate practitioner insights into new understandings of design can be found online at:
[Link].