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Guest lecture: Balancing between prescribed processes and open explorations in design

Professor Emeritus of Design Theory from University of Northumbria, Gilbert Cockton, visits Aalto in May.
Artwork inside Väre building
Gilbert Cockton
Gilbert Cockton

Professor Emeritus of Design Theory from University of Northumbria, Gilbert Cockton, visits Aalto in May. He is ACM Distinguished Speaker, has over 270 publications since 1985, and has given almost 260 invited presentations in 25 countries (including 19 keynotes). 

We are honoured to have a chance to host the following guest talk at Aalto ARTS on 16 May 13:00-15:00 at F102 room in Väre.

Join us!

ABSTRACT:

“Designers – both in the more creative fields as well as those whose aims are oriented to products and services, such as industrial design, service design and HCI/IXD – are always in search for a balance between prescribed processes and principles and open-ended explorations.

In this talk, I will provide an overview how design research has addressed this challenge over the decades from 1960s to the contemporary times. I will briefly introduce Dorst’s two paradigms in their STEM and creative arts contexts, move beyond Rittel and Webber’s analysis to a multidisciplinary framework based on John Heskett’s position on design, and show how this has supported tracking for both creative practice and design research (and in the case of research through design, both). Given the ambitions for constructive design research, the ability to expose how work has progressed can also tease out the reasoned bases for design outcomes, but without adversely constraining creative practice.

I will illustrate this account by presenting examples from HCI and interaction design, but also from other fields of design.”

Gilbert Cockton

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