Design Research: History, Theory, Practice - Histories for Future-focused Thinking
Design practice and design research: finally together?
Kees Dorst
University of Technology Sydney & Eindhoven University of Technology
Kees.Dorst@uts.edu.au
Keywords: design research; design practice; academic design
Abstract
Early design research was driven by the ambition to create a coherent Science of Design – an ambition that was later abandoned in favour of a more pluralist approach. But despite great progress in the last 50 years, Design Research can still be criticised for being (1) too disconnected from design practice, (2) internally scattered and confused (3) not achieving the impact that was hoped for. In this paper we will discuss possible solutions to these conundrums by learning from three professional and academic fields: Marketing, Art Theory and Management, respectively. Based on these three discussions an attempt will be made to create an integrated answer by considering how design research and practice might come together in the creation of a new field, “Academic Design”.
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Cite this paper: Dorst, K. (2016). Design practice and design research: finally together? Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.
This paper will be presented at DRS2016, find it in the conference programme