A VIEW OF THE NATURE OP

DESIGN RESEARCH

Professor Bruce Archer

Department of Design Research, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU

My own approach to the question, "What is Design Research?" is closer to that of

the lexicographer than to that of the mathematician. The lexicographer attempts to
discover and record the meaning of words and phrases on the basis of the ways in
which the words and phrases are actually used and meant by the community concerned.
The mathematician, by contrast, is careful to define his terras, either for the
occasion or in reference to some previous worker's definition. The advantage of
reliance on usage rather than definition is its flexibility in the circumstances
of a young discipline, where neither the scope nor the vocabulary of the discipline
has yet reached stability.
That is not to say that I do not find definitions useful on occasion. For example,
when pressed, I am prepared to define Design, without the article and spelled with
a big D, as 1 the area of human experience, skill and understanding that reflects
man's concern with the enhancement of order, utility, value and meaning in his
habitat'. In this sense, Design is being distinguished from Science, spelled with
a big S, and Humanities, spelled with a big K, as one of the broad areas of man's
concerns. This is not one of the usages that you will find in the twelve-volume
Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which nevertheless devotes three whole columns to
34 senses of the word * design r , a space ordinarily devoted to as many as 30
different words.
I am also prepared, when pressed perhaps even not quite so hard, to define 'design',
still without the article but spelled with a small d as 'the combined embodiment of
configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value and meaning in man-made
things and systems'. You will not find this in the OED either, but it comes closer
to the definitions which are there. This is the sense in which the word 'design'
is used by most designers, critics and users.
I do not need to be pressed at all to define the word 'research', with or without
a big R. For me, research is, 'systematic enquiry whose goal is knowledge'.
Happily, there is almost universal consensus on this. The OED puts it very simply.
"Research, without article: Investigation, inquiry into things". I would be very
reluctant indeed, however, to combine these definitions into one purporting to
define Design Research, which in this context has both a big D and a big R. Such a

30

definition might thus become, 'Design Research is systematic enquiry whose goal is
knowledge of, or in, the area of human experience, skill and understanding that
reflects man's concern with the enhancement of order, utility, value and meaning in
his habitat'. Alternatively, it might become, 'Design Research is systematic
enquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value and meaning in man-made things and systems 1 .
The former seems to me to be impossibly broad. Who needs Arts, Philosophy, Science
and Letters, when we have Design Research, in this sense?
The latter definition seems to be a better description of the matter which design
researchers are actually investigating, but I am still uncomfortable with the
vagueness of its focus. On the other hand, I feel that an alternative definition,
'Design Research is systematic enquiry into the nature of design activity', which
is where Design Research began, is too narrow. It is in the light of all these
considerations that my own approach to finding an answer to the question, ''What is
Design Research?" is to try to discover what design researchers actually do.
Design Research at the Royal College of Art
Since it is what I know best, let me begin by describing what the people in the
Department of Design Research at the Royal College of Art (DDR/3CA) actually do.
DDR/RCA was founded, albeit under another name, in 1961. Before that, in the
period since 1954, I had personally been primarily concerned with the study of
things. More precisely, 1 had been wholly engaged in the design and/or critical
appraisal of the configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value and meaning
of man-made things, mainly consumer goods and engineering products. In other words,
I was a designer and critic. From 1957, however, I also became concerned with
design methods, that is, with trying to understand and to explain how designers,
including myself, arrived at a configuration for the thing or system we were
concerned with. In 1960, when I went to teach at the Hochschule fur Gestaltung at
Ulra, I was exclusively concerned with design methods. In 1961, when the research
unit which was later to become DDR/RCA was set up by the late Sir Misha Black
under my direction, we were intent on pursuing the study of design methods by
getting on with design practice, on a purely commercial basis, and by trying to
observe and record how we managed to do it. I foust admit that we were much more
successful at doing it than explaining it. Ten out of the 15 major projects
carried out on a contract basis in DDfl/RCA in t'he 1960s resulted in commercially
viable products, several of which are still in continuous production and sale at
the time of writing.
It is ironical under these circumstances that our findings on
design methods were widely criticised by other writers as being too mechanical and
simplistic to be realistic or useful models of the design process. For our own
part, we were finding that, since our operations were entirely funded by the profits,
such as they were, of the contract work, it was difficult to find sufficient
resources to do the academic side of the work properly.
From 1968, as a matter of policy, DDR/RCA reduced its volume of commercial business
in order to introduce more conventionally organised academic observations of
designers engaged in real or simulated design activity. The academic side of the
work was then funded by the Science Research Council and by charitable research
funding agencies. This was the period in which DDR/RCA became heavily involved in
the development of computer aids to designing. It was also thn period when we
became considerably involved in architectural, as well as in engineering and
industrial, design. The study of design methods tended to give way to the study
of the principles for erecting and manipulating models of the things or systems
being designed. These changes were only partly voluntary, however. The studies
undertaken were subject to the considerable contortions we had to resort to in
order to persuade the funding bodies that what we were doing was commercially
viable and academically respectable, respectively. The overall pattern of activity
in the period 1968-1976, as discernible in the complete list of titles of the
projects set out in Appendix A is therefore not a good indicator of what the staff
of DDR/RCA thought was the Ideal scope for Design Research at that or any other time .

31

In 1976, in an effort to escape from such pressures, DDR/RCA was converted into an
ordinary postgraduate teaching department, housing 24 Master's degree and PhD
research students, most of them design professionals or academics in mid- or earlycareer. The remit of the department, then and now, was to develop the discipline
of Design Research, and to teach its methods to students drawn from a variety of
scientific, scholarly and designerly backgrounds. The pattern of activity
discernible in the list of project titles is therefore a better indicant of the
workers' preoccupations from about 1976 onwards.
Indications from a title scan
What does an inspection of this list tell us? The first thing one notices is that
the study of various aspects of the cognitive processes of design activity forms the
largest single class of studies, far outweighing studies of design procedure. Case
studies in design activity remain prominent, constituting the second largest class
of studies. Although these carry incidental information about the design procedures
adopted there, they do not themselves constitute explicit studies of design
procedure. Third in prominence are studies in the application of computer aids in
design activity, predominantly in relation to architecture and planning but intended
to relate to design activity generally. Fourth, and almost equally prominent, are
studies in the implications of the other findings of Design Research for curriculum
development and teaching methods at all levels of education from the primary school
to university. These four groups embrace something in the order of 65% of all the
work done in DDR/RCA since about 1973.
Amongst the remainder are important but less numerous studies of the principles of
problem modelling, of the pattern of design activity, and of the methodology of
Design Research itself. Two groupings stand out in the tail of the list, namely
a number of studies on the social dimension of design activity, as seen in public
participation in various sorts of planning and design decision making and in its
applications in developing economies, and a small number of studies on the
implications of new technologies for the designer. One could carry out a similar
analysis of the output of other centres of Design Research, and perhaps derive from
these a set of descriptors of the preoccupations of design researchers in general.
But how reliable an indication of the proper foci and boundaries of attention for
Design Research would these descriptors be? In the case of DDR/RCA, I happen to
know that the boundaries of attention of the workers there, even in the circumstances of wider academic freedom gained when it became a teaching department, have
been, and still are, limited by external conditions. For example, in the Royal
College of Art there exist departments of Cultural History (DCH/RCA), Design
Education (DDE/RCA) and Graphic Information (DGI/RCA), besides departments devoted
to the postgraduate education of intending practitioners of art and design in
various specialisations. All these departments are concerned, in their different
ways, with systematic investigation into the design of things and with the nature
of design activity. The three I have named, however, are importantly concerned with
'systematic enquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value and meaning in man-made things and
systems'.
In other words, they have an active interest in Design Research, as I might have,
but was careful not to, define it.
In the face of the gentlemen's agreements that
govern relations between academic departments, workers in DDP./RCA have therefore
had to be cautious both in the topics which they have chosen for investigation and
in the words which they have used in describing them. Most of the workers in all
four of the research based departments of the College would therefore be likely to
think it reasonable to include at least some of the titles of their studies in any
attempt to use these to define the boundaries of Design Research. The titles of
studies listed by DCH/RCA, DDE/RCA and DGI/RCA are included here as Appendix B.
None of these departments has existed as long as DDR/RCA and consequently their
lists of titles are as yet unevenly representative of their interests, but it is

easy to see that the boundaries of attention of Design Research at the Royal College
of Art include the history of artefacts, theories of aesthetics and the place of
design theory and practice in the spectrum of human knowledge, as well as design
methods and the principles of modelling.
My own breakdown of the whole field, potential as well as actual, identifies ten
areas, like this:
1 Design history. The study of what is the case, and how things came to be the
way they are, in the Design area.
2

Design taxonomy.

The study of the classification of phenomena in the Design area.

3 Design technology. The study of the principles underlying the operations of

the things and systems comprising designs.
4 Design praxiology.
and its apparatus.

The study of the nature of design activity, its organisation

5 Design modelling.
The study of the human capacity for the cognitive modelling,
externalisation and communication of design ideas.
6 Design metrology. The study of measurement in relation to design phenomena, with
special emphasis on the handling of non-quantitative data.
7 Design axiology. The study of worth in the Design area, with special regard to
the relations between technical, economic, moral, social and aesthetic values.
8 Design philosophy.
the Design area.

The study of the logic

discourse on matters of concern in

9 Design epistemolog'y.
The study of the nature and validity of ways of knowing,
believing and feeling in the Design area-.
10 Design pedagogy.
The study of the principles and practice of education in the
matter of concern to the Design area.
The status of Design Research
A curious feature of the work at the Royal College of Art is its isolation. Very
little of it, and very little news of it, reaches the pages of journals primarily
or importantly devoted to Design Research, although some is published in the media
of the fields of its application. This invites the question, how true is this of
the work of others engaged in Design Research? I v/ould judge that, it is, indeed,
generally true.
Most Design Research is conducted at the academic fringe of
education in design practice. Probably most design research workers are design
practitioners by training, who do not feel the same compulsion to publish as do
workers in more conventional academic disciplines. Even where such compulsion does
prevail, some design research workers may feel it more appropriate to publish in
the mainstream publications of their parent disciplines.
Certainly the pages of
Design methods and theories are dominated by a limited range of topics, notably
spatial organisation in architecture and planning, and by a relatively small band of
authors, most of them teaching in schools of architecture.
The British journal Design studios was published by IPC in cooperation with the
Design Research Society partly as a response to these limitations, but this journal
is only half-way into its second year at the time of writing, so that it is a little
soon to be able to judge from the 40 or so articles published there what will be the
boundaries and centres of interest of Design Research reflected by it. A search
through the literature generally, on the basis of the subjects of concern to design
researchers at the Royal College of Art provides a picture of a very large volume of

33

material very unevenly distributed through the literature of neighbouring

disciplines. Appendix C is a paper produced for me by Dr Sebastian Lera on the
basis of such a search.
It is sometimes
the presence of
discipline such
content without
Design Research

argued that a test of the existence of a distinctive discipline is

an organised literature containing all the essential ideas in that
that a suitably qualified entrant to the discipline can master its
depending on the literature of other disciplines. By this test,
is not yet a distinctive discipline.

Presumably it is considerations of this kind that have persuaded the Design Research
Society's friends and collaborators in the United States of America to describe
their organisation as the Design Methods Group and to name their journal Design
Methods and Theories.
In the narrower compass of Design Methods it is easier to
demonstrate the existence of an independent literature containing all the essential
ideas, and to go some way towards justifying it as a discipline. I rather suspect
that DDR/RCA would have been willing to have limited its activities to design
methods, and to have rested its claim for disciplinar3' status on the body of
knowledge associated with it, if DDR/RCA had not also been involved with a larger
movement generally referred to as the design education movement.
The design education movement in Britain, and indeed elsewhere, is concerned with
the ways in which understanding and skill development is organised and taught in
schools and colleges. Protagonists of design education argue that the conventional
view of the school curriculum and of the range of disciplines comprising higher
education leaves out of account important sectors of the range of man's concerns,
and fails to recognise the existence of kinds of knowing that are vital to everyday
living. These happen to be the same concerns as those handled by the design
professions, and happen to employ the same capacities for perceiving, knowing
feeling, judging and imagining that are the central skills of designing.
More important to the protagonists of design education in schools, however, is the
observation that these concerns and these intellectual capacities are essential
components in the equipment of every boy and girl in coping with the problems of
life. For example, the capacity for constructing in the mind's eye a comprehensive
image of some existing or projected product, system or event, and revolving or
modifying that image in the light of various considerations, is a competence that
owes little or nothing to education in literacy or numeracy. The skill of externalising that image through the use of models of various kinds is exercised to some extent
in education through art, craft and so on.
It is generally given scant regard,
however, not only in secondary schools and academic departments of universities, but
also surprisingly, in schools of architecture and engineering. The further arts of
handling problems in their full complexity, of forming judgements on value data and
of making decisions in the face of imperfect Information are, for the most part
suppressed, rather than encouraged, by conventional attitudes to knowledge and
education. Criticisms of this kind have been voiced for a long time, of course.
There are, however, more numerous and more powerful lobbyists voicing them in
Britain at the present time than ever before.
It was the weight of the involvement of DDR/RCA in this movement that led to the
formation of DDE/RCA as a separate department committed to the study of design
education as a component of all education.
Design Research and designerly enquiry
The idea of Design as a broad area of man's concerns, comparable with Science and
Humanities, seems to be defensible in pedagogic terms. The idea that there exists
a designerly mode of enquiry, comparable with but distinct from, the scientific and
scholarly modes of enquiry seems to be defensible by the design methods literature.
The idea that there exists in man an intellectual process, for the handling of ideas
of configuration and structure independent of natural language and of scientific

34

concept formation, which I call imaging or cognitive modelling, seems to be

demonstrable in the literature of cognitive psychology. The idea that there exists
a lexicon and syntax for the externallsation of cognitive models seems to link a
lot of the work in design methods research.
Design, then, like Science, is not so much a discipline as a range of disciplines
united by a common intellectual approach, a common language system and a common
procedure. Design, like Science, is a way of looking at the world and imposing
structure upon it. Design, then, can extend to any phenomenon to which we wish
to pa}' designerly attention, just as Science can extend to any phenomenon to which
we wish to pay scientific attention. Design Research, on the other hand, is not
equatable with scientific research.
It is designerly enquiry, not Design Research,
that is equatable with scientific research. Design Research can, and does, employ
the methods of scientific research and scholarly enquiry in its pursuits, as well
as , mora rarely , the methods of designerly enquiry itself.
Whilst Design Research can, and does, enjoy the unifying characteristic of being
'systematic enquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the area of human experience,
skill and understanding that reflects man's concern with the enhancement of order,
utility, value and meaning in his habitat', it is nevertheless even less reasonable
to regard it as a single discipline than it is to regard scientific enquiry or
literary scholarship as a single discipline. The sub-disciplines which go to make
it up will no doubt continue to expand, divide and reform over time, in the way
that science and scholarship have expanded, divided and reformed.
If one takes the lexicographer's approach, and records the meaning of the term
'Design Research' on the basis of present usage, it is clear that there are
already three or- more basic usages established in the centres where mo9t of the
work is going on, and innumerable biases in the ways in which their bibliographies
are put together. In my view it is high time that these usages and biases were
recognised, and that some of the emergent constituent sub-disciplines were consolidated by the identification of their respective bodies of knowledge.
I would
personally favour the recognition of three such sub-disciplines:
1, Design Phenomenology, in which 1 would include, for the time being, design
history, taxonomy and technology, as I described them earlier;
2,

Design Praxiology, in which I would include design modelling and metrology; and

3, Design Philosophy, in which I would include design axiology, espistemology and

pedagogy.
There are overlaps between these sub-disciplines, of course. All of them, however,
although at present unevenly dependent upon external disciplines, are capable of
expression as coherent bodies of knowledge with credible boundaries and specific
fields of application. At a time when more and more bibliographies are being
converted into computer-housed databases with unlikely titles, and when more and
more academic and professional literature searches are becoming restricted to
them, the establishment of recognisable markers for the centres of interest in
Design Research is a matter of some importance.

END

35

A VIEW OF THE NATURE

OF

DESIGN RESEARCH

APPENDIX A:
LIST OF STUDIES CARRIED OUT AT THE DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN RESEARCH, ROYAL
COLLEGE OF ART
Function and design of non-surgical equipment, Bruce Archer, 1962.
Ward medicine trolley, Kenneth Agnew, 1962.
General purpose hospital bedstead, Kenneth Agnew, 1964.
Operating theatre pedal bin, Kenneth Agnew, 1966.
Suspended ward equipment, Kenneth Agnew, 1966.
Range of hospital beds, Kenneth Agnew, 1966.
Hospital equipment survey, Gillian Patterson, 1966.
Safety in machinery

design, Anthony Smallhorn, 1966.

Co-ordinated system of street equipment, Stephen Bartlett, Alan Brunsdon,

1966.

Automotive passenger seat, Joseph Koncelik, 1966.

Window design, Michel La Rue, 1966.
Centralising information on equipment for the disabled, Gillian Patterson, 1966.
Suitability of industrialised building systems to conditions in Hexico, Elizabeth
Garcia, 1967.
Bath and bathroom design, Kenneth Claxton, 1967.
Passive resonator system for hospital operating theatres, Karl Achim Czemper, 1967.
Home nursing bed, Kenneth Agnew, 1967.
Post-amputation bed, Kenneth Agnew, 1967.
Application of steel in components for industrialised housing, Patrick Purcell, 1968.
Wheelchair design, Kenneth Sadler, Alan Brunsdon, 196S.
Developments in the uses of plastics in design, Richard Langdon, 1968.
Design of hospital commodes, Kenneth Agnew, Pamela Rogers, Douglas Tomkin, 1968.
Computer-aided design of window-wall system, Patrick Purcell, 1968.
Application of computers in the construction industry, Kenneth Claxton, Karl Achim
Czemper, 1968.
Post-amputation socket-casting table, Kenneth Agnew, 1969.
Apparatus for the rapid analysis of fresh concrete, Karl Achim Czemper, 1969.
Beds and cots for children in hospital, Kenneth Agnew, Timothy Coward, 1970.
Role of design in educational technology, Richard Langdon, 1970.
Development programme in dental surgical equipment, Kenneth Sadler, 1970.

36

Play equipment for handicapped children, Jim Singh Sandhu, Roger Haydon, 1970.
Feasibility study for a computer-aided architectural design system, Andrew Garnett,
1970.
The coding of push-button controls, John Oates, 1970.
Computer-aided design and the evaluation of the building envelope, Patrick Purcell,
Andrew Garnett, 1970.
Specification and design of selfclosing door systems, Anthony Zubick, 1971.
Study of the equipment of hospital bed spaces, Rcihard Langdon, Gillian Patterson,
1972.
Vibratory-cutting earthmoving machine, Timothy Coward, Kenneth Agnew, Richard
Langdon, 1972.
Toileting aids for spina bifida children, Kenneth Agnew, Pamela Rogers, Douglas
Tomkin, 1972.
Ergonomic study for the design of sanitary fittings, Kenneth Agnew, Timothy Coward,
1972.
Analysis of the architectural design activity in the working environment, Patrick
Purcell, George Mallen, Pierre Goumain, 1973.
Link system and other programs; a stud^- of a computer network system as a means of
communication and exchange, Robert Manning Leigh, 1973.
A contribution towards the development of models of thought-processes underlying the
design activity, Paul Stansall, 1973.
Mathematical modelling systems for use in design, Bruce Archer, Patrick Purcell,
Richard Langdon, 1973.
Feasibility study on systems for the external reading of domestic meters, Timothy
Coward, 1973.
Design and development of binder spines, Kenneth Agnew, 1973.
Evaluation of the CEDAR/Computer aided design system, Patrick Purcell, Peter Sampson,
1973.
Development of domestic closet for the disabled, Pamela Rogers, Douglas Tomkin, 1973.
Service core units for low rise housing, Kenneth Agnew, 1973.
Police command and control consoles, Strathclyde, John Wood, Douglas Tomkin, 1973.
Ergonomic study of CAD facilities, Patrick Purcell, John Hughes, Peter Sampson, 1973.
Police command and control consoles, Birmingham, John Wood, Martin Hazell, 1973.
Feasibility of evaluating the performance of a hospital building constructed in the
HARNESS system, Bruce Archer, 1974.
Feasibility study for the extension of the meals on wheels scheme, Kenneth Agnew,
1974.
Intensive design exercise in the METHOD building system, John Wood, 1974.

37

Program development for computer animation, Colin Emraett, Alan Hitching, 1974.
Sanitary equipment for Spina Bifida children, Douglas Tomkin,

1974.

Notes on the synthesis of problems. An exploration of problem formulations used by

human designers and automatic systems, Max Henrion, 1974.
A contribution to curriculum development in design education (with special reference
to the case of Chile), Alfonso Gomez-Morales, 1975.
The development of a compact hygiene unit for the disabled and able bodied, Janet
Hall, 1975.
Study and design of kitchen systems for disabled unit, James K. O'Grady, 1975.
Design in general education, Bruce Archer, Ken Baynes, Richard Langdon, 1976.
The requirements of emergency shelter equipment for use in large scale disasters,
Kenneth Agnew, Gillian Patterson, 1976.
Towards the development of a model of the architectural design activity (with
indications for the design activity in general), Christopher Cornforth, 1976.
The development of interactive graphic aids for design problem structuring,
George Mallen, 1977.
The requirements of DIY tools for use with steel domestic building components,
Kenneth Agnew, Gillian Patterson, 1977.
Art and practice.

An enquiry into judgmental criteria, Jac Esterhuizen, 1977.

Computer aids in the design process towards the development of computer aided
equipment design, Craig Johnson, 1977.
Aspects of design in 1866, Alan Novitzky, 1977.
A contribution to the understanding of designer/computer interaction in the early
stages of design problems, Brian Reffin Smith, 1977.
Production design and control, Mary Scott, 1977.
Survey of Computer Education for Design and Construction, Patrick Purcell, 1978.
The design of a shipping control room for the Port of London, Andrew Hulme, 1978.
Towards a design model for low income housing in developing countries, Neomal Perera,
1978.
A contribution towards a methodology by v/hich design skill may be studied, William
Robertson, 1978.
Research project for a craft workstation for handicapped children, Joseph Shannon,
1978.
Environmental education, computer modelling and the participant citizen, Tsafy Simons,
1978.
An investigation of user responses to a prototype audio teleconference system with
implications for the design of teleconference systems, Frank Stone, 1978.
A psychological approach to the problems of aids and equipment for the physically
handicapped, Fiona Taylor, 1978.

38

Design decision making and the role of computer modelling, Martin Thaler, 1978.
An enquiry into the relationship between design competence and socio-economic
development, Alfonso Gomez-Morales, 1978.
Design criteria for multi-purpose industrial buildings, Pierre Goumain, Neomal
Perera, David Nixon, 1979.
The design and development of the game FA.CE, Tina Eden, 1979.
An investigation into the design activity in children with particular attention to
its problem solving aspects, Rosalyn Payne, 1979.
Microprocessor application:
Robertson, 1979.
Transition -

some implications for industrial design, Alec

user participation in the design of housing, Bruce Bentz, 1980.

An investigation of the thermal benefit of an attached greenhouse and energy

consumption in terrace housing, Brian Ford, 1980.
An exercise in the utilisation of inexpensive computing power in the design of
medical diagnostic equipment, Jonathan Lippold, 1980.
Socio-economic aspects of industrial design:
a contribution to the development of
research in this area at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM),
Jose Manuel Lopez, 1980.
A study of possible contributions fronyp'sychology to industrial design curriculum
(with special reference to the National Autonomous University of Mexico), Maria
Isabel Suarez, 1930.
Some methodological considerations for the empirical study of design and design
activity, Wil Wilson 1980.
Designers' Values and the Evaluation of Designs, Sebastian G. L'era, 1980.

39

A VIEW OF THE NATURE OF DESIGN RESEAP.CH

APPENDIX B: STUDIES CONDUCTED IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF CULTURAL HISTORY, DESIC-N
EDUCATION AND GRAPHIC INFORMATION, ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
Cultural History
In quest of reality: Art and indigenism in post-colonial cultures, with special
reference to contemporary Indian culture, Geeta Kapur, 1970.
Antilogic and the arts 1896-1971, Tim Jones, 1970.
Design in industrial society, Boliumila Lamarova, 1970.
Popular traditionist and modernist English painting since 1945 with special
reference to the New York school, Andrew Brighton, 1971.
An essay on criticism: A study of taste and imagination in English criticism of
the ISth century, James Faure-lialker, 1971.
The background and development of the basic design concept, Nuri Temizsoylu, 1971.
Art therapy:

A personal appraisal, Diane Waller, 1971.

Formal criticism:

Its application to 20th century painting, Caryn Becker, 1972.

The character of contemporary art education:

Andrew Dewdney, 1972.

A sociological perspective,

Aspects of the work of Dr Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, Stuart Durant, 1972.

The experience of space versus matter:
to sculpture, Yehuda Safran, 1972.

A phenomenological analysis with reference

The Pre-Raphaelist Brotherhood 1S48-1953, Soger Smith, 1972.

The work of art and the work of art theory:
John Tagg, 1972.

A study of fiax Raphael's theory of art,

The philosophy of Cubism, Alan Barnes, 1973.

The graphic act, Kim James, 1973.
A comparative study of stage design of certain American plays on the New York and
London stage from 1945, Judy Totton, 1973.
lion-linear information in linear media by passing the master and apprentice
education, Tom Graves, 1974.
Intelligence in creativity:

A study of Cubist Philosophy, David Grayson, 1974.

Edward Taylor and the Birmingham School of Art, 1974.

The Bomberg School:

A study of influence, Roy Oxlade, 1974.

A study of Odilon Redon, Jane Hicher, 1974.

Pop Culture since 1946 in Britain, Christopher Williams, 1974.
Theory and practice, Paul Wood, 1974.

40

An attempt to establish the efiects of teaching art history in British art schools
since 1945, Wayne Minter, 1975.
To analyse the various concepts which went towards defining the terra artist in the
late nineteenth century, Andrew Mortada, 1975.
To Gather Information Concerning the Building of Gothic Cathedrals which would be of
some use to the Restoration Programmes at present in Operation and for those in the
Future, Nicholas Woodward-Smith, 1975.
Phenomenology and Aesthetics, Arthur Flay, 1976.
A comparison between the frequency of appearances between wood-engravings and half
tone illustrations in the popular press 1880-1890, Leo de Freitas, 1976.
Women's magazines in Britain, 1900-1976, Anthea Hinds, 1976.
Art Theory and the Methodology of Art History, John Hindsley, 1976.
The Concept of a European Avant-Garde, Susan Clayton, 1977.
A comparison of Medieval Logic and Contemporary Art, Julian George, 1977.
A critical history and appreciation of beadwork and decorated houses of
and Nguni tribes of South Africa, Miranda Harris, 1977.

the Sothe

An historical survey and interpretative analysis of the photographic work of the

Army Film and Photographic Units throughout the period of the Second World War,
Laurence Hayward, 1977.
British Craftsmanship in the Machine En'vironment, Helen Snowdon, 1977.
The Vorticist movement, 1914-15, Andrew Wluka, 1977.
Women in Architecture, Susan Francis, 1978.
Late 19th and early 20th century textile and wallpaper designs by Lewis F. Day and
other designers associated with the Art Workers Guild and the Arts and Crafts
Exhibitions Society, Elizabeth Rycroft, 1978.
The problematic nature of photographic realism:
Albert Renger-Patzsch, Brian Stokoe, 1978.

an investigation into the work of

The relationship of British Art, 1700-1900, to the Agrarian Revolution, Hilary Watson,
1978.
Art Language, Ron Cowdery, 1979.
Ecclesiastical Patronage of

the Arts, Hike Day, 1979.

Narrative Analysis and the Western, Ian Green, 1979.

George Walton (1867-1933), Karen Moon, 1979.
Living Space:
some psychological implications of the design of urban environment,
Mary Thomas, 1979.
Contemporary attitudes to the way drawing is taught in Schools of Art, Rose Wylie,
1979.

41

PhD degrees
Bomberg's papers: The Spirit in the Mass - a commentary, together with transcriptions of various previously unpublished notes, Roy Oxlade, 1977.
A Study of the use of aesthetic significance of geometry and proportional systems in
the design of European plucked and bowed instruments in the 16th, 17th and 18th
centuries, Kevin Coates, 1979.
Design Education Unit
The use of human resources in design education at the secondary level, Malcolm
Fletton, 1977.
Design in General Education:

In-service training, Gerald Bleach, 1977.

A study of the teaching of Design at Undergraduate level in Mechanical Engineering

degree courses of British Universities and Polytechnics, Philip Hardy, 1978.
A comparative study of design theory and school workshop-based projects and their
relevance as a means of developing design 'capacity1, Guy Harrison, 1978.
The implications for the tertiary sector of developments in art and design education,
Tony Russell, 1980.
Dramatic activity as an aspect of design education:
1980.

a course unit, Jillyann Healy,

An examination of dramatic activity as an exemplar of interactive processes in

education, Polonca Brown, 1980.
A study of children's activities in relation to design, David Buchan, 1980.
The relation of craft, design and technology to design education in secondary
schools, Bernard Hill, 1980.
A contribution to the development of design pedagogy in general secondary education,
Don Baines, 1980.
Designing for the disabled: The implications for course development in design
education, Brian Boothby, 1980.
A study of the relationship of design to subjects in the curriculum, Krysia
Brochocka, 1980.
Foundation courses in architectural design education:
Jorge Espinel, 1980.

a case study in course design,

An enquiry into the quality of fit between the philosophies, curricula,and teaching
on product design courses in terms of the student experience, Roger Sale, 1981.
A study of the educational provision for the development of visual-spatial ability at
various stages of schooling, Brian Mayock, 1981.
A study of design activity as a component of the upper secondary school curriculum:
a contribution to the classification of the nature, aims and methods of the activity.
David Perry, 1981.
A study of the role of photography in secondary general education, Christopher Smith,
1981.
A comparative study of examination papers in certain sectors of design education at
secondary level, Stephen Burroughs, 1981.
42

A study of the relations between design activity and moral awareness in secondary
education, Trisha Burgess, 1981.
Craft values in design education, Anthony Howard, 1981.
Reports
Summer School Report:

discussion on the curriculum for Design Education, 1976.

Design in General Education, Professor Bruce Archer, Ken Baynes and Richard Langdon,
1976-79.
Report on Two Short Courses:
and Malcolm Deere, 1978.

Design in General Education, Ken Baynes, Phil Roberts

Beyond Design Education, Ken Baynes, 1980.

Graphic Information
The relative effectiveness of ten alternative systems of typographic coding in
bibliographic material, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Cos, 1973.
A report on the relative legibility of alternative letter shapes, Herbert Spencer,
Linda Reynolds, and Brian Coe, 1973.
A comparison of the effectiveness of selected typographic variations, Herbert
Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1973.
A report on a system of computer-generated alpha-numeric characters, David Cranch,
1973 .
The relative effectiveness of spatial and typographic coding systems within bibliographical entries, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1974.
A preliminary study of the effects of image degradation on the legibility of
text and numerals, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1975.
The effects of image degradation and background 'noise1 on the legibility of text
and numerals in four different typefaces, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and
Brian Coe, 197 5, revised 1977.
Factors affecting the acceptability of microforms as a reading medium, Herbert
Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1977.
The effects of show-through on the legibility of printed text, Herbert Spencer,
Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1977.
The effects of different kinds and intensities of background 'noise' on the
legibility of printed text and numerals, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and
Brian Coe, 1977.
The effects of image/background contrast and polarity on the legibility of printed
materials, Herbert Spencer, Linda Reynolds and Brian Coe, 1977.
Directional signing and labelling in libraries and museums:
a review of current
theory and practice, Herbert Spencer and Linda Reynolds, 1977.
Two experiments on the layout of information on Computer Output Microfilm,
Linda Reynolds and Herbert Spencer, 1979.
The presentation of bibliographical information on Prestel, Linda Reynolds, 1980
Legibility research 1972-1978:

a summary, Jeremy M. Foster, 1980.

43

A VIEW OF THE NATURE OF DESIGN RESEARCH

APPENDIX C:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR DESIGN RESEARCH

by Dr Sebastian G. Lera

I have undertaken a survey of the various sources in which publications about design
research are cited. The sources are of two kinds: bibliographies and abstracts
indexes. My original intention had been to quantify the number of publications in
the field by delineating boundaries in some way. However, I prefer to describe my
findings and then to discuss the question of quantification.
I shall confine
myself mostly to recent publications in English, during the last ten years.
Abstracts Indexes
1

The Architectural Periodicals Index is published by the RIBA.

It dates from
August 1972. Over 300 periodicals are covered from 'Architectural Association
1
Quarterly to 'World Hospitals', including 'Computer Aided Design 1 , 'Design1,
'Design Methods and Theories', 'Design Quarterly1 and Research and Design'.
A proportion of periodicals included are not in English - about one third of
the articles cited. Nevertheless, emphasis is on Great Britian. Negotiations
are in progress to computerise the index. The fields covered are architecture
and allied arts, constructional technology, design and environmental studies,
landscape, planning and relevant research. In all these fields, articles on
both current practice and historical aspects are included.
In planning the stress
is on actual schemes, conservation and urban history, rather than on pure theory
and research. About 10,000 articles/papers, in English, are indexed per year.
Two citations:
'Special Issue. Design Methods in UK School of Architecture',
Design Methods & Theories, vol. 13, no. 1, 1979, Jan/Mar, pp 6-45. 'Tory threat
too great to fight warns UCATT chief (Les Wood)', article by Neil Morrison,
Building Design, no. 452, 1979, 29 June, p. 7.

Psychological Abstracts cover two areas of design research. First, architectural/

environmental psychology, ie human behaviour in relation to designed environments;
second., some human factors engineering (ergonomics) material. In the first
category, they index abstracts from 'Environmental Psychology and Nonverbal
Behaviour' and 'Environment and Behaviour 1 , in the second, 1 Ergonomics 1 and
1
Human Factors'. In 1979 there were about 40 papers listed in the first
category and in the second about 50.
Two citations: in the first category, Archea, J. 1977.
'The place of
architectural factors in behavioural theories of privacy 1 , Journal of Social
Issues, 33(3), 116-137; in the second category, Thomas, J. C., Malhotra, A.,
Carroll, J. M. 1977.
'An experimental investigation of the design process 1 ,
IBM Research Report, no RC6702.
An interesting literature review was provided by Stokols, D., 1978, 'Environmental Psychology', Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 29, 253-295. He writes:
"The research literature on human behaviour in relation to its environmental
setting continues to expand at a staggering rate. The rapid expansion of
environmental psychology can be gauged by the diversity and sheer quantity
of publications that have appeared since . . . 1973. From early 1972 to early
1977 10 text books, 6 edited readers, 2 multiple volume series on theory and
method, 30 state-of-the-art monographs and edited volumes on specific topics,
were published.
Environmental psychologists have maintained a vigorous level
of professional and interdisciplinary contact as evidenced by annual EDRA
(Environmental Design Research Association) Conferences and Architectural
Psychology Conferences."
Two journals existing are 'Environment and Behaviour' and 'Environmental
Psychology and Nonverbal Behaviour', and there are some other newsletters, etc.

In all, he lists some 500 items of interest to environmental psychologists, only

some of which, however, would seem to relate directly to design research. Those
about population, for example seem rather remote.
Two items: Davis, G., Attman, I., 1976, 'Territories at the work place: Theory
into design guidelines', Man-Environment Systems, 6: 46-53. Crawford, T. J.,
1973,
'Beliefs about birth control: A consistency theory analysis, Represent.
Res. Soc. Pyschol. 4: 53.65.
3

Ergonomics Abstracts. This is a selection of some 3,000 abstracts (in English)

annually by the Ergonomics Information Analysis Centre, University of Birmingham.
There appears to be little overlap with Psychological Abstracts. Much of the
section entitled 'The Design of the Man-Machine Interface' is relevant to design
research, for example, subsections on Visual Displays, Controls, Workspace layout,
and Equipment design.
In 1979 about 400 items were included in these subsections.

RILA, International Repertory of the Literature of Art, provides some 10,000

entries per year including books, dissertations and periodicals.
It has just
become available on-line at the Courtauld Institute. It includes Architecture,
Sculpture, Pictorial Arts and Decorative Arts. I am told that there is little
overlap with the Architectural Periodicals Index. The word 'design' produced
1,660 citations, 'industrial' 430, 'product' 55, 'research' 509, 'graphic' 8,099.
There was just one citation for 'consumer product', Herman, L. E. and Brand, L . F . ,
The designs of Raymond Loewy, Exhibition catalogue, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian
Institute, Washington DC.

Design Abstracts International, is published by the International Council for

Societies of Industiral Design (ICSID). They referenced some 2,800 items between
1975 and the end of 1978, covering abstracts from about 60 journals. These
include Architectural Association Quarterly, Architectural Design, Design (UK),
Designer (UK), Industrial Design (USA), New Products and Processes (USA).
However, there are many more in languages other than English;
I estimate only
about \ of the material to be in English. Classification headings are: Design;
Product and Industrial Design; Visual communications; Graphic Design; Architecture;
Space and Planning; Urban planning.

If I may venture a personal opinion, I believe this to be a poor bibliography. The

inclusion of a handful of, say, architectural periodicals out of the dozens
(hundreds?) available, and of one town planning journal, seems curious. Who would
want to consult this for architectural or town planning material in view of such
selectivity? And they are not journals which have material of relevance to, say,
industrial design. Conversely, to miss out, say, Design Methods and Theories in an
abstract series on design seems a sad omission, let alone omitting the wealth of
relevant material in ergonomics and human factors, to name but a fraction.
Bibliographies
1

Whitakera Almanack (1980) in a section on books published in Great Britain

(taken from 'The Bookseller') gives the numbers of books published in 1978 on
Architecture as 366, on Art as 1,304. There is no listing for 'Design'.

Art Books 1950-1979. 1979. New York: R. R. Bowker Company. A total of 37,000
books are indexed, all in English. Under the sections Design, Design Industrial,
etc, there are about 200 books. For example, Baynes, K. 1976. About Design.
London:
Design Council. Of course, there is much for design reearch under
headings of various artifacts, clocks, watches, etc, and much else about art,
painting, etc.

Bibliographic Guide to Art and Architecture published annually by G. K. Hall,

Boston, Massachusetts. Latest edition 1979. Includes Painting; Print Media;
Decorative and Applied Arts; Visual Arts; Architecture; Sculpture; Drawing and
Illustration. Fully international.
Includes exhibition catalogues, etc. 1979

45

edition contains about 40,000 entries.

Under Design generally, there are about
80 entries. For example, Mayall, W. H., 1979, Principles in Design, New York.
Of course, there is much for design research under headings of various artifacts
and much else about art, painting, etc.
4

Ehre smarm, D. L., 1977, Applied and Decorative Arts: a bibliographic guide.
Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited Inc. Cites 1,240 books, about half of
which are in English and published between 1875 and 1975.
Includes Ceramics,
Clocks, Furniture, Costume, etc.

Coulson, A. A. A Bibliography of Design in Britain 1951-1970, London: Design

Council. Contains some 8,000 references. Under the heading 'Design and
Designers' ->.re sections on theories of design and craftsmanship; evolution of
design; gen ral chronological studies, periods and tendencies; important
designers; Europe and elsewhere; colour, ornament and pattern; technical, social
and economic factos. Under 'Areas of Design Activity' are sections on graphic
and print design; interior design; furniture design; designing in particular
materials; costume and fashion; appliances and mechanical equipment; transport.

Discussion
I am well aware that the foregoing account omits many important areas of design, or
at least deals with them perfunctorily. Transport design, for example, is covered
by Coulson's bibliography, but he is aware that he includes only a fraction of the
material available; he suggested to me that multiplying his list by six would give
an idea of what else there is available.
Leaving aside these omissions, here are two extreme examples for design research
bibliographies, and crude attempts to quantify the material available:
Example one. There is an area of academic study which might be said to form a kind
of central core of design research.
Within this boundary would lie design methods,
design theory, design history, design education, some of the computer aided design
and ergonomics literature and perhaps environmental psychology, architectural theory
and architectural history. Very rouglily, one might estimate the annual number of
publications in these subjects as follows: design methods and theories, say, 100;
design history, say, 100; design education, say, 50; relevant CAD, say, 50; relevant
ergonomics, 400; environmental psychology, 50. Leaving aside architectural material,
this totals some 750 publications per year.
Example two. In total contrast to Example One, it seems highly desirable to have a
data base on all designed artifacts from city plans to door knobs, from space
rockets to balloons and encompassing human factors and psychological responses.
Some
idea of the number of publications per year could be obtained as follows:
Architectural Periodicals Index

10,000

Environmental Psychology

50

Ergonomics

400

RILA, say, half that available

5,000

Transport and engineering (a pure guess)

5,000

Total of periodicals citations

about

Books, see bibliography section

say,

20,000
2,000

This extremely rough method gives a total of some 22,000 publications per year in the
field of design.

46

Finally, I should like to add that there is a great deal of concern for, and
interest in, bibliographies. And, as I have shown, there are many existing data
bases which include design research material. For these two reasons, I believe any
development of a design research data base should be co-ordinated with what has been
achieved, in associated areas of academic study. I believe also that decisions
about what topics to include and what to exclude, as well as who are to be the
potential users of the data base, should be considered rather carefully.

47