Design science

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Design science refers to a scientific, i.e. rational and systematic, approach to designing. An early concept of design science was introduced in 1957 by R. Buckminster Fuller[1][2] who defined it as a systematic form of designing[3] which he applied especially in innovative engineering design. The concept has been more broadly defined by the Design Science journal[4] as “quantitative and qualitative research in the creation of artifacts and systems, and their embedding in our physical, virtual, psychological, economic, and social environment”.

There has been recurrent concern to differentiate design from science.[5][6][7] Nigel Cross differentiated between scientific design, design science and a science of design.[8] A science of design (the scientific study of design) does not require or assume that the acts of designing are themselves scientific, and an increasing number of research programs take this view.[9] To some extent the two uses of the term design science (systematic designing and the study of designing) have co-mingled to the point where there can be some confusion, and design science sometimes may be referred to either as meaning a science of design or design as a science.

A science of design

Herbert A. Simon's The Sciences of the Artificial,[10] first published in 1969, built on previous developments and motivated the further development of systematic and formalized design methodologies relevant to many design disciplines, for example architecture, engineering, urban planning, computer science, and management studies.[11][12][13][14][15][16] Simon's ideas about the science of design also encouraged the development of design research and the scientific study of designing.[17]

Design as a science

See also

References

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