Design Methodology: How I Understand and Develop it

The term'methodology'is sometimes given two diametrically opposed meanings, well characterized by Mark Blaug in the preface of a very informative book devoted to the methodology of economics. This is also the case with the methodology of design. One can find studies in which'the methodology of design'is simply a method or methods of design, given a fancy name to make it or them appear more scientific. Authors of such studies should not confuse their readers by taking methodological studies to mean technicalities of design or demanding that their interpretation and assessment of so-called'practical applicability'should follow this criterion. The methodology of design - as we understand it has parallels in the methodology of Blaug's economics, the philosophy of practical science, the applied sciences or the sciences of artificial objects or artefacts. Understood this way, the methodology of design is neither the method of practising design nor an instruction for its use but a theoretical reflection - in the meaning given to methodology by the philosophy of science - of design. In this connection a study of the methodology of design should be provided with the subtitle,'How researchers of practical sciences and designers understand the concept of changes'