Mapping Design Methods : A Reflection on Design Histories for Contemporary Design Practices

This article outlines a direction for a research endeavour bringing togetherdesign research and design historical research from a perspective of contem-porary design methods. There is a need to probe and question the historiesand geographies of design’s methods, to explore how they could contribute toexpanding conceptual foundations and develop new ways of designing.We are proposing a programmatic framework that brings design methods tothe attention of design history, and to historicity of design in design prac-tices, by sketching a map, a geography in time, to move toward a deeperunderstanding of the evolution of methods linked to the specific cultures andcontexts from which they emerge. It is a starting point for a wider researchproject, an example bringing design historical and design methodologicalresearch agendas closer to each other. Starting from interviews with Italiandesigners we highlight the need for a deeper and continued investigation intodesign histories of design methods