Sustainable Thinking by Design Researchers

In this issue of The Design Journal are six original articles, two exciting PhD reports and an important book review. It is an open issue which means it has a range of design subjects, often with no unifying lens upon which to rest. Here, however, there is a soft flow through the idea of sustainable thinking across each piece of work, with its presence being more energetic in some design research studies than others. With contributions from Australasia, Asia and Europe about architecture, entrepreneurship, digital cultural heritage, diversification, Indigenous craft, interactive textiles, and sustainable design, there is a stimulating dialogue on offer.

We open with an article by Carolina Short from the University of Waikato in New Zealand who writes about ‘The Ulm School of Design discourse: a foundation for Sustainable Design’. In this article, the relevance of the mid-20^th Century Ulm discourse with its values of social equity, resource optimization, and respect for planet earth are discussed as pillars for 21^st Century Sustainable Design practices. The HfG Ulm experience is offered as a translation from history to modern day affairs with a contribution to creating frameworks that will allow better design, where design is a responsible interdisciplinary practice. With its weaving of seminal works from design historians, theoreticians and early career researchers, this article offers an appreciation of a concept of design which is innately sustainable with a concern for social consciousness, social justice and innovation.

This next article presents a participatory case study about building an inclusive business for an indigenous community: ‘An Entrepreneurial Process to Build a Sustainable Business for Indigenous Craft Revitalization’ is by Dr. Fang-Wu Tung at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Taipei, Taiwan. The research provides insights into collaborative partnerships and synergies of craft-design creativity. It proposes a risk-taking process to develop venture opportunities. The goal of Tung’s study is to contribute to design research and practical knowledge about entrepreneurship and local craft revitalization, serving as a catalyst for more collective action towards a sustainable future.

‘Implementation of Typology Criteria for Design Knowledge Reflecting Design Diversification’ by Hayoun Won at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea, presents ‘Design Knowledge’ as a genre of pragmatic design. The article seeks to form a criterion for design knowledge and reclassify the knowledge of contemporary design, arguing that the current standard is inadequate due to its recent expansion. The article calls for greater understanding of the flow of design and the structure of knowledge; a shift in how new design curricula can be established and how the current complicated contemporary design landscape can be efficiently systemized.

‘Digital Cultural Heritage Design Practice: A Conceptual Framework’ is by two UK based researchers, Marco Mason of Northumbria University and Giasemi Vavoula of the University of Leicester. In this article, Mason and Vavoula argue for digital cultural heritage design to be recognized as an emerging form of practice with its own research agenda. Situated between museum design and innovation, their work offers a way of analysing and understanding contemporary design. They argue for greater attention to be paid to stimulating and nourishing this new practice. Their work speaks to digital design and cultural heritage as well as knowledge exchange where museums can be partners in design research and-or contexts for offering impact.

Architecture is the subject of the next article with a focus on how the business imperative for design alters the creative thinking process and its final aesthetic. ‘Demystifying the Two Different Design Approaches of Architect Paul Stallan, Descriptive and Comparative Analysis of his Conventional and Iconic Design Approaches’, is by Dr. Ercim Ulug, at the European University of Lefke in Turkey who calls for more research to capture the verbalization of designers’ thinking. In this article, Protocol Analysis is the research method used to examine the pioneering work of Scottish Architect Paul Stallan. The analysis presents noteworthy differences in the design methodology of Stallan’s distinctive aesthetics with emphasis on the architect’s processes, analysing activities and design behaviours.

The final article in this issue examines societal trends and democratic dialogues. ‘Generativity Revisited. Participatory design for self-organization in communities’ is authored by Belgian based researchers Katrien Dreessen, Liesbeth Huybrechts and Jessica Schoffelen. Their goal is to better understand how to give form to self-determining discussions between designers and citizens in their communities. It is to position generativity as a quality that supports their quest to collaborate, co-organise, and collectively converse. This is an ethnographic study of community that touches on the politics of creating participation and how designers need to navigate this space in design processes.

The first PhD report is, ‘Movement-based Interactive Textiles Design for Emotion Regulation’ by Mengqi Jiang at Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. It explores new ways of understanding how to regulate emotion with smart textiles. The goal is to create new knowledge of the complex emotional relationship between a person’s body movement and interactive textiles; to develop interventions for enhancing people’s wellbeing.

Linus Tan at Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia, writes the second PhD report, ‘Collaborative Cultures of Architecture Teams: team learning and reflective practice’. The study investigates how team learning impacts the performance of teams and it asks if learning behaviours affect the performance of architecture teams.

Closing the issue is a book review written by Dr. Spyros Bofylatos of ‘Design for Spirituality: a philosophy of material cultures’ authored by Stuart Walker and published by Routledge (2021). Stuart Walker is one of design’s principal scholars, a recognized advocate of the theory and practice of design for sustainability, and it is in this context that Bofylatos situates his insightful review. An enjoyable evaluation and interpretation of a new important contribution to design literature.