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A book that lays out the fundamental concepts of design culture and outlines a design-driven way to approach the world.Humans did not discover fire they designed it. Design is not defined by software programs, blueprints, or font choice. When we create new things technologies, organizations, processes, systems, environments, ways of thinking we engage in design. With this expansive view of design as their premise, in The Design Way Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman make the case for design as its own culture of inquiry and action. They offer not a recipe for design practice or theorizing but a formulation of design culture's fundamental core of ideas. These ideas which form the design way are applicable to an infinite variety of design domains, from such traditional fields as architecture and graphic design to such nontraditional design areas as organizational, educational, interaction, and healthcare design.
The text of this second edition is accompanied by new detailed images, schemas that visualize, conceptualize, and structure the authors' understanding of design inquiry. The text itself has been revised and expanded throughout, in part in response to reader feedback.
About the author
Harold G. Nelson and Erik Stolterman
Summary
A book that lays out the fundamental concepts of design culture and outlines a design-driven way to approach the world.Humans did not discover fire—they designed it. Design is not defined by software programs, blueprints, or font choice. When we create new things—technologies, organizations, processes, systems, environments, ways of thinking—we engage in design. With this expansive view of design as their premise, in The Design Way Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman make the case for design as its own culture of inquiry and action. They offer not a recipe for design practice or theorizing but a formulation of design culture's fundamental core of ideas. These ideas—which form “the design way”—are applicable to an infinite variety of design domains, from such traditional fields as architecture and graphic design to such nontraditional design areas as organizational, educational, interaction, and healthcare design.
The text of this second edition is accompanied by new detailed images, “schemas” that visualize, conceptualize, and structure the authors' understanding of design inquiry. The text itself has been revised and expanded throughout, in part in response to reader feedback.
Report
"The second edition of The Design Way is the most useful and enjoyable book on design that I have yet read. It digs very deep into the intellectual and historical foundations of design thought in order to generate practical wisdom. If only the first chapter of this book was required reading for every first-year MBA student, the business world would be a much better place. And if it was also required reading for every science and technology policy person, we would actually have useful innovation policy. Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman have produced a genuinely great contribution."Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
