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Theories and Practice of Design for Information Systems: Eight…
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Theories and Practice of Design for Information Systems:
Eight Design Perspectives in Ten Short Weeks
David G. Hendry and Batya Friedman
The Information School
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-2840
{dhendry, batya}@u.washington.edu
ABSTRACT design per se seek specialized methods tailored to the problems
Students come to design education with different goals. Some of their domain. Still others do not yet know what knowledge,
seek to acquire expertise in design, others to learn specialized skills and sensibilities they seek from design. They only know
methods tailored to a research domain. Furthermore, students in that in some significant way design and design research will
the area of information system design confront a large literature intersect with the work they intend to pursue.
of diverse perspectives on design, all of which are potentially Traditionally in design education, studio courses are well suited to
useful. To disentangle this literature and to develop students' students who intend to commit a significant portion of their
knowledge and know-how for design, a ten-week course, titled coursework to design training. Targeted design methods courses
Theories and Practice of Design for Information Systems, was are well suited to students who already know what design
developed. Pedagogically, this introductory course is neither a perspectives they will emphasize in their design research and
studio course nor a methods course. Instead, it takes a "design practice with information systems. But how should we approach
perspectives" approach where students engage a number of design education for students who come to information system
substantial perspectives on design through conceptual and design with a wide range of backgrounds and seek a broad
experiential study. This paper introduces this pedagogical exposure to design theory and practice students who need the
approach and describes eight design perspectives including field as a whole untangled and linkages made to the work they
readings, key questions, and activities. It concludes with lessons will be pursuing? That is the design education challenge we take
learned for positioning students to engage the interplay between up in this paper.
the theory and practice of information system design.
To address this challenge, we developed a ten-week course
Theories and Practice of Design for Information Systems based
Categories and Subject Descriptors on the idea of design perspectives. Design perspectives, while
K.3.2 [Computers and Education]: Computer and Information never definite, refer to characteristic theories and know-how
Systems Education; H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: User-centered design theories for making judgments about the uses and merits of a
perspective, know-how for making new artifacts and achieving
General Terms results, fitting of the perspective. Certainly, to take a perspective
Design, Human Factors and to work within it faithfully requires practice, along with
reading, study, and critical discourse.
Keywords
Learning to design, design education, curriculum, reflective We make three contributions. First, we describe the design
practice, social processes in design, design rationale, hierarchical perspectives approach, which positions students to engage the
decomposition, design patterns, participatory design, personas, interplay between theory and practice for eight major perspectives
scenario-based design, Value Sensitive Design on design. Second, for each of the eight design perspectives, we
present the readings, key questions, and design activities.
1. INTRODUCTION Additionally, we give in-depth descriptions of three activities,
Students come to design education from a wide range of showing how they integrate both conceptual and experiential
backgrounds and motivations. Some seek to become design study. Third, we discuss our experiences with this pedagogical
experts and intend to devote a good deal of their study to the approach, present lessons learned, and suggest how the approach
design process. Others with primary interests that lie outside of might be applied to different settings and extended. All course
materials are available in the Human-Centered Computing
Education Digital Library [13].
To appear in: 2. LEARNING TO DESIGN
ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS'08), According to Schön: "The paradox of learning a really new
Feb 25-27, 2008, Cape Town, South Africa competence is this: that a student cannot at first understand what
he needs to learn, can learn it only by educating himself, and can
educate himself only by beginning to do what he does not yet
understand" [28, p. 93]. In design education two basic
pedagogical approaches have been used to invite students to Physical Facilities. We taught the course in a regular university
resolve this paradox: the studio project and the methods course. classroom. No dedicated classroom or studio space was provided
beyond the duration of the 3-hour weekly class meeting. While
The design studio is the quintessential environment for learning to
tables were fixed to the floor in an amphitheatre-type
design. It is distinguished from other learning formats in that: i)
arrangement, chairs were movable so that students could form
Students work on relatively open-ended problems where
small groups to work on design activities.
heterogeneous issues are addressed; and ii) Students iterate and
produce multiple solutions with the guidance of faculty who help Stuff. We provided students with materials as appropriate for the
constrain the problem [20]. Studio courses tend to be time- design activity. Typical materials included: thick colored markers,
intensive. They tend to take place within a dedicated physical colored pencils, origami paper, multi-colored stickies of assorted
space to afford the cultivation of a rich assortment of information sizes, colored dots, shiny gold stars, colorful modeling clay, glue
resources that support the learning process. Finally, they tend to sticks, string, scissors, and poster paper.
pose a single problem or a family of problems, enabling students
to both collaborate and graciously compete with each other.
3.2 Student Background
Coming out of the design methods movement of the 1960s [18], Several assumptions about the background and motivation of
methods courses, in contrast, focus narrowly on techniques that students who would be interested in a perspectives approach to
facilitate particular modes of inquiry (e.g., analysis, synthesis, and design explicitly guided our development of the course. We
evaluation). Method courses develop students' skills for selecting identify those assumptions here. First, rather than drawing
and executing particular methods, such as running a students who had entered a design program (e.g., in industrial
brainstorming session (analysis), producing an affinity diagram design), we assumed students would be pursuing graduate study
(synthesis), and performing a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of set in other disciplinary areas such as information science, computer
of solution options (evaluation). In some courses, particular science, and technical communication. We also assumed students
techniques are presented in an integrated fashion within an would be at different stages in their graduate studies but that most
overarching methodology or point of view. Examples include students would be taking a full course load and would also be
Rosson and Carroll's textbook on scenario-based design [27] and busy working on research projects. We further assumed that while
Friedman's course on Value Sensitive Design [10]. some students might have a background in one kind of design
(e.g., software engineering), all students would have a limited
With this paper we introduce a third approach, design awareness of the broad sweep of approaches to design. Finally,
perspectives courses that seek to promote "design thinking" and we assumed students would have different motivations for
to develop students' skills and sensibilities for several substantial learning about design, including to discover new knowledge
perspectives on the design of information systems. A perspective through design-based inquiry or to inform the design of
foregrounds a particular element of the design process, or information systems through the application of social science
constellation of elements, and is backed by a seminal writer and research.
body of scholarship. Design as Reflection [28], for example,
emphasizes that design unfolds through cycles of action and By and large, these assumptions were born out. Fourteen students
reflection, where a designer creates an artifact, then reflects upon representing information science, computer science, and technical
its qualities which, in turn, leads to revisions. Design as a Social communications enrolled in the course as well as a few students
Process [4], in contrast, foregrounds different features, especially from geography and biomedical health informatics. Of the 14
the centrality of design representations for externalizing students, about 10 were in the first or second year of their
knowledge and sharing it across boundaries. Design perspective graduate programs. For all of the students, this was their first
courses do not privilege any one perspective; rather, they seek to course on design as a subject in its own right. Most students
equip students with a repertoire of perspectives that can be anticipated carrying out some aspect of design or design research
engaged in-depth in subsequent course work and research. in their doctoral work.
Pedagogically, a design perspective course seeks a blending
between conceptual and experiential study. As described below, 3.3 The Design Perspectives
this is achieved by creating a close coupling between a set of Given the pedagogical aim, the next step was to decide on what
readings about a perspective and a tightly focused design activity, perspectives to include. We recognized it would not be possible to
which is structured to prompt students to "experience" a include all potentially valuable perspectives in a 10-week course
perspective. This blending develops students' knowledge and and still engage each perspective in a reasonable amount of depth.
know-how for design. Thus, we aimed for a balance among the design perspectives
along three dimensions: rationale vs. intuitive processes; micro vs.
macro levels of analysis; and bottom-up vs. top-down strategies.
3. COURSE OVERVIEW Students explored eight design perspectives in all as follows:
3.1 Learning Environment design as reflection, as social process, as dialog, as hierarchical
General curricular structure. The course, titled Theories and decomposition, as composition and pattern making, as invention,
Practice of Design for Information Systems, needed to fit within a as participation, and for human values. The first class introduced
standard 10-week quarter. Offered as a 3-credit course, the class the character of design and the last class was devoted to the
met once a week for three hours and included the expectation that Design Expo. Table 1 provides an overview of these perspectives
students would work an additional nine hours per week outside of including key questions and readings for each, pedagogical
class. These constraints were imposed by general curricula approach and a brief description of a design activity. As noted
considerations at the University of Washington. earlier, handouts for all the design activities are available [13].
Table 1. Summary of design perspectives and activities, weeks 110.
Design Perspective Key Questions and Pedagogical Approach Design Activity
(weeks 1 5) Readings
1. The Character of Can creative design be Examine the qualities that BLACK SQUARES I: Using 4 black squares cut
Design stimulated through prescribed differentiate design from from construction paper create four
activity? What is a wicked other types of creative compositions that express each of the
problem and are all design problem solving. following concepts (12 sketches total):
problems wicked? order, tension, calm.
Engage in a strongly
Readings: Mountford [23], constrained first design BLACK SQUARES II: After class, create
Rittel & Webber [26]. problem. solutions to the black squares problem for
the words: increase and playful. Generate 6
preliminary sketches and select one "best"
solution.
2. Design as Reflection How do the materials of a Reflect on the design HOME ENERGY USE: Observe an expert
design problem influence the process. Develop a designer as he invents an information system
design process? What guides vocabulary for describing that promotes efficient energy use in the
the selection of an effective design activity. home.
solution from a range of
possible solutions? How do Observe how an expert Reflect on how your design process
designers talk about the designer approaches a compares with that of the expert designer.
design process? design problem.
Reading: Schön [28]. Compare the design process
of expert and novice
designers.
3. Design as Social How can designers account Explore ways that design HOME ENERGY USE REVISITED: Use a
Process for users in a context-of use, can account for social combination of scenario and persona based
specific usage scenarios, and, context, social process, and design to solve the Home Energy Use
finally, that not all users are social actors. problem from the previous week.
the same?
Technique: Expose students
Readings: Buucciarelli [5], to contextual design,
Holtzblatt & Beyer [15], scenario-based design, and
Carroll [7], Pruitt & Grudin personas.
[25].
4. Design as Dialog What is the role of rationale Explore the value of FIND MY MOMMA, PLEASE! Design an
and rationality in design? capturing design discourse information system to help parents and their
How does the process of and decisions during the children get in contact with each other
recording a design rationale design process. during an emergency. As you do so,
influence the design process? construct a design rationale that captures
Technique: Expose students your emergent decision-making process.
Readings: Moran & Carroll to design rationale.
[22], Isenmann & Reuter
[17], Winograd & Flores[32].
5. Design as In what ways can the design Explore the value of task SWAPPING FAST, FASTER, FASTEST: Identify
Hierarchical of information systems and analyses and decomposition three different editing methods for swapping
Decomposition people's interactions with for improving design at the two phrases in Microsoft Word. Then,
those systems be understood micro-level. choose two of those methods to compare by
as a hierarchy of (a) modeling performance with a keystroke-
components? How can the Technique: Expose students level model and (b) testing your models
decomposition of elements be to the GOMS (goals, empirically with performance data from
used to support design? operators, methods, and users.
selection rules) model.
Readings: Simon [29], Lane
et al, [21], Greenberg [12].
Design Perspective Key Questions and Pedagogical Approach Design Activity
(weeks 6 10) Readings
6. Design as If designs can be decomposed Explore the relationship PARK CONSTRUCTION KIT: Develop a paper
Composition and Pattern into basic elements, can they among primitive elements prototype of a visual programming language
Making also be built up from smaller and the construction of a to support the design of a public park
elements into larger ones? In pattern language built up including primitive elements (e.g., rose
what ways do patterns and from those elements. bush) and their composites (e.g., bed of
pattern languages capture this roses) as well as one or two "Alexander-
proposition? Technique: Expose students like" patterns that link human activity with
to patterns and pattern an aspect of the park design.
Readings: Alexander [1], languages.
Erickson [8], Bang [3].
7. Design as Invention How are new artifacts Explore the incremental THE NEXT GENERATION TIME PIECE: From
invented? Do they emerge out dimension to new designs. sun dials to grandfather clocks to pocket
of nothing? Or are they best watches, time pieces have evolved greater
understood as incremental mobility, smaller size, lesser weight, greater
improvements? Where do accuracy. Envision the next generation time
really new ideas come from? piece.
Reading: Petroski [24].
8. Design as How can users participate in Explore substantive user INFORMATION SCHOOL PHD ADMISSIONS
Participation the design process? What do participation in the design PROCESS: Conduct a future workshop with
we mean by a robust sense of process. relevant stakeholders to generate new
participation? visions for the PhD Admissions process.
Technique: Expose students
Readings: Floyd, et. al, [9], to the Participatory Design
Kensing & Madsen [19]. practice of Future
Workshops.
9. Design for Human What is the place of human Explore the ways in which INFORMATION TOOLS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE:
Values values in the design of the design of information Use Convivial Reconstruction or Value
information systems? How systems writ large can be Sensitive Design to sketch a design program
might the design of used to address societal or approach to the societal problem of
information systems change. providing health information to groups that
transform not only everyday are often disenfranchised (e.g., homeless,
activities but society as well? drug users).
Readings: Friedman et al,
[11], Hendry et al. [14], Illich
[16].
10. Design Expo Given a specific design Designer's Choice! Explore MANAGE MY MEDS (contributed by a
problem, how do designers when a design approach is student): Design an information artifact to
know which design appropriate and for what help people managing complicated drug
perspectives to invoke and aspects of the design regimens (e.g., for HIV+) remember when
when? process. The integration of their medications need to be taken. This
design approaches should device could also keep track of which
be reasonable and medications have already been taken.
reflective.
To engage the interplay between theory and practice within a of the design process. That is, we engaged in conversation
design perspective, we selected readings and devised design around the rigor of the design process and how the design
activities to achieve a tight focus. The goal was to position practice informed on students' understanding of the design
students to experience the perspective directly through acting on perspective, its strengths and limitations.
a problem. Design activities typically lasted roughly 60 minutes,
The course culminated in a Design Expo (described in greater
followed by 30 minutes of class reflection and conversation
detail in Section 4.4) in which students brought any or all of the
about the design experience. Given the short amount of time
design perspectives to bear on a single student-defined problem.
devoted to the actual design experience, our emphasis was on
Here the challenge was for students to determine which specific
experiencing the design perspective and less so on the outcome
design perspectives to bring to the design problem and to
provide compelling reasons for their choices. As with the more importance of following a rigorous process. The quality and
focused design activities, our interest was more in understanding character of the final artifact was important only to the degree
the value of a particular design perspective (or perspectives used that it revealed key aspects of the perspective and process.
in combination) than in developing a "best" design as a final
4. Reflections and critical discussion. In the last 30 minutes of
product.
class, the goal was to reflect on how the activity engaged
Finally, it is worth noting that as a group the design perspectives particular aspects of the design perspective and to identify and
and associated activities covered a wide range of granularity discuss commonalities and differences. Typically, student
with respect to human activity. The course began with students groups described the outcome and the process that they
practicing design reflection on an information system to followed, highlighting such things as impasses and how they
improve home energy use. Toward the middle of the course, were overcome, changes in perspective, and when new insights
finer-grained human behavior was explored through task were discovered. Whenever appropriate, the instructors guided
analyses and key-stroke performance evaluations of word the discussion back to the readings.
processing as part of investigating the hierarchical
5. Post-class: Reflective writing. After the class, students were
decomposition perspective. Toward the end of the course, larger
typically asked to write a 1-2 page reflection about the design
organizational and societal concerns were brought to the fore
problem. Again, the emphasis of these write-ups was largely on
when students engaged design as participation to examine a
the experience of following a disciplined process and on linking
university's admissions process for PhD applicants and design
the felt experience with the readings.
for human values to envision a design program or overarching
approach to the problem of providing health information for
groups that are often disenfranchised, such as the homeless or 3.5 Assessment
recent immigrants. For assessment, students were graded as follows: 20% for the
position statements (Step #1), 10% for the quality of in-class
3.4 The Weekly Intellectual Rhythm discussion, 55% for the reflective writings (Step #5), and 15%
To achieve the pedagogical aim to "think like a designer", we for the Design Expo.
developed a weekly intellectual rhythm that began prior to class
with individual reading and reflection on a new design
perspective, class discussion about the central constructs of that
4. DESIGN ACTIVITIES IN-DEPTH
perspective, a design activity targeted to that perspective, further In this section, three activities and the Design Expo are briefly
class discussion about experiencing the design perspective, and described to illustrate the kind of work students engaged. The
concluded with individual written reflections on the design examples have been selected for diversity.
experience. During the 3-hour class meeting, breaks were
interspersed as needed, typically during the design activity. 4.1 Design as Reflection: HOME ENERGY USE
Nine of the ten class sessions closely followed this rhythm. (The Imagine a designer making a move, pausing to consider it, and
exception was week ten, where students presented solutions to then making another move. According to Schön [28], this two-
the Design Expo). step cycle, called reflection-in-action, is a fundamental
organizing force that all designers work with.
Specifically, for each week, students and instructors progressed
through the following five steps: To shape and elaborate this perspective of design as reflection,
Schön develops a technical vocabulary for describing design
1. Preparing for class: Reading and reflective writing. To
processes. "Moves", for example, take place in a "virtual world"
prepare for class, students read one to three short readings and
and are made with a "spatial-action language", which represents
wrote one-page position statements in response to a guiding
concepts from a "design domain" (e.g., website design) on a
question, such as "Write a question you would be interested in
drawing surface. Once on the surface, a designer can pause,
discussing based on any of the first three articles. Then, write a
inspect the evolving design, draw out "appreciations" and affirm
one-page reflection on your question. That is, discuss your own
or discover new, sometimes surprising, "implications" of her
question." Students submitted their statements prior to class. In
moves. Then, she may decide to pursue an experiment
addition, students were occasionally asked to do some
("exploratory", "move-testing" or "hypothesis testing"). With
preparatory design work for Step #3, the design activities.
these experiments she will keep to a "discipline" until it can no
2. Focused discussion of readings. In the first 60 minutes of longer be sustained, at which point she might "reframe" her
class, the goal was to establish a common, conceptual approach and pursue a new discipline.
foundation for the week's design perspective. To do this, the
To engage students in this vocabulary, we invited a professional
instructors guided students in a structured discussion, which was
designer to class and observed him design ad hoc. He was given
based on careful review of the readings and students' written
the following problem and asked to develop a solution with
statements (from Step #1). The graded statements were returned
pencil on a poster-sized paper sheet while "talking aloud":
at the start of class.
HOME ENERGY USE problem statement. The problem is
3. Engaging design activities. In the second 60 minutes of class,
to invent an information system that promotes the
the goal was to engage in an "intense, interesting design
efficient use of energy within the home. You should
problem". We sought to devise and structure problems so that
assume the following: 1) The cost of building and
the fundamental aspects of a design perspective would be
deploying the system need not be considered; and 2)
experienced as the problem was engaged. We emphasized the
Sensors of various types are available for monitoring The activity asked students to examine a straightforward task:
energy use at various points in the home. "swapping" words or phrases in a word processing application.
An example of such a task is to swap the phrase "green
Students were asked to observe carefully and to identify
Tortoise" with "brown Hare" in the following sentence: "One
activities that could be categorized under the above concepts (a
night the green Tortoise, happy as a clam, approached the brown
worksheet, containing a list of some of these concepts, was
Hare to talk." Swapping appears to be quite a common task in
handed out to prime students).
some word processing problems (e.g., assigning and reassigning
To prepare for this activity, students read Schön [28, Chap. 3]. people to groups).
In addition, in the previous week students developed solutions
This activity was structured in four steps, with the first two steps
to a visual design problem, called Black Squares [31], which
performed in-class and the second two outside.
requires a designer to convey feelings for such concepts as
"order" and "tension" by arranging exactly four black squares 1) Analysis. Working in groups of four, students were asked to
on a piece of white paper. As an example, here are sketches of analyze the problem and propose three different editing methods
three solutions for the concept "playfulness": for swapping two phrases in a sentence. After discussion of all
presented methods, the class selected two of them (referred to
hereafter as Method A and B) and wrote detailed descriptions.
2) Modeling. Using a simplified approach, students derived
KLM models, and estimated times, for the two methods selected
This highly constrained, but surprisingly rich, problem was used in step #1. The class discussed the complexity of these models,
to explore how the roles of "artist" and "judge" could be especially the heuristics for where to insert "mentally prepare"
consciously embraced when seeking to ideate or select one of operators (worth 1.35 seconds) in the stream of keystrokes.
multiple options [23]. Students were asked to create six
3) Invention. Outside of class, students were asked to consider
arrangements, choose the best one and give their rationale.
these analyses and to then propose a new command sequence
In written reflections on this activity, students were asked to (e.g., introducing a "swap" command in the edit menu), derive a
consider both their own and the professional designer's work KLM model, and compute a time estimate. Finally, students
and to discuss salient aspects of both. One student, for example, were asked to consider other criteria for judging the
noted the evident importance of making assumptions. effectiveness of the model.
Specifically, he described his assumption that "random
4) Evaluation. In this final step, students were instructed to
arrangements" could be used to express "playfulness" and how
conduct a simple experiment where they measured how long it
the professional designer made several key assumptions about
took a single participant to complete methods A and B (five
the home setting. In both cases, the student claimed, these
trials for each method, method order counterbalanced across the
assumptions drove the exploration of the problem. Other
class). All students submitted their data, which was then
students described their tendency to self-censor ideas during the
aggregated into a single dataset and sent back to students. In the
generation of black squares solutions. In contrast, the
write up for this activity, students were asked to consider the
professional designer was willing to verbalize and jot down
aggregate data and how it compared to their models'
ideas while indicating that some of them would be considered
predictions, to reflect on the process, and to discuss the types of
more fully later. In identifying such similarities and differences
information system design problems for which this kind of
and by working with Schön's vocabulary, students engaged both
detailed analysis is appropriate.
the conceptual and experiential aspects of this design
perspective. Importantly, this activity also generated a rich set Student collaboration, to formulate problems and to assess
of shared experiences and common vocabulary that the class solutions, was the dominate feature of this activity. When
drew upon throughout the course. For this reason, this is a proposing methods (Step #1), the class as a whole was able to
suitable activity for starting off the course. generate more methods than could any one group of students
alone, thereby illustrating the difficulty of exploring the full
4.2 Design as Hierarchical Decomposition: solution space of a problem. Furthermore, by discussing the
detailed descriptions of the methods, students were forced to
SWAPPING FAST, FASTER, FASTEST consider the small details of using a keyboard and mouse in
Both "artificial systems" and people's interactions with them word processing tasks.
can be decomposed into their constitutive parts [29].
Hierarchical decomposition reduces the overall complexity of a When evaluating the models (Step #4), the benefit of asking
system by isolating individual elements and by minimizing the each student to collect data and to contribute the data to the
interactions between elements. To demonstrate the merits of this aggregate dataset was twofold. First, it forced students to
influential perspective, we asked students to conduct a detailed observe a person's actual performance on methods A and B.
analysis of human performance with a word processor. To set This prompted students to reexamine their assumptions about
the background, students read chapters 1 and 3 of The Sciences how people would perform with the two methods and, equally
of the Artificial [29] and to prepare for the activity, students read important, produced observations that were brought back in
a relatively short paper [21] on the use of the keystroke-level class discussions. Second, the aggregate dataset allowed
model (KLM) to derive predictions of the time to complete students to compare their data against their peers and to detect
menu selection tasks [6]. patterns that could only be found with a reasonable number of
participants.
When discussing this activity in class, students first reported and each of the proposed parks was remarkably different.
their predicted times for methods A and B with Post-Its on a Students employed a wide range of primitives, including water,
whiteboard. The resulting plot showed a substantial variance of trees, land, park benches, fire pits and so on. The initial choice
predicted times, which led to discussion about the subtle of primitives seemed to lead to particular kinds of parks. One
judgments that are required when making the models. Further, student noted that previous experience with software toolkits
students' accounts of performing the experiment revealed a was a great influence on how the primitives were conceptualized
wide range of participant behaviors, thereby leading to (e.g., flowers would have attributes such as type, color, bloom
discussions about experimental control and ecological validity. time, etc. and therefore all primitives would likewise have
attributes). When discussing their parks, students generally
focused the rationale for particular kinds of primitives and how
4.3 Design as Composition and Pattern
they could be combined to create a park that would facilitate
Making: PARK CONSTRUCTION KIT desirable human activities.
Patterns provide a means for compactly representing a large
number of design solutions to particular problems. According to A good question for discussing the use of patterns is: Could a
Alexander, a pattern "describes a problem which occurs over single visual programming language be used to represent all the
and over again in our environment, and then describes the core primitives and parks? By engaging this question, it becomes
of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use apparent that patterns provide an effective means for
this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same introducing and discussing abstractions. Indeed, one student
way twice" [2, p. x]. When patterns represent elements of noted that the park, and its primitives, was a special case for
different grain sizes, for example, a culture, a neighborhood, a understanding the general problem of representing patterns in
library, and reading nook with an outside view, it becomes computational environments.
possible to envision the links between human activities with
particular built structures and reason about future possibilities. 4.4 Design Expo: MANAGE MY MEDS
This idea has influenced a variety of design methods and tools The class culminated in a Design Expo, a time-limited project
for information system design [8, 30]. where students were asked to select and apply some
To develop experience with this design perspective, students combination of perspectives to a design problem. Students,
were asked to develop i) A paper prototype of a visual working in teams of 3 4 people, were to spend no more than
programming language to support the design of a public park; 15 hours each working on the project and preparing for a
and ii) One or two "Alexander-like" patterns that link human presentation over a period of approximately 14 days. Project
activity with an aspect of the park design. They followed this ideas were elicited from students. Students proposed projects
three-step approach: that ranged from making user-interface improvements to a
system for source code control for novice programmers to
1. Develop the "primitives". These are the basic elements for designing a system that would facilitate public dialog about the
building all other elements in the language (e.g., rose bush, goals for local transportation systems.
brick). Each primitive should specify how it i) Is affected by the
elements next to it or in the nearby environment; ii) Changes We decided on a project, called Manage My Meds, an
over time both the type of change and the duration (e.g., rose information system aimed to help people follow complex drug
bush blooms every spring; bricks gather moss at 6 month regimens. The student posed the following problem: "Create an
intervals); and iii) Connects to or can be combined with other information artifact to help people remember to take their
elements (e.g., rose bush connects to the side of other rose medications when they need to be taken" and justified the
bushes; brick interlocks with other bricks). importance of the problem on two grounds. First, for people
with a serious illness (e.g., HIV), it is important to follow the
2. Develop "composites" from the primitives. That is, combine proscribed drug regimens precisely. But, following regimens
instances of the primitives into larger meaningful units (e.g., an can be very difficult when the number of medications is large
arrangement of seven rose bushes into a composite called a and the schedule complex. From this the student outlined four
"rose bed"; an arrangement of bricks called a "path length"). main constraints that had to be addressed. The solution had to: i)
Remind people about when to take their drugs but not be
3. Develop a park or garden. Aesthetically combine primitives
annoying; ii) Operate in multiple locations, at home, at work,
and composites (e.g., a rose-lined path constructed from rose
and while traveling; iii) Be capable of handling different drug
beds placed alongside of a series of brick path lengths) and
regimens and be suitable for different patient lifestyles, and iv)
develop Alexander-like patterns (e.g., a rose-lined brick path to
Address issues of information privacy, security, and control.
invite park visitors to stroll through the park).
Students were asked to select appropriate design perspectives
Finally, after class students were asked to write a 1-2 page
and to integrate them in a reasonable and reflective fashion. In
reflection on the process of designing the park construction kit,
final class presentations and in a 45 page report, students were
where they explored such questions as: why did your team
asked to address these and similar questions: What design
chose the primitives it did, in hindsight were these good
perspectives were used and why? How were the perspectives
decisions, and how did the composites you developed influence
integrated? What worked well? What do you wish you had
the Alexander-like patterns you developed and the park you
done differently? In hindsight, how well suited were these
eventually constructed?
design perspectives for the information design challenge you
Students found this to be a very engaging activity. Even within faced?
the 60 minute timeframe, they became committed to their parks
Students appreciated working on a longer-duration activity set of concepts, or an example, which can be readily used while
(about 15 hours instead of 60 minutes), to allow for a more engaging an activity. To achieve these goals, we generally
thorough exploration of the problem. Still, like the other selected a conceptual reading from a seminal writer and a short,
activities, the focus of the Design Expo was largely on the applied reading that exemplified the application of a perspective
process. In this case, however, students had to select their own in concrete fashion. Requiring that students write position
perspectives and to develop rationale for their choices. This was statements and grading them before class enabled us to structure
not easy and students found it challenging to select among the initial discussion around the students' questions.
perspectives, work within them effectively, and to reflect on
Creating design activities. As seen in the SWAPPING FAST,
how the process actually unfolded. In general, the projects
FASTER FASTEST and the PARK CONSTRUCTION KIT activities, we
focused largely on the context of use and the needs of the
generally posed challenging, real problems, but outlined specific
stakeholders. To work at this human-level analysis, all of the
steps for students to follow. The aim here was twofold. First, we
projects employed some combination of scenarios or personas to
required students to find and frame their own problems, at least
represent the actors, tasks, and situations. In addition, some
within the scope we outlined. Second, we required students to
projects drew on elements of design for human values, patterns,
decide how the process would be applied and be rigorous when
and participatory design. The most valuable aspect of the
engaging the problem. We found that it was important to remind
Design Expo was that it asked students to consider the merits of
students that the goal of the activities was to practice a process,
all the design perspectives and to discuss their decisions using
a way of thinking, not to achieve a fully worked out solution.
design concepts and vocabulary.
While at first some students were frustrated by the scale of the
problems, as the course progressed students became comfortable
5. DISCUSSION AND LESSONS LEARNED working on complex problems and focusing primarily on
5.1 Evidence that a Design Perspective process rather than outcome. Although perhaps surprising, 60
minutes proved to be sufficient time to meaningful engage a
Course Works design perspective through a tightly focused activity.
Was the pedagogical approach successful? In short, yes, we
believe students broadened and deepened their conceptual Reflections and critical discussions. The reflective discussions
understanding and know-how for eight substantial design that took place in-class immediately after the design activity
perspectives in ten short weeks. In anonymous feedback at the were extremely important. Students liked talking about their
end of the course, students gave positive comments on the work, and we believed a great deal of the learning occurred in
combinations of readings and design activities. Several students these class discussions. In guiding discussions, we were
reported that exposure to the broad range of literature on design especially careful to remind students to draw interpretations by
was stimulating and would be beneficial in subsequent work. referring back to the readings and to focus process on outcomes
While we do not have firm evidence on specific learning only. We learned that it was important to allocate sufficient time
outcomes, as the course progressed, we observed students for these discussions, although the natural tendency was to give
mature in their use of design vocabulary and their approach to over more time to the design activities.
problems. Students, in class discussions, began to talk like
designers, separating out goals from means, weighing strengths Working within constraints of a university structure. The design
and weakness of solution options, explicitly pointing to the use perspectives course we reported on here was developed as a 10-
of past experiences, asking for clarifications about assumptions week quarter-long graduate course where such courses meet
and framings, and distinguishing between intended processes once a week for three hours. Others may teach in university
and the processes that actually occurred. settings where graduate courses meet for more than three hours
per week or in a semester format. With differences in university
This kind of design discourse was especially apparent when structure in mind, we offer the following suggestions: To
students explained their choices of method and process for the accommodate a course that meets for four hours per week, the
Design Expo. Students, for example, described times where they design activities could easily be extended for an additional 50
paused to consider the current state of the project, decided on 60 minutes. To accommodate a semester-long (typically 13 15
how to redirect it, and gave a rationale for why particular week course) additional design perspectives could be introduced
methods were chosen. Students often described impasses and along the lines suggested below (see Section 5.3). The Design
how they were overcome. Students were often explicit about Expo could also be extended to cover a three-week rather than
assumptions and points where additional exploration was two-week period.
required. These kinds of explanations conveyed exactly the kind
of intentional action that we sought to promote. Structuring the student experience. To help students and visitors
form expectations that are consistent with the design
perspectives approach we offer four pragmatic suggestions:
5.2 Reflections on the Course
The weekly intellectual rhythm was the most important aspect 1. Remind students repeatedly during the first part of the course
of the course. We now draw some lessons, based on student that the focus of the design activities is on the process, not the
feedback and our reflections. product. Giving the rationale for this pedagogical move helps
students adjust to the design perspectives approach.
Selecting readings. It is important to select readings that i)
Introduce the key propositions of a design perspective; ii) 2. Leave sufficient time for discussing design activities. On
Describe a methodological approach for applying a perspective; balance, a shorter activity session with adequate time to reflect
and iii) Connect closely with the design activity, by offering a and discuss the design activity works better than squeezing 10-
15 more minutes into the activity and shortchanging the assumed an information infrastructure appropriate to that
discussion. context. Therefore, the question arises of how to make the
perspectives and design activities meaningful for students who
3. During discussions, make connections between design
live and will work in different cultural contexts.
activities and concepts from the readings and previously
discussed design activities. For example, we frequently drew As an initial and we believe substantive response to this
upon our observations and discussion of the professional concern, the design activities can be fairly easily tweaked to
designer in the second class when discussing subsequent design reflect regional or cultural contexts. For example, as presented
activities. here the Home Energy Use activity assumes an ever present
information infrastructure as well as a home with electricity,
4. When outside reviewers are brought into the class to give running water, centralized heating, and numerous appliances.
feedback on student work (e.g., at the Design Expo), be sure to With a small amount of reworking, the activity could be recast
brief them about the aims of the course. If the visitors expect to to a more rural context with less consistent (or no) Internet
see a persuasive presentation on the quality of the process access in the home, wood heat, and intermittent electricity. The
followed and the merits of a final product, as they would for a overarching design challenge remains the same: invent an
final presentation in a studio course, the visitor's feedback is information system that promotes the efficient use of energy
likely to be miscalibrated. within the home. Similarly, the design activity Find My
Momma, Please! that assumes the Internet and Web as the
5.3 Extending the Design Perspectives information infrastructure could be modified for a regional
context in which most communication happens over wireless
Approach and cell phones. Our key point here is that the design activity
As a group, the design perspectives represent a wide range of
itself and the activity's usefulness in focusing students'
approaches to design. In choosing some subset of perspectives
experience on the design perspective largely stands; what
to include in a specific course, we found it useful to consider
changes are some details to make the activity more relevant to
different ways of thinking (e.g., rationale vs. intuitive), different
the environment the student lives and works in.
ways to approach building (e.g., building up from smaller
elements, building down from overarching patterns, building Another form of extension could place the design perspectives
incrementally from an existing artifact), and different levels of approach within an established course structure. For example, in
granularity of human experience (e.g., from micro-level a software engineering course two perspectives might be
analyses such as GOMS to societal analyses such as introduced in the first third and last third of the class to ask
participatory design and Value Sensitive Design). Our intuition students to consider design-related, conceptual aspects of the
is that including a wide representation of perspectives along material. As a second example, the design perspective approach
these (and perhaps other) dimensions provides students with an and the studio format could be combined. Following one typical
important exposure to the breadth of design approaches. In our studio course format, a single design problem would be
discussions with students, we were careful to make these sustained throughout the course. Then week-by-week students
dimensions expli