Navigating the Landscapes of Design Research

Michael R. Gibson is a Professor of Communication Design at The University of North Texas, U.S.A, who has led graduate programs in design research and interaction design. Gibson’s investigations have yielded positive outcomes in the facilitation of healthcare on behalf of children and older adults, and regarding the development and implementation of design processes in the K–12 education space.Keith M. Owens’ experiences as a design researcher and Professor of Communication Design at The University of North Texas, U.S.A, have afforded him opportunities to blend his extensive, experiential knowledge of professional design with his scholarship in ways that have allowed him to address a wide variety of issues in and around socially focused design practice.

• Introduction 1. Why We Need Design Research Now More Than Ever 2. Adaptation to Context: Design Research Evolves to Serve Design Practices 3. Understanding What Design Research IS and is NOT 4. Mapping Curiosity 5. Design Research Activity: Actions and Subjects of Study 6. Visualizing Confidence in Intelligence Analysis: A Case of Design Exploration in Interdisciplinary Research 7. Design Research into Action: Exploring Evidence-Based Design (EBD) and Related Interpretivist Approaches to Discovery, Decision and Agency 8. Emergent Design Research: Reconceiving Biodesign-in-Action 9. Expanding the Domains of Design Decision-Making and Practice 10. A Position Paper: Cultivating Attunement to the Raw Materials of Problem Formulation 11. Design Research and Practice Responsibility: Accounting for Ourselves, Our Creations, and Others A Summative Conclusion