Design knowledge is not generated at a desk or in a laboratory, but through actual practice in a workshop where hands, bodies, and intelligence are put to work. Christopher Frayling, former dean of the Royal College of Art in London, defined design knowledge unique to design, different from the natural sciences and humanities. The background to this definition is that in the 1980s, there was a wave of reorganization of art and design universities in Europe, and art universities and other institutions of higher learning in the practical arts were given the status of independent universities, rather than merely schools for training practical skills, and as a result, they were forced to issue their own doctoral degrees. So design had to articulate its own way of knowing based on individual design practice, unlike the natural sciences that explore universal laws through experimentation, or the engineering that develops technical means to solve problems.

In his famous article “Research in Art and Design” (1992), Frayling divides the search for truth in design into three categories. The first is “Research into Art and Design,” an inquiry that goes inside the practice of art and design to analyze and describe its inner structure. This includes art and design history, their economic, social, political, ethical, and cultural studies, and their aesthetics. Frayling defines these studies, which correspond to the traditional humanities, as research with a capital R, and calls the doctoral degree from this Research “degree by study.” On the other hand, there is “research for Art and Design,” which is the quest to develop the technical means necessary to complete the final product of art or design. In other words, there is research for Art and Design, which explores the technologies for Design, the techniques and skills that enable the creation of the end product. Frayling calls this research, which is equivalent to traditional engineering research, “research with a lowercase r,” and calls the doctoral degree from this “degree by development.”

Finally, there is “Research through art and design” that synthesizes these two types of research, so to speak. This is a continuation of the philosophy of Harvard Reed’s article “Education through Art,” and refers to the exploration of various knowledge and experiences gained in the process of individual modeling artifacts, as well as physical and tacit knowledge that is difficult to formulate. It is claimed to include the examination of materials and colors in trial and error, the devising of methods based on actual production, the consideration of the meaning of the results of production, and the exploration of production methodologies. Frayling calls this doctorate “degree by project.”

Finally, there is “Research through art and design” that synthesizes these two types of research, so to speak. This is a continuation of the philosophy of Harvard Reed’s article “Education through Art,” and refers to the exploration of various knowledge and experiences gained in the process of individual modeling artifacts, as well as physical and tacit knowledge that is difficult to formulate. It is claimed to include the examination of materials and colors in trial and error, the devising of methods based on actual production, the consideration of the meaning of the results of production, and the exploration of production methodologies. Frayling calls this doctorate “degree by project.”

(KOGA Toru)

Related Classes

Design Futures Course, Philosophy of Design

References

• Frayling, Christopher (1993), Research in Art and Design, Royal College of Art Research Papers, Volume 1 No.1.