Journal article
Purpose and function in design: From the socio-cultural to the technophysical
Design studies, v 19(2), pp 161-186
1998
Abstract
Design is a purposeful human activity in which cognitive processes are used to transform human needs and intent into an embodied object. Humans operate in a socio-cultural environment, whereas artefacts form part of an artificial or techno-physical environment, the two being integrated into a socio-technical environment. Design is about the transition of concepts from the socio-cultural environment to the description of technical objects. Different interpretations of the concepts of purpose, function, behaviour and structure currently exist in the design research domain. This paper aims to clarify these concepts through the realization that certain concepts are associated with the socio-cultural environment and other concepts are associated with the techno-physical environment and that a transference is required from one to the other to achieve the necessary flow of information during the design process. The paper shows that a clarification of these concepts, especially that of function, leads to a clearer understanding of the design process and sub-processes such as problem formulation, synthesis, analysis and evaluation. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Details
- Title
- Purpose and function in design: From the socio-cultural to the technophysical
- Creators
- M. A. Rosenman - The University of SydneyJ. S. Gero - The University of Sydney
- Publication Details
- Design studies, v 19(2), pp 161-186
- Grant note
- A89601961 / Australian Research Council (http://data.elsevier.com/vocabulary/SciValFunders/501100000923)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology)
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-0000714489
- Other Identifier
- 991022156313604721