Democratizing diagnostics by design
I began developing my approach for diagnostic study of unstructured problem spaces in complex adaptive human systems in earnest more than a decade ago. The roots of my interest in this work, however, go back more than 35 years to my final year of engineering back in Bangalore (Bengaluru). It strikes me, on reflection, […]
Paradigm change or changing paradigms?
There is yet one leverage point that is even higher than changing a paradigm. That is to keep oneself unattached in the arena of paradigms, to stay flexible, to realize that no paradigm is “true,” that every one, including the one that sweetly shapes your own worldview, is a tremendously limited understanding of an immense […]
Design’s futures
It feels like a lifetime ago when I would sit late at night pondering the future of design at my keyboard on Mason Street in San Francisco’s Nob Hill. Besides, the wench is dead, I’m tempted to quip. My world changed when I took the deliberate and considered decision to move to the Nordics – […]
Exploring the role of the human being in the industrial design process now that AI is here
This screencap is from a post made in the Core77 Community boards about the emergence of AI-driven CAD outputs. At first glance, it seems as though its the end of the role of the human being in the industrial design process. And, to me, the situation right now in the first half of 2023 feels […]
Industrial Europe’s contribution to REculture
Before I continue, let me just link to an introductory background on my concept of REculture. Originally, a group blog on a now defunct website called Posterous that I’d begun in July 2009, choosing it over Tumblr – a decision I now regret given Tumblr survived where Posterous did not. However, within a couple of […]
Reflections in the sand: Integrating Indigenous ways of thinking into design-centered creative practice
Yunkaporta’s 5 minds, derived as bridge to Indigenous thinking from the principles of the Aboriginal knowledge system (2019) You can’t help but look at these 5 minds that Tyson Yunkaporta has derived from the principles of the Aboriginal knowledge system as a means for us to embrace Indigenous thinking and think how well they reflect […]
Going back to first principles to take a closer look at the design process
Fundamentally, regardless of the various terms and jargon used to customize and capture the design process as one unique to one’s own industrial design studio, the design process is at heart a balancing process of equilibrium that is viable, desirable, and feasible between the opposing forces of all the stakeholder interests involved. What tends to […]
Designer as Accelerator
I completed an exercise in era analysis over the past couple of weeks, and some thoughts emerge from the datapoints and patterns observed. First, when one considers the body of work completed over 30 odd years of professional practice, one of the first things that strikes is that a) there definitely has been an evolution […]
Exploratory study of the literature of information architecture
I introduce the idea of Multi-sensory cognitive justice, and make a case for it through a synthesis of the literature available on information architecture. Given that I was standing there when the field was born as a professional occupation with its own association etc I think I can navigate my way back to the beginning […]
Contemplating the conundrum of designing for cognitive justice
“Cognitive Justice: the right of different knowledges to coexist so long as they sustain the life, livelihoods, and life chances of a people.” Shiv Visvanathan, 2021 Unpacking this theoretical statement and putting it into practice in the form of design of interactive, collaborative, and social processes that comprise various participatory methodologies in design and innovation, […]
