From Discovery to Application: What to Expect When Designing with Dilemmas

Main Article Content

Deger Ozkaramanli
Pieter M. A. Desmet
Elif Özcan

Abstract

 


Personal dilemmas are inspiring phenomena, which can stimulate design creativity and reflection on users’ goals and values. This paper aims to provide an overview of the main challenges involved in Dilemma-Driven Design (DDD). We first introduce three main activities performed when designing with dilemmas: Identifying dilemmas (discovery), selecting a target dilemma (definition), and generating ideas to address the selected dilemma (application). Next, we present a design case in which thirty novice designers responded to a project briefing in three consecutive workshops. Their experiences were evaluated through a questionnaire and a group discussion, resulting in an overview of five challenges involved in designing with dilemmas and recommendations on how to tackle each challenge. Based on our findings, we discuss how DDD is positioned as an emerging, conflict-inspired design approach. Altogether, this paper acts as an ‘introductory course’ on DDD.


Article Details

How to Cite
Ozkaramanli, D., Desmet, P. M. A., & Özcan, E. (2020). From Discovery to Application: What to Expect When Designing with Dilemmas. Diseña, (17), 58–83. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.17.58-83
Section
Original articles
Author Biographies

Deger Ozkaramanli, University of Twente

PhD in Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). MSc in Industrial Design, TU Delft. MSc. in Industrial Engineering, University of Miami. BSc in Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University. She is an Assistant Professor in Human Centered Design at the Department of Design, Production, and Management at the University of Twente. She has developed Dilemma-Driven Design by integrating knowledge from psychology and design theory and methods. Some of her most recent publications are ‘Dilemma-thinking as a Means to Enhance Criticality in Design for Wellbeing’ (in A. Petermans and R. Cain, eds.; Design for Wellbeing: An Applied Approach, Routledge, 2020) and ‘From Teatime Cookies to Rain-pants: Resolving Personal Dilemmas through Design Using three Levels of Concern Conflicts’ (with P. M. A. Desmet and E. Özcan, International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, Vol. 6, N° 3-4).

Pieter M. A. Desmet, Delft University of Technology

 

PhD in Design for Emotion, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). MSc in Product Design, TU Delft. BSc in Product Design, TU Delft. He Full Professor at the Department of Human-Centered Design of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. His most recent publications include ‘Mood Granularity for Design: Introducing a Holistic Typology of 20 Mood States’ (with H. Xue and S. F. Fokkinga; International Journal of Design, Vol. 14, N° 1); ‘It’s Love, my Friend! Some Reflections on Cultivating the Positive Design Plot’ (in A. Petermans and R. Cain, eds.; Design for Wellbeing: An Applied Approach, Routledge, 2020); and ‘The Same Person is Never the Same: Introducing Mood-stimulated Thought/Action Tendencies for User-centered Design’ (with H. Xue and S. F. Fokkinga; She Ji, Vol. 5, N° 3).

Elif Özcan, Delft University of Technology

 

PhD in Product Sounds, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). B. in Industrial Design, Middle East Technical University. She is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft, and Care Technology Lead at Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam. She teaches ‘sensory form and experience-driven’ design. She is interested in sound-driven design research in the fields of mobility, space operations, and healthcare. She is the director of the Critical Alarms Lab (CAL), in the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. Some of her most recent publications include ‘Shaping Critical Care through Sound-driven Innovation: Introduction, Outline, and Research Agenda’ (with W. J. R. Rietdijk and D. Gommers; Intensive Care Medicine, Vol. 46, N° 3);  ‘Uncommon Music Making: The Functional Roles of Music in Design for Healthcare’ (with L. Frankel and J. Stewart; Music and Medicine, Vol. 11, N° 4); and ‘Incorporating Brand Identity in the Design of Auditory Displays: The Case of Toyota Motor Europe’ (with R. van Egmond, A. Gentner, and C. Favart; in M. Filimowicz, ed.; Foundations in Sound Design for Embedded Media, Routledge, 2019).

References

BEM, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An Alternative Interpretation of Cognitive Dissonance Phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024835

BENACK, S., BASSECHES, M., & SWAN, T. (1989). Dialectical Thinking and Adult Creativity. In J. A. Glover, R. R. Ronning, & C. R. Reynolds (Eds.), Handbook of Creativity (pp. 199–208). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5356-1_12

CROSS, N. (2003). The Expertise of Exceptional Designers. In N. Cross & E. Edmonds (Eds.), Expertise in Design (pp. 23–35). Creativity and Cognition Press.

DORST, K., & CROSS, N. (2001). Creativity in the Design Process: Co-evolution of Problem–solution. Design Studies, 22(5), 425–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(01)00009-6

FESTINGER, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press.

FRIEDMAN, B., KAHN, P. H., & BORNING, A. (2002). Value Sensitive Design: Theory and Methods [Technical Report 02-12-01]. Dept. Of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.

HEKKERT, P., & VAN DIJK, M. (2011). VIP Vision in Design: A Guidebook for Innovators. BIS Publishers.

HERNÁNDEZ, N. V., SHAH, J. J., & SMITH, S. M. (2010). Understanding Design Ideation Mechanisms Through Multilevel Aligned Empirical Studies. Design Studies, 31(4), 382–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2010.04.001

JENSEN, T. E., & ANDREASEN, M. M. (2010). Design Methods in Practice: Beyond the ‘Systematic Approach’ of Pahl and Beitz. In D. Marjanovic, M. Storga, N. Pavkovic, & N. Bojcetic (Eds.), Proceedings of DESIGN 2010, the 11th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia: Section: Design Theory and Research Methodology (pp. 21–28).

LLOYD, P., & VAN DE POEL, I. (2008). Designing Games to Teach Ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 14(3), 433–447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-008-9077-2

OZKARAMANLI, D. (2017). Me Against Myself: Addressing Personal Dilemmas through Design [Doctoral Dissertation, Delft University of Technology]. https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:5b36ba74-d629-4ee2-9f08-edeb33d5ca59

OZKARAMANLI, D., DESMET, P. M. A., & ÖZCAN, E. (2016). Beyond Resolving Dilemmas: Three Design Directions for Addressing Intrapersonal Concern Conflicts. Design Issues, 32(3), 78–91. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00401

OZKARAMANLI, D., DESMET, P., & ÖZCAN, E. (2017a). Is this a Design-worthy Dilemma? Identifying Relevant and Inspiring Concern Conflicts as Input for User-centred Design. Journal of Design Research, 15(1), 17–42. https://doi.org/10.1504/JDR.2017.084506

OZKARAMANLI, D., DESMET, P. M. A., & ÖZCAN, E. (2017b). Dilemma Co-Exploration Toolkit. Delft University of Technology.

OZKRAMANLI, D., FOKKINGA, S. F., DESMET, P. M. A., BALKAN, E., & GEORGE, E. (2013). Recreating AlaTurca; Consumer Goal Conflicts as a Creative Driver for Innovation. In D. S. Fellows (Ed.), Proceedings of Qualitative Research 2013 (pp. 73–84). ESOMAR.

SCHÖN, D. A. (1991). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books.

TROMP, N., & HEKKERT, P. (2016). Assessing Methods for Effect-driven Design: Evaluation of a Social Design Method. Design Studies, 43, 24–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2015.12.002

WILSON, T. D. (2002). Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious. Harvard University Press.