The Design Way: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World - Hardcover

Nelson, Harold G.; Stolterman, Erik

  • 4.19 out of 5 stars
    116 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780262018173: The Design Way: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World

Synopsis

Humans did not discover fire--they designed it. Design is not defined by software programs, blueprints, or font choice. When we create new things--technologies, organizations, processes, systems, environments, ways of thinking--we engage in design. With this expansive view of design as their premise, in The Design Way, Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman make the case for design as its own culture of inquiry and action. They offer not a recipe for design practice or theorizing but a formulation of design culture's fundamental core of ideas. These ideas--which form "the design way"--are applicable to an infinite variety of design domains, from such traditional fields as architecture and graphic design to such nontraditional design areas as organizational, educational, interaction, and health care design. Nelson and Stolterman present design culture in terms of foundations (first principles), fundamentals (core concepts), and metaphysics, and then discuss these issues from both l

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About the Author

Harold G. Nelson was 2009--2010 Nierenberg Distinguished Professor of Design at Carnegie Mellon University and is currently Senior Instructor in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School and President of the Advanced Design Institute.

Review

The first edition of The Design Way changed how I conduct my work in education; the second edition is even stronger. Far from a mere list of 'how to's.' it helps develop a way of seeing, thinking, understanding, and acting with reciprocity that helps people become more client-centered, creative, and adaptive to others' ever-changing environments. I highly recommend this book and thank the authors for their outstanding work.

(John D. Bransford, Shauna C. Larson Professor of the Learning Sciences, University of Washington)

The second edition of The Design Way is the most useful and enjoyable book on design that I have yet read. It digs very deep into the intellectual and historical foundations of design thought in order to generate practical wisdom. If only the first chapter of this book was required reading for every first-year MBA student, the business world would be a much better place. And if it was also required reading for every science and technology policy person, we would actually have useful innovation policy. Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman have produced a genuinely great contribution.

(Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto)

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780262526708: The Design Way, second edition: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World (Mit Press)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0262526700 ISBN 13:  9780262526708
Publisher: The MIT Press, 2014
Softcover