Design, Empathy, Interpretation

Toward Interpretive Design Research

by Ilpo Koskinen

$35.00 Paperback

208 pp., 6 x 9 in, 20 b&w illus.

Paperback
9780262546928
Published: September 12, 2023
Publisher: The MIT Press

$35.00

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A new, empathic approach to design research, drawn from the informed experiences of a leading design research program in Finland.

Design, Empathy, Interpretation tells the story of empathic design, a design research program at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, that has developed an interpretive approach to design over the past twenty years. As one of the leaders of the Helsinki group, Ilpo Koskinen draws on his own experiences to offer readers a general intellectual and professional history of design research, and argues for what he calls an interpretive approach. Design, Empathy, Interpretation shows how the group has created connections all across the globe, and how a seemingly soft approach to design research can be useful in both industry and government.

Koskinen follows design research's transformation from questions of usability, in the 1980s, through to the revolution in personal electronics and the “user-centered” turn of the 1990s. Using the research community in Helsinki as a case study, and moving between specific projects and theoretical debates, he offers readers a focused introduction to the major methodological and intellectual challenges—as well as the opportunities—of design research. He argues that all design tasks, however simple or complex, begin with understanding the way humans ascribe meaning, both as individuals and as actors in complex societies. Thus all design research must be interpretive at its core.

Ilpo Koskinen is Professor at the University of New South Wales. He is the coauthor of Empathic Design, Design Research through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom, and Drifting by Intention: Four Epistemic Traditions from within Constructive Design Research.

“An effortless dive into two decades of pursuing empathic design by researchers, ideas, and things. An excellent read for those who take seriously, but not for granted, the capacity of design research to create new knowledge.”
Ron Wakkary, Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University; Professor, Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology; author of Things We Could Design

“Design, Empathy, Interpretation documents the fascinating emergence and evolution of constructive design research as a type of design research distinct from design studies at one of the most influential sites for its development and continuing success.”
John Zimmerman, Professor, HCI Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

“A compelling life story of the interpretive framework, aptly placed in the temporal field of design research. Ilpo offers novices and experts insight, inspiration, and a possible path to a new science of meaning, for a thriving world.”
Caroline Hummels, Professor, Design and Theory for Transformative Qualities, Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology