Communicating Design

This line of research focuses on making the creative process transparent and explicit. Firstly, the aim of this research is to obtain transparency in the uncertain process of cognitive actions and strategies that a designer/maker goes through while thinking and acting in order to arrive at original and unique artefacts. Secondly, the research also aims to gain knowledge of possible strategies to make one’s own design process comprehensible (for one’s own use or aimed at others). This approach is based on the assumption that the process itself and its explication are inextricably bound.

In addition to the final product, the creation process itself is of the utmost importance, as it is based on the active interaction between materialisation and idea as a design method. In this process, the body often acts as a provider of meaning and as a carrier of tacit knowledge or specific memories. Not only perfection is aimed for; also the fractured, the fragile and the flawed can be a source of inspiration. Or even, the crucial role of contemporary art as a refractory disruptor.