Lawson B. How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified
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This must also ring very true to any architect who has designed for
a committee client. I have found that one of the most effective
ways of making apparent the disparate needs of groups in multi-
user buildings such as hospitals is to present the client committee
with a sketch design. Clients often seem to find it easier to
communicate their wishes by reacting to and criticising a proposed
design, than by trying to draw up an abstract comprehensive per-
formance specification.
This discussion has oversimplified reality by implicitly suggesting
that primary generators are always to be found in the singular. In
fact, as Rowe points out, it is the reconciling and resolving of two
or more such ideas which characterises design protocols. However,
we must leave further discussion of this complication, and of the
rejecting or resolving of primary generators, until a later chapter.
In summary
This chapter has examined the design process as a sequence of
activities and found the idea rather unconvincing. Certainly it is
reasonable to argue that for design to take place a number of
things must happen. Usually there must be a brief assembled, the
designer must study and understand the requirements, produce
one or more solutions, test them against some explicit or implicit
criteria, and communicate the design to clients and constructors.
The idea, however, that these activities occur in that order, or
even that they are identifiable separate events seems very ques-
tionable. It seems more likely that design is a process in which
problem and solution emerge together. Often the problem may
not even be fully understood without some acceptable solution
to illustrate it. In fact, clients often find it easier to describe their
problems by referring to existing solutions which they know of.
This is all very confusing, but it remains one of the many charac-
teristics of design that it so challenging and interesting to do and
study.
Our final attempt at a map of the design process shows this
negotiation between problem and solution with each seen as a
reflection of the other (Fig. 3.7). The activities of analysis, synthesis
and evaluation are certainly involved in this negotiation but the
map does not indicate any starting and finishing points or the
direction of flow from one activity to another. However, this map
should not be read too literally since any visually understandable
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diagram is probably far too much of a simplification of what is
clearly a highly complex mental process.
In the next section of this book we explore the nature of design
problems and their solutions in order to get a better understanding
of just why designers think the way they do.
References
Akin, O. (1986). Psychology of architectural design. London, Pion.
Archer, L. B. (1969). The structure of the design process. Design Methods
in Architecture. London, Lund Humphries.
Asimow, M. (1962). Introduction to Design. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
Darke, J. (1978). The primary generator and the design process. New
Directions in Environmental Design Research: procedings of EDRA 9.
Washington, EDRA. 325–337.
Eastman, C. M. (1970). On the analysis of the intuitive design process.
Emerging Methods in Environmental Design and Planning. Cambridge
Mass, MIT Press.
Gregory, S. A. (1966). The Design Method. London, Butterworths.
Hillier, B., Musgrove, J. et al. (1972). Knowledge and design. Environ-
mental Design: research and practice EDRA 3. University of California.
Jones, J. C. (1966). Design methods reviewed. The Design Method.
London, Butterworths.
Jones, J. C. (1970). Design Methods: seeds of human futures. New York,
John Wiley.
Lawson, B. R. (1972). Problem Solving in Architectural Design. University of
Aston in Birmingham.
Lawson, B. R. (1979b). “Cognitive strategies in architectural design.”
Ergonomics 22(1): 59–68.
Lawson, B. R. (1994b). Design in Mind. Oxford, Butterworth Architecture.
Levin, P. H. (1966). “The design process in planning.” Town Planning
Review 37(1).
ROUTE MAPS OF THE DESIGN PROCESS
49
SOLUTION
PROBLEM
synthesis
evaluation
analysis
Figure 3.7
The design process seen as a
negotiation between problem
and solution through the three
activities of analysis, synthesis
and evaluation
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Markus, T. A. (1969b). The role of building performance measurement and
appraisal in design method. Design methods in Architecture. London,
Lund Humphries.
Matchett, E. (1968). “Control of thought in creative work.” Chartered
Mechanical Engineer 14(4).
Maver, T. W. (1970). Appraisal in the building design process. Emerging
Methods in Environmental Design and Planning. Cambridge Mass,
MIT Press.
Page, J. K. (1963). Review of the papers presented at the conference.
Conference on Design Methods. Oxford, Pergamon.
Rosenstein, A. B., Rathbone, R. R. et al. (1964). Engineering Communica-
tions. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
Rowe, P. G. (1987). Design Thinking. Cambridge Mass, MIT Press.
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PART TWO
PROBLEMS AND
SOLUTIONS
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4
The components
of design problems
It seemed that the next minute they would discover a solution. Yet it
was clear to both of them that the end was still far, far off, and that
the hardest and most complicated part was only just beginning.
Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Dog
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely
the most important.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Above and below the problem
Designers are traditionally identified not so much by the kinds of
problems they tackle as by the kinds of solutions they produce. Thus
industrial designers are so called because they create products for
industrial and commercial organisations whereas interior designers
are expected to create interior spaces. Of course, reality is not actu-
ally quite so rigid as this. Many designers dabble in other fields,
some quite regularly, but most designers tend not to be quite so
versatile as some writers on design methodology appear to think.
We have already seen that this is to some extent the result of
the range of technologies understood by the designer. Architects
for example need to understand, amongst a great deal else, the
structural properties and jointing problems associated with timber. It
seems likely, then, that most architects could turn furniture designer
to design a wooden chair, although a furniture designer would prob-
ably claim to be able to recognise architect-designed chairs. This is
because most architects are used to handling timber at a different
scale and in a different context and thus have already developed a
‘timber language’ with a distinctly architectural accent. The imposed
loads and methods of construction of buildings are rather different
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to those found in furniture. While timber is capable of solving both
problems there are many other materials, each with their own tech-
nology, which are not usually common to architecture and furniture
design. Although both are possible, we do not very often see brick
chairs or polypropylene buildings!
The various design fields are also often thought to be different in
terms of the inherent difficulty of the problems they present. It is
easy to assume that size represents complexity. This argument sug-
gests that architecture must be more complex than industrial design
since buildings are larger than products. Certainly it is possible to
see the three-dimensional design fields in a tree with town planning
at the roots and the trunk beginning to branch out through urban
design, architecture and interior design to the twigs of industrial
design, but does this really mean that town planning is more diffi-
cult than product design? (Fig. 4.1).
Difficulty is, of course, a subjective matter. What one person finds
difficult may often be easy to another, so we must look at the exact
nature of these various kinds of problems to discover more. Urban
design solutions are obviously much larger in scale than architectural
solutions, but are urban design problems also in some way bigger
and more complex than architectural problems? The answer to this
question must be that this is not necessarily so. What really matters
HOW DESIGNERS THINK
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product design
interior design
architecture
urban design
town planning
Figure 4.1
A ‘tree’ of three dimensional
design fields
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here is just how far down the hierarchy the designer must go. For
example, when designing an ordinary house architects are unlikely
to be greatly concerned with detailed considerations of methods of
opening and closing cupboard doors. There may be some thought
necessary as to whether the windows might be of the sliding sash,
hinged casement or pivoting variety; but even that is not usually crit-
ical. The designer of a small caravan or boat, however, may need to
give very careful thought to such matters. Even the way in which
cupboard doors open in the restricted space available may be of
crucial significance. Thus part of the definition of a design problem is
the level of detail which requires attention. What usually seems
detail to architects may be central to interior or industrial designers
and so on.
The beginning and end of the problem
How, then, do we find the end of a design problem? Is it not pos-
sible to go on getting involved in more and more detail? Indeed
this is so; there is no natural end to the design process. There is
no way of deciding beyond doubt when a design problem has
been solved. Designers simply stop designing either when they
run out of time or when, in their judgement, it is not worth pursu-
ing the matter further. In design, rather like art, one of the skills is
in knowing when to stop. Unfortunately, there seems to be no
real substitute for experience in developing this judgement. This
presents considerable difficulties not just for students of design,
but also for practitioners. Since there is no real end to a design
problem it is very hard to decide how much time should be
allowed for its solution. Generally speaking, it seems that the
nearer you get to finishing a design the more accurately you are
able to estimate how much work remains to be done. As we have
seen in the last section we learn about design problems largely
by trying to solve them. Thus it may take quite a lot of effort
before a designer is really aware just how difficult a problem is.
First impressions are rarely very reliable in these matters. Design
students seem to be incorrigibly optimistic in their estimation of
the difficulty of problems and the time needed to arrive at
acceptable solutions. As a result students often fail to get down
to the level of detail required of them by their tutors. It is all too
easy to look superficially at a new design problem and, failing to
see any great difficulty, imagine that there is no real urgency.
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Only later, perhaps when it is too late, do the difficulties emerge
in response to some effort.
One of the essential characteristics of design problems then is
that they are often not apparent but must be found. Unlike cross-
word puzzles, brain-teasers or mathematical problems, neither the
goal nor the obstacle to achieving that goal are clearly expressed.
In fact, the initial expression of design problems may often be
quite misleading. If design problems are characteristically unclearly
stated, then it is also true that designers seem never to be satisfied
with the problem as presented. Eberhard (1970) has amusingly
illustrated this sometimes infuriating habit of designers with his
cautionary tale of the doorknob. He suggests that there are two
ways in which designers can retreat back up the hierarchy of prob-
lems, by escalation and by regression.
When faced with the task of designing a new knob for his client’s
office door, Eberhard’s designer suggests that perhaps ‘we ought
to ask ourselves whether a doorknob is the best way of opening
and closing a door’. Soon the designer is questioning whether the
office really needs a door, or should even have four walls and so
on. As Eberhard reports from his own experience, such a train of
argument can lead to the redesign of the organisation of which the
client and his office are part, and ultimately the very political sys-
tem which allows this organisation to exist is called into question.
This escalation leads to an ever wider definition of the problem.
Rather like the after-image in your eye after looking at a bright
light, the problem seems to follow your gaze.
We may also respond to a design problem by what Eberhard
calls regression. A student of mine who was asked to design a new
central library building decided that he needed to study the vari-
ous methods of loaning and storing books. As his design tutor
I agreed that this seemed sensible, only to discover at the next
tutorial that his work now looked more as if he was preparing for a
degree in librarianship than one in architecture. This trail of regres-
sion is to a certain extent encouraged by some of the maps of the
design process which were reviewed in Chapter 3. This behaviour
is only one logical outcome in practice of the notion that analysis
precedes synthesis and data collection precedes analysis. As
we have seen, in design it is difficult to know what problems
are relevant and what information will be useful until a solution is
attempted.
Both escalation and regression often go together. Thus my archi-
tectural student studying librarianship may also become convinced
that a new central library building is no answer. The problem, he
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may argue, lies in designing a new system of making books more
available by providing branch libraries, travelling libraries or per-
haps even using new methods of data transmission by television.
While this continuous broadening of the problem can be used to
avoid the issue and put off the evil day of actually getting to grips
with the design, nevertheless it does represent a sensibly cautious
response to unclearly stated problems. Design action, like medi-
cine, is only needed when the current situation is in some way
unsatisfactory, but which is better, to treat the symptoms or to look
for the cause?
The design fix
A client once asked me to design an extension to his house. The
initial brief was rather vague with various ideas of adding an extra
bedroom or a study. The real purpose of this extension was difficult
to understand since the house was already large enough for all the
family to have their own bedrooms and still leave a room which could
have been used as a study. The site was cramped and any extension
had to either occupy some valued garden space or involve consider-
able expense in building over a single storey garage and removing a
rather splendid pitched roof. It seemed that any extension was
almost bound to create new problems, and was not even likely to
prove a worthwhile investment. The client’s thinking was still unclear
and at one meeting, ideas of being able to accommodate grand-
parents were being discussed to the sounds of rather loud music
from one of the teenage children’s bedrooms. It then gradually
emerged that this was the real source of the problem. In fact the
house was indeed already large enough but not well enough divided
up acoustically. The problem then shifted to installing some better
sound insulation, but this is by no means easy to achieve with exist-
ing traditional domestic construction. I suggested the actual solution
initially as a joke. Buy the children some headphones! Thus by treat-
ing the cause of the problem rather than fixing the symptoms the
client kept his garden and his money. I regrettably lost some fees,
but gained a very grateful client who remained a friend. This presents
a rather unglamorous view of design problems. The stereotypical
public image of design portrays the creation of new, original and
uncompromising objects or environments.
The reality is that design is often more of a repair job. Part of the
problem is in correcting something which has gone wrong in some
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