Decoding design: a tour through time

In 1958 NASA was established, the term AI was first used, the Integrated Circuit was invented, Boeing introduced the first commercial jet airliner (the 707) and the concept of "Human Centred Design" was formally introduced. Technology has moved on leaps and bounds since 1958. How has design practice evolved?

It feels natural to place a single human at the centre of design. After all, DaVinci’s canonical image of the Vitruvian man describes just that [1]. 

As the limits of planetary resources become a reality, the complexity of the world around us grows, and the unintended consequences of mass-production and consumerism become evident, the opportunity (and need) for design to deliver impact has never been greater. 

Rather than applying the same broad approach on repeat, the world requires design methods with sophistication to match the scale of the challenges faced.

Human Centred Design has kudos and rightly so - it's had a significant impact on the economy and how we experience products. However, ubiquitous overuse of terminology such as “Human Centred Design” can create confusion around what design actually is  [2, 3]. 

Relying on vague language and a narrow range of methods to sweep over nuance and complexities is a missed opportunity to realise the true value that design can bring. 

To help put things into perspective, I’ve put together a whistle stop tour of design and design terminology through the decades. 
 
Hop on board and we'll get started. 

Middle Ages - Design (verb) -  [4]. 
The verb Design originates from the Latin Designare (to designate or to draw a plan) this is derived from the latin word “signum” which corresponds to the Italian “segno” (sign) and “disegno”(drawing). 

1850-1900 Industrial Design [5] 
Industrial design is, in essence, design for mass production. The commercial value of the design as a skill sparked the emergence of design as a profession. “The Practical Draughtsman's Book of Industrial Design”, was printed in 1853. Claude Sintel, a self-proclaimed industrial designer is credited with first using the term “industrial design” in 1919. 

1944 Design Council established [6 ]
The role of design in supporting economic growth was clear as far back as the 1940’s. The Design Council was established in 1944 by Winston Churchill to tackle the most monumental challenge of the time: postwar recovery. 

1980’s Growth of design as a profession 
It wasn’t until the 1980’s that demand for design as a profession grew. Some design agencies have been around for a century – Alessi (1921), Teague (1926), Design Concepts (1967), Frogg Design (1969) but during the 80’s globalisation, consumer electronics, CAD, a push for quick product development and shorter product life cycles saw the demand for design increase. The recognised value of design, particularly around ensuring desirability, resulted in a new wave of consultancies and design became cool - RKS (1980), Continuum (1983), Seymourpowell (1984), KartenDesign (1984), IDEO (1991). Hundreds of others followed. 

1958 Human Centred Design 
John E. Arnold 
Despite being a new concept for many, Human Centred Design has been around since 1958. In its time it has been impactful in shaping the world around us. It has ensured that products (and to some extent services, policies etc) are desirable as well as technically feasible and commercially viable. Human Centred Design supported the growth of consumerism. It lends itself well to linear models of supply and consumption. 

1977 User-Centred design 
Donald A. Norman 
The term user centred design is generally credited to Donald A Norman. In a similar way to Human-Centred design, although there is no fixed approach, methods tend to involve empathy with the user. Techniques feature iteration and often involve prototyping and direct collaboration or even ‘co-design’ practices. Whilst Human Centred Design has a bias towards desirability, User-Centred Design places a heavier emphasis on usability. 

1994 Inclusive Design
Robert Coleman [7] 
The Design Management Systems British Standard BS 7000-6 [8] defines inclusive design as:
 
“The design of mainstream products or services that are accessible to and useable by as many people as reasonably possible... without the need for special adaptation or specialised design”
 
Although the BSI inclusive design definition (and the real-world need) is relevant and applicable across a whole range of dimensions of diversity, the term is commonly associated with design for special needs and varying levels of ability. 

1990’s People-Centred design [9} 
Whilst HCD and often used interchangeably, people centred design places emphasis on the contextual differences of people's situations and cultures rather than their specific actions. It is often used when people are paying particular attention to designing for groups of people outside their usual frame of reference. Foundational to this approach is the idea that the people we are designing for often know what they need. The challenges they are facing are commonly systemic. Not being able to address them shouldn’t be attributed to their lack of insight and understanding. 

2001 Systemic Design – Design Council [10] In tandem with  Design for Planet [11] , and in recognition of the need for more holistic approaches to design in practice, Design Council  launched the System Design Framework with a view to helping designers work on complex interdisciplinary and cross-sector challenges. 

2021 Systems-aware design – Innovate UK Systems-aware design is a catch-all term coined by Innovate UK in response to the needs of the innovation community. Systems-aware design encompass systemic design but also borrows from other disciplines such as complexity science, economics and systems engineering to appropriately address complexity. Systems-aware design places focus on understanding the interdependencies between the design artefact and the systems it connects to.  Rather than just thinking about the end user, the designer uses a range of methods to explicitly and intentionally consider consider the impact on and effect of relevant systems.

In addition to people and end-users, a systems-aware designer might consider legacy systems, infrastructure, organisations, political and social systems, the life cycle, waste systems, systems dynamics and emergent behaviours (amongst other things).

Last stop thoughts 
We've completed the tour.  I'm left wondering if design is still given the weight it was afforded in the 1940’s when Winston Churchill saw its pivotal value for economic growth. 

As valuable as HCD is in the appropriate context, has it become a detrimental preoccupation? And, has this preoccupation become a barrier to design stepping-up to address wider innovation complexities? 

After decades of HCD the world has evolved. Should we still be focusing on simplified and narrow definitions of design? 

Is explaining design as strictly human-centred already ambitious enough? Are we overcomplicating things? Or are we underselling it and missing its true relevance? 

Lots of questions! 

Let me know what you think about the role of design and how you think design terminology ought to be used. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour!