This is a really interesting visualization, Uday. I appreciate the attempt to capture and conceptualize the world of design. I think it's important for designers as a community to have a shared awareness of the spectrum of design problems and the types of specialties and practitioners out there. The important thing is not what kind of designer you are, but how you respond to and frame your problem space.
I think it's also important to make clear that Buchanan's "ordering" of these problem spaces is based on an understanding of the historical evolution of design practice since the industrial revolution. This is not a prioritization or ranking of different types of problem spaces. It simply reflects the fact that the definition of design and the focus of the field keeps expanding. Great graphic design is just as crucial, even as we move into the spheres of organizations, public policy, and culture. What might be an interesting addition to your visualization is to incorporate an approximation of who designers share these spaces with. These are not exclusive domains of "designers". Communication design has always included writers and marketers along with graphic designers and illustrators; Industrial Design has always included the contribution of engineers, scientists, and business people; Interface designers work with programmers and software developers, plus graphic and industrial designers. As you move towards the right hand side of the diagram, I think you could argue that more and more professions begin to intersect with design's domain. Designers working at the third and fourth order must work with business leaders, policy makers, government, scientists, engineers, lawyers, etc. This really adds complexity for designers trying to work in these spaces. It also suggests that a much broader spectrum of people will begin to participate in the design process and call themselves "designers". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41296 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
