1. Activity Systems Analysis
as a Guiding Framework
for Identifying Design
Cases
Lisa C. Yamagata-Lynch
University of Tennessee

2. Overview

3. Presentation Goals
• Report on findings from pilot workshop and
doctoral course assignment designed to help
participants understand design as a practice and
share their experiences in first person narrative
format rather than traditional scientific research
report format
• The assignment requires students to use activity
systems analysis (Engeström, 1988) to help them
write and reflect on their design experiences

4. Pilot and Study Context
Pilot 4-Week Course Segment
15-Week Course
Japanese Engineering School
Values and Decision Sciences
(VALDES)
University of Tennessee
Learning Environments and
Educational Studies (LEEDS)
Japanese as the dominant language
with some English instruction
Exclusively in English
Master’s students with no ID
Doctoral students with some ID
4-week course topic on Design
Thinking and Activity Systems
Analysis
15-week course on Design Thinking
and Theory
http://www.lisayamagatalynch.net/ho
me/invited-lectures/valdes-2012
http://lees604design.lisayamagatalyn
ch.net/

5. 15-Week Course Description

6. New ways for Participants
to Look at Design
• Design traditionally has been studied as a
logically sequenced process, rather than an
organic process
• These studies have been influenced by the
scientific traditions that do not represent design as
experiences practitioners encounter in the field
(Boling & Smith, 2012, Jonassen, 2011)
• Studies of design through a scientific lens has
made minimal contributions to understand what
designers do (Cross, 2006, Dorst, 2011)

7. Course Details
• Design Thinking and Theory
• 10 doctoral students enrolled, 7 agreed to
participate in study
• Syllabus available at:
http://lees604design.lisayamagatalynch.net/

8. Design Case Analysis
Assignment
Prepare a design case while considering issues
related to thick description (Geertz, 1973), design
stories (Parrish, 2006), and design cases (Boling,
2010; Smith, 2010) by addressing:
• The design situation, context, and activity;
• The designer(s), stakeholders, and clients;
• Problems addressed in the design activity;
• Resources available/unavailable to designer(s);
• Constraints taking a role in the design activity;
and
• Interesting observations about the design
activity.
Guide http://lees604design.lisayamagatalynch.net/home/sharedfiles/lees604design_case_guide.pdf?attredirects=0

9. Design Case Analysis
Assignment
Engage in an activity systems analysis of the design
case while considering the methodology as
described in Yamagata-Lynch (2010) and and
identify the the subject, object, tool, rule, community,
division of labor, outcome, and tensions. Then
discuss:
• Interesting findings from the analysis; and
• Reflections of the design activity and analysis in
relation to future design and research activities
Rubric http://lees604design.lisayamagatalynch.net/home/sharedfiles/lees604design_case_rubric.pdf?attredirects=0

10. Sample Participant
Design Cases

11. Participants and Topics
Susan
Kai
Maggi
ID Experience
Kind of
Yes
No
Background
Corporate
K-12 Education
K-12 Education
Topic
Interactive
visual materials
for a
presentation on
strategies for
facilitating a
gifted
curriculum
Serious game
development for
an anti-school
violence
education
program in
Korea
Customized
design of user
friendly
phonogram
cards

12. Kai’s Design Case
Background
• Design activity in response to suicide rates in
Korea in response to school violence and bullying
• Target audience was juvenile offenders and
victims of school violence
• Tasked from Korean Ministry of Justice to develop
a serious game that address school violence
• Shared game design and development in
narrative format

13. Kai’s Analysis

14. Sample Analysis Results
Activity systems analysis shows that subject in this design activity is our
design team. The tool is divided two categories. One is theory. We used a
modified Dick & Carey model, ARCS theory, case study, GBS and game
design theory in our design as a tool. The other is method and software.
We used the storyboard as a design method and PowerPoint. We have
many rules in this activity. The modified Dick & Carey model we used
acted as the frame of this activity. We had to finish our design in four
months and had a budget. Especially, our design result had to have high
development feasibility. The community members involved in this activity
were the Korean Ministry of Justice (client), students and teachers (user),
game designers, and youth counselors (subject expert). The division of
labor within this community is literature review, case study, collecting
school violence case and each task related modified Dick & Carey's each
step. The object is designing a serious game as psychotherapy for juvenile
offenders and victims of school violence. The outcome of this activity was
a designed serious game called “Our school, Sherlock.”
(Kai’s analysis shared in Design Case Assignment)

15. Findings from
Participant Reflections

16. Finding 1
On being a Designer
• I was a designer?
• I have always been a designer

17. I was a designer?
The design ability is one of most important abilities to
have in order to be a good instructional technologist. As
instructional technologists, we conduct many design
works such as designing curriculums, learning materials,
learning activities, and learning tools. Because it is such
an essential asset, it is important that we should improve
our design ability. What is the best way to improve design
ability? I think the first step is to understand that I am a
designer and to recognize my design work. Until now, I’ve
never regarded myself as a designer. However, through
taking the design class, I realized that I am a designer.
With this finding, I was able to approach my design work
with a new perspective.
(Kai’s comment shared in Design Case Assignment)

18. I have been a designer
For me, it is virtually impossible to separate design from
any part of my professional practice. I bring over 25 years
experience in graphic design to my practice of
instructional design and technology. When I approach
any project, the design and content are inseparable and
interdependent. For example, for this project, I actually
developed the content for the presentation at the same
time as I designed the PowerPoint presentation.
(Susan’s comment shared in Design Case Assignment)

19. Finding 2
On Writing about Design
• Recreate an in-the-moment experience
into words I thought I would not have
• Consciously articulate and explain design
decisions to myself and others

20. Sharing Experience
with Words
The process of writing a design case study required the
conscious explanation of design decisions and processes. The
fact that I was able to specifically explain how I completed a
complex design project surprised me. It required me to identify
and name actions that are an automatic and almost
subconscious part of my practice as a designer. I thought that
my reflection on this process would include more descriptions
about why I chose a particular graphic or typestyle or color.
These are the elements that I normally think of when I think of
design. However, as I thought about this process in terms of
how I would teach it to someone, I found that it needed to be
explained in terms of a process. As I wrote the description of
my design activity, I was thinking only of explaining my process
and design decisions.
(Susan’s comment shared in Design Case Assignment)

21. What a Surprise!
In two words, the result of the thick description and
CHAT analysis took me by surprise. As a writer, I
enjoyed chronicling the project and reliving a
process that produced something I delight in using to
this day, continue to introduce to other educators
and students a regular basis, and, still find aspects
highly satisfying to my design sensibilities.
(Maggie comment shared in Design Case
Assignment)

22. Findings 3
About Activity Systems Analysis
• Helped to step back and engage in
assessment of how the design project
unfolded while resolving tensions
• Helped reconcile frustrations from what
seemed haphazard, ill-defined, often
irrational process as a creative challenge

23. Analyzing Design Activities
Activity systems analysis provides a model for analyzing
this design process. Reflecting on the design process
within the boundaries of an activity system reveals the
mediations or tensions within the activity (Engestrom,
2008). Design is often thought of as an elusive quality
that somehow magically happens. When design is viewed
as an activity however, the mediations or tensions that
affect the outcome can be more clearly seen.
(Susan’s comment shared in Design Case Assignment)

24. Evaluating Design Activities
After I created the CHAT triangles and populated the six
elements, I was amazed at how clearly it represented the
whole process in such a deceptively simple diagram. The
areas or events that facilitated movement toward the
outcome are evident, and those that hindered it as well. I
found myself thinking as I looked at the triangles, “If I had
only known that distance and time impeded progress as
much as it did, I would have found a way to get members
together more regularly and for longer periods of time.”
(Maggie’s comment shared in Design Case Assignment)

25. Conclusions:
Shared by Participants
Writing the case and activity systems analysis
surprised me because:
• I can see design as an activity and now talk about it,
and think about how to be purposeful about it in the
future
• The simplistic activity systems model reflected the
experience more comprehensively than I thought it
would

26. Conclusions:
Shared by Participants
Writing the case and activity systems analysis
surprised me that:
• Engaging in activity systems analysis made me
realize aspects of design that I did not before,
tensions that was not clear to me at the time of
design
• The design project was bigger in scope than I
thought before the analysis

27. Implications

28. Implications
• Issues of reified objects
• ASA as a new lens to see things
• How do we have student experience and talk about
what they experience an learn form it?
• Claiming the role of the designer comes with
empowerment and responsibility
• Improve design skills by reviewing design decisions
• Understand how I apply my design knowledge in reallife