Historical evolution of the design object, from construction materials to emergent performances. It presents a coherent theory of use value, cocreation, experience design and more. This is the first slide of the Design Thinking course given by Frederick van Amstel at PUCPR.

1. The expansion of
the design object
Frederick van Amstel
http://fredvanamstel.com
Architecture and Design School
Digital Design
PUCPR

2. Design is a social activity
•Design is not only a product
•Design is a professional activity
•Design has a historical tradition
•Traditions change
•Design transforms and creates objects, not
necessarily physical objects

3. What is the object of
design?

4. What is she designing?

5. What is him designing?

6. What is that the designer cocreates with the user?

7. Why so many ways of representing the object?

8. Design object is something that is
or will be used by another activity.
Hence design being social activity.

9. Social activity unfold in networks
Design
activity
Cooking
activity
Surgery
Law-
making
Design
education
Professional designers Utensils
W
orkflow
Normas técnicas

10. The activity changes when its
object expands.
Yrjö Engeström

11. Contemporary expansion
Design
ThinkerDesign Doer
ProcessProducts
Amateur
designers
Users

12. Expansion history
Object: construction materials (1800 - 1940)
Object: complex entity (1930 - present)
(Van Amstel, 2015)
Object: emergent performance (1990 - present)

13. The first Bauhaus curriculum put emphasis over mastering
construction material (1922)

14. Material innovation enabled new forms and shapes

15. The second Bauhaus curriculum included Science, town
planning and social services (1932)

16. Ülm curriculum emphasized interdisciplinarity, information
and knowledge (1951)

17. Brasilia: a city designed by multidisciplinary experts (1956)

18. The Anglepoise is a simple yet complex design (1927)

19. Juicy Salif squeezer refuses being a product and appeal to
emotions (1990)

20. The Ideo shopping cart (1998) was designed based on the
observed experience of US shoppers

21. Smell+ is a blind date app that connects people through
body smells (2009)

22. Carneggie Mellon University new design curriculum (2014)

23. Emergent performance
•Performance is a process not a product
•Performance is different every time it repeats
•Performance is measurable
•Performance cannot be controlled since it is
emergent
•Performance examples: interaction, experience,
emotion, service, business

24. Use value X Exchange value
•Value is not money
•Exchange value is often measured with money
•Use value is sometimes measured with usability
metrics (efficacy, efficiency, satisfaction)
•Use value is related to the usefulness, utility and
materiality of something

25. Industrial economy
•Exchange value generation from functionality
•Use value generation from object characteristics
•Product Design
•Graphic Design
•Interior Design object
the object has its own value

26. Experience economy
•Exchange value generation from branding
•Use value generation from object’s role in context
•User Experience Design
•Interaction Design
•Service Design
the object amplifies the value of something else
object

27. Transforming products into services bridges the gap
between company and market

28. Value co-creation at the boundaries of an organization
(Amstel, 2015)
Producer
Negotiation for
exchange value
Cocreator
Client
Negotiation for
use value

29. Apple for example offers current best integration across
multiple products

30. Ikea furniture I assembled myself in the place I lived in the
Netherlands. I had an emotional bond to them.

31. Value Proposition Canvas: value is created by reducing
pains and increasing gains, i.e., through experience

32. Realtime feedback of fuel consumption in Fiat cars tries to
influence the driver (cocreate an experience)

33. Contemporary expansion
Design
ThinkerDesign Doer
ProcessProducts
Amateur
designers
Users

34. Today’s design object
•Includes the user behavior, as if it could be
designed as part of the product
•Embed many rules and a division of labor
•Resists design through diversion, escalating
complexity,
•Is often shared and disputed among multiple
activities (since people behavior is at play)

35. Thanks!
Frederick van Amstel
http://fredvanamstel.com
Architecture and Design School
Digital Design
PUCPR