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The In-Discipline of Design pp 135–173Cite as

Design as Composition of Tensions

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Part of the book series: Design Research Foundations ((DERF))

Abstract

In this chapter, design is considered as a practice of composition of tensions. By laying out materials, ideas, forms, models of communication and activities, designers organize their practice not so much as a sequence of events but more as a field to compose within. Rather than using the metaphor of the project, the author uses the metaphor of the matrix to show how the design project brings together materials in unexpected ways without necessarily following a defined plan. Elaborating on Peirce’s theory of abduction, the composition is seen as a projective abductive practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Armogathe et al. (2001).

  2. 2.

    Charles Perrault (1628–1703) was a French writer, who, amongst other things wrote the famous Tales of Mother Goose that introduce the fairy tale genre. He led the “Modernist” movement in the seventeenth century, praising the new ways of writing that fitted best the King’s times (Louis the XIV).

  3. 3.

    Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711) was a French poet and critic who endeavoured to define the rules of poetry. He led the faction of the Ancient in praising the art of the poets of Antiquity.

  4. 4.

    Some pictures of famous artists’ studios can be found on this website: http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/news/Buildings-Architecture/530/famous-artists-studios

  5. 5.

    See for instance, in Paris, http://www.lelieududesign.com/la-materiautheque-materio

  6. 6.

    Hockney (2006).

  7. 7.

    Leupen et al. (1997).

  8. 8.

    Unwin (2009).

  9. 9.

    Wisser (2006).

  10. 10.

    Oxman (1994).

  11. 11.

    Eilouti (2009).

  12. 12.

    Eilouti (2009).

  13. 13.

    VUE means “sight” in French.

  14. 14.

    Moore and Kearsley (2011).

  15. 15.

    Holmberg (1995).

  16. 16.

    Jacquinot (1993).

  17. 17.

    Stahl et al. (2006).

  18. 18.

    Stahl et al. (2006).

  19. 19.

    Blandin (2004).

  20. 20.

    Laurel (1993).

  21. 21.

    Lakoff et Johnson (1980).

  22. 22.

    Rastier (2002).

  23. 23.

    Lakoff et Johnson (1980).

  24. 24.

    Aumont et al. (1992).

  25. 25.

    Doane (2003).

  26. 26.

    Aumont et Marie (2004).

  27. 27.

    Oudard (1969).

  28. 28.

    A more detailed description of VUE can be found in Gentès and Cambone (2013).

  29. 29.

    They included a space for slide presentations (which often occupies most of the screen), live performances of the teacher, student representation (via webcam, photos, avatars, virtual agents, a list of names...), communication tools (chat) and sometimes elements to measure the mood of the class (smileys, color code ...).

  30. 30.

    The control room in television broadcast is the place where the video feeds from the different cameras can be watched. The production team selects the video feed that is going to be broadcasted by TV channels.

  31. 31.

    Schon (1984).

  32. 32.

    http://artport.whitney.org/commissions/codedoc/index.shtml.”

  33. 33.

    Tufte (2006).

  34. 34.

    http://www.maedastudio.com/index.php

  35. 35.

    Alan Kay, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware,” http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Kay

  36. 36.

    Akrich (1990).

  37. 37.

    VTHD: Vraiment Très Haut Débit.

  38. 38.

    de Meredieu (2005).

  39. 39.

    Latour et Weibel (2005).

  40. 40.

    Artaud (1994).

  41. 41.

    Jacques Prévert (1900–1977) was a French poet and screenwriter who introduced the list as poetic material in the poem “Inventory” (“Inventaire” in the collection of Poems: Paroles, 1946).

  42. 42.

    Latour (1999).

  43. 43.

    Schön and Wiggins (1992).

  44. 44.

    Goldschmidt (1994).

  45. 45.

    Kavakli and Gero (2001).

  46. 46.

    Sass et Oxman (2006).

  47. 47.

    Cuff (1992) .

  48. 48.

    Bilda et al. (2006).

  49. 49.

    Genette (1979).

  50. 50.

    Panofsky (1969).

  51. 51.

    Jeanneret and Souchier (1999).

  52. 52.

    http://www.gratin.org/

  53. 53.

    http://www.agnesdecayeux.fr/

  54. 54.

    Barthes (2012).

  55. 55.

    http://www.theatrefeuilleton2.net/, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Francois_Peyret

  56. 56.

    de Grazia and Furlough (1996).

  57. 57.

    Agamben (2009).

  58. 58.

    Foucault (1980).

  59. 59.

    Agamben (2009).

  60. 60.

    Agamben (2009).

  61. 61.

    Knappett and Malafouris (2008).

  62. 62.

    Gentes et al. (2015).

  63. 63.

    http://www.citedudesign.com/fr/materiautheque/

  64. 64.

    Ingold (2010).

  65. 65.

    Huyghe (2009).

  66. 66.

    Aristotle (1999).

  67. 67.

    Vitruve (1995).

  68. 68.

    Ibid.

  69. 69.

    Visser (2006).

  70. 70.

    Tulving et Thomson (1973).

  71. 71.

    Klee (1966).

  72. 72.

    Ingold (2010)

  73. 73.

    Deleuze and Guattari (1987).

  74. 74.

    Schön (1992).

  75. 75.

    Rosenberg (2008).

  76. 76.

    Alberti (2013).

  77. 77.

    Feuillie (2002).

  78. 78.

    Saper (2001).

  79. 79.

    This part of the chapter relies on workshops on Peirce’s semiotics organized with Camille Jutant, Mathias Béjean, and Cedric Mivielle.

  80. 80.

    Already quoted in Chap. 3 to address the question of the user.

  81. 81.

    Roozenburg (1993).

  82. 82.

    Sowa and Majumdar (2003).

  83. 83.

    Schurz (2008).

  84. 84.

    Krippendorff (1989).

  85. 85.

    Chow and Jonas (2010).

  86. 86.

    Buxton (2007).

  87. 87.

    Kelley (2002).

  88. 88.

    Dow et al. (2010).

  89. 89.

    Eco and Sebeok (1988).

  90. 90.

    Nelson and Stolterman (2012).

  91. 91.

    Hatchuel and Weil (2002).

  92. 92.

    Chow and Jonas (2010).

  93. 93.

    Chow and Jonas (2010).

  94. 94.

    I would like to thank Warren Sack for his judicious remarks and discussion on Peirce.

  95. 95.

    ‘The Proper Treatment of Hypotheses: A Preliminary Chapter, toward an Examination of Hume’s Argument against Miracles, in its Logic and in its History’ (MS 692), HP 2:899–900, 1901).

  96. 96.

    See for example, Harrowitz (1984).

  97. 97.

    Prolegomena for an Apology to Pragmatism, (MS 293), NEM 4:319–320, c. 1906.

  98. 98.

    Schurz, « Patterns of abduction ». p. 201.

  99. 99.

    For a first introduction to Pierce’s semiotics, see

    http://www.signosemio.com/peirce/semiotics.asp

  100. 100.

    Shank (2001).

  101. 101.

    Shank Ibid.

  102. 102.

    Eluard (1966).

  103. 103.

    Eco and Paci (1983).

  104. 104.

    Warren Sack remarked that Amazon.com‘s recommendation system works on the same principle when it is matching one buyer’s profile to its database of profiles in order to suggest other similar books to buy.

  105. 105.

    Freud (1997).

  106. 106.

    Eco and Paci (1983).

  107. 107.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrian_tree

  108. 108.

    Hatchuel et al. (2014).

  109. 109.

    Catellin (2004).

  110. 110.

    Dow (2010).

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  1. Codesign Lab, I3, Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France

    Annie Gentes

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Gentes, A. (2017). Design as Composition of Tensions. In: The In-Discipline of Design. Design Research Foundations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65984-8_5

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