»Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value, and meaning in man-made things and systems.«
(Bruce Archer, “Systematic Methods for Designers”, 1981)
- Phenomenology and methodology of Design
Goal: To improve the ability of Designers to recognize and describe relevant phenomena for design work (empirical tools, terminology).
- Discourse on/with the Internet
Goal: To research and evaluate computer-based tools to enrich and enhance discoursive conversations for decision making and learning.
- Design of emergent systems
Goal: To understand the dynamics of emergent systems and learn about strategies to leverage the potential of “planned emergence” in design processes.
- Design in business processes
Goal: To identify the role and potential of Design and Design processes for business development, managerial planning and organisational change.
- Weblogs in education
Goal: To isolate, review and test success criteria and applications for “personal publishing” tools in education.
- Creative utilization of scripting languages
Goal: To open ways for designers to design with algorithms.
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (DGTF)
Founding member of “The German Association of Design Theory and Research” (http://www.dgtf.de/) that was inaugurated in November 2002.
- International Institute of Information Design (IIID)
International Institute of Information Design (http://iiid.net/) since 1996.
- Institut für Informationsarchitektur (IAI)
Institute for Information Architecture (http://iainstitute.org/) since 2006
- Member of the Editorial Board for the Information Design Journal (IDJ)
Since October 2008