This practice-based PhD thesis begins with a question prompted by a noticeable shift, both visual and conceptual, in design trends observed in the European design industry from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Did this shift reflect designers' intuitive response to the present conditions of material culture? If so, what could be learnt from their response to it? Using the perspective of a 'reflective practitioner', the ideas and thoughts underpinning design that are manifested in material form as design products are critically investigated. The investigation unravels a problem of design, and of objects, in consumer society. Many of the designers who characterised the period examined were concerned with a mode of production and consumption, where despite the technological progress and increased material wealth, the quality of the relationship between objects and users seemed to be in decline. This investigation locates design in a socia-cultural sphere, as design and its objects have a strong link to the everyday experience of the material environment. The thesis explores the values that were proposed by designers as particularly important as an antidote to the 'problems of objects'. The 'materiality' of functional objects is identified as a key feature observed in design concepts seeking to provide a more meaningful experience of design objects. The investigation then attempts to reveal what is behind this renewed atlention to the 'thing itself. Further investigation into the relationship, or 'tension', between practice and theory, suggests that the theorisatian of design in the proceeding periods has led itself away from objects' materiality. Increasingly, design objects are being produced as signs or representation of ideas. The thesis then explores the 'communicative' and 'performative' capacities of objects that invite users to engage with the objects' physical quality a,nd/or characteristics. Identifying the 'poetic' dimension of everyday experience as a design resource, it further discusses the 'expressive character of material culture'. The practice element of this research offers a bridge between multiple forms of thought process and analysis: in terms of objects, images and drawings, and words. Contextualisation of the practice, and a critical analysis of what is inherent in the practice of design and craft, help guide the theoretical part of the critical investigation into contemporary design practice, and the role the 'materiality' plays in design. The knowledge in practice revealed in this research offers a new perspective to understanding material culture, and encourage further exploration of the possibilities of design in creating a more engaging and meaningful user-object relationship.

Designers draw on a significant volume and range of information throughout the design process. This could include information on people, materials, markets, processes, etc. However, not all this information is effectively communicated to and used by designers. In order to provide designers with information that is useful, useable and engaging for them, it is important to understand why designers use information, what information they use and when and how they use it. This will be collectively referred to as ‘information behaviour’ in this thesis. There is currently a lack of a holistic understanding of designers’ information behaviour. Through developing a framework for investigation, analysis and reflection on designers’ use and requirements of information, this research aims to provide a better understanding of information behaviour in design, leading to a systematic way to address the key dimensions of information used in a design process. For this purpose, the research focuses on ‘practicing designers’ as key users of information in the real-world practice of design and ‘people information’ as a major type of information used during the design process. An initial framework for addressing key dimensions of information used in the design process is outlined through the analysis and synthesis of relevant literature. The framework is then evaluated and refined through four complementary studies: an interview and questionnaire administered to nine design companies; observation of a design team in a real-world design project; observation of three teams through a design competition; and a survey of designers and design researchers. The outcomes of the studies lead to a refined version of the information framework that includes seven key dimensions and details designers’ behaviour in regard to ‘purpose’, ‘source’, ‘format’, ‘type’, ‘at tributes’, ‘stage’ and ‘intensity’ of people information they use. The research conducted with designers leads to an enhanced understanding of their information behaviour with respect to the seven key dimensions. A new information framework has been created and evaluated; and it is argued that it can be used as a research and education tool to investigate and analyse information used during core stages of a design process. The framework can also assist developers of information tools to make informed decisions on what, how and when to communicate information to designers, ensuring that this information is delivered in a way which has maximum impact on the design process.

It is argued that design exists within a collective social network of negotiation, feedback sharing and reflection that is integral to the design process. To encourage this, requires a technological solution that enables designers to access, be aware of, and evaluate the work of others, and crucially, reflect upon how they are socially influenced. However in order to develop software that accurately reveals peer valuation, an understanding is required of the sociality at work in an interdisciplinary design studio. This necessitates an acknowledgement of the complexities of the feedback sharing process that is not only socially intricate in nature but is also potentially unacknowledged. In order to develop software that addresses these issues and makes explicit the dynamics of social interaction at play in a design studio, a ‘wild networks' methodological approach is applied to two case studies, one in an educational setting, the other in a professional practice. The ‘wild networks' approach uses social network analysis, through and in conjunction with, contextual observation and is used to map the network of numerous stakeholders, actors, views and perceptions at work. This methodological technique has resulted in an understanding of social networks within a design studio, how they are shaped and formed and has facilitated the development of prototype network visualisation software based upon the needs and characteristics of real design studios. The findings from this thesis can be interpreted in various ways. Firstly the findings from the case studies and from prototype technological representations enhance previous research surrounding the idea of a social model of design. The research identifies and highlights the importance of evolving peer-to-peer feedback, and the role of visual evaluation within social networks of feedback sharing. The results can also be interpreted from a methodological viewpoint. The thesis demonstrates the use of network analysis and contextual observation in providing an effective way of understanding the interactions of designers in a studio, and as an appropriate way to inform the software design process to support creativity. Finally the results can be interpreted from a software design perspective. The research, through the application of a ‘wild networks' methodological process, identifies key features (roles, location, levels, graphics and time), for inclusion within a socially translucent, network visualisation prototype that is based upon real world research.

With the arrival of multisensory and haptic technologies, interactive digital experiences are no longer merely audio-visual creations – and they are no longer the forte only of engineers and computer scientists. More artists and designers are creating experiences involving a larger spectrum of the senses, specifically the touch sense (Stelarc, 1991; Myron Krueger, 1991; Stahl Stenslie, 2009). This raises issues such as the kind of theoretical knowledge that is useful to inform the designer, the kind of approach that can be taken to include touch in interaction design, and how this can be used in the new design space. Particularly interesting for the design of salient multisensory experiences is an awareness of how perception is currently understood. The integration of haptic capabilities in many contemporary interactive designs makes the communicative potential of touch in terms of sensory, affective, individual and creative expression even more relevant. This thesis seeks to establish a theoretical framework to inform holistic design choices from the perspective of philosophical and culturally relevant debates and a solid understanding of the human user and their perception. This task is approached by establishing the affordances of touch – i.e. the meanings that emerge from interacting with the environment through the haptic sense, but in contemplation of the user as a gestalt, in their individual context, uniting the senses in an embodied approach: viewing perception as an active process and rejecting the Cartesian separation of body and mind. This approach is aligned with the ideas of phenomenology about embodiment – seeing the body, action and movement as the basis for experience and meaning. This includes an examination of the use of metaphors as synaesthetic drivers of meaning, understood in and across different sensory modalities. This research also explores the kind of haptic expressions that can be designed for remote interaction, whether it is possible to establish a haptic language, and whether such a haptic language can be learnt. Parameters of touch need to be explored to enable the creation of meaningful, holistic and user-­centred interactive experiences. These problems are explored in practice, by developing and implementing a prototype design of a multisensory environment capable of crossmodality, dialogue between modalities (visual, aural and tactile), and evolution. MEDIATE (EU funded project under FP5/IST Framework: IST-­‐2000-­‐26307) provided for full body and gestural interaction capabilities, and was intended to be a platform for sensory communication and expression, specifically for people on the autistic spectrum with low verbal skills. It therefore serves as a useful case study to exemplify the appropriateness of the concept of metaphors and image schemata in terms of designing multisensory interfaces. Haptic interfaces with sonic and vibrotactile responses were integrated in MEDIATE and provided opportunities for prolonged interaction with varied levels of complexity in user behaviour and stimulated interesting engagement, which seemed to encourage motivation, attention span, learning and novel behaviour across modalities, particularly for children on the Autistic Spectrum. Semiotic analysis of haptic interface design case studies highlighted processes of communication and the potential of metaphor. The use of Semantic Differentials while feeling textures in a ‘Haptic Box’ enabled the articulation of experiences outside of verbal description, and pointed to tacit understandings and metaphorical associations with tactile experiences. A questionnaire was used to explore haptic memories, and statistical and semiotic analysis was done on ‘readings’ of materials such as silk and bark. A prototype haptic communication device, made of a customized Pinpression toy provided couples with the opportunity to explore scenarios of remote communication through touch, documented in user diaries and digital photographs. The results show that there are associations we have with certain textures, which could be related to an embodied experience, i.e. one which is based on interaction of the body as a whole, rather than just a cerebral, ‘cognitive’ experience. The results also show how interfaces can be successfully designed to provide opportunities for prolonged interaction with varied levels of complexity of behaviour, which seemed to encourage motivation, increased attention span, learning and novel behaviour across modalities, all of which is significant for children on the Autistic Spectrum. Organic materials probably draw forth a more commonly shared response, whereas synthetic ones are more dependent on personal history. In the remote interaction situations, couples successfully embraced the concept of a new communication device involving touch, and also had personal, idiosyncratic ways of developing strategies of usage. One couple in particular utilized embodied schemata for their expression, demonstrably utilizing dimensions such as boundaries, proximity and flow of experience. In the multisensory environment MEDIATE, it was clearly necessary to make use of design drivers that can be understood and made sense of in various sensory modalities. The relationships can be arbitrarily designed, but was it was shown that they are more saliant if they have their foundation in bodily experience. Metaphors have synaesthetic relationships and mappings, which can assist in designing meaningful content across different sensory modalities. Similar metaphoric and synaesthetic processes have been investigated and shown in the Haptic Box and PinKom study. This holistic approach could help further our research around the expressive potential of touch, in more than a translation of the visual, but rather in a tight and complex mapping with the other senses, taking into account the actions of an individual in their environment. Successful communication devices should not only cater for the imaginable creations; design should at some point also consider the possibility of an evolution of language, and for the development of unique, personal expressions.

GPS-enabled wayfinding interfaces (i.e. digital maps) are now commonly used as wayfinding devices in urban locations. While these wayfinding interfaces provide increasingly accurate geographic and routing information, little attention has been paid to how novel information design approaches may support particular user-experiences within particular use-contexts. This practice-based research focuses on the design of GPS-enabled wayfinding interfaces within the use-context of urban recreational walking/wandering. In particular, it investigates how these interfaces could be designed to visually support situation awarenessin use. That is, awareness of one’s embodied involvement in the surrounding environment while using the interface. The enquiry progresses through two phases. In the first phase, a programme of semi-structured interviews are conducted with urban recreational walkers/wanderers. Analysis of the data reveals participants’ motivations to walk, their experience of exploratory wayfinding, as well as their use of wayfinding materials in general and GPS-enabled technology in particular. With regard to the latter,attention is paid to ways in which these wayfinding interfaces are negatively perceived. Here, it is identified that, amongst the group as a whole, the undermining of situation awareness (SA) and the negation of exploratory wayfinding practices are seen as significant issues. Having made this identification, an area for experimentation is framed and, within this, a design hypothesis is formulated. Next, in the enquiry’s second phase, a series of design experiments are undertaken in order to develop a novel wayfinding interface in response to this hypothesis. Here, an iterative development cycle leads to the design and testing of a mixed-fidelity working prototype interface through the application of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. By integrating and assessing the results, it is possible to assert that,for the majority of participants, SA-in-use was supported, thus verifying the hypothesis. Thereafter, the interface is presented as a practical response to the primary research question of the enquiry and, as such, is positioned as an artefactual contribution to knowledge. Then, through a graphic syntax analysis (Engelhardt 2002) of this artefact, a contextualised graphic syntax for design is generated. In setting out a series of principles, it provides an outline for the design of a GPS-enabled WI to visually support an urban recreational walker’s/wanderer’s situation awareness in use and, so, may guide/inform future designs. Further to this, in graphic syntax analysis, a reflection on the dynamic and interactive aspects of the interface leads to an extension of Engelhardt’s graphic syntax framework(2002) being proposed. Here, by expanding the framework’s scope, the description of the dynamic and interactive aspects of graphic representations is now made possible. It is held that this, in turn, may support the development of an expanded theory of graphic syntax.

This thesis provides an account of material objects which are related to the nation in their design and consumption. Addressing a major gap both in design literature and in theories of everyday nationalism, the study focuses on the processes of design and consumption in which material objects are nationalised, rather than on objects as representative of nations. For this purpose, a material-semiotic theoretical framework is developed, contributing to current debates on the use of STS-based approaches in design research. Accordingly, design and consumption are viewed as two sociotechnical settings where a variety of actors-engineers, designers, users, other objects as well as nations-are brought together. In application of this framework, design and consumption of a nationally charged kitchen appliance, the electric Turkish coffee maker, was investigated for the ways in which Turkish nation is evoked in discourse and practice by the actors involved. To this end, interviews were conducted with the managers, designers and engineers involved in the development of electric Turkish coffee makers. Together with the documents collected, the data is used to piece together the processes of product development and design. These were complemented and contrasted with interviews, focus groups and participant observation sessions, organised with users of the product. The analysis shows that electric Turkish coffee makers are conceived as a national project, which translates Turkish coffee to national tradition, and global commercial success via its mechanisation to national responsibility and pride. Accordingly, design practice attempts to produce and maintain the products as objectifications of national cultural authenticity. In the analysed consumption setting, however, users appropriate the products not as authentic replacements of, but as convenient supplements to the 'authentic', which they instead utilise to improve sociability. The study suggests and illustrates that a comprehensive understanding of everyday nationalism in particular, and politics in general, requires taking seriously the material agency of objects- conceptualised as symbolic and material assemblages with politically substantial meanings and affordances. It thus emphasises the significance of designed objects as nodes in and around which relations of power are shaped and stored, and the political role of design practices in assembling these objects by mediating such relations.

Since the establishment of the Society of Industrial Artists (SIA) in 1930, the professional identity of the designer has been a subject of critical debate. This thesis uncovers the histories of this debate, paying particular attention to the structures, organisations and social practices that have governed, represented and given meaning to the identity of the designer in Britain, 1930-2010. Principally informed by close scrutiny of the archive of the Chartered Society of Designers, (CSD), the thesis argues that the design profession is constructed through reflexive social practices, in which the designer has been, and remains, an active agent. It contends that the structure, organisation and identity of the design profession is not fixed or immutable, but fluid, responsive and contingent upon shifting dynamics, internal and external to the profession.

In this thesis, I will explore Korean1 design in relation to the following factors: Imperialism, the Cold War, rapid industrialisation, an improving economy, the advancement of technology, globalisation, Eastern ideals, and sustainable and inclusive design. The purpose of this research programme is to help define the central characteristics of Korean design, and propose suggestions about its future trajectory. I compare the history of Korean design with that of Japan and Russia, partly because this will help to explore the ways in which Imperialism, the Cold War and industrialisation have affected Korean design. Analysis will be presented that demonstrates how the political, social and economic circumstances present in each of the three countries have impacted upon the nature of their design. Furthermore, American and British design policy and practice will be frequently referenced since it has exerted an important influence on Korea, Japan and Russia. In addition, analysis will also be made of the impact of globalisation on design in Korea, Japan and Russia (in so doing particular emphasis will be placed on the automobile and electronic industries since these have been important drivers of increased globalisation).

This PhD by practice explores the possibilities of visible repair using a design-led methodology that aims to bring a new consciousness to the relationship between consumers and products, as part of an approach to 'circular' product design. Through a series of workshops in which participants repaired broken products, Do-Fix repair kits were developed and trialled; these kits combine new technologies such as 3D printing with traditional repair methods such as kintsugi, darning and patching, focused on making repairs both visible and engaging to carry out. Current economic systems depend on large quantities of resource and energy use that cannot be sustained with the planet’s finite resources. Producing long-lasting, purposeful and ‘circular’ products is essential in order to decrease the rate of consumption and its negative environmental impacts. Repair is an effective strategy for extending product lifespan and closing the material loops. However, increasing the product’s lifespan is also dependent upon the attitudes and behaviour of users. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the role of repair in user-product engagement and create a product or service that encourages people to repair products more for the purpose of awakening human sensitivity to environmental and societal problems. Conventional repair methods, such as kintsugi (a Japanese repair method using gold), darning and patching are combined with new technologies and materials, including 3D printing, with the help of ‘research through design’ methods. All the repair techniques were tested in workshops with users. The results were fed back into the research, which was then used to develop Do-Fix repair kits, providing users with the opportunity to give a second life to an object. Here the aim is not to disguise the damage, but to make something artful out of it. The Do-Fix repair kits include four different kits, namely (1) the kintsugi kit, (2) 3D-printed patches, (3) plaster patches for mending textiles, and (4) textile patches for fixing shoes and bags. The value of this research for design practice is in its exploration of potential methods and materials of product repair by providing concrete examples, as well as the creation of the Do-Fix repair kits. For academics and researchers its value lies in reframing the position of repair in the circular economy and developing design considerations related to product repair.

The financial and environmental costs associated with the manufacture and consumption of products may be reduced through design for efficient production, service life extension and post-consumer value recovery. In response to today’s need to design with consideration for the whole product life cycle, British Standards Institution (BSI) published BS 8887-1 (2006) Design for Manufacture, Assembly, Disassembly and End-of-life processing (MADE). Original research into the distribution and use of this first part of the MADE series is reported in this thesis. The organizations that accessed BS 8887-1 were categorised using their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code. The results are presented graphically in multilevel charts using the hierarchical structure of the SIC system. The study found that the majority of standards users that purchased or downloaded BS 8887-1 were companies in the manufacturing sector and particularly electronics producers. Educational institutions also showed high levels of interest in the standard. For the first time, the use of BS 8887-1 in practice has been investigated. The purpose was to discover if, why and how it is being used and to identify examples of its application in design practice. This was accomplished through semi-structured interviews with design practitioners from both industry and academia, thus helping to explain the results of the earlier SIC study. The information gathered through the interviews shows how BS 8887-1 has informed the design process and how it has been used in combination with various design and management techniques e.g. Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP). These studies suggest that demand for the standard has been stimulated by the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, especially the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. Importantly, the use of BS 8887-1 has been found to be helpful in winning new business and reducing the costs associated with manufacture, product maintenance and waste management. Based on the result of the qualitative research, a new model of the use of standards in the New Product Development (NPD) process is presented. The research was proposed by the Chairman of the BSI technical committee responsible for the BS 8887 series. The beneficiaries are BSI, industry and academia, since the investigation has shown BS 8887-1 to be of value, and has informed the continuing development of this series of standards. The thesis concludes by arguing for BS 8887 to become the basis of an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard in order to reach a wider audience. It also identifies a need for the standard’s design requirements to be supported with additional supplementary interpretation expanding on, and adding detail to, the information in the standard itself. Influenced by this research, at the time of writing a new BSI working group was being formed to consider developing BS 8887 as an ISO standard. BSI had also begun the process of commissioning a handbook to assist designers in the practical application of BS 8887 in industrial design.