Defence of Dissertation in the Field of Design: M.Sc. Tjhien Liao

The study focuses on the shifting conditions of interaction and service design.

M. Sc. Tjhien Liao will defend his dissertation Storied Design on Friday 17 June 2016.

Opponent: Professor Janet McDonnell, Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London.
Custos: Professori Sampsa Hyysalo, Department of Design.

The discussion will be in English.

ABSTRACT

Presenting a design can be straightforward, when it concerns an object that can be 'brought into the room' for demonstration. In the fields of interaction and service design, however, the object of design typically cannot be presented this way. Rather, a disposition needs to be developed that pertains to both a design as well as its narrative counterpart, in order to represent the design in a particular way - its outcome being a storied design.

This thesis is a study of the structure of design presentations given to a general audience in the fields of interaction and service design. The purpose is to clarify what is involved in presenting a design in these fields of design practice and, through this clarification, explore how it differs from a more conventional product design presentation. It establishes the concept of storied design, which is arrived at through the empirical study of a set of video recordings of design presentations. The study looks closely at how interaction and service designers talk, argue, represent and explain their designs. A theory emerges through a process of grounded theory in which the concepts of storied design are successively elaborated.

This study draws from, and contributes to, design research concerning the role of narrative, storytelling and the use of visual material in interaction and service design practice. The resulting theory explains why an interaction or service design presentation relies on representations of the object of design, rather than a demonstration of the actual object. It shows that such objects do not ‘speak for themselves’ but are given meaning through narratives that need to be designated; that the designation of such narratives is key to constituting how the objects are to be understood by a given audience; and that such narratives can be various and are not necessarily determined by the objects, although they may remain conditioned by the objects. The theory is further put to use in showing how design methods provide the narrative means, which are mobilized in support of representing the object of design in various ways during presentation. It draws attention to the conclusion that the interaction or service design itself may only exist in the collection of representations and can be understood as a storied design.

The theory allows for distinctions to be drawn in storied design practices between interaction and service design presentations and more conventional product design presentations. This distinction to interaction and service design presentations allows for further exploration on how the development of a storied design and to what degree the scope of what is storied about the object of design pertains to a strategic value in indicating what can and cannot be designed about it.

WELCOME!