Affording Design, Affording Redesign - Principia Designae: Pre-Design, Design, and Post-Design - page 94

Perception, the active reorganization of perception in the service of a design
aim. Like other design processes, especially sketch-dependent ones, it is an iterative
one: looking, seeing new arrangements, perceiving new relations, eliciting new
design roles. Constructive perception is a pair of abilities, but a pair of abilities that
can be trained.
These related projects have integrated three methods in the study of design
creativity: retrospective protocol analysis that reveals the hidden design delibera-
tions and decisions; generation of new interpretations of ambiguous figures; indi-
vidual differences; expertise. Two factors foster the creative use of sketches,
expertise and ability, and these trade off, one can compensate for the other.
7.2.8 What Can Be Learned from Sketches?
Sketches are a cognitive tool, closely related to diagrams, visualizations, and
graphics. Here, a variety of projects were reviewed, demonstrating a variety of
roles for sketches in design: revealing thought, fostering collaboration, and pro-
moting inference and discovery. Although the present focus is design, sketches, and
even more, their tidied-up sister, diagrams, are effective in learning, teaching,
thinking, and communication in many domains of life, getting from one place to
another, putting something together, operating equipment, understanding scientific
phenomena, sharing and revising ideas (Tversky 2001 ) . What makes sketching in
design special is ambiguity. In navigation, in construction, in instruction, in com-
munication, clarity is essential, and diagrams are often even distorted in order to
make essential information clear. In design, especially in creative design, ambiguity
is essential, as ambiguity encourages many interpretations and reinterpretations.
Sketches are a natural tool used in design of the concrete and the abstract.
They expand the mind, make thought visible, and allow inspection and
reinspection, promoting inferences and fostering recombinations. These processes
and more have been revealed from studying how sketches are produced and used by
novices and experts.
7.3 Design and Redesign
Whereas design begins with a goal, redesign begins with a problem. Whereas
design begins with an idea, redesign begins with a thing, or things. Whereas design
is abstract, redesign is concrete. Whereas design is decontextualized, redesign takes
place in situ. Whereas design is done by professionals, redesign is done by ordinary
people. Whereas design is for the masses, redesign is for an individual. Whereas
design is for many situations and many times, redesign is for the here and now.
Redesign is opportunistic. When Kohler's ape could't reach the bananas, he tried
jumping. No luck. In a flash of insight, he pile up a bunch of boxes strewn around,