The discipline of design encompasses procedures, methods, and techniques that ultimately comprise the overall design process. The KISDproject “This Is Design” in the summer term 2016 analyzed the macro-level of “designing” while simultaneously deconstructing it into its micro elements and different stages and related methods. The results were then visualized and finally culminated in a 1:1 spatial installation exhibited at the KISDparcours in July 2016.
Therefore, in this project, students of both the Bachelor and the Master program of “Integrated Design” at KISD together launched an exploration into different process models, methods, tools, and tasks studying the differences and similarities between each category.
Case Studies in Several Design Areas
Project participants drafted a concept of an ideal design process called FEIDI, the acronym standing for five distinct stages of the design process: Frame, Explore, Ideate, Develop, and Implement applied to testing them against three hypothetical case studies, for example the design of an office chair, an institutional corporate identity/design program, and the interface and interaction design of a ticket machine for a municipal traffic service – all done in a so-called Integrated Design studio at the beginning of the project. Based on the findings, students subsequently discussed and agreed on creating an installation to visualize the stages of the FEIDI process and its related methods.
Only Selected Materials
The project results, the processes and methods had to be envisioned in a spatial installation with the lowest possible costs and only with selected kinds of material: wooden slats and colored strings.
