The readings by Liu, Sanders, and Buchanan were an interesting overview about the evolution and character of the design process. Sanders explores the changes of design practice and research through maps, depicting where the kinds of design methods are on the Design Led, Participatory Mindset, Research Led, and Expert Led axis. Buchanan’s article discusses how problems tackled by designers are in the process rather than the product, by breaking the limits of the imagination by what was previously perceived as impossible. Liu, briefly, shows and describes the existing models of design thinking and formulates a new model which combines the existing models.
These readings really made me reflect the depth and power of design. Through design thinking, we are able to bring what was once in the imagination to something that exists in reality — the wicked problems of design thinking as Buchanan discusses. We are able to develop ways of interacting with the world and changing the way we navigate through our lives in ways we imagined we would be. I really enjoyed Buchanan’s observation on how people tend to think about technology about the product rather than its form that it traps rather than liberates, but stating how there was a period where technology operated within liberal arts and “[possessing] that technology or discipline of thinking was to possess the liberal art, to be human, and to be free in seeking one’s place in the world.” It made me reflect over the technology and design of everyday objects have opened up new avenues of experiences individuals of the past would have never imagined or could have experienced . It liberates my abilities to experience. I also found it quite meta how Liu and Sanders articles show visualizations of design methods and the design process. In a sense, the diagrams they have created are a form of design and has shaped the way I perceive an idea and what it interprets. The idea that the character of designing exists in a world of possibility fascinates me (and is incredible!) because we are given the ability to step into the unknown and expand the way we experience life. Not only the way I interact with my life has been changed, but the possibilities of how I do are as well in my internal and external experiences.