Hugh Dubberly and Paul Pangaro
This paper aims to describe relationships between cybernetics and design, especially service design, which is a component of service‐craft; to frame cybernetics as a language for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe relationships between cybernetics and design, especially service design, which is a component of service‐craft; to frame cybernetics as a language for design, especially behavior‐focused design.
Design/methodology/approach
The material in this paper was developed for a course on cybernetics and design. Work began by framing material on cybernetics in terms of models. As the course progressed, the relevance of the models to design became clearer. A first focus was on applying the models to describe human‐computer interaction; later another focus emerged, viewing cybernetic processes as analogs for design processes. These observations led to a review of the history of design methods and design rationale.
Findings
The paper argues that design practice has moved from hand‐craft to service‐craft and that service‐craft exemplifies a growing focus on systems within design practice. It also proposes cybernetics as a source for practical frameworks that enable understanding of dynamic systems, including specific interactions, larger systems of service, and the activity of design itself. It also shows that development of first‐ and second‐generation design methods parallels development of first‐ and second‐generation cybernetics. Finally, it argues that design is essentially political, frames design as conversation, and proposes cybernetics as a language for design and a foundation of a broad design education.
Research limitations/implications
The paper suggests opportunities for more research on the historical relationship between cybernetics and design methods, and design research on modeling user goals.
Practical implications
The paper offers tools for understanding and managing the complicated communities of systems that designers increasingly face.
Originality/value
The paper suggests models useful for practicing designers and proposes changes to design education.
Details
Keywords
Business, government, and society are being rocked by disruptive global change. The challenges facing international marketers as boundary spanners – and more generally, all…
Abstract
Business, government, and society are being rocked by disruptive global change. The challenges facing international marketers as boundary spanners – and more generally, all managers and leaders – are getting more complex, ambiguous, and unprecedented. The world that they must navigate is increasingly filled with “wicked problems” (Rittel & Weber, 1973) that defy the closed, analytical approaches that characterize typical management education. Addressing the problem requires a new paradigm that augments – and perhaps in some areas, supplants – the traditional business education.