Design as the resolution of paradoxes: An exploratory study

This paper presents an ethnomethodological case study of a student engineering design team during their final year design project. The results were analysed with reference to a theoretical framework, based on Dorst's (2006) model, in which "a 'design problem' is taken as a paradox, made up out of the clash of conflicting discourses" and "the nature of creative design is the forging of connections between these discourses". Three key discourses emerged from the data, that of the 'commercial sponsor', the 'university', and the 'student group'. It is suggested that the 'commercial sponsor' and 'university' discourses were in conflict, forming the 'central paradox' at the heart of the design problem. The student group failed to resolve this paradox, and went on to significantly underachieve in their design project. The aim of this research was to explore and describe the complex ways in which design emerges in practice, using Dorst's model of design problems as a theoretical framework. The framework has proved a useful and insightful way of considering how design occurs naturally in interactions between people.