FRAMING IN DESIGN: A FORMAL ANALYSIS AND FAILURE MODES
Year: 2015
Editor: Christian Weber, Stephan Husung, Marco Cantamessa, Gaetano Cascini, Dorian Marjanovic, Francesca Montagna
Author: Vermaas, Pieter; Dorst, Kees; Thurgood, Clementine
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: Delft University of Technology, Netherlands; 2: University of Technology Sydney, Australia; 3: Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Section: Design Organisation and Management
Page(s): 133-142
ISBN: 978-1-904670-66-7
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
This contribution presents a formal description of the design practice of framing and identifies two general modes in which framing can lead to failure in design projects. The first is called the goal reformulation failure mode and occurs when designers reformulate the goal of the client in a design task and give design solutions that solve the reformulated goal but not the original goal. The second is called the frame failure mode and occurs when designers propose a frame for the design task that cannot be accepted by the client. The analysis of framing and its failure modes is aimed at better understanding this design practice and provides a first step towards arriving at criteria that successful applications of framing should meet. The description and the failure modes are illustrated by critically considering an initially successful case of framing, namely the redesign of the Kings Cross entertainment district in Sydney.
Keywords: Framing, Design Theory, Design Methodology, Failure Modes