Abstract:

Language and thinking are necessary components of any design process. Yet, their interconnections are largely neglected by design research thus far. In this paper we present initial results for our research project where we develop joint methodology for the analysis of design discourse as a central facet of larger design process. We analyze interaction by a team of service designers, who work on various projects and, in particular, bids for potential customers. On the basis of empirical analysis that draws on Cognitive Linguistics and Grounded Theory, we propose three central notions that denote three distinct but closely intertwined facets of a design process: explication, understanding, and construal. Explication refers to how thoughts are expressed in linguistic form, whereas understanding refers to the encoding of linguistically expressed ideas into mental representations. Explication and understanding constitute complement parts to a cognitive/linguistic design cycle, but they also manifest linguistically in design discourse. Their linguistic manifestations necessitate the third notion, construal, i.e. semantic organization of conceptual contents. We analyze so-called Patterns of Construal present in sequences of interaction that are devoted for expressing and solving problems. Patterns of construal appear as dynamic, discourse-emergent structures that serve as a significant resource for explication and understanding as facets of design process.