Transforming Grounds

Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving a talk to a large group of UX specialists at the Lilly company in Indianapolis (thanks Samantha Merrit for the invite).  I chose the title "Taking Design Seriously." The purpose of the talk was to discuss the idea that design must be understood at a higher level than it usually is. Design is not a method or particular process. Instead, it should be understood as one of the major approaches that humans have developed to cope with their reality, such as science, art, politics, economics, etc. Each approach has been designed to fulfill certain purposes and to deal with specific aspects of our reality.  Designing has to be seen as being one of them. Each approach has its own disciplined logic of thinking and action.  In the talk, I compared some of the approaches, their similarities and differences, to each other and to design. Understanding this makes it easier for designers to understand the challenges they face when dealing with people fr