Material processuality: alternative grounds for design research

Fisher, T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2565-8805 and Tonuk, D, 2020. Material processuality: alternative grounds for design research. Design and Culture. ISSN 1754-7075

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Abstract

This article opens discussion on the positivist epistemology underlying the understandings of materials in design research that have been brought along as a result of theory and methods inherited from engineering and psychology. Examining the ambitions of work that seeks to operationalize knowledge created by these methods in the design process, we propose that attending to the processuality of material forms is a more adequate way for design research to capture the multiplicity of materials. We develop this view by exploring the implications of the positivistic perspective that underlies recent work on new and smart materials, showing that it limits their theory and methods. This work, therefore, cannot grapple with the liveliness and fluidity of emergent cultural and material forms, and so cannot address the potential and future of emergent materialities. We conclude by arguing for the development of qualitative and ethnographic research methods that are better suited to exploring material processuality.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Design and Culture
Creators:	Fisher, T. and Tonuk, D.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date:	3 February 2020
ISSN:	1754-7075
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/17547075.2020.1717779 DOI 1289890 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Art and Design
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	20 Apr 2020 09:02
Last Modified:	03 Aug 2021 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39686

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