Concepts relevant to information behaviour

 Behaviour in design

As opposed to information behaviour, general design behaviour has been the subject of various studies in design research and practice. However, a review of some prevalent areas and concepts in design behaviour, highlighted the elusive

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and intuitive nature of design behaviour and the importance of adopting a descriptive rather than prescriptive approach to it. Thus, some concepts of design behaviour highlighting its unstructured nature, and specifically relevant to information behaviour, are presented here in an illustrative rather than exhaustive review.

The concept of ‘designerly ways of knowing’ (Cross, 2006) is one pertinent area in design behaviour studies. It deconstructs ways of knowing in design to two categories of design ‘processes’ and ‘products’ and through comparison of design

‘nature’ as what designers do, and design ‘nurture’ as the development of design ability through design education, highlights some inherent behavioural elements in design. Through a review of studies of design activity, Cross (2006) proposes an understanding of ‘design cognition’ through interpreting findings, issues and patterns. Figure 2.12 summarises three key areas of design cognition and their sub settings identified by Cross (2006).

Figure 2.12 Key areas and aspects of Design Cognition (Cross, 2006)

•Goal Analysis

•Solution Focusing

•Co-evolution of Problem and Solution

•Problem Framing Problem Formulation

•Fixation

•Attachment to Concepts

•Generation of Alternatives

•Creativity

•Sketching

Solution Generation

•Structured Processes

•Opportunism

•Modal Shifts

•Novices and Experts Process Strategy

Design Cognition

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Among the three key areas in design cognition, the process strategies are the most relevant to design behaviour and thus study of information behaviour. The key issue highlighted in studying of design behaviour by Cross is the mainly

‘intuitive’ aspect of designers’ behaviour, largely observed in practicing designers.

Cross (2006, p.93) argues: “Empirical studies of design activity have frequently found ‘intuitive’ features of design behaviour to be the most effective and relevant to the intrinsic nature of design.” Cross then discusses how “some aspects of design theory have tried to develop counter-intuitive models” (2006, p.93) which are ‘prescriptive’ models of design behaviour and mentions the need for an improved exploration and recognition of design expertise and what it consists of. This brings to attention the critical importance of adopting a

‘descriptive’ and avoiding a ‘prescriptive’ approach in the study of information behaviour in design.

Design students and practicing designers

Both student designers and design practitioners go through a design process aiming to solve a problem, address a situation or improve a condition, however they have different needs, attitudes and criteria when approaching a design task (Ahmed, 2003). This depends on the context in which they are designing, with different parameters and measures, and also their own characteristics and design behaviour. In an extensive study aimed to understand what differentiates the experienced designers from the novice in their approach towards a design task, Ahmed et al. (2003) clarified that design practitioners and design students each have their own design behaviour. This could also include different information needs, information seeking and use behaviour. In addressing the novice and experienced in design, Cross (2006) differentiates between their design behaviour; associating a ‘depth-first’ approach to novice and a combined approach yet mainly ‘breadth-first’ to the expert. Practice of design as a student in the academic context and application of design as a practitioner in the context of industry and business are two clearly distinguishable areas, often studied and compared for various research or business purposes; looking at how design is practiced and how it is educated. As the information behaviour could vary depending on level of experience (novice or practicing designer) and as practicing designers are the main group dealing with real-world application of design in practice, they are the focus of this research.

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Two other concepts prevalent to design behaviour and relevant to information behaviour are fixation and opportunism, mainly observed in expert designers.

Fixation (Jansson and Smith, 1991) to a certain design solution or way of thinking could sometimes prevent the designer from looking into and using all the related and potentially useful information that should be considered to address a problem. However, it is an aspect that could result in both limited and unimaginative, and innovative design, depending on the designer who applied it and the context of the design task. The notion of opportunism brings attention to the issue of intuitive and unstructured designerly behaviour and challenges the approach to identifying design behaviour as fairly ‘structured’. Kushalani et al.

(1994, p.13) argue opportunism happens where “designers discover or adapt their problem solving goals and activities, in response to the state of the problem and the environment in which that problem exists.”

Tacit and explicit design knoweldge

Knowledge in design has attracted the interest of many design researchers and has been subject to considerable theoretical and practice-based studies. This is partially due to the specific nature of design knowledge acquired, shared and retained throughout a design activity and designers’ different approach toward it.

One key element of design knowledge is that it is largely tacit. Wong and Radcliffe (2000, p.495) adopt a definition of tacit knowledge as “the knowledge component that is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to articulate, put in writing or codify”. Tacit knowledge plays a major role in development of the final design deliverables (Wong and Radcliffe, 2010) and there is considerable interest in extracting this embedded tacit knowledge in new product development (Nakayama, 1997) and innovative processes (Senker, 1993). The role of tacit knowledge in design activity is prominent; Moggridge (2007) refers to design thinking as a process that connects mainly and most importantly with tacit knowledge and differentiates designers’ approach to information from other professionals based on their “ability and training to harness the tacit knowledge of the unconscious mind, rather than being limited to working with explicit knowledge” (Moggridge, 2007, p. 650). Thus, in investigating designers’

information behaviour, the significance of tacit knowledge as a major source and its influence on design behaviour should be considered.

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2.5.2 Facets of information behaviour

After reviewing key design concepts relevant to information behaviour in design, a review of facets and various aspects of information behaviour addressed in design studies was carried out. Many studies were identified that in one way or another addressed various facets and aspects of information behaviour in part.

The width and depth of these studies and their level of comprehensiveness however, was considerably limited. The existing knowledge of information behaviour in design was considered scarce and fragmented. This was because it addressed various constituents of information behaviour separately and in a small scale, and failed to present a holistic understanding of overall information behaviour in design.

More than 40 design studies addressing various aspects of designers’ information behaviour were initially reviewed. These papers were identified through searching various scholarly databases. In order to render a clear picture of the scope, level and focus of information behaviour studies in design, and to better present and compare them, ten of the most relevant design studies representative of the field, were summarised in Table 2.2. The table aimed to present an ‘illustrative’ rather than ‘exhaustive’ list of relevant studies. The aim was to give an overall picture of the existing understanding and approaches to information behaviour in design studies, to provide a critical review of key directions, dimensions and theories, and to identify the scope and depth of what was studied and the existing gaps in knowledge.

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Table 2.2 Illustrative review of important design studies addressing information behaviour

Study

41 identify a number of gaps in current studies of information behaviour in design (to be discussed in Section 2.6).

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