Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dewey and Design

A Pragmatist Perspective for Design Research

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Brian S. Dixon

    1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Ulster University, Belfast, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Explains theory of design research via pragmatist philosophy
  • Offers introduction to Dewey for design researchers
  • Highly relevant for interaction design, product design, and participatory design

Part of the book series: Design Research Foundations (DERF)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Design, Pragmatism and Dewey

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 1-29

  3. Experiencing as Doing and Undergoing

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 31-61

  4. Knowing in Making

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 63-91

  5. Making Things Meaningful

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 93-122

  6. Making Things Better

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 123-154

  7. Making as Valuation

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 155-173

  8. Dewey’s Pragmatism as a Philosophy for Practice in Design Research Practice

    • Brian S. Dixon
    Pages 175-200
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Over the last four decades, John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy has formed an intellectual core in design research, underpinning Donald Schön’s theory of reflective practice, the experiential perspective in HCI and the democratic commitments of participatory design. Taking these existing connections as a starting point, Brian Dixon explores how deeper alignments may be drawn between Dewey’s insights and contemporary design research’s concern with practice, meaning and collaboration. Chapter by chapter, a fresh intellectual approach is revealed, one which recognises the transformative power of doing, making and knowing as a force for positive change in the world. We see that, for Dewey, experience comes first. It connects us to surrounding world and the society of which we are part; good things can happen and new realities are possible—we just have to work for them. The implications for design research are vast. We are offered a new way of understanding designerly knowledge production, as well as the methodological implications of adopting Deweyan pragmatism in design research. Taken as a whole, Dewey and Design not only draws out the value of Dewey’s work for design research but also, crucially, offers a clear articulation of the value of design itself.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Ulster University, Belfast, UK

    Brian S. Dixon

About the author

Dr Brian Dixon (PhD; MA; BA) is Course Director for MFA Design at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. His research interests cohere around: the relevance of practice-orientated philosophies (e.g. pragmatism) for design research; the roles of design in human spatial understanding; and design pedagogy. He holds a PhD in Information Design from University of the Arts London, combined with a practice background in visual communications. He has published widely, with his work appearing in major journals such as Design Issues, CoDesign and Design Management. He is currently co-investigator on the AHRC-funded Design Innovation and Land Assets project, which will feed into a broader arts and humanities based exploration of landscape decision-making in the UK.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Dewey and Design

  • Book Subtitle: A Pragmatist Perspective for Design Research

  • Authors: Brian S. Dixon

  • Series Title: Design Research Foundations

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47471-3

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-47470-6Published: 02 July 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-47473-7Published: 02 July 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-47471-3Published: 01 July 2020

  • Series ISSN: 2366-4622

  • Series E-ISSN: 2366-4630

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 200

  • Number of Illustrations: 11 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Design, general, Pragmatism, Epistemology

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation