Abstract
Over the past 40 years there has been a rapid expansion of engineering design research. Researchers have proposed many methods to support designers, but there is evidence that many of these methods have not been transferred into practice. Why is this so? To address this question design practice, design research and knowledge transfer are discussed. Designers often consider new design methods to be complex, inflexible, incomplete, and not relevant to their working practices. The author’s career spanned 40 years in design practice and design research. He reflects on the changes that have taken place and presents a case study of a successful transfer of a design method into practice. The main conclusion is that in too many cases it is nobody’s job to transfer design methods into practice – there is a “missing link”.
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Acknowledgments
Professor Herbert Birkhofer has made outstanding and unique contributions to design research and to promoting consolidation within the field. His leadership, inspiration and friendship are gratefully acknowledged.
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Wallace, K. (2011). Transferring Design Methods into Practice. In: Birkhofer, H. (eds) The Future of Design Methodology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-615-3_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-615-3_21
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