Category archives: Design Theory
Discussions of Design Epistemology or more generally thoughts about design.
Harmony versus comprehensibility (Dynamics are more than fibonacci ratios)
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Design Theory.
I'll take issue here with one of Smith's tools in Dynamics of Delight. Not so much because it's a major problem, but because it allows me to explore what I believe is an underlying principle that he is glossing over in attempting to present a simpler model for perception. Since our goal is to use ...
Finished off Dynamics of Delight (A few little bits and pieces)
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Design Theory.
Don't have time to write this up fully (4 minutes to starting work), but finished reading the book last night. Interesting packaging of the "proportion as metaphor" approach to discuss various aspects of design. It felt a little stretched, but then that's likely because I discuss those issues separately in my treatment.
One section that ...
Dynamics of Delight (by Peter F. Smith)
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Design Theory.
I was going to start in on the Kant and Hume today, but it was so nice over in the architecture library that I just stayed over there reading. In particular, I picked up a fairly recent book on aesthetics to see what the current thinking is in the field.
Interestingly (for me), there were ...
The Question of Conferences (Good question, Bruce)
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Design Theory.
Bruce asked in a comment yesterday what I'd like a Design Theory conference to look like. That caused me to think, and, of course, that's always a bad thing.
For me, the primary criteria for any conference is people. I tend to spend 90% of my time out in the halls chatting with people, hammering ...
Argument for Proportion (First draft of some ramblings...)
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Design Theory.
As you will recall, I have been reading Padovan's "Proportion". Having had a few days to digest the material now I figure it's a good time to write up the arguments as I see them for (and against) using proportional systems in design.
From a perceptual standpoint (the standpoint of our thesis), the primary question ...
Fall of Proportion to Van der Laan (Finishing off the book (and another) at Starbucks...)
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Design Theory.
Finished off the Padovan book "Proportion" today. Last hundred pages or so went rather faster than the rest of the book. Rough notes follow:
Further through proportion (Alberti to the fall of proportion...)
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Design Theory.
Doing a bit more reading after work. Basically moving through the Renaissance up to the Baroque. I'm going to have to go back and do some analysis of the various proportional schemes. Wish I had a decent 3D modeller (i.e. one that worked like 3DSMax or AutoCAD), I'd like to produce something similar to the ...
Generating and Limiting Orders (A quicky thought before I toddle off to bed...)
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Design Theory.
As avid readers of the Design Theory portion of the blog will be aware, yesterday I mentioned Padovan's note regarding the ideological focus of Van der Laan versus Corbusier (Empathic vs. Abstract) and the underlying idea that the two approaches to order are based on the need to bring meaning to the world. In other ...
Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture ((reading a book by) Richard Padovan)
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Design Theory.
I spent the afternoon in the wonderful world of architectural epistomology. Padovan is the author of the book "Dom Hans van der Laan, Modern Primitive" which was the best presentation of the ideas of van der Laan I came across while writing my thesis. I hesitated to pick up "Proportion" because I mistakenly thought I ...
Coffeeshop conversations (Wherein I monopolise the conversation)
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Design Theory.
Went for coffee with Dan yesterday. Afraid I monopolised the conversation somewhat (I really do try not to do that). Mostly because I was thinking about thesis stuff, so kept blathering on about it.It was one of those situations where I realised just how out of practice I've gotten with explaining design and design ...
Mike C. Fletcher, the VRPlumber, is a philosopher of design turned computer programmer based in Toronto, Canada. He works primarily in the Python programming language, and maintains a large number of Open Source software packages. You can reach him at: mcfletch@vrplumber.com.