Activity Theory as a means for multi-scale analysis of the engineering design process: A protocol study of design in practice. (May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cash, Philip; Hicks, Ben; Culley, Steve
• Is Part Of: Design studies. Volume 38(2015)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 32
• Publication Date: 2015-05
• Subjects: case study -- design activity -- design practice -- protocol analysis; Design -- Periodicals; 745.405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.destud.2015.02.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-694X

Abstract

Abstract : This paper contributes to improving our understanding of design activity. Specifically the paper uses Activity Theory to enable a multi-scale analysis of the activity of three engineering designers over a period of one month. Correspondingly, this paper represents the first work that explicitly investigates design activity across different scales, referred to as macro-, meso- and micro-scales. In addition to establishing the range of activities and tasks that occur at, and constitute, each scale the underlying relationships between the scales of activity are discussed. Further, the paper elucidates the wider implications of the proposed framework and its findings for both design research and practice. Central to these implications is the articulation of design as a complex fabric of interwoven processes. Highlights: We explore the multi-scale nature of design activity. We propose a framework for combining understanding of design activity across scales. We demonstrate the multi-scale nature of design activity via an industrial observation study. We identify implications for design prescriptions based on a multi-scale perspective.