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Formality in design communication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2013

Claudia Eckert ,
Martin Stacey  and
Christopher Earl
Claudia Eckert*
Affiliation:
Design Group, Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Martin Stacey
Affiliation:
Faculty of Technology, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
Christopher Earl
Affiliation:
Design Group, Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
*
Reprint requests to: Claudia Eckert, Department of Design, Environment and Materials, Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

How designers communicate within design teams, and with users, suppliers, and customers, differs in formality both between industries and between different situations within one project. This paper identifies three layers of structure in design communication, each of which can be more or less formal: the design process, the interaction between participants, and the representations of design information that are constructed and used. These layers can be formal across a spectrum from explicit rules to habitual conventions. The paper draws on a range of contrasting case studies in mechanical engineering and knitwear design, as well as a larger corpus of cases comparing design domains more generally, to analyze how formality affects design interaction in different situations and process contexts. Mismatches in the understanding of formality can lead to misunderstandings, in particular across expertise boundaries and between designers and their clients or customers. Formality can be modulated in the mannerism of communication, the rhetoric employed, and how representations are constructed, to make communication more effective. The effort and skill put into modulating formality is greater in domains where designers work with end users, like architecture, than it is in companies where designers interact mainly with other professionals.

Keywords

AmbiguityDesign CommunicationDesign ProcessFormalityInteractionRepresentation
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 27 , Issue 2: Studying and Supporting Design Communication , May 2013 , pp. 91 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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