Order and Meaning in Design (English translation of Dutch version)

This book deals with the act of designing within the domain of industrial design, highlighting the part of the process where the form of a product actually emerges. For this the book offers a methodology in which visualisation is regarded as the key activity for externalising our thought, and directing our thinking to all aspects of a design to be united in conceptual wholes. As such an approach is advanced, cancelling out the dichotomy of propositional and non-propositional design knowledge.

The book addresses problems of the visual-spatial and material ordering of object forms as these are experienced phenomenally. In connection the construction of meaning in product form is discussed as being rooted in this experience. In referring to new insights into cognitive sciences with regard to categorisation processes, a basis is offered for substantiation the semantic dimension of a design.

To illustrate both models and methods the book contains many examples of study cases executed by students of the School of Industrial Design of the Delft University of Technology.

Wim Muller