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Design+ Transposing human action research to design

highly structured activities, such as playing and third steps were heavily dependent on given research
solitaire, solving an algebraic problem, or making interests and objectives, as they require adaptations on a
a curved surface in a graphics program, all cases case-by-case basis accordingly. The second step, however,
where there are a small number of possible actions followed a standard form of performing a form of
at each choice point, to less formal tasks, such analogical reasoning commonly used by design researchers
as cooking, cleaning, driving to work, and even in creative practice, followed by formulating prompts that
writing an essay, for which the actions available could be used to formulate new hypotheses. The remainder
at an arbitrary choice point are more difficult to of this section outlines this second step in detail.
enumerate and success is more difficult to measure. Analogies are comparisons across entities that may have
Accordingly, much design theory is formulated, little in common, yet are seen as sharing similarities that
and much empirical research into/about design 20,21 is are worthwhile to connect. They allow understanding and
conducted, within the disciplinary context of design explaining relatively unfamiliar “target domains” in terms
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research and based on observations of design practice. of familiar “source domains.” Furthermore, analogies
Assuming purposeful human action and task enable the formation of innovative relationships between
performance should be studied and guided differently ideas, allowing for more critical reflection on assumptions,
within and outside of design, the design and non-design improved scrutiny of ideas, legitimization of ideas, increased
possibilities of creative relationships development, and
distinction presents itself as a possible variable in cross- recognition of non-trivial commonalities. In this way,
disciplinary comparative research. The question arises as to analogies enable inferences, abstractions, and thus the
what extent the already-existing bodies of design-agnostic generation of new insights. 23-25 Accordingly, the ability to
purposeful human action theory and task performance
research may justifiably be generalized and applied in the draw analogies has been described as a fundamental aspect
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context of design. This question defines the scope of this of human cognition.
study. It can be approached by suitably adapting, refuting/ Vosniadou and Ortony noted that analogical reasoning
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verifying, and possibly, refining existing purposeful human is, to some extent, dependent on particular bodies of
action and task performance research contributions knowledge in whose context they were expressed. Holyoak
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within design contexts. The lack of such work constitutes a and Thagard pointed out that the intentions behind
considerable research gap and an opportunity for empirical analogies framed analogical thinking, possibly triggered
research in design. To pursue these, design researchers new questions, and allowed the formulation of new
must suitably transpose the hypotheses and experimental intentions. This, in turn, may affect the way a given analogy
designs of existing design-agnostic task performance was used. With the potential to inspire (consecutive)
studies into design contexts. Such transpositions take the questions, analogies are essential “metacognitive tools”
shape of analogical reasoning, as is commonly used in for creativity and discovery. 30-32 By comparing a relatively
design practice. well-known source domain to a relatively unknown target
domain, “we can engage in exploratory processes that allow
2. Methods us to see the target in new ways and look for things that we
Hypotheses and experimental designs of existing design- hadn’t previously considered.” 30(p337) In this way, analogies
agnostic purposeful human action theory and task could be used for creativity and discovery in the practices
performance studies can be transposed into design contexts of science and design. 32,33 This use of analogy has been
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in several consecutive steps. First, relevant theories or the focus of numerous empirical studies. For instance,
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studies established in well-structured contexts would be Casakin and Goldschmidt investigated the designerly
identified, and their key components and assumptions use of visual analogies, noting that analogies were catalysts
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analyzed. Second, analogies between the well-structured for enhancing designerly skills. Ball et al. examined
context and the design context would be developed, and the spontaneous use of analogy and demonstrated its
analogical prompts formulated. These prompts could then prevalence in creative, real-world problem-solving in the
be used to formulate new hypotheses relevant to design practice of both expert and novice designers. Analogies,
contexts. Third, experiments would be designed and in short, are thought of as catalysts for (creative) thinking.
performed to test the transposed theories or studies in the They offer means to facilitate and explain understanding,
design context, followed by the possible refinement of the and to sustain creative inquiries by stimulating consecutive
original theories based on the results of these experiments. questions.
This sequence of steps was proposed as a general guide Analogical reasoning is commonly employed in the
rather than a rigid or formal set of instructions. The first formulation of creative design prompts (sometimes referred

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 3 doi: 10.36922/dp.4875