Perspective On Design Research

Springer Series in Design and Innovation 1
Daniel Raposo
João Neves
José Silva Editors
Perspective
on Design
Research, Education and Practice
Springer Series in Design and Innovation
Volume 1
Editor-in-Chief
Francesca Tosi, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Series Editors
Claudio Germak, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Francesco Zurlo, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Zhi Jinyi, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
Marilaine Pozzatti Amadori, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria,
Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Maurizio Caon, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Fribourg, Switzerland
Springer Series in Design and Innovation (SSDI) publishes books on innovation
and the latest developments in the fields of Product Design, Interior Design and
Communication Design, with particular emphasis on technological and formal
innovation, and on the application of digital technologies and new materials. The
series explores all aspects of design, e.g. Human-Centered Design/User Experience,
Service Design, and Design Thinking, which provide transversal and innovative
approaches oriented on the involvement of people throughout the design
development process. In addition, it covers emerging areas of research that may
represent essential opportunities for economic and social development.
In fields ranging from the humanities to engineering and architecture, design is
increasingly being recognized as a key means of bringing ideas to the market by
transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products or services. Moreover,
it provides a variety of methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used at
different stages of the innovation process to enhance the value of new products and
services.
The series’ scope includes monographs, professional books, advanced textbooks,
selected contributions from specialized conferences and workshops, and outstand-
ing Ph.D. theses.
Keywords: Product and System Innovation; Product design; Interior design;

Communication Design; Human-Centered Design/User Experience; Service
Design; Design Thinking; Digital Innovation; Innovation of Materials.
How to submit proposals

Proposals must include: title, keywords, presentation (max 10,000 characters), table
of contents, chapter abstracts, editors’/authors’ CV.
In case of proceedings, chairmen/editors are requested to submit the link to
conference website (incl. relevant information such as committee members, topics,
key dates, keynote speakers, information about the reviewing process, etc.), and
approx. number of papers.
Proposals must be sent to: series editor Prof. Francesca Tosi (francesca.tosi@unifi.it)
and/or publishing editor Mr. Pierpaolo Riva ([email protected]).
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16270

Daniel Raposo João Neves José Silva
• •
Editors
Perspective on Design
Research, Education and Practice
123
Editors
Daniel Raposo João Neves
Campus da Talagueira Campus da Talagueira
Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas do Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas do
Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Castelo Branco, Portugal Castelo Branco, Portugal
José Silva
Campus da Talagueira
Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas do
Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Castelo Branco, Portugal
ISSN 2661-8184 ISSN 2661-8192 (electronic)

Springer Series in Design and Innovation
ISBN 978-3-030-32414-8 ISBN 978-3-030-32415-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard
to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Design processes have been modified over time, not only to adjust to each problem
but above all to respond to systemic changes in new cultural, social, environmental,
and economic contexts that impact on artifacts, theories, meanings, and behaviors.
Also, design research processes have accompanied these emerging changes,
focusing on issues inherent to the design project (procedural, methodological,
plastic, symbolic, and efficient) and understanding the variables that influence the
context. This book provides a spectrum of valuable contributions to better under-
stand the challenges posed to design research by contemporary reality, but also
possible avenues of research development proposed by a wide variety of practi-
tioners and researchers. Therefore, the book can be considered from a global per-
spective of design research as well as observed from specific subjects on design
research.
This book presents preliminary and final results of research experiments and
research processes, which represent new contributions and an advance in scientific,
academic and practical knowledge in the areas of communication design, fashion
design, interior design, product design, and intersection areas. It is intended espe-
cially for the design community (graphic, fashion, product and interior design) and
for people working in the communication fields, such as marketers, journalists,
publicists, artists, entrepreneurs, brand or corporate communication managers.
Teachers and students in these fields will also benefit of this book; graphic artists,
the printing press, researchers, and all those who practice an activity related to the
design and communication may find useful information and a source of inspiration
in this book.
All in all, this book opens up new perspectives in design policy, design teaching,
and design research. It presents studies specifically related to design methods,
cultural aspects, symbolic components, drawing and visual expression, visual, and
territorial language systems. It covers brands, information and interaction design,
v
vi Preface
digital media design, character design, color perception, and design teaching
methods. It deals with fashion trends, technologies in design, furniture design,
interior design, and car design. It is organized in four parts:
First Part: Design Education, Research and Society;
Second Part: Communication Design;
Third Part: Drawing and Image in Design;
Fourth Part: Fashion Design, Interior and Product Design.
The chapters are the result of an invitation, addressed by the EIMAD Executive
Committee, to the authors of the best articles approved by blind peer review and
presented at the 6th EIMAD in February 2018. The EIMAD—Music, Arts, and
Design Research Meeting, organized by the Higher School of Applied Arts of the
Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal, aims to be a space for scientific
discussion in the areas of design and music.
This book gathers together 29 chapters written by researchers and teachers in
design. They show design is a transdisciplinary practice that cuts across various
fields within the design discipline and beyond a singular academy perspective.
The models and practices described in various chapters question specific
learning, complementing designers’ professional profiles with “connective” com-
petencies—competencies that allow designers to transition and lead design pro-
cesses across different professional sectors collaboratively.
The new mental models and professional profiles of future designers require
several didactic changes throughout the curriculum. The chapters present best
teaching practices aimed at fostering collaboration and collective learning.
Challenges presented in the publication relate to cross-cultural analysis in the
areas of branding, graphic design, and fashion, also different perspective approa-
ches, including multi-disciplinary methodologies benefiting more effective design
results.
The chapters describe the qualitative methodology, some of which are
exploratory, based on case studies or learning experiences, complemented by a
thorough literary review aimed at developing project design practices.
The chapters aim to contribute to the discussion in design teaching and practice
and its consequent research context, considering participatory practices and
methodologies and differentiating in the design object the cultural artifact of the
discursive object.
The spectrum of themes brought together expresses the intention of design
practices in the organization of discursive organization and knowledge. As men-
tioned by Findeli et al. (2008), the set of methods, modes, and means that belong to
the material culture that when applied or appropriate within other methodologies,
remains the right syntax and grammar of the design project. The design project
“organizes” knowledge to create a whole. It is in the hermeneutic transformation of
knowledge into action, in the pragmatic approach of knowledge for design, that the
transdisciplinarity resides.
Preface vii
Although the variety of topics the breadth of focused themes reveals a unique
ability in the design project to extract information. According to Findeli and Russell
(2010) being able to use the design as a way to extract and generate knowledge
requires a “project-oriented perspective,” i.e., the use of designed things and their
possibilities as the primary research tool in research.
Castelo Branco, Portugal Daniel Raposo

João Neves
José Silva
References
Findeli A, Brouillet D, Martin S, Moineau C, Tarrago R (2008) Research through design and
transdisciplinarity: a tentative contribution to the methodology of design research
Findeli A, Russell K (2010) Searching for design research questions: some conceptual clarifica-
tions. In: Chow R, Jonas W, Joost G (eds.) «FOCUSED»—Current design research projects
and methods Swiss design network symposium 2008, Berlin, pp 278–293
Contents
Design Education, Research and Society

Why Design Schools Should Take the Lead in Design Education . . . . . . 3
Jan Eckert
Rethinking the Role of the Contemporary Designer: Is There
a Mismatch Between Theory and Practice in Design Education? . . . . . . 17
Suzana Dias and Ana Baptista
Learning to Learn: Lessons from 25 Years Managing a Design
Company Abbreviated in 3 Ideas by the Secretary General
of the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Gonçalo Falcão
The (Trans) Disciplinary Alternative for Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Hermes de Andrade Júnior and Tamar Prouse de Andrade
Exploring Climate Changes Through LSP: A Learning Experience . . . . 55
José Silva and João Neves
A Systematic Review on International Design Research, in Order
to Ensure that the Findings Can Compare Design Capabilities
in the Portuguese Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Maria João Félix
Communication Design
Graphic Design as Visual Arguments: Does This Make
a Reliable Appraisal Possible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Karel van der Waarde
Communication Design and Space Narratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Maria Luísa Costa and Inês Amaral
ix
x Contents
A City’s Cultural Heritage Communication Through Design . . . . . . . . . 115

Lourdes Pilay and Marco Neves
Contributions to Brand Systems in Lisbon Tailoring Brands . . . . . . . . . 125
William Cantú and Fernando Oliveira
From the Genesis to the Project Result: The Success of Design
for Place Branding also Depends on the Modality of Contracting . . . . . 137
Emílio Ribeiro, Daniel Raposo and Marizilda Menezes
The Creation of Brands in the Online Experience: A Study
About the Brand Image of Children’s Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Vera Barradas, María Victoria Carrillo Durán and Daniel Raposo
A Practice-Based Research Model for Interaction in Print Design . . . . . 175
Marco Neves
Gravitim APP and the Contribution of Digital Media in the Process
of Pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Nuno Martins and Tânia Araújo
Communication Through Character Design: ‘Inside Out’
Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
António Manuel Rodrigues Ferreira, Pedro Mota Teixeira
and Daniel da Cruz Brandão
Drawing and Image in Design

Chromatic Cognition and Human Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Fernando Moreira da Silva
Sketches Versus New Technologies in Design Creative Process . . . . . . . 225
Ana Moreira da Silva
The Design-Body Project in Analogue Corpus – Tattooing
as a Graphic Expression in Paper and in Portuguese Skin Since
the Beginning of the Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Susana Azevedo Cardal
Graphic-Semantic Expression Map: A New Approach in Design
Teaching Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Cátia Rijo
Fashion Design, Interior and Product Design

The Experiential and Trans-Aesthetic Substance of Fashion
and Design. Culture and Creative-Based Models and Processes . . . . . . . 267
Maria Antonietta Sbordone
Contents xi
Trends Management: The Qualitative Approach as a Methodology . . . . 283

Sandra Regina Rech
Method to Create Fashion Collections—From Practice
to Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Gabriela Teixeira
Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery Workshops: An Action Model
in Design Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Ana Helena Grácio, Miguel Aboim and Cátia Rijo
Computational Design: From Algorithms to Digital Production
for Traditional Manufacture Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Annalisa Di Roma and Alessandra Scarcelli
From Interior Design Imaginary to Jewellery Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Mónica Romãozinho
Furniture as a Piece of Design and as a Piece of Decorative Arts . . . . . 341
Graça Pedroso
Design(ers) Beyond Industrial. From Dissociation to Reassociation
Through Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Paulo Colaço and Demétrio Matos
Portuguese Modernism from Arquitectura Magazine (1927–1988).
Three Cases of Interior Design in the 1950s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Liliana Neves and Fátima Pombo
Challenges to Automotive Interior Design: The Future Is Much
More Than Technology—It’s About People! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Susana C. F. Fernandes
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Design Education, Research and Society
Why Design Schools Should Take
the Lead in Design Education
Jan Eckert
Abstract Over the past decades, we have gained more design literacy in both the
educational landscape and in the professional field. As a consequence, more and
more actors have become involved in design and amongst them many non-designers.
While in business this change has brought up a number of new role models in design,
in education instead many programmes such as “Design Thinking”, “Design Man-
agement”, “Strategic Design” or “Design Engineering” emerged at schools of man-
agement, departments of computer sciences or engineering schools. This change has
led to a situation where educating designers it not limited to design schools and
designing is a profession not exclusively limited to designers anymore. Within this
wide range of actors, it becomes hard to understand who is able to lead the design
conversation across different sectors and accordingly who is willing and able to train
these leaders. This chapter gives an insight into the development of our new MA
curriculum in Design. The main objective of this curriculum is stepping out of the
mental model of designers as problem-solvers or authors and shifting the attention
towards problem identification and design leadership. As part of the research done
during the development of our curriculum a new model, called the Y-shaped-Designer
has emerged. The model questions discipline-based learning by complementing the
professional profile of designers with what we call “connective competences”—com-
petences that enable designers to transition in a collaborative mode and lead design
processes across different professional sectors. The new mental model and profes-
sional profile of our future graduates required a series of didactical changes along
the curriculum. These changes will be laid out in this chapter by illustrating a couple
of didactical best practices that aim at fostering collaboration and collective learn-
ing. As a conclusion two concepts emerge as key to how design schools could take
back the lead in design education: the fundamental shift from authorship towards
leadership in design and the ability to connect and collaborate beyond the design
domain.
J. Eckert (B)
Lucerne School of Arts and Design, Lucerne University of Applied
Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 3

D. Raposo et al. (eds.), Perspective on Design,
Springer Series in Design and Innovation 1,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_1
4 J. Eckert
Keywords Design education · Y-shaped designer · Design leadership ·

Issue-based learning
1 In Reality Design Is not that Important Anymore …
During a recent talk at the Design-In-Tech 2019 conference, interaction designer

and former associate director at MIT Media Lab, John Maeda discussed the topic
of design advocacy in (tech) business. After years of pushing for design leadership
in companies, now, he apparently comes to the conclusion that “in reality, design
is not that important” (Schwab 2019). Hearing someone like Maeda making such a
statement raises the question about what reason had led to this rather drastic change
of someone’s opinion. The reasoning behind Maeda’s critique is his observation that
many designers develop bossy attitudes when assigned leadership roles. And appar-
ently rather than teaming up with non-designers these new born design bosses tend to
look for allies coming from a design background. In Maeda’s words a “microworld of
aesthetic high-fives” (Schwab 2019) gets created where designers cultivate their “in-
visible language” and decide about what good design is and what isn’t. In his recent
talk, Maeda even emphasizes his critique and complains that “Over half the designers
still want to make things beautiful and can’t help it. That’s a built-in competency”
(Schwab 2019).
When in 2018, I held a keynote about the development of our new MA curriculum
in Design, I supported the long quest designers have taken to gain more decisional
power in the professional field. I also cited Kate Aronowitz, partner at Google Ven-
tures, who stated, that on the one hand, nowadays, designers have the opportunity
to have “a seat at the table” (Aronowitz 2018), on the other instead many design-
ers are falling short when taking bigger leadership roles. According to Aronowitz
as design leaders “we are paying too much attention to the ‘design’ part of the
role and not enough to ‘leadership’” (Aronowitz 2018). Both Maeda and Aronowitz
seem to confirm that the change designers have been struggling for such a long time
comes with new challenges and responsibilities that designers were not equipped for.
The question raises where this shortfall in leadership competencies originates from?
Why can’t so many designers help it to focus exclusively on making things beautiful
instead of paying attention to other aspects, too?
As a design educator my guess is: because no one really taught them to. The change
design is currently undergoing apparently has not been foreseen by many design
schools and, therefore, students were not able to build up the necessary competences
to face their new roles in design and design leadership.
At the same time, other educational facilities such as management schools, engi-
neering schools, faculties in computer science and even medicine came up with
programmes such as Strategic Design, Design Management, Design Thinking or
similar. A recent study at our University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne
Why Design Schools Should Take the Lead in Design Education 5
has shown that out of 123 listed programmes using keywords such as Design Man-
agement, Design Thinking, Design & Innovation or Strategic Design over 30% are
being offered at non-design departments or schools.
2 Towards a New MA Curriculum in Design
When in 2016, I took over the lead of our MA programme in Design at Lucerne Uni-
versity of Applied Sciences and Arts, we instantly started reviewing the curriculum at
that time in order to understand how to develop a new one that was ready to meet the
change in the design profession. We did so by a two-folded approach: understanding
where and how Swiss designers work and where the people we educate (will) come
from? Furthermore, we transferred this double point of view to both our curriculum
at the time and the hypothetical one that we were about to develop (Fig. 1).
In order to get an accurate description of the current status, we conducted a series
of surveys, interviews and in-classroom evaluations with our students, followed up
by evaluation workshops with both students and faculty members. At the same time,
an alumni survey reached out to gain insights over the challenges that graduates might
have encountered when transitioning into the professional field. To incorporate also
the professional’s perspective, a series of interviews with representatives of the Swiss
professional associations helped to complete this image.
During that same period, Weckerle et al. (2016) published the 2016 Swiss Cre-
ative Economies Report: a biannual study that depicts the current state of creative
occupations in Switzerland by presenting a number of future prospects for the field.
One of these perspectives happened to stand in contradiction with one of our find-
ings when talking to our alumni: according to the Swiss Creative Economies report
around 50% of Swiss creatives work in non-creative contexts whereas only 14% of
our alumni reported to work outside of the traditional design domain. This first find-
ing raised the question whether there was an ongoing change that, so far, has not been
Fig. 1 Developing a new MA curriculum in Design (Eckert 2018)

6 J. Eckert
noticed. Based upon this insight we conducted an extended literature review on the
creative economies, the future development of work as a whole and the significance
of creative occupations in that future.
As a result of our review, we found that most studies were stating that traditional
design occupations were assigned to be less future-proof than those that actively
extend into non-design contexts (Table 1). This insight led to the conclusion that
according to most studies the current occupational field of our graduates corre-
sponded to a rather outdated status and it was highly probable that this status is
about to change in the upcoming years. As a successive insight, we found that the
relevance of design skills and topics in non-design sectors was regarded as one of the
fundamental drivers for innovation and prosperity by most of the reports (Table 1).
It appeared that not only the design sector was reaching out to other sectors but
it happened to occur also the other way around—an assumption that is backed by
Table 1 Key findings from our literature review on the future of design occupations
Designers embedding in Cross-sector collaborations Interdisciplinary expertise
non-design sectors In its 2016 report on Creative is key to designers
In their 2016 report on the Economies and Innovation The 2017 “AIGA Designers
Swiss Creative Economy, (Bundesministerium für 2025 “report (AIGA Design
Weckerle et al. (Weckerle Wirtschaft und Energie Educators Community (DEC)
et al. 2016) describe the 2017), the German Federal 2017) discusses today’s
“Embedded Creative” as a Ministry for Economic design problems that “are
figure, who primarily works Affairs and Energy predicts increasingly situated within
in a non-design context. Design the highest growth larger systems characterised
According to the same report potential in cross-sector by interdependent
already today, 50% of Swiss innovation and names relationships” These
creatives work as so-called collaboration and cooperation Relationships “are physical,
“Embedded Creatives”. as two main factors, which psychological, social,
might foster this sort of cultural, technological, and
innovation in the Creative economic in their effects,
Industries. (and) require interdisciplinary
expertise” (ibid.).
Less growth in traditional Design as driver for Combination of creative
design occupations innovation and social and science skills
The U.S. Bureau of Labour transformation “The Future of Jobs” (World
Statistics, predicts only a Facing the 9th European Economic Forum 2016)—a
0–1% growth in traditional Horizon 2020 Framework research published by the
graphic design positions Programme, 20% of the World Economic Forum in
versus 27% in network related Position Papers 2016 states that “the
communication between analysed by the “Swiss Core combination of arts and
2014 and 2024 (AIGA Office for European science skills within
Design Educators Research, Innovation and businesses (is) a key feature
Community (DEC) 2017). Education” (Swiss Core of many parts of the Creative
Similar numbers are currently 2017) specifically mention Industries”. A fact which is
being discussed amongst the importance of design as further linked to “6% higher
European reports, too. driver for innovation and employment growth and 8%
catalyst for social innovation. higher sales growth.”
(Balzagette 2017).
the increasing number of non-designers applying to our MA programme in design.

While evaluating all of our findings and according to our point of departure (Fig. 1)
we came to the following two conclusions:
(a) The working context of our future graduates is extending into other sectors than
design.
(b) At MA level we will educate an increasing number of non-designers that want
to transition into the design domain.
Consequently, our hitherto approach of providing designers the opportunity to
continue their studies MA programme by specialising in their original discipline
appeared to be obsolete and the question rose: what could be an alternative model to
the disciplinary approach?
3 Y-Shaped-Designers and Connective Competences
As discussed in section two of this chapter. Our preliminary research on design

curricula led to the conclusion that our former approach of our MA curriculum to
focus on the same design disciplines that were being taught on BA level was very
limiting when compared to the cross-sectoral extension that is happening in the
professional world. Especially, if considering the fact that we might need to address
more and more non-designers with our programme. So, the question arose how to
meet these new requirements with our re-visited curriculum.
For decades, the disciplinary approach in both education and the professional field
has been described by using the so-called “T-Shape” (Guest 1991; Brown 2010) rep-
resenting a vertical root that represents the disciplinary base of a person’s knowledge
and skills and a horizontal dimension standing for the ability to collaborate across
other disciplines than the own one (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 T-Shaped model

(Guest 1991; Brown 2010)
8 J. Eckert
In the post-Bolognese landscape of educational programmes, this model often

has been interpreted in two different ways. In some cases, the programmes provide a
sort of preliminary and interdisciplinary foundation course (in the german-speaking
design world also known as Gestalterischer Grundkurs, transl.: design foundation
course) that would be followed-up by a more disciplinary and specific programme
(e.g. a Master’s programme). In other cases, students might first enrol a rather disci-
plinary programme such as e.g. Graphic Design in order to extend their studies into
interdisciplinary fields after their first degree.
In our case we were facing a mix of both: all of our BA programmes at Lucerne
University of Applied Sciences and Arts would be subdivided by design disciplines
such as e.g. Graphic Design, Illustration, Textiles, etc. In our Master’s we would
then gather students from different design backgrounds and group them by so-called
“specialisations” again. So, in many cases, someone who studied Graphic Design
in his or her BA would continue the studies in the same discipline again, even if
the programme was meant to support multi-disciplinary learning. This observation
inspired us to question the T-Model and reflect on how we could meet the confusion
between disciplinary and multi-disciplinary design education.
According to our research regarding the development of creative professions,
the idea of collaborating across disciplines was not wrong in the first place. It was
rather the self-evident way that the T-Shape implies the ability to transition from a
disciplinary to a collaborative working mode. If we think back of the new design
leaders criticised by John Maeda and Kate Aronowitz in section one of this chapter
it becomes quite evident that nobody told those designers how to transition from a
designerly way of working (= disciplinary) to a truly collaborative way by leading
interdisciplinary or cross-sectoral collaborations. And if considering that the ebility to
collaborate and lead collaborative processes doesn’t come natural T-Shape obviously
lacks some connecting piece between the vertical and the horizontal dimension of
the shape. We therefore decided to zoom into the junction between the vertical and
horizontal part of the T-model in order to understand which could be those connective
competences that link the disciplinary root to a collaborative working mode (Fig. 3).
In his research, Swiss didact and learning researcher Hansruedi Kaiser (2005,
2011) established the concept of situative competences (formerly known as concrete
competences). Kaiser’s situative competences represent a combination of knowledge
and abilities that enable graduates to manage concrete practical or professional situ-
ations after their studies (e.g. negotiating skills while working with a large number of
stakeholders). Kaiser’s approach helped us to align our quest for connective compe-
tence with the concrete situations that our graduates might encounter in their future
professional lives. This quest also required a revisited mental model of the designers
that we were about to educate and train. Since the traditional self-contained designer
or design-author would not correspond with the situation of the cross-sectoral design
leader depicted in our preliminary research, there was a need of changing that mental
model by defining a more suitable one. Together with faculty members from both
our BA programmes and our MA programme in design, we conducted a series of
workshops aiming at the better understanding of the Y-Shape Model and it’s impli-
cations onto the designers mental model or role. During these workshops, we started
Fig. 3 T-Shaped model and connecting Y-Shape model (Eckert 2018, 2017a, b, 2018)
mapping properties and characteristics that would either be associated with our BA
graduates in design and those graduating from our MA programme in design. The
Result was a chart showing that while most characteristics and learning goals asso-
ciated with our BA education would correspond to a rather disciplinary approach,
those associated with the MA level, all together were located in the upper connective
part of the Y-Shape (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Y-Shaped designers graduating from BA and MA programmes (Eckert 2017a)

10 J. Eckert
The same diagram gave us also a better understanding of the type of designers
that we wanted to educate and train in our master’s programme or in other words of
the mental model that should stand at the background of our new curriculum—the
Y-Shaped Designer. Furthermore, it also gave us some hints of which professional
situations this Y-Shaped Designer might encounter and thus which situative compe-
tences (Kaiser 2005, 2011) we will need to train and support in our programme. In
a first attempt, we came up with the following list of situative competences:
• Handling a wide range of different opinions expressed by both designers and non-
designers.
• Evaluating these opinions and creating a common ground and vocabulary for
discussion.
• Leading and facilitating cross-disciplinary discussions.
• Identifying areas of friction and leverage points which might be the starting point
for a design intervention.
• Critically analysing these areas of friction from multiple point of views.
• Choosing from a wide range of methods in order to lead an appropriate and par-
ticipatory process.
• Foreseeing, evaluating and controlling the impact of the design process and inter-
vention in ethical, social, economic, ecological and technological terms.
Summarising this section, it became clear to us that the former models used to
develop design curricula demonstrated a major gap when compared to the predictions
made about the future job market and future design occupations. Especially the latest
“Future of the Jobs Report” published by the World Economic Forum in 2019 (World
Economic Forum 2019) predicts an increasing need of cross-sectoral job profiles
such as “Human-Machine Interaction Designers”, “Service and Solutions Designers”
or “User Experience Designers”. It becomes quite evident that such profiles need
interdisciplinary and even cross-sectoral training covering a wide spectrum of skills,
knowledge and competences—competences that in our Y-Shaped model we term
connective competences. Caroline Sinders, who is working as a machine learning
designer and therefore relates to the job profiles predicted by the World Economic
Forum describes what it might mean to be a Y-shaped Designer:
“The future is less of a T-shaped designer, but a designer that’s a Jill-of-all-trades.
You should have an aesthetic eye, but you need to be a systems designer when dealing
with AI, you need to be a designer that focuses on ethics or (as) an ethicist, you need to
have a little bit of a technical understanding. And you need to be highly data-minded
and data-questioning” (Schwab 2017).
4 Didactical Changes—Best Practices
After having developed the Y-shaped approach and a first set of competences that
our future students were meant to acquire, between fall 2016 and spring 2018, we
started a series of didactical pilot schemes and together with our university’s didactics
we elaborated a list of didactical aspects that were meant to support students when
building up what we call connective competences (Table 2). Aim of testing these
first didactical schemes was to gather experiences that would allow us establish the
right combination of didactical approaches meant for our new curriculum starting in
fall 2018. The present section reports on two of these pilot schemes.
4.1 Collective Learning and Conversation Training
As discussed in this chapter before, our former MA curriculum in design would

split up students into disciplinary groups called specialisations (e.g. Graphic Design,
Illustration, …). According to their specialisation, students would be supervised
by one or two teachers having the same disciplinary background as their students.
Compared to our Y-Shaped model and our move towards collective learning this
separation into disciplinary groups did not make sense anymore. Especially, the fact
that formerly, each group would meet on a different day made it impossible for
students and faculty members to meet and have a common discussion.
We, therefore, decided to find a way to gather all students and faculty members
together in order to collaboratively focus on project-based questions and problems
that might be relevant to all of our students. Furthermore the aim was to give them
the opportunity to learn from each other instead of being exclusively supervised by
teachers. To render this collective way of learning possible, we decided to introduce
a weekly Atelier Day. A day, where all students and teachers from our programme
would meet together in the morning and decide based upon subjects and matters
which groups would work together for the rest of the day.
The range of possibilities we explored to train the connective competences in this
setting, was surprisingly wide and convincing. After the first week, students took over
most of the conversation by bringing in different subjects, organising micro-learning
sessions (Hattie 2013), workshops or even lunch cooking sessions. Especially, the
high level of self-management showed by the students came as an evidence that it was
worth opening up the studio in order to turn it into an open platform for discussion
between learners and educators coming from different backgrounds.
In order to even emphasize this openness, together with our students we started
inviting external guests such as e.g. experts from a specific field that we were dis-
cussing in a project. This way, the conversation got enriched with an external point
of view and besides reflecting their work from multiple design angles, students now
also had the opportunity to blend in perspectives from disciplines outside of the
design domain. A fact that relates a lot to the described shift in the professional field,
where designers more and more embed into sectors that don’t necessarily belong to
the design domain itself.
12 J. Eckert
Table 2 Didactical implications pre- and post-curriculum (Eckert 2018)

Didactical aspect PRE-curriculum POST-curriculum
Project- and Issue-based Disciplinary learning-track Project- and issue-based
learning (e.g. graphic design) and design studio. Taught by
disciplinary studio-work multidisciplinary faculty
Collaborative learning Individual project-work and Collaborative project-work
studio-coaching and group-coaching in the
design studio
Context-based learning, One disciplinary project; An initial series (1st
scaffolding often approached from a semester) of brief
design-only point of view interdisciplinary projects in
collaboration with external
partners shifts the attention to
the real-world context
Self-determined learning and Students can choose between Students get involved into the
micro teaching a variety of courses and pick organization of student-led
one personal subject for their courses, alumni lessons and
project focus groups. Subjects and
projects get discussed
collectively by both, learners
and educators
Competence-oriented Students get evaluated and Students start evaluating
learning and self-evaluation graded by a set of criteria themselves with a
competence-matrix. Based
upon this evaluation a
learning-agreement is made
after the 2nd semester. This
agreement is part of the final
evaluation and grading as
well as the base for an
individual coaching to
achieve the established
learning-goals
External referencing systems Students develop their MA During the 1st semester,
project in the design studio short-projects are held
and mainly get taught and together with external
evaluated by the program’s partners and companies.
own faculty During semester 2 and 3,
students set up partnerships
for their own project and
work at the partner’s or
company’s site
Learning that traverses Students mainly work in the The studio and the lab (newly
institutional boundaries studio and the university’s collocated on the same floor)
across different sites of different labs merge together.
expression Project-weeks held at
companies’ sites and
collaborations with external
partners extend the studio
into a real-world lab
4.2 Re-Briefing the Brief And Scaffolding
A second format that we introduced in fall 2016 is called CONNECT While in our
former curriculum students would work for their entire MA studies on their own
project, we realised that this led to a lack of opportunities to test, experience and
learn a variety of design processes and methods. For instance, there was little room
for students to explore different methods they would learn in our methods class
without taking a risk at their own project. Consequently, CONNECT Projects were
meant to provide that room for exploration and learning by limiting the project’s time
to 2 months. Starting point for these projects is a primary brief by an external partner
(e.g. company or organisation), which then gets re-briefed and critically analysed by
a group of students. This not only allows students to engage with the project in a
personal way but also pushes them into a leading role, when convincing the external
partner why and how the project might be re-framed. At the same time students need
to accept and facilitate a large number of different opinions expressed by their fellow
group members and the partners (who usually come from a non-design context)—
another connective competence that we started training.
From a didactical point of view the CONNECT projects not only turned out to
be excellent platforms to train some of the connective competences we wanted to
support, they also related to the concept of scaffolding. By giving our students the
opportunity to test and experience different approaches and methods, together, we
build a so-called scaffold that enables them to transfer the experience and knowledge
to their own projects, too.
5 Conclusions—Taking the Lead by Unlearning Design
This chapter departed from a controversial critique of designers pushing into leading
roles in non-design contexts without bringing the necessary requisites. It also started
with the hypothesis that the gap might be caused by a flaw in design education. A
flaw that pushed other actors such as non-design schools into the domain of design
and as a consequence, the question arose of how design schools could gain back the
lead in design education. The report on the development of our new MA curriculum
in design at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts has shown that taking
this lead back might imply change on multiple levels: not only the structure and
content of a programme needs to change, also the mental model standing behind
that programme and the didactical approaches meant to transfer it require a lot of
research and testing. Especially, the constant monitoring of the professional field’s
development happened to be one of the main drivers of our research and development
of the new curriculum and should be considered in any similar development as well.
Since we introduced our new MA curriculum in fall 2018, we were able to gather
experiences with our first group of students. So far, two main observations came
14 J. Eckert
as evidence that changing the perspective from a disciplinary and design-focused

curriculum to one that focuses collaboration was the right direction to go:
– Due to the weekly collective coaching all of our current student’s project proposals
include multi-disciplinary perspectives—before, most of the proposals were driven
by personal and disciplinary arguments.
– At the end of semester one, more than 75% of our students presented project
proposals focusing topics originating from a non-design context with regards to
social, economic or ecological issues.
Especially, the second observation comes as proof for a radical shift towards an
issue-based design approach that allows our learners identifying problems outside of
the design domain. With this new generation of our students John Maeda’s notion on
designers, who “still want to make things beautiful and can’t help it.” (Schwab 2019)
becomes disproven and we are confident that this upcoming generation of designers
has the potential to become design leaders that truly engage with responsibilities
within and beyond the design domain.
Coming back to the question of how design schools might take back the lead
in design education, our case study of developing a new MA curriculum in design
shows that taking this lead comes with similar challenges and responsibilities as the
ones in the professional world described by Maeda and Aronowitz: designers need
to step back from an author-driven approach that is focused exclusively on aesthetics
and design language. At the same time, they need to acquire connective competences
enabling them to extend that language to a conversation beyond the design domain
and leading that conversation by acting as leaders in cross-sectoral design processes.
This conclusion scrutinises the way we kept teaching and learning design so far.
And inevitably, it leads to another question: does former design education provide
even the right base to transition into the new way we propose? Or: do we first
need to unlearn part of our design understanding in order to clear the way for this
transformation? When we started some of our classes based upon the Y-Model, some
of our students first were disappointed that it appeared not being that much about
themselves and their own creative work anymore. Some of them even got afraid they
might need to forget about all the precious skills and competences they had acquired
during their undergraduate studies. And probably the same goes for many of us being
faculty members and design educators, too. As an answer to this uncertainty there is
probably no better response, than Mark Bonchek’s understanding of the concept of
unlearning:
“Unlearning is not about forgetting. It’s about the ability to choose an alternative
mental model or paradigm. When we learn, we add new skills or knowledge to what
we already know. When we unlearn, we step outside the mental model in order to
choose a different one” (Bonchek 2016).
References
AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) (2017) Aiga designer 2015—why design education
should pay attention to trends. Retrieved 13 Jan 2018 from: https://educators.aiga.org/wp-content/
uploads/2017/08/DESIGNER-2025-SUMMARY.pdf
Aronowitz K (2018) Designers finally have a seat at the table. Now what? Retrieved 13 Jan
2018 from: https://www.fastcodesign.com/90156186/designers-finally-have-a-seat-at-the-table-
now-what
Balzagette P (2017) Independent review of the Creative Industries
Bonchek M (2016) Why the problem with learning is unlearning. Harvard Bus Rev. Retrieved 26
Nov 2017 from: https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-the-problem-with-learning-is-unlearning
Brown T (2010) T-Shaped stars: the backbone of IDEO’s collaborative culture. An interview
with IDEO CEO Tim Brown, By Morten T. Hansen. Retrieved 19 Dec 2017, from https://
chiefexecutive.net/ideo-ceo-tim-brown-t-shaped-stars-the-backbone-of-ideoaes-collaborative-
culture__trashed/
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (2017) Kreativwirtschaftliche Innovationen für mehr
Wachstum und Wertschöpfung im Mittelstand – Begleitanalyse von Fördermodellen in Sachsen-
Anhalt und Thüringen
Eckert J (2017a) RE-shaping the master curriculum in design. In: REDO - CUMULUS Conference
2017, Kolding, Denmark
Eckert J (2017b) The Y-Shaped designer: connective competences as key to collaboration across
disciplines. J Educ Learn 6(4)
Eckert J (2018). O ENSINO DO DESIGN E O DESIGNER DE ACORDO COM O MODELO Y
– DESIGN EDUCATION AND THE “Y-SHAPED DESIGNER”. EIMAD Encontro de Investi-
gação em Música, Artes e Design, Castelo Branco, Portugal
Eckert J (2018). Leading the conversation—why design education should care more about leadership
and stewardship in design. Cumulus Paris 2018—TO GET THERE: DESIGNING TOGETHER,
Paris
Guest D (1991) The hunt is on for the Renaissance Man of computing. The Independent
Hattie JAC (2013) Lernen sichtbar machen. German Edition of “Visible learning”. Schneider,
Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler
Kaiser H (2005) Wirksame Ausbildungen entwerfen—Das Modell der Konkreten Kompetenzen.
h.e.p. verlag, Bern
Kaiser H (2011) Situative Anforderungen und individuelles Können. Retrieved Jan 2016 from http://
www.hrkll.ch/typo/fileadmin/Texte/SiKo/Anforderung_und_Koennen.pdf
Schwab K (2017) AI dominated 2017. Here’s what’s coming next. Fastcodesign. Retrieved
19 Dec 2017 from https://www.fastcodesign.com/90154248/ai-dominated-2017-heres-
whats-coming-next?utm_source=postup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Co.Design%
20Daily&position=3&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=12182017
Schwab K (2019) John Maeda: “In reality, design is not that important’, FastCompany.com [Web
Magazine], Retrieved 19 Mar 2019 from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90320120/john-maeda-
in-reality-design-is-not-that-important
Swiss Core (2017) How to connect Switzerland and Europe in the field of the
arts. Art Driven Innovation in Horizon 2020 Euresearch. Retrieved 13 Jan 2018
from: https://www.euresearch.ch/index.php?id=443&tx_seminars_pi1%5bshowUid%5d=709&
no_cache=1&user_id=46336&job_id=3227
Weckerle C, Page R, Grand S (2016) Von der Kreativwirtschaft zu den Creative Economies—
Kreativwirtschaftsbericht Schweiz 2016. Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Departement Kultur-
analysen und Vermittlung
World Economic Forum (2016) The future of jobs—employment, skills and workforce strategy for
the Fourth Industrial Revolution
World Economic Forum (2019) The future of jobs report
Rethinking the Role
of the Contemporary Designer: Is There
a Mismatch Between Theory
and Practice in Design Education?
Suzana Dias and Ana Baptista
Abstract Nowadays, factors such as the accelerated cultural dematerialization, the

unprecedented participatory culture, and a new kind of social values have become
crucial for understanding the human experience. This scenario implies an inevitable
revision of design, and its educational approaches so it is adaptable to new circum-
stances. The relevance of this study lies in the critical approach used to review the
current design models, and the discrepancy that has been observed between research
processes and practices, and the effective practice and application of design. We will
thus be discussing the (underdeveloped) competences and skills of today’s designers,
namely relating to the participatory approach and the decentralization of their role.
These latter concepts are of fundamental importance to reflect on the articulation
with the immaterial and relational culture of current days. We argue that what is new
in the concept of design is its understanding as a process. It should thus be consid-
ered a means to achieve an end, and not an end in itself. As Dunne (2008) states,
the design has the potential of being ‘a tool of doing’. Therefore, design is seen by
the latest research within the field as a means to drive flexible solutions, to produce
continuous adaptations in order to contribute to a constantly changing context. In
this book chapter, we will thus underline that the education of the future designer
should (i) incorporate an articulated understanding of the problems, which are con-
sidered within a system or web of relationships, and (ii) promote the development
of competences and skills that are essential to manage a consciously decentralized
role by using open and flexible methodologies applied to different actors.
Keywords Designer’s role · Socially responsible design · Participatory design ·

Design education
S. Dias (B)
IPCA ID+/Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave, Instituto de Investigação em Design,
Media e Cultura, Barcelos / Aveiro, Portugal
A. Baptista
Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_2
18 S. Dias and A. Baptista
1 Introduction
In recent times, we have been living in a deeply unstable environment that has
been demanding a growing adaptation from individuals. We can thus find ideas
and projects that seem to react to the lack of unity and meaning caused by current
historical circumstances. Some of those aspects were already dealt with and further
developed in previous publications (Dias 2015, 2017, 2018; Dias and Moura 2017).
Within this background there is a clear perception that we are living in a cultural
turning point where the discourse of design is transforming itself.
The need to understand the impact of the current historical context in the area of
design and its teaching emerges from the motivation of the authors of this article. As
researchers and higher education (HE) educators, we seek to establish a conscious and
dialogic reflection about the changes that may change pedagogical processes within
a specific disciplinary area: design. This is particularly due to shared concerns and
deep interest in tuning an interpretative and critical reasoning about the contemporary
world with the new expectations and characteristics of the current design student.
The relevance of this article lies in the critical approach used to review the cur-
rent design models, and the discrepancy that has been observed between research
processes and practices, and the effective practice and application of design. We will
thus be discussing the (underdeveloped) competences and skills of today’s designers,
namely relating to the participative approach and the decentralization of their role.
These latter concepts are of fundamental importance to reflect on the articulation with
the immaterial and relational culture of current days. In this chapter, we thus intend
to highlight a new set of questions related to the context of education and design that,
in recent years, have been seen as a concern and thus debated in important confer-
ences (e.g. The 3rd International Symposium for Design Education Researchers in
2015) and publications (e.g. Design Integrations—research and collaboration, by
Poggenpohl and Sato 2009).
In this chapter, we aim to stress that the education of the future designer should
(i) incorporate an articulated understanding of current problems, which are consid-
ered within a system or web of relationships, and (ii) promote the development of
competences and skills that are essential to manage a consciously decentralized role
by using open and flexible methodologies applied to different actors. At the end of
their path in HE, students should understand their professional activity as an area of
interactions, where their role cannot be individualised or authoritarian. Instead, they
should be moderators or coaches, and should be able to determine the structures and
rules of a game where one will participate in order to improve the final solution.
Notwithstanding the importance of new labels by which new methodologies and
practices in the current design approaches begin to be known, it seems to us that
what is new is its understanding as a process. It should thus be considered a means to
achieve an end, and not as an end in itself where it is created something that is fixed
and physical in order to produce continuous adaptations to a constantly changing
context. Or, as stated by Anthony Dunne, ‘what is new is trying to use design as a
tool of doing’ (2008).
Rethinking the Role of the Contemporary Designer … 19
2 Aiming for Socially Responsible Design
Throughout the 20th century, we have noticed changes in the approach to design in
particular in relation to the role of the user and his/her needs. There has been a shift
from an industrial context, which was centred on production, to a post-industrial
context, which was focused on services. As Freire points out this transition can be
noticed by a move from a total indifference to an actual attempt to understand users’
needs, by simulating their role, and including them in the design process (Freire
2009). Nowadays, it is undeniable the importance of understanding each individual
as a whole when considering the design project.
The continuous immaterial nature of today’s culture has been giving rise to new
products and social requirements that are highly different from previous demands.
This has profound consequences in the economy, and therefore in the field of design.
Norman (2011) stresses that current design practices rather than having a concern
about appearance focus primarily on interaction. This is even more necessary in an
economy based on services and on the experience of citizens, where technology
permeates current daily lives. Also, this encompasses immaterial situations where
design is called to change social behaviours.
Since the Industrial Revolution, thinking about product design directed to a market
has been the dominant paradigm of the modern and industrial society. However, the
model that we have been following, which is product centred design, needs to be
restructured and adaptable to the new reality. These changes, namely within economy,
demand (re)new(ed) design skills and models that need to be suitable to a changing
environment. Despite having been widely discussed, these issues seem to reinforce
concerns that emerged in 1960s and 1970s when it was debated whether the post-
industrial society should match a post-industrial design process (Cross 1975, quoted
by Lawson 2005).
In the early 1970s, Victor Papanek’s book—Design for the Real World (1971)—
was considered one of the first alternative approaches to the ‘market model’. Also, it
was a key landmark on reflections about the role of the designer. Other discussions
followed Papanek’s initial theory that demonstrates the feasibility of thinking about
design models for the development of social practices. This expands and reinforces
the discussion around the concept of socially responsible design.
Within graphic design, Frascara (2000, 2006) points out that no significant exam-
ples and attention had been given to the real needs of the citizen before the 60s.
Following the same author, we are able to find moral imperatives in the past linked
to the ideologies of William Morris or the Bauhaus—particularly when we think
about objects that should be part of ordinary citizens’ life (and not only affordable to
elite groups), such as beautiful and high quality furniture, books, and architecture.
However, this ideology was mainly focused on the formal aspects of objects.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a shift towards social concerns was initiated, and we wit-
nessed a fight for freedom. Social actions with claims expressed in the popular culture
triggered social movements. In this historical moment, the awareness of different dis-
courses and the need to communicate with specific groups of society were intensified.
Communication ceased to be perceived as an exclusive domain of the Government

or political parties. It started to be possible to hear the voice of anonymous citizens
spreading new ideas about the social order for instance. Simultaneously, other dis-
courses and voices addressed many other topics, such as the rejection of the Vietnam
War, warnings reflecting a mistrust about quality of the air, unethical approaches of
corporations or individuals, and injustice or frauds on different areas.
In 1964, the First Things First manifesto became a milestone within the context
we have been describing. In addition to continue to raise awareness, it inspired some
practitioners to claim a different positioning for the field of Design: practitioners’
skills should be used more meaningfully, and should not serve instrumental, mer-
cantilist or market needs. This manifesto was published again in 1999 in Emigrè n.
51, and was updated at this point: First Things First Manifesto 2000. It stressed that
its original message had become even more crucial, particularly due to the explosive
growth of globalised commercial culture (Blauvelt 1999).
3 Rethinking the Role of the Designer

and the Participatory Approach
The importance of citizens’ experience and their active participation in society leads
Schalk (2011)—in a lecture entitled Relational aesthetics and institutional change—
to argue for a critical review of the role of architecture and design. From her perspec-
tive, citizens are increasingly prepared to take initiative by their own. She observes
the increasing capabilities on the growing demand of the users or communities for
better information, transparency, and willingness in being actively involved in local
issues. Therefore, it is not enough that experts ‘search for purely technical solutions,
simply addicted to the status quo without questioning professional protocols and
identities’, as Schalk pointed out in a lecture in 2011. This critical perspective asks
from specialists and institutions, which have been based on an authoritarian mod-
ernist model, to be able to adopt a relational approach to society. As it has been done
in the contemporary artistic universe, explained by the relational aesthetics theory
(Bourriaud 2002), the approach is underlined by ‘their values, systems, their material
cultures, social structures and institutionalised practices of their disciplines’ (Shalk
2011). If citizens are more enlightened, their demand for quality will be greater, thus
becoming more useful collaborators in the design process.
The design researcher Bryan Lawson considers that a modernist approach has
kept students’ or professionals’ actions disconnected from the reality and funda-
mental cultural elements. Within this model, History is reduced to facts learned
academically without connection with the current reality. He points out that, fortu-
nately, these notions of modernism have been overcome by creating the opportunity
for this knowledge to influence and guide contemporary design projects (Lawson
2005).
Lawson further considers that the mismatch of existing models in design is justi-
fied by a political dimension, due to the willingness to understand the decentralisa-
tion of power centres within our society. Focusing on theoretical approaches, Markus
points out that there are three possible frameworks for the designer’s role in society:
conservative, participatory and revolutionary. This follows the designer’s willingness
in decentralising his/her domain (Markus 1973, quoted by Lawson 2005). In fact,
Lawson highlights the reflections of Christopher Jones in the 1970s about the open-
ness of the designer’s activity to ‘collective control’ as a turning point in thinking
about the role of the designer. This reflection was taken on by designers to explore
new models in design processes. The architect and designer Thomas Markus was
one of them (Lawson 2005).
Lawson also argues that the participatory approach is the most appropriate
methodology to our reality. Though the designer is at the centre of the design process,
we cannot neglect the importance of the role of the client and other people involved
in the solution. In fact, contrary to a linear logic within the modernist ideology, the
reality increasingly tends to demonstrate that ‘problems and design solutions tend to
emerge when working together’ (Lawson 2005, p. 153).
We can understand the participatory approach within a continuum. On one end,
we find a conservative approach, where the role of the designer remains separate
from his/her client and markets, and constitutes a professional body not concerned
with the public good. On the other end, we find the revolutionary approach. In this
case, the designer does not see him/herself as a leader but as a partner and citizen,
who aspires to change social structures. However, the designer may fail to prove
him/herself as a leader since his/her role is merged with that of the user.
Within this theory, the participatory approach necessarily implies a conscious
rejection of the dominant role of the designer, who usually acts individually. Nev-
ertheless, designers need to continue to demonstrate specialised skills within the
decision making process. In other words, in this approach the designer is the one
who manages the rules of the game, which is not linear nor made entirely of indi-
vidual decisions. It is rather done by a team throughout the process. By adopting
different techniques (such as surveys, games, and simulations), the designer tries to
identify the crucial aspects of the problem, make them explicit, and suggest alterna-
tive actions, but always by involving non-designer participants (Lawson 2005).
Lawson concludes that the professional area of a designer is very distinctive
from other activities. The decentralisation of power proposed by the participatory
approach cannot represent a reason for weakening the field’s authority. It should
rather represent a revitalisation of the area, a new way of looking at the context, and
the new role of the designer. Lawson has argued for the importance of the mental
processes of designers, in line with research carried out by Nigel Cross (2001)—
Designerly ways of knowing. This strand of work highlights that, in addition to
‘traditional’ human abilities, ‘designerly’ is perceived as a particular form of knowing
that relates to the nature and characteristics found within the mental process of design.
Although the participatory approach implies that we all are potential participants
in the design process, Buxton (2007) emphasises that we are not all designers. The
non-specialist individual can play a critical role during the design process. Also,
creative activities from other fields are critical in the design process. Still following
Buxton (2007), the role of the professional designer is to work with users (or clients)
within a trainer/trainee dynamics, in order to help them to find an appropriate design
solution. Therefore, a distinction of roles becomes necessary to maximise the roles
of all those involved in the design process.
4 Impact on Design Education
The growing need for the designer’s social involvement and the recognition of the
individual experience are key elements that lead us to question the (mis)match of
educational models in relation to the development of appropriate competences, skills
and attitudes of future designers. Back in the 1930s, Bauhaus professor and designer
Moholy-Nagy acknowledged how crucial it was for the designer to develop the
ability to see everything in relation and intertwined, having applied this ideology to
the teaching and learning model he proposed for his New Bauhaus in Chicago. The
researcher Alain Findeli reinforces the importance of Moholy-Nagy idea – ‘seeing
everything in relationship’ (2001, p. 10)—recognising it as a key feature of our era,
since it requires a strong adapting to the dynamic reality, and the need to deal with
relationships that are invisible in nature.
Although these issues are not recent, and many authors have contributed greatly
to rethinking the role and social importance of the designer, this awareness and
consequences are not very visible in practice. We can thus observe a delay in the
adjustment between what we argue it is today’s role of the designer and the education
models that should be put into practice in design. This raises questions about the
quality of the education and training that a future designer will experience and its
impact on his/her future professional performance. Norman (2011) strongly suggests
that if the situation does not change, it will impact on the value designers will have
for society. If future designers are not properly educated for the real world, then they
will not be able to fulfil their professional and social value, as they will not be able
to critically participate in the dynamics of the world.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Margolin—the first America PhD holder in History
of Design and co-founder of Design Issues in 1984—identified a need for changing
the design educational landscape. He clearly pointed out the importance of creating
‘a new discipline in design studies’ (Margolin 1989, p. 5). Despite the urgency of
discussing this issue, Margolin and Margolin (2002) reinforce a lack of attention
paid to social design, and to the design model that is centred in well-being. They
blame the lack of research approaches as well as the lack of proper advanced train-
ing tailored for future designers. In particular, the same authors strongly criticise
the unpreparedness especially from product design students—and professionals—as
they were not able to respond to the needs of the populations with a similar socially
responsible approach that was already being seen in other areas. Margolin and Mar-
golin (2002) highlight enriching collaborations being carried out between architects,
psychologists, therapists and other professionals in order to explore the intersec-

tion of multiple human needs with landscapes, neighbourhoods or interior spaces to
increase positive emotions and well-being. However, these developments were not
being observed in the field of product design (Margolin and Margolin 2002).
Niedderer (2013), who was focusing on design for behavioural change in the
social context, also demonstrates concerns with the education of future designers.
This researcher acknowledges the social model of design practice, which had been
proposed by Margolin and Margolin in 2002, and highlights the slow progress of edu-
cational issues and designers’ overall preparation for what is required from them pro-
fessionally and socially. The impetus given by social innovation, essentially in design
contexts for sustainability, is highly recognised. Simultaneously, Niedderer (2013)
stresses the insufficient discussion about ethical implications of design projects for
social and/or individual behavioural change, despite their relevance. She thus argues
that, within the academic community, there is a lack of interest in researching the
social potential of design for behavioural change (Niedderer 2013).
In 2010, Norman stresses that, despite the fact that designers are increasingly asked
to deal with behavioural and experience-based issues, schools have not been train-
ing future professionals for complex subjects such as human and social behaviour,
behavioural sciences, technology, and business. Norman actually states: ‘There is
little or no training in science, scientific method and experimental design’ (2010).
In 2011, the same author presents strong criticisms about the traditional approach to
design education as it remains authoritarian and closed. Davies (2008) had already
reinforced this idea by considering that the priority had been given to the designer
who defines ‘meaning, value, and good form’, and to a design education where
‘individual performance and results’ control’ is (wrongly) valued (Davis 2008, p. 5).
It is urgent to recognise that social design practices are based on the user expe-
rience. Therefore, design education is seen as based on integrated and collabora-
tive knowledge, which also come from other areas. Research carried out by Sharon
Poggenpohl demonstrate the relevance in using methods of interdisciplinary collab-
orations within the academic environment, and between the academic and business
contexts (Poggenpohl 2009). This perspective thus blurs the boundaries that, from
the 1990s, seem to differentiate practices, such as process and project, testing and
project, workshop and project. The Dutch Masters’ project Werkplaats Typografie,
founded in 1998, is one of many examples.
Recently, IDEO has been applying design thinking in schools. This promotes
experimental education that encourages and enhances the natural tendency of chil-
dren to create and experiment things (Brown and Katz 2009). The ‘d-School’ project
at Stanford University, within the Hasso Plattner Design Institute or with a pub-
lic school, is one example. Brown and Katz (2009) further suggest that the design
thinking methodology could help reinventing education in order to ‘unleash the vast
reservoir of human creative potential’ (p. 222).
All that has been stated, mainly regarding the changes of design objectives in
the new knowledge society, demand us to pose a new set of questions related to
the context of education and design. In recent years, there have been requests for
an urgent re-evaluation of current standards within design education. These have
been presented at conferences and publications. We may identify, for example, the
e-design Conference Visions for teaching in Europe, held in Lisbon in 2009; the 3rd
Latin-Design Progress Forum Innovation in Design Education, held Italy in 2011; the
International Symposium for Design Education Researchers, Cumulus Association
(1st edition in France in 2011, 2nd edition in Norway in 2013); and the VII Ibero-
American Conference of University Teaching—Innovation and Quality in Teaching,
held in Porto in 2012.
5 Conclusions
The designer’s activity and attention have, for a long time, been focused on the
object (product-centred) as an end in itself or on the person as a mere user (user-
centred). The integration of the design project within a system of relationships has not
been considered, and therefore many questions were ignored throughout the design
process. Nowadays, the designer cannot ignore that s/he is working for and within
complex systems that involve unfamiliar values and identities. Additionally, quite
frequently the design project will integrate and coexist with several components of
this complex system.
Therefore, we cannot continue to ignore concerns related to the education and
training of future design professionals as they need to master new competences and
skills. They, for instance, will need to solve technology, innovation, competence,
readiness, and generality tensions, also bringing together different design specialisms
(Keinonen 2009). Furthermore, they need to be aware of distinctions within ‘the
increasingly complex domain of contemporary design practice’: ‘multidisciplinary
design’, crossdisciplinary design’, ‘interdisciplinary design’, and ‘transdisciplinary
design’ (Dykes et al. 2009).
It is thus central that the training and overall HE experience of future designers
combine the understanding of the need of seeing connections and inter-relations,
and manage a decentralised role within their own responsibilities. Design education
that is based on open and collaborative methodologies, allow the creation of flexible
structures, while also being a powerful tool that generates involvement, meanings,
and well-being. Therefore, the creation of learning experiences through innovative
solutions is needed and should be continuously (re)created. Rather than putting edu-
cation at the service of design, design should be put to the service of education. We
think that this is a challenge for today’s (and future) designers and researchers.
In practice, we need to reflect, as a community, on the implications—of current
and future, better improved HE models—for students’ development (and engage-
ment throughout the degree), curriculum development (actual content and nature of
knowledge, and overall pedagogical approaches and decisions), and trained, reflec-
tive HE teachers (through continuous professional development opportunities and
pedagogical experiences). In fact, the role of HE teachers is undeniably relevant, as
stated by several experts:
– ‘Teachers need to reflect on the art of teaching and learning as there are no one
formula, particularly in a creative, future-oriented discipline’ (Poggenpohl 2012,
p. 14);
– ‘(…) we need to develop and teach appropriate conceptual and practical tools,
and educate students in those tools so that human needs and wishes—and even
emotional, cultural, cognitive or other flaws—could be addressed’ (Frascara and
Noel 2012, p. 40);
– ‘Indeed, educators need to develop pedagogies that meet students where they are,
and provide the right conditions for scaffolding their knowledge and helping them
to reflect on what they learn (or do not learn)’ (Frascara and Noel 2012, p. 50).
In addition with the previous ideas, we conclude this chapter with a question
towards the future. The designer Sandy Speicher (2011) mentions that everything
can be designed, even the learning experiences. So, how can collaborative research
between design and diverse scientific areas (such as anthropology, sociology or
behavioural sciences) contribute to the development of truly engaging and mean-
ingful teaching and learning experiences?
References
Blauvelt A (1999) First things first manifesto 2000. Eye Mag (33). http://www.eyemagazine.com/
feature/article/first-things-first-manifesto-2000. Cited 10 Nov 2010
Bourriaud N (2002) Relational aesthetics. Les Presses du Réel, Dijon
Brown T, Katz B (2009) Change by design: how design thinking transforms organizations and
inspires innovation. Harper Collins, New York
Buxton B (2007) Sketching user experiences: getting the design right and the right design. Morgan
Kaufmann, San Francisco
Cross N (2001) Designerly ways of knowing: design discipline versus design science. Des Issues
17(3):49–55. http://doi.org/10.1162/074793601750357196
Davis M (2008) Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore… In: AIGA Boston Pre-
sentation. http://www.aiga.org/resources/content/4/8/5/7/documents/davis_keynote_paper_and_
images.pdf. Cited 10 Dec 2011
Dias S (2018) Reflexão sobre o papel do designer contemporâneo – o desajuste entre a teoria e a
prática no Ensino do Design. Convergências - Revista de Investigação e Ensino das Artes XI(21).
http://convergencias.ipcb.pt
Dias S (2017) O Momento Presente e os Novos Contornos Culturais – reflexões para a área do
design. Convergências - Revista de Investigação e Ensino das Artes X(20). http://convergencias.
ipcb.pt
Dias S, Moura M (2017) Aspetos do mundo contemporâneo e a tendência relacional no design:
uma síntese. In: UD17 Noisewise – Design Research in face of current challenges to knowledge.
Sixth Annual Forum on Doctoral Design Research proceedings. Universidade do Porto, Portugal
Dias S (2015) Design Como Processo: Uma reflexão sobre a dimensão lúdica, participativa e
relacional (Tese de Doutoramento). Faculdade de Belas Artes, Porto, Portugal
Dunne A (2008) Interpretation, collaboration and critique: interview with Anthony Dunne by Raoul
Rickenberg. J Des Manag 3(1):22–28. http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/bydandr/465/0.
Dykes TH, Rodgers PA, Smyth M (2009) Towards a new disciplinary framework for contemporary
creative design practice. CoDesign 5(2):99–116
Findeli A (2001) Rethinking design education for the 21st century: theoretical, methodological, and
ethical discussion. Des Issues 17(1):5–17
Frascara J, Noel G (2012) What’s missing in design education today? Visible Lang 46(1–2):36–53
Frascara J (2006) Designing effective communications: creating contexts for clarity and meaning.
Allworth, New York
Frascara J (2000) Diseño grafico para la gente: Comunicaciones de masa y cambio social, 2ª edn.
Ediciones Infinito, Buenos Aires
Freire K (2009) Reflexões sobre o conceito de design de experiência. Strateg Des Res J 2(1):37–44
Keinonen T (2009) Immediate and remote design of complex environments. Des Issues 25(2):62–74
Lawson B (2005) How designers think: the design process demystified, 4ª ed. Elsevier
Margolin V, Margolin S (2002) A social model of design. Issues Pract Res 18(4):24–30
Margolin V (ed) (1989) Design discourse. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Moholy-Nagy L (1969) Vision in motion. Paul Theobald and Company, Chicago
Niedderer K (2013) Mindful design as a driver for social behaviour change. In: Consilience and
Innovation in Design. Proceedings of the 5th International IASDR Conference, Tokyo, Japan.
http://niedderer.org/po.html. Cited June 2014
Norman D (2011) Design education: brilliance without substance. Core77, Design Maga-
zine & Resource. http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/design_education_brilliance_without_
substance_2036.asp. Cited Jan 2011
Norman D (2010) Why design education must change. Core77, Design Magazine & Resource.
http://core77.com/blog/columns/why_design_education_must_change_17993.asp. Cited 14 Jan
2011
Papanek V (1971) Design for the real world: human ecology and social change. Pantheon Books,
New York
Poggenpohl S (2012) Envisioning a future design education: an introduction. Visible Lang
46(1–2):8–19
Poggenpohl S (2009) Time for change: building a design discipline. In: Poggenpohl S, Sato K (eds)
Design integration, research and collaboration. Intellect Ltd., The University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, pp 3–34
Schalk M (2011) Relational aesthetics and institutional change. Royal Institute of Technology of
Stockholm (KTH School of Architecture). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVggSyV8t8o.
Cited 12 Jun 2013
Speicher S (2011) Everything is designed, even learning experiences. https://beplayfuldesign.
tumblr.com/tagged/IDEO. Cited 26 Jan 2018
Learning to Learn: Lessons from 25
Years Managing a Design Company
Abbreviated in 3 Ideas by the Secretary
General of the United Nations
Gonçalo Falcão
Abstract This chapter compiles some key thoughts from my 25-year experience in
leading a graphic design company. The chapter was developed with the intention of
building a reflective writing process, and specifically to consider how my education
and training background shaped my practice, and how my professional experience
can be used in a transformative way, back again, in education. I summarize the key
lessons I gathered, and articulate them with some relevant points from the speech of
António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, at the award ceremony of
his Honoris Causa degree at the University of Lisbon. Guterres’s reflection about the
role of his own college education helped transform small design issues into a broader
picture about the superiority of academic studies.
Keywords Professional design practice · Reflective writing · Design education ·

Design ethnography
1 Introduction
Having an experience is not enough to learn. We experience many more things

than those we understand; however, it is experience—more than understanding—
that influences behaviour (McLuhan [1964] 1994). As such, this chapter tries to
understand this or, at least, provide some insightful thoughts about experiences:
Without reflecting upon this experience, it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential
lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or
concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations that allow new situations to be tackled
effectively. (Gibbs etal [1988] 1994).
Accordingly, in order to develop this text I will use the Reflective Writing lessons
(Watton et al. 2001; Moon 2006). Reflective Writing provides an opportunity for
people to gain further insights from their own work through a deep reflection on
G. Falcão (B)
L Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitectura, CIAUD, Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_3
28 G. Falcão
their experiences, and through further consideration of other perspectives from people
and theory. Through reflection, we can deepen our learning from work. Using this
method I could better understand how my background training and education molded
my practice, and how my professional experience can be used in a transformative
way, back again, in education. That is, how to build “a form of mental processing
– like a form of thinking – that we may use to fulfil a purpose or to achieve some
anticipated outcome (…) [that is] applied to relatively complicated, ill-structured
ideas for which there is not an obvious solution” (Moon 2006, p. 37).
Having an experience is not enough to learn. We experience many more things
than those we understand; however, it is experience—more than understanding—that
influences behavior (McLuhan [1964] 1994). As such, this chapter tries to under-
stand this or, at least, provide some insightful thoughts about experiences: without
reflecting upon an experience, it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential
lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that general-
izations or concepts can be generated. It is generalizations that allow new situations
to be tackled effectively (Gibbs et al [1988] 1994).
I was an entrepreneur for 25 years. In December 1992 I’ve founded my own
company with two other colleagues from my University. It closed in December 2017
because we couldn’t work together anymore.
It is a cliché to say that most successful magnates never went to university or
are dropouts— the most used examples of this are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark
Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega, and Richard Branson. However, it is also true that
some other very successful businesspersons did finish university studies: Elon Musk,
Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bernard Arnault, or Carlos Slim Helu. Universities are
neither a curse to entrepreneurs, nor a road to become a billionaire. In my case,
university—higher education—gave me a lot, so the main reason I am writing this
chapter using personal experience is to reflect about some of the things given to me
as a student, and to try to give them back to new students. Before arriving in what
is the “superiority” of university studies, I will address other issues. Recognizing
that this personal experience might not be of great value per se, I hope to widen
it, going beyond descriptive writing, and with the help of UN Secretary General
António Guterres’s Honoris Causa speech, provide some key lessons.
2 The Capacity to Adapt to Change
Back then I didn’t know, but my University introduce me to my (future) partners.

Before exploring this subject, it is good to stress that university also taught me that
being a close friend or even a girlfriend/boyfriend does not mean you can work
together. Working in groups, a university design process typically teaches us that
sometimes affinities in life do not succeed in work (and the other way around). Build-
ing an enterprise together demands shared values: for example, honesty, integrity,
trust, and commitment—believing in achievable goals, building on other people’s
ideas.
Learning to Learn: Lessons from 25 Years Managing … 29
Several people enjoy having a job. Several people prefer to have someone telling
them what to do. Therefore, finding people that can work together and that are
mentally open to risk a non-tutored path is challenging. Nevertheless, it can be done
in a classroom environment, partly intuitively, partly by testing. Coming to this
point, I tried to look around for other companies that started around the same time as
mine, from my generation. Most of them are from a single designer, even today. The
companies that were already in place when I started have the name of a founding
designer. This was probably because design up until the eighties was very authorial,
and when we were studying, we believed in a more professional, company-driven
approach. Having my name on the door did not make sense to me, on the one hand,
because it seemed like an old practice; on the other hand, having a commercial name
seemed like the right thing to do, challenging the market practice. At the time, I felt
like I had nothing to lose, except my time, so taking risks was not perceived as a big
burden.
It is obvious from the introduction that, according to my experience, universities
are a good place to meet potential partners. In trying to evaluate this assumption,
I find that some of my students end up working with ex-colleagues (now called
“schmoozing” in company’s lingo). Strangely enough, I could not find scholarly
studies in the design field about the way school teammates help each other along
their professional lives. In “The Guardian”, Professor Zahir Irani, Dean of the School
of Professional Development at Brunel University, stated: “Students are buying the
whole learning experience, and that includes the opportunity to engage with others
through their university or student status” (Pozniak 2014, para. 4). This is obvious in
very expensive universities and post-graduate management courses: students build
a network of classmates who have parents that can afford high priced tuition. But
what about simple design students? In my year, other classmates formed two other
companies; however, they went bankrupt shortly after. In my experience as a teacher
this kind of grouping of schoolmates does not happen very often in present days,
although, it is my impression that they tend to pull friends onboard as soon as a work
opportunity arises.
Companies are made of people; startups are people (although the term sounds
engine-like mechanics). Companies are generally initiated by few people, so they all
have to be on the same page, focused and compatible. However, being a good partner
at work is not enough. A company needs to be pulled up, so it is not enough to be
compatible in doing design work because there are many other types of work that
need to be done in order to get to design work. To be able to collaborate in business,
they have to share common beliefs and a kind of life purpose.
3 Develop New Forms of Intervention in Society
Inside a company, several practices are implemented by trial and error with real
jobs (hopefully with many trials and few errors). When we began designing, we
realized that talking with clients was one of the most important parts, if not the most
30 G. Falcão
important part, of the job. Thinking back, I have to admit that it is almost impossible
to teach this (talking with clients or with potential clients), and in design it surely
is one of the secrets of a successful business. However, it is something that people
can develop with some major guidelines. Commercial and business dialoguing is
surely something that can be taught and learned. However, there is a great part of it
that cannot: namely, a person and their background. From simple things—the way
a person speaks, their vocabulary, or keeping a smiley feeling–to more complex
ones—body language, being very careful with what these things reveal and give to
the other party, or making the other party feel like they are dealing with an expert.
Many times, myself and my partners, and even competitors, spoke about how we
would love to attend each other’s meetings as a fly, or we say enviously that designer
x or z is probably amazing in meetings. Whenever we see a senseless work, one of the
first thoughts after commenting its senselessness is that we would love to have been
in the meeting where that work was presented. I am inclined to think, accordingly,
that a lot of value goes in this subject: the meetings. Not necessarily focusing on the
client, but on the meeting itself, which is seen as a kind of chess match, a game that
we want to win.
When we started a new company, we came up with a way to optimize these
skills: we would always go in pairs. One of us would be the main participant in
the meeting, whereas the other would be much less concerned with the issue itself
and more attentive and focused on observing and taking mental notes about the
meeting, with little intervention. When the meeting would end, we would discuss
errors (from small to big ones) while sitting in the car or in a nearby cafe (this has
to be done quickly and ideally straight after the meeting, when everything is still
fresh in one’s mind). A common mistake I did was talking too much, and the amount
of talking is very important, as is the amount of opinions about others, or about
issues surrounding the job. I could not find comparing examples of this practice,
but my professional experience tells me that most of my competitors have exactly
the same concern. It is very hard for me to be insightful about this issue apart from
my own experience; however, I am convinced that discussing the projects roughly,
raising questions, making students feel the need to focus when they talk to the teacher
is important for the future. This task is increasingly more difficult. Students arrive
with a huge self-esteem, because of a childhood filled with positive reinforcement.
After childhood, the period when everything they do is amazing, they are given
another tool—social networks—and friends keep the task of reinforcing that they
are amazing, and beautiful, and loved. Consequently, when we make harsh criticism,
we are probably the first ones to have ever said that their creation is not good. Finding
the right balance is hard but it is surely necessary, and so is to do it with the utmost
honesty and transparency. One of my students this year told me that after a Friday
meeting with me she took the bus, travelled 150 km to go to her parents’ house for
the weekend to have some love, because she was in shock with my criticism. I just
told her that her illustrations were still a bit childlike.
I am totally convinced that the observation and critique made by my partner helped
me a lot to be a better designer and to perform better in meetings. Having critical
inputs from clients is surely much better than the silence of “you’re gone.”
4 Are We Going Together?
Every company has internal discussion of goals. It is inevitable when there is more
than one partner to discuss what to do next, where to go, where to cut, and where to
invest. Springing from the knowledge developed inside the company, we drew some
questions that we thought we should ask when someone requested us to design a
project (this is more evident in branding projects, and extremely useful when in a
startup). We ended up with a questionnaire for clients, to use in branding jobs or
to develop new businesses. This questionnaire was firstly informal, conversational,
and then became, sometimes, physical, printed. While talking to a competitor from
another company, I realized they had the same idea (of the questionnaire) and did it in
a much more developed and consistent way than us (probably with different questions
we never shared). They really felt it was a fundamental tool. This competitor even told
me that one of her clients ended their collaboration because of the questionnaire: after
the partners took it home and gave it serious consideration, they realized they had very
different aims and decided not to go ahead with her company. Olins (2008) talked
about an “intensive interview program” in Stage One of a brand development, also
stating that it should not aim to be statistically relevant but should be representative.
The author referred mainly to interviews on branding programs in big companies, so
the method, the aim, and the purpose are different from what I am suggesting, and
he recognized that people who are interviewed struggle often with abstract issues,
such as vision or core idea. In sum, designing a questionnaire that leads people to
envision a future without asking them directly is a difficult task, but one that should
be considered and developed with time. Questions like: if your company was a car,
which car would it be (brand/model/cost)?; to whom would you feel it would be less
painful to sell your company, if in 5 years it grows to be an interesting business?;
who would you like to present your project to that would make you feel proud of
your idea/achievements?; which Hollywood actor do you feel could represent and
advertise your company now, and which would you like to be the face of the company
in 5 years?; is your company male or female and why?; etc. Catharine Slade-Brooking
(2016) also mentioned interviews and questionnaires in brand developing, but in a
much more market-driven analysis, with university research terminology.
This led me to think that discussing goals and long-term ideas is always a good
thing, not only for the company, but also to know how to ask others about it. Partners
lives tend to change a lot since first starting a company, and they live together 40
hours per week, every day (sometimes more that the hours you live with your lover).
One might discover after a while that the business is not his main goal, whereas the
other—not married at all—wants to devote all his time and energy to the company.
Alternatively, perhaps one might consider money as his main goal, while the other
can be more open to losing money for a pleasurable job. One will have family
pressures to perform better financially, while the other will not. One might develop
personal problems, whereas the other might not. Consequently, aligning goals is
always necessary and a good way to keep the decision team together. It is good not
32 G. Falcão
only for the entrepreneurial adventure but also to know—by experience—what to

ask and how to ask others.
5 Leather Boys
In my company, clients tended to have nicknames. One could be very stiff and con-
ventional in dressing but to us he was “the leather boy.” Nicknaming came by accident
but become a frequent practice. This was because we like to imagine a client’s life,
personal tastes, his private life after he abandoned the suit and tie. In a survey to
professionals with long professional careers (Falcão 2015) only 7% answered yes
and 51% answered “sometimes” when asked whether they had the same habit of
nicknaming. Having this in mind, we cannot say that tagging clients is common
in design studios, but we can argue that is not a strange practice since 58% of the
professionals in the study recognized that, at least “sometimes,” they would use it. It
was much later in my life that I was aware of a research method called “personas,”
in which researchers use representative human profiles based on archetypal descrip-
tions. Described by Courage and Baxter (2004), the “personas” research method
has some similarities with the nicknaming process, but works in another direction.
While in the “personas” method the purpose is to find fictional characters that repre-
sent typical users, the “nicknaming method”—never described, never studied—has
the opposite purpose. It aims to go deep into a client’s life, trying to imagine their
more hidden and darker facet. This helps us to frame visual references, aware that
this framing is completely based on a totally fictional “persona.” It was not a formal
design method—it is absolutely intuitive—but it had some impact on the work we
did. The “second lives” of our clients were developed along the business meetings
and were very detailed, from sexual preferences to the CD’s they had in their car.
Sometimes we would even get it totally right, as we would discover later. The “nick-
name method”™ helped us to design better while imagining the client’s whole life
and not only their business persona.1
As with business partnering, design deals a lot with people. A design team is people
and a client are people. And if this is true in every commercial area is important to
acknowledge that in design this is of extreme importance. Designers work with data,
but they work a lot with personal tastes, expectations and culture. So these skills are
important and working with students with anthropological methods, interviews, and
ways to involve real people in projects is important in school.2
1 inthe same inquiry of the nickname, I’ve asked a second related question: “It is common to
elaborate a first social portrait of the client from the way he/she dresses/speaks/car/workspace,
in an attempt to find a universe of visual references for the work to be developed (which is later
confirmed or changed with continuity). of the relationship)?” 58.6% of the designers answered yes.
2 One of my colleagues in university also from a professional background used to design for IKEA.
He would present is design proposals finished, with names and packaging. I asked him how did he
coup so well with the IKEA naming for their products. He answered: I would use the name of the
wife of the commercial director every time I can.
6 Out of the Door. Line on the Left. One Cross Each. Next.
Crucifixion?
Today, design students live in a fast word where much information available from
many different media. From cell phones apps to internet videos and tv series, design-
ers have too many images in their minds. We can say it is a wonderful time to be
a design student, with the huge array of information available, which is true, but
it is also true that this overpopulation is sometimes damaging. I can say that with
such an amount of information around (not necessarily images) a designer should
never be blocked. “Design as an activity, isn’t fueled by personal inspiration, but by
knowledge of the world. If we run out of knowledge, we can always go out and find
some more. A real designer can’t be blocked, just badly informed” (Downs 2011,
p. 73).
In Europe (except probably in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), a lot of design
students mix their mother tongues with a proficiency in English that makes them able
to learn, explore, and use vast amounts of information in online media and services.
This availability is excellent and empowers students. However, it also makes them
more susceptible to copy and adapt similar solutions in similar contexts, and of seeing
design as a remixing job. An excess, not only of images, but also of words. Buzzwords
constantly repeated in popular culture—young, dynamic, proactive, seduction, etc.—
make designers use them as if they were a kind of design culture. Thinking about a
design solution from scratch requires collecting information and benchmarking, yet
it also requires thinking. Designers (and consultants, and managers, and so on) think
with drawings and with words. Drawing has a huge tradition in design and there
is a lot of critical writing about this topic (Downs 2011). Drawing seems like the
“natural” thing to do. Thinking with words is the other side of the designer’s work
and words do not seem to be the main issue in design project. Getting words back
on board might seem like a caustic retaliation.
When I entered university, the institution had a vast tradition in fine arts and had
recently started the design studies. It was in a transition period with design as a
new study, about 10 years-old. Many curricula were based on fine-arts course units.
Design was seen as part of the fine arts and would differ in just a few classes. This
transitional situation (half fine arts, half design) put me in contact with semiology
and that was something that helped me immensely in my design practice.
7 Learning to Learn
“Structuralism, unlike the other approaches discussed here, is (…) quite indifferent
to the cultural value of its object: anything from War and Peace to The War Cry will
do” (Storey 2018, p. 116). Structuralism does not teach me to value information,
but it did catch my attention as a way to understand the interplay of words and
to understand how these can be useful in designing communication. This idea is
34 G. Falcão
important to explain why structuralism and its expansion in post-structuralism was

so important to me and, I believe, to designers. I never realized this until I started
teaching and discovered that students have a lot of trouble using words to convey
the right message. It is probably the most important step in a designer’s education
to realize that the task of organizing things visually is just too easy. If they want to
earn money, they have to be able to design communication and, after that, put it into
images. The “craft” is only a small part of the story.
For the most part, it’s a hard-working service field that sees itself more occupied with
translating speech into visual language than speaking. (…) Many of its corporate-client
practitioners are instructed to provide order and to clarity, to give their clients’ companies
the look, sheen, and promise of a clean new world. It’s a fairly neurotic expectation, since
designers can’t really clean — they just cover, wrap, accent, or put into a clean envelope
some messy realities. (Lavin 2001, p. 2).
Swiss linguist Ferdinand Saussure theorized about the concept of Structuralism,

which was later developed further by other philosophers in different fields—Louis
Althusser in Marxist theory, Roland Barthes in literary and cultural studies, Michel
Foucault in philosophy and history, Jacques Lacan in psychanalysis, Claude Lévi-
Strauss in anthropology, among others. Structuralists divide words in two parts, the
signifier and the signified. The signifier is the word “cat”, for example, and the “sig-
nified” is the cat, the four-legged feline animal. According to the structuralist model
the relationship between these two units is “arbitrary”; it argues that the connection
between words and reality is built by language, and that language organizes and con-
structs our sense of the world. Each language, therefore, makes different “mappings
of the real” because it uses words in different ways (Lavin 2001). The classic example
that helps explain this idea is the word “snow.” In Europe, there are few root words
for “snow”: the phenomenon of solidification of water temperature is described with
the word “snow” and a few others. In Eskimo languages (Yupik and Inuit), there
are a large number of words for the same water phenomenon (more than 40).This
means that the signified “snow”—natural element, iced water—is, for an Eskimo, a
much more complex and detailed element than for a English or Portuguese, where
most of the people have to travel north in winter if they want to see snow (https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow).
Post-structuralism noted that the relationships between words and their signified
is not a single, but a multiple one. The word “cat” for example, is used to refer
to a feline; but it is also used between jazz musicians, for example, to designate a
good player. As such, a jazz cat has nothing to do with the feline animal cat. In
Portuguese, “gato” (cat) can signify also a pretty and desirable young man. “Post-
structuralists rejected the idea of an underlying structure upon which meaning can
rest safe and guaranteed. Meaning is always a process” (Storey 2018, p. 131). From
1977 on, Barthes and Foucault, and others would follow the work of Jacques Derrida
(1973) in a further development of the Structuralist idea into post-structuralism,
with other contributions by François Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard’s
work is, eventually, even more important for designers because he “effectively shows
through a semiological analysis that consumer objects constitute a system of signs
that differentiate the population. This system of signs cannot become intelligible if
each sign is related to each object, but only through the play of difference between
the signs” (Poster 1988, p. 3).
Learning these concepts was extremely important to me and I believe that it can
be important for future designers, too. This is why very recently I began using it in
design teaching. The reason why I believe this is essential for designers is that very
soon in our practice we realize the importance of this interplay of references, not only
in the written world but also in the image world. As an over-simplified illustration, we
can use an example that occurs every year with every design teacher. A teacher might
ask the student why he/she used the colour red; and the student will frequently reply
that he/she used the red because it signifies blood. And then the teacher answers back
that the same color could also mean sex or intensity, Coca-Cola or Nestlé, Canada
or Japan, depending on the shape of the red and the colours that interplay with it.
The colour red has no fixed signification; it depends on the context in which it is
used, or the system of signs surrounding its usage. So do words, as they move around
in a web of signification that need to be carefully addressed in the planning phase.
Studying these ideas in theory would accelerate designers’ understanding of the way
their elements move in a world of significance, and help them become more critical
about it. In this way, disciplines such as esthetics or linguistics can have a lifetime
impact on designer’s education. Without university I would have never came across
those issues.
8 Camarillo Brillo
Most of the times while designing visual communication professionals try to summa-
rize it in a quintessential idea. Usually, this is a short sentence or a pyramid of ideas
expressed in sentences. This is because in many cases designers need to summarize
complex ideas about institutions, companies, products and services in ways people
can understand and memorize and, most importantly, perceive differences between
similar products, companies, institutions or services. A good example is Avis’s slo-
gan “We try harder.” This sentence succeeds in condensing a company’s attitude
and business model. Designers often need to put into words a line of thought, which
may become explicit or implicit in the final work—that helps him in the process of
designing. They need to find images, words, sounds, and feelings that signify that
main idea (nicknaming also helps…). If words are ubiquitous, design will be, most
likely, generic. Design students live in a world filled with generic words: dynamic,
young, fresh, vivid, futuristic, retro, deep, authentic, etc. Inside these words, there is
a world of signifiers that, most of the times, are not fully scrutinized. We may ask
students to move away from this generic world and pay a closer attention to other
words.
The communication design professional and the visual communication design
teacher might want to save some time to work with words. In her bestselling book
about business, Barbara Minto (2009) explains the importance for the business world
of having the ability to summarize ideas into words, and explains how to do it. The
36 G. Falcão
author stresses the role of words in getting the right information to be able to work
with at a managing and consulting level. The final chapter of the book is dedicated
to describing how to put it to words (“Putting it into Readable Words”, p. 159). As
the book is mostly destined for managers, the author reverses the problem: “Create
an image” (p. 161)/“Copy the image in words” (p. 163). Although Minto never talks
about post-structuralism (the book is a method for logic in thinking and writing),
she uses this philosophic conceptual framework to bring design students to think
about words at the initial stages of their design work might prove to be a valuable
experience. Once the problem has been defined and the ideation has started, there
should be a moment of getting it into words and building a quintessential idea to
work with. Exercises—both individual and collective—with words, to understand
the multiple meaning a word may get by putting it in different contexts, are a helpful
way for design practice to apply and understand, and for further development of
visual solutions. A closer understanding of post-structuralism, even if at entry level,
helps students go much deeper in their work with ideas expressed with words.
9 Three Ideas from the Secretary General of the UN
This paper aims to be a reflective writing about my work experience and how my
background education and training transformed my practice, and how practice can
be used in a transformative manner back again in education. Having said that, and to
be able to scale all the small issues discussed so far, I recall the speech of the United
Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, on February 19, 2018 (Lopes 2018) at
the award ceremony for the Honoris Causa degree awarded to him in the University
of Lisbon. Guterres presented a set of ideas for the future of university education
based on his own education and professional practice. Guterres left two messages
about the role of the university. The first is that the fundamental meaning of today’s
universities and educational systems is not focused on the kind of things that are
taught and learnt in those settings, but giving the students the possibility of learning
to learn. The idea of an open education teaching the love of learning focuses on an
investigative and questioning dimension, as a mission of the university. Referring to
the education of his grandchildren, Guterres said that their success would depend
essentially on the educational opportunities they are going to have and on the ability
they will have to be able to adapt to changes, to develop new forms of intervention in
society, and new professional activities. The reason for this, Guterres added, is that
the concrete content that they will discuss in school will be out of date when they
carry out their professional activities or other forms of intervention in society.
The Secretary-General recognized that higher education will not be able to prepare
anyone for a future profession, for the simple reason that we have no idea what
future professions will be. The technological evolution of the last years has reduced
the life span of a profession to two or three decades. The concept of a university
that can always be ahead of its time is difficult to realize, so is the expectation
become a specialist in a field. The university will not be able to restructure itself
completely—teachers, courses, etc.—every 10 or 20 years, and must provide the

capacity for students to be able to adapt to changes. Educational contents will be
completely out of date when students pursue their professional activities. At the
end of his speech, Guterres left another interesting idea: the Secretary-General deals
today with problems that were unimaginable at the time of his graduation, and works
with tools that were impossible to conceive when he graduated with the highest
grade, 30 years ago. Guterres ended his\intervention by saying that if he knew what
was going to happen to him in life, he would still have re enrolled as a student at
his school. His training, made without computers and with embryonic calculators,
resorting to electrotechnology that is now completely obsolete, continues to serve
him for the complex and enormous task at hand. This speech inspires confidence in
the generalist: all of us who are active in a professional activity somehow have this
feeling that we have our training, made in a world that could not even imagine the
existence of the Internet, to deal with the present. Thus, as a starting point, the idea of
a generalist education, more concerned with the exercise of reasoning, research, and
problem solving in different contexts, still makes sense. The issue starts and ends
with university and with the idea of higher education. A “superiority” that helps
individuals find the right people to work with, to trace goals, to want to go their own
way. A “superiority” that helps individuals become generous enough to be able to
work in groups and believe in others people’s ideas when they differ from their own.
It helps to like people so much that we want to nickname complete strangers and
imagine their lives; to like words so much that one feels they have the license to be
in the driving seat of building communication. To like society so much that one can
really enjoy an amateur bad designed pretensions restaurant menu. This is because
one loves to learn and likes to adapt. No university can teach every student how to
become a lawyer (probably the most creative profession), a writer, a choreographer,
a composer, or a politician. However, sometimes, to transform normal people into
designers is possible. The “capacity to adapt to change”, “learning to learn”, and
developing “new forms of intervention in society” are the three main ideas that
António Guterres pointed out in his speech, and that somehow I would like to use as
a background to all the short stories of my professional life.
References
Downs S (2011) The graphic communication handbook. Routledge, Oxfordshire

Falcão G (2015) Criação Livre e Criação Dedicada, a Encomenda e o projecto em design de
comunicação [portuguese]. Dissertation, University of Lisbon
Gibbs G et al ([1988] 1994) Developing students’ transferable skills. Oxford Centre for Staff
Development, Oxford
Lavin M (2001) Clean new world: culture, politics and graphic design. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Lopes M (2018) Guterres, honoris causa, avisa para a falta de regulação das novas tecnologias. Avail-
able via PÚBLICO. https://www.publico.pt/2018/02/19/politica/noticia/guterres-honoris-causa-
avisa-para-a-falta-de-regulacao-das-novas-tecnologias-1803626. Accessed 9 Aug 2018
38 G. Falcão
McLuhan M ([1964] 1994) Understanding media: the extensions of man. MIT Press, Cambridge,
MA
Minto B (2009) The pyramid principle: logic in writing and thinking. Prentice Hall, Essex
Moon JA (2006) Learning journals: a handbook for academics, students and professional develop-
ment. Routledge, London
Olins W (2008) Wally olins: the brand handbook. Thames & Hudson, London
Pipes A (2007) Drawing for designers. Laurence King, London
Poster M (1988) Introduction. In: Poster M (ed) Jean baudrillard: selected writings, 1st edn. Stanford
University Press, Stanford, pp 1–12
Pozniak H (2014) How to establish your professional network while at university. Avaiable via
The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/20/establish-your-network-at-
university. Accessed 9 Aug 2018
Slade-Brooking C (2016) Creating a brand identity: a guide for designers. Laurence King Publishing,
London
Storey J (2018) Cultural theory and popular culture, an introduction (8th ed). Routledge, Oxfordshire
Watton P, Collings J, Moon J (2001) Reflective writing, guidance notes for students. Exeter Uni-
versity
The (Trans) Disciplinary Alternative
for Design
Hermes de Andrade Júnior and Tamar Prouse de Andrade
Abstract People are more demanding about the opportunities offered by the global-
ized market. There is a wide variety of products and services that border exclusivity
and that, due to the advancement of technology, are now within the reach of many.
To meet this voracious audience, a new profile of professionals with differentiated
backgrounds is emerging. The purpose of this theoric chapter is to bring transdis-
ciplinarity as a scientific and cultural approach presented as an alternative and as a
methodological and epistemological suggestion for transdisciplinary practice in the
daily life of the designer. We emphasize that the solution of the itinerant chair, trans-
disciplinary coaching or the consolidation of a transdisciplinary design curriculum
for technical, ethically responsible and environmentally conscious high standards
are valid alternatives to the designer’s educational model. In order to incorporate the
transdisciplinary nexus into the daily routine of design, one needs attitude, research
and transdisciplinary actions in a continuous way.
Keywords Transdisciplinarity · Transdisciplinary coaching · Transdisciplinary

design · Design thinking · Itinerant chair of transdisciplinarity · Education ·
Philosophy of science
1 Introduction
Education in the twenty-first century receives increasingly globalized influences,

which are sometimes far removed from people’s original cultural matrix. Thus, it
undergoes a process of transition, in which it is necessary to search for new ways
H. de Andrade Júnior (B)

The University of Vigo (CREA SI2), Vigo, Spain
CEFH/Catholic University, Porto, Portugal
T. P. de Andrade
University of Vigo, Master’s Program in Leadership and Public Direction, Pontevedra, Spain

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_4
40 H. de Andrade Júnior and T. P. de Andrade
that allow diverse transformations between the relationship of these people with their
environment, without one part overlapping the other, but complementing it.
In order to correct this scenario, pedagogical practices are needed that integrate
the different areas of knowledge and effectively deal with cross-cutting themes for
their broader exercise. Practices and knowledges for solving complex and unknown
problems are required by new knowledge-depleted topics.
People are more demanding about the opportunities offered by the globalized
market. There is a wide variety of products and services that border exclusivity
and that, due to the advancement of technology, are now within the reach of many.
To meet this voracious audience, a new profile of professionals with differentiated
backgrounds is emerging.
Transdisciplinarity has been extended to design in areas such as Human Com-
puter Interaction (HCI), service design, digital mix media, smart cities and sys-
tems, among others whose transdisciplinary essence has led to the creation of spe-
cific masters courses as well as the growing study of their cognitive aspects, which
are of direct interest to several areas such as neuromarketing, healthcare systems,
experience design and cyber physical systems (CPS) (Van der Vegte and Vroom
2013; Vieira 2018).
In these transdisciplinary practices there are no boundaries between disciplines,
and this multiple look allows an interaction of knowledge considering the many faces
of understanding the world. The look is also a movement of reflection and coopera-
tion in order to arrive at the main objective, which is knowledge wisely constructed.
Now, the transdisciplinary theory presents itself as a proposal of transformative and
alternative education at this moment, capable of relating the different areas of knowl-
edge, assuming a position of respect for differences, solidarity and integration with
nature.
The purpose of this work is to present transdisciplinarity as a scientific and cultural
approach, presenting it as an alternative and as a methodological and epistemological
suggestion for the transdisciplinary practice in the daily life of the designer. It would
be like a new way of seeing and understanding nature, life and humanity in the
construction of knowledge necessary for the expansion of citizenship with solid,
lasting and sustained experience. It would also challenge the construction of its
creative process as it encompasses increasingly critical references to its own process,
once diversity is confronted.
We present here a theoretical reflection on two main points: (i) a new pedagogical
and methodological approach is needed that brings new disciplines in the curriculum
that will enable the designer with arguments, knowledge, skills and experiences to
design and construct objects and services for the consumer of the digital age; (ii)
if this refers to the need to insert transdisciplinarity in the teaching and practice
of design, there will be a transdisciplinary elaboration of contents, dynamics and
interventions that integrate art, the sacred and science in different contexts, where
the coaching alternative would act as facilitator of this creative process.
The (Trans) Disciplinary Alternative for Design 41
2 The (Trans) Disciplinary Thinking
The transdisciplinary proposal affirms that the reality of life is not fragmented, nor
divided into disciplines, and that a quality education requires a teaching that involves
the understanding of being, life, culture in their relationships and interrelationships
(Nicolescu 2000).
Still in this rationale, Morin (2007) would affirm that reforming a thought is a
paradoxical problem, since to reform the thought it is necessary, above all, to reform
the institutions that allow this new thinking.
In pedagogical practice, the proposal would be an opportunity that would improve
the process of teaching learning, making classes more attractive and efficient, encom-
passing all the disciplines of the school context, articulating them with the many faces
of understanding the world and its micro-reality. But for this, it would be necessary
that a renewed thought existed, and then the dilemma to be lived would be that of
educators’ reeducation: a milestone of a new paradigm directed to the reform of
thought.
Thus, it breaks with the traditional process in which education was restricted to
pre-determined and incontestable concepts, because in transdisciplinary thinking,
disciplines are no longer addressed in a fragmented way and isolated from others,
making it imperative to share ideas, thoughts and opinions.
The application of transdisciplinary thinking emphasizes that self-knowledge is
as important as knowing and discussing ideologies in view of social transformation;
emphasizes working with the body, knowing how to deal with emotions, reason
and spirit; develops ecological awareness; makes respect for personal, collective,
and racial differences; knows how to transit between the world of interiority and
socio-political-economic exteriority; considers realities where all dimensions are
interconnected (Santos Neto 2006).
2.1 Following the Design Thinking Process
Design thinking involves the process of generating ideas in a multidisciplinary group

as a focus on problem solving. Thus, the use of design goes beyond the appearance
of products, being applied in the design of solutions that encompass the strategic
aspects of the business (Bonini and Sbragia 2011).
We want to look at the multidisciplinary group set up for the problem solving cited
by Bonini and Sbragia and for the design thinking aspect to be used as a means to
develop innovations in organizations (Brown 2008). Design thinking is understood
by Brown as a method that permeates the activities of human-centered innovation in
three phases: inspiration, ideation and implementation.
But there is the social context involved in the process, with design thinking being a
co-creation process involving multidisciplinary teams. In this case, it is characterized
as an open, collaborative innovation process involving a series of participants and

knowledge, both internal and external.
The role of innovation in the process can be seen in Brown’s (2008) discourse,
when he says that design thinking should propose technologically viable solutions,
consistent with the business strategy and naturally open.
In this way, the tendency of the creative process is to bring the aforementioned
multidisciplinarity to transdisciplinarity, due to the growing complexity of innovation
problems. To deal with process innovation, the designer can not only have a single
process of acquisition (thinking).
In order to examine some aspects of the contribution of transdisciplinary think-
ing to the design course in the design and construction of consumer connected
objects of the digital age, we use the reconstruction of the knowledge produc-
tion path by a designer directed to a project to develop an application (app) for
mobile communication devices that reviews part of the literature that interests our
study (Ribeiro 2015).
Donald Norman, Marc Hassenzahl, Arrow Walter, Noam Tractinsky, Pieter
Desmet and Paul Hekkert were authors used to understand concepts such as user
experience, emotion design, aesthetics and in what ways the user relates to the prod-
uct. As for usability, Jacob Nielsen, Ben Shneiderman, Patrick Jordan and Bertini
et al. were the most important authors to understand this principle. Nielsen and the
10 heuristics of usability, Ben Shneiderman and its five factors that determine the
usability quality and Jordan (1998) with his description of the various usability test-
ing methods. Bertini et al. (2006) were among the few authors to attempt to propose
heuristics for the evaluation of mobile device interfaces (Cf. Ribeiro 2015).
Usability are the quality attributes that define the user’s ease in using the interface.
The word also refers to methods for improving ease of use during the design process
(Nielsen 2012). Usability should also enable the creation of transparent interfaces so
as not to hamper the process, allowing the user to control the environment without
becoming an obstacle during the interaction.
Krug (2006) uses a methodology to simplify the process, stating that interviewing
only three or four users representing the target audience. For example, it is possible
to identify in the first test the vast majority of significant usability issues, allowing,
on the same day, to test and question and pass them on to the development team to
correct. After the fix, it is possible to run a second and a third test with three users
and find out twice as many new problems that would not be identified with the triple
of respondents in the first and second tests.
Usability is normalized into three concepts: efficacy, efficiency and satisfaction,
where efficacy is related to goal analysis and with what accuracy can be achieved;
efficiency is the ratio of effectiveness to the amount of resources spent and satisfaction
is established by the comfort and acceptability of the product by the users. It can be
calculated by means of subjective and/or objective methods. (ISO 9241-11 1998).
Nielsen (1993) argues that usability is not a one-dimensional concept, but rather
a set of five attributes: learning ability, memorability, usability, error prevention, and
satisfaction. The system needs to be easy to learn so that the user can quickly begin to
interact. According to Nielsen, this is the most important attribute of usability since
it is related to the first experience any user has of a system. This factor is evaluated
based on the time that the user takes to become experienced in the execution of their
tasks.
2.2 Design Thinking Counterpoints
The concept of usability, so important for design conceptions, can also be considered
an empowerment, but not necessarily freedom of choice. The relationship of usability
and reference can define the authoritarian direction to consumer behavior, in the sense
pointed out by Fuchs (2018).
It can be seen that there is an effort to compose a whole custom heuristic (Nielsen
and Molich 1990) to the consumption profiles; whether they are pleasing, user satis-
faction or empowerment to direct a consumer to “choose” the most conformal mobile
device to be a functional companion. Excluding the real, the device is emotionally
endowed with a life of its own and it qualifies as a mascot of the user who chose it.
Shneiderman (1998) considers five quantifiable factors for the usability quality of
a system: (1) learning time, (2) performance speed; (3) user error rate; (4) retention
over time and (5) subjective satisfaction. Learning time deals with the time the
typical user takes to learn how to use the relevant functions to fulfill their task sets,
while the performance speed handles the time resources required to perform the
reference tasks. Users’ error rate is related to the number and type of errors they
commit in performing the reference tasks; the retention over time is the ability to
maintain knowledge continuously and subjective satisfaction deals (using interviews
or forms) aspects related to the user’s enjoyment in the use of the various aspects of
the interface.
As we have seen, the last quantifiable factor that is subjective satisfaction empha-
sizes adherence in a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) perspective that sets the
user’s choice on the object (and vice versa, if artificial intelligence allows it?). It
remains on a scale of satisfaction that should be the one with the highest possible
efficacy possible on a tripod of concepts that support usability (efficiency, effective-
ness and subjectivity). Thus, given the importance of human attributes being strongly
represented there, it is difficult not to project the digital revolution back to the stage
of humanity without the machine perceiving. It is the natural laws of the market that
impose the rules, without much resistance.
The user experience phenomenon has attracted attention and acceptance by the
HCI community (Barbosa and Silva 2010). This interest of HCI researchers seems
to be linked to the fact that the concept of usability only focuses on user cognition
and performance, while the concept of user experience goes beyond external factors
(Roto et al. 2011).
This concept is quite comprehensive and results from the interaction of several
factors, both intrinsically and extrinsically. At the intrinsic level is the result of a
complex interaction between cognitive, affective, motivational and behavioral fac-
tors. Given the possibility of using the system/product, the user develops expectations
about what the product can do and to what extent it allows it to reach its objectives
(efficiency), resulting in how the user is likely to shape his attitude towards the system
(Ribeiro 2015).
The experience of using the system allows the user to develop their perception
about the product and to register the essential aspects of the interaction in memory,
from the learning done at the moment of interaction. Interaction with the system
also leads the user to experience emotions (positive or negative) according to the
proposed goals (emotional satisfaction), providing a response to the needs of the
user, according to their expectations (effectiveness). At an extrinsic level, the user
experience is shaped by the social influences to which the user is subjected, as well
as by the socioeconomic and technological context in which the user is at a given
moment.
According to Hassenzahl’s user experience model, each user attributes some char-
acteristics to the products/services at the time of their use, the user experience being
the consequence of these attributes, which includes contexts or situations that the
product/service will be used (Fredheim 2011).
Such attributes can be divided into two main aspects which are pragmatic and
hedonic. The pragmatic attributes are related to the practical and functional use of
the product, hence the term manipulation. Normally, we relate these attributes to the
term usability. The consequence of the pragmatic qualities of a product is satisfaction.
Satisfaction arises if the user uses the product or service to achieve goals and if those
products or services functionally meet those goals. The hedonic qualities are related
to the aesthetic aspects. Hassenzahl subdivides these qualities into three categories:
identification, stimulation and evocation and it is based on our day-to-day life that
we are connected with varied products and services that convey to us the idea of who
we are, considering some more important than others. Thus, it is necessary for these
products to identify us, to stimulate us and to evoke memories and past experiences
(Hassenzahl and Tractinsky 2006; Fredheim 2011).
A third important aspect of the user experience is its emotional behavior (Minge
2008; Ribeiro 2015). In Hassenzahl’s model, the consequences of the pragmatic
and hedonic aspects are the pleasure, satisfaction and attraction of the user by the
product. But in Mahlke’s model it is emphasized the emotional behavior of the
user that arises from the perceptions of pragmatic qualities (instrumental qualities)
and hedonic (non-instrumental qualities) that are directly influenced by interaction
characteristics. These characteristics that the user attributes to the products are not
only influenced by their perception, but also by other factors such as the system’s own
characteristics and the context of the use (Mahlke and Lindgaard 2007; Hassenzahl
and Tractinsky 2006).
The user experience can change with the context in which it is inserted, even
if there is no change in the product (Roto et al. 2011). Using a product at home,
on a public transport, individual or in groups can generate different sensations and
perceptions of the product, as well as the momentary state of the user.
Motivation influences your perception and experience. Their perception of the

system’s properties also influences the user’s experience, because what is impor-
tant for the experience are the properties projected for the system (in the sense
of an aesthetic functionality) and the perception of the product’s own brand
(Roto et al. 2011).
However, the user experience can not be described by describing only its factors,
but obviously the factors involved in the process and its main characteristics can
be used to describe the situation in which the individual experiences something,
contributing to clarify the reasons behind experience.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the voracious urban consumer by technology
of communication and information! In increasing and unbounded sophistication, he
would seek a maximum action-response interface with the machine in order to satisfy
his emotional and spiritual needs.
Near the limit, transdisciplinarity would act as a bridge, by which the designer
would reach the deepest need of the client. In pedagogical terms, it would be open
to the designer student, through his teachers who raised the reform of thought and
a facilitating system at least interdisciplinary, integrated access to the arts, science
and the sacred. The answer would be pleasant to this faithful consumer.
Analyzing the course of the designer’s review in research, it is noticed that the
potential digital customer provides data of their perception and experience to the
researcher, but also of their sensations; of the instrumentality of the platform; of
their satisfaction with the interactivity of the technological resource; the aesthetics
of the apparatus and the software; of the speed at which results are achieved; the
emotion that belongs to it, and the pleasure of it all (in the most hedonic sense
possible), among other constructs that can be used by the Fuzzy theory, for example.
The main inspiration behind the introduction of the Fuzzy Theory is the need
to model real world phenomena that are inherently vague and ambiguous. Human
knowledge about complex problems can be successfully represented using the impre-
cise terms of natural language. Theories of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic provide for-
mal tools for graphical representation and efficient processing of such information
(Prokopowicz et al. 2017).
It is interesting that behind the attributes raised from the perspective of the user
there is always a direction to spirituality, where life and humanization of the whole
process is sought, in which our voracious client may be trying to fill an existential
void not material transposed to the material plane. At this point, the transdisciplinary
approach to the curriculum is applied, which allows the designer to dialogue with the
existential meaning of his potential client and to contribute to making the “essence”
of the client visible and perceptible to his study.
Could we think of interactive systems as a theater stage that allows the user to
experience the world in a digital revolution like virtual reality? Thus, the goal of the
developer as a designer would be to discover how to design interactive systems so that
users can enter this world and thus become part of the action imagining themselves
in the scenes portrayed. From this point of view, designing interactive systems is
particularly coming from the person’s own experience (Lauren 1991).
Lauren states that there is an individual experience that sustains the designer in
his work, but we want to emphasize that there is a paradoxical (dis) humanization in
the process of bringing exclusivity to the demanding client. The person’s experience
will also serve to enhance the automation of users’ remote lives.
The empowerment of the proposal to encourage the study of design from palettes
of preference for high-performance mobile devices is already a notable indication
that the digital society may be moving towards individualized robotization and for
this relativization of consumption.
If the process moves to the compulsory and not to the choice, authoritarian capi-
talism as pointed out by Fuchs (2018) is thus marked and authoritarianism as well.
The first one establishes itself in the sense that it brings the illusion of control on
the part of the user. The second is that communication systems (communication and
information technology networks) are directed and oriented so that people consume
and feel pleasantly possessed of the capacity to choose and to be possessors of the
object chosen for their own affirmation and externalization of wealth and power.
2.3 Transdisciplinary Coaching
In addition to the varied theories about the origin of coaching, the literature also
presents different concepts about what coaching actually represents. An aggravating
factor for the development of a consistent theoretical basis has been the practice of
coaching itself, which is much more expressive today than theories and research on
its scientificity (Reis and Nakata 2010).
The growing injection of ideas and techniques creates confusion about the precise
nature of coaching and what it intends to achieve, contributing to the difficulty of
defining it (Stober and Grant 2006; Cf. Oliveira-Silva et al. 2018). One definition
that most closely approximates our intention-study is that of Whitmore (1992, p. 8)
where “coaching is the unlocking of an individual’s potential in order to maximize
performance. It’s helping the other to learn rather than teach it.”
As a support of psychology, coaching has adopted therapeutic and personal devel-
opment elements. Schmitt Neto (D. Sc.) developed a transdisciplinary coaching
initiative at a Transplant Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil (http://htejz.spdmafiliadas.
org.br/). In its methodology, it built 6 modules of construction and transdisciplinary
experience of 4 h a month aimed at reducing labor tensions, for self-knowledge and
to emphasize team spirit.
Although its personal development aspect is evident, we see no obstacle to coach-
ing directly in the designer’s curriculum in a cross-curricular and formal academic
environment, to enhance professional and personal performance.
A recently published study (Andrade and Júnior 2018) focuses on the case of the
Atelier de Artes in Vila Verde, Braga District and in Portugal where citizens of the
village practiced artistic works of painting and drawing and analyzes the development
of people from practice of the arts.
From a course offered to the community it was possible to create “experiences”

in the so-called Atelier de Artes: a didactic space provided by the local parish board
that resulted in an exhibition of drawings, paintings and sculptures.
The experiences showed that cultural and age barriers influenced this practice.
There was a sensitive adaptation of work dynamics towards the creative process
and individual and collective development of the members, through the introduction
and treatment of tutoring through transdisciplinary coaching as a transition to self-
knowledge, which was directed to each individual journey, in their confrontations
and aspirations.
The dynamics of the Tamar Prouse Atelier of Arts, in Vila Verde Parish Council,
resulted in a project, the exhibition Art in Colors, in the Municipal Library Professor
Machado Vilela.
The project involved not only presenting artistic disciplines, but also addressing
the potential of the creative exercise and the need of new artists to deal with creativity
in a continuous process, as a field open to the imagination, in daring to try new ways.
In the context of culture, arts and society the cultural barriers were analyzed
in the direction of the blockade of the artistic production and the peculiarities of
the individuals, who were worked as specific searches, instigated and understood
throughout the process.
Also the motivations of the art production and the development of the members
are emphasized in the technical aspect as well as in the personal aspect. For feed-
back control, coaching techniques and moments of individualized conversations were
used.
It was sought to understand the transitions between the habit of reproduction of
image bank as a tool for the development of technical knowledge of drawing and
painting in oil and individual expression, as to the image choices that happen by
identity/interest and the process of self-knowledge.
The question of self-knowledge would be present in the choice of color, in the
identification of individual limits and through the necessary adjustments in this search
and also in the physiological factor, which marked the peculiar characteristics of each
age group and concomitant conviviality.
The discursive experiences of the Tamar Prouse Atelier of Arts and the community
of Vila Verde and Barbudo Town Council took place in weekly meetings of two (2)
hours and were published in the newspaper Semanário V, mentioned there as members
“from 8 to 80 years”, characterizing a journalistic call that pointed out the different
age groups represented and the diversity of the local community.
There are several significant results gathered in the atelier from this experience
of transdisciplinary coaching as a transition to self-knowledge. Transdisciplinary
coaching was a way of opening people’s eyes to other reality plans and throwing
a little light on our blind spots. Expand our mental models and dialogue with the
other’s eyes with an apprentice attitude. It is an opportunity to elevate our disposition
to knowledge and to forget that since school it is placed as a commodity, when in
fact it has always been inside us and only needs to be awakened, as by a Socratic
maieutic, to gain contours of creativity and of hope to deal with the conflicts and
problems that the game of life provides.
The coach had stimulated the generation of personal choices by problematizing

with the students artists on what it would be like to produce art with cultural limi-
tations in the sense of age, tradition and habits. With the gradual application of the
technique, the student artists’ searches became more sophisticated and personalized.
For example, the religious image became a setting where biblical personalities
were portrayed as day to day people. The image of a person’s face that was initially a
portrait of a politician became an image that portrayed a woman crying, reflecting the
emotional moment of the author of the work. The simple mangá design (a japanese
design) became a thematic production to compete in a teen-age contest.
In view of these characteristics presented by the students’ work, it was observed
that practical and collective experience with individualized support/coaching is really
effective for student development, both at the technical level and in the search for
aesthetic-individual emancipation.
After six months of experience, from project to maturity, the members of the stu-
dio were able to compose their projects with more freedom of expression. Thus, the
transdisciplinary coaching experience of the arts becomes valid for design when it
encourages self-knowledge to improve the creative process in the design and devel-
opment of projects.
3 Transdisciplinary Chair or Transdisciplinary Design?
Would it be appropriate to seek solutions that formalize transversality through an

itinerant chair, in which seasonal contributions from outstanding proponents of the
proposal to the students of design, or seek solutions to create a massive and direct
pedagogical approach characterized by a curriculum of transdisciplinary design?
3.1 The Transdisciplinary Chairs
Let’s look at an example of the intention of the chair. The Institute of Advanced
Transdisciplinary Studies of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil)
recently launched a call1 for researchers to transdisciplinary chairs.
The project aims to stimulate the presence, within the UFMG, of researchers
of international reference, characterized by the quality of their training and by the
advanced (cutting-edge) nature of their studies; to promote the interaction of these
researchers with UFMG groups, organized around common research programs; favor
1 TheInstitute of Advanced Transdisciplinary Studies (IEAT/UFMG) made public the inscriptions,

from December 1, 2017 to March 15, 2018, of the nominations for the Chairs Program administered
by IEAT and sponsored by the Research Development Foundation—FUNDEP. See https://www.
ufmg.br/ieat/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Chamada_Ca%CC%81tedra-FUNDEP_2018.pdf.
the advancement of transdisciplinary research in the University, allowing the artic-

ulation of different areas of knowledge; promote collaborative research at UFMG
with researchers and research groups from abroad; establish actions that generate
publications and international events, aiming at the internationalization of IEAT.
The emphasis of the transdisciplinary chairs of the edict is in three major areas of
knowledge: Humanities, Letters and Arts; Life Sciences (including Health) and Nat-
ural Sciences (including Technology). From what can be deduced from the edict, the
Design course is formally included in the proposal.
The IEAT initiative is based on the Global Transdisciplinarity Chart (Morin et al.
1994), with signatories of the importance of Edgar Morin. The I World Congress of
Transdisciplinarity (Arrábida, Portugal, 1994) had not yet contemplated the itinerant
chair, but had affirmed that transdisciplinarity is complementary to the disciplinary
approach: it brings from the confrontation of the disciplines new data that articulate
them among themselves; offers us a view of nature and reality and that it does not seek
to dominate the various other disciplines, but to open them to what passes through
them and surpasses them (Article 3).
It also stated that the point of support for transdisciplinarity lies in the semantic
and operative unification of meanings across and beyond disciplines. It presupposes
a rationality opened by a new look, about the relativity of the notions of definition
and objectivity. Excessive formalism, the rigidity of definitions and the absolutism
of objectivity involving the exclusion of the subject lead to impoverishment (Article
4) and that transdisciplinary thinking is resolutely open and strengthened insofar as
it goes beyond the realm of exact sciences through its dialogue and reconciliation
not only with the human sciences but also with art, literature, poetry and spiritual
experience (Article 5).
Alvarenga et al. (2005) argue that although it may seem precocious to consider
the movement engendered by a distinct group of thinkers as a new chapter in the
history of modern science, the present hypothesis is that this movement, as well
described Nicolescu (2006), in his presentation at the II World Congress of Trans-
disciplinarity (Vila Velha, Brazil, 2005),2 in the text entitled “Past, Present and Future
Transdisciplinarity”, allows us to state that the search for transdisciplinary thinking
already has its own history. Then, The II World Congress establishes the commit-
ment of an itinerant chair for dissemination and affirmation of the methodological
and epistemological proposal (Cf. recommendation 1).
The future perspectives for the advancement of this and similar transdisciplinary
thoughts that may emerge enriching this history are, apparently, broad, considering
that, regardless of the difference of theoretical perspectives, the search for articu-
lation of the scientific field with other branches of knowledge, such as philosophy,
the humanities, art, literature, will gain expression in a context where the new traits
2 The first author participated in the event and he was an institutional signatory of the document
drawn up at the end of the meeting, which marked the formalization of the transdisciplinary itin-
erant chair. See The original full document in Portuguese in http://www.ufrrj.br/leptrans/arquivos/
MENSAGEM_VILA_VELHA_VITORIA_2005.pdf.
that characterize knowledge are complexity, hybridity, non-linearity, reflexivity, het-

erogeneity and transdisciplinarity. However, such traits may be the challenges of
designers’ natural skills.
3.2 Transdisciplinary Design in Practice?
Transdisciplinarity was extended to design at the international workshop “The future

of transdisciplinary design”, organized by the University of Luxembourg in 2013.
Today, the option for transdisciplinary design is already consolidating among the
leading design schools.
It arises from the identification of the necessary integration of perspective evi-
denced by the need to overcome difficulties such as: ineffective collaboration; under-
standing of the different languages associated to the different basic formations and
cultures inherent in the project practice (engineering, architecture, graphic design,
product, interaction, services, experience); (in) transparency in communication and
explanation of specific vocabulary and terminology; barriers to inter, multi and trans-
disciplinary collaboration, in the uncertainty of each one’s role and contributions; to
awaken the perception of diverse perspectives of people with backgrounds and func-
tions in various design disciplines or beyond (marketing, sales, business strategies,
biology, neurosciences, among others); creation of new knowledge; understanding
of complexity, management and collaboration (Cf. Vieira 2018).
Transdisciplinary practice is worth it. Ramos (2014) had noted the benefits gained
throughout the process of methodological renewal in a visual arts course where there
was transdisciplinary inclusion in the curriculum. In their study, the importance and
the fundamentals of transdisciplinarity as an instrument of evolution of pedagogical
practices were analyzed through transdisciplinary projects carried out in secondary
school.
The three projects developed in ESMAVC, described by Ramos (2014), illustrate
progressively the application of the four pillars of theoretical foundation: project
pedagogy, transdisciplinarity, inclusion and action research. In the first project, the
pedagogy of the project was applied through a transdisciplinary approach between
the disciplines of Portuguese and drawing (two groups of arts). Inclusion was one
of the pillars of this project and had as its final product the production of a book
with 224 pages of illustrated texts, the edition of which was sponsored by a large
company (Portugal Telecom), which perpetuated the efforts of all stakeholders and
projected the image of the school in a solemn session of presentation and launch of
the book, which was attended by official entities (Ministry of Education, Autarchy
and Assembly of the Republic) (see Ramos 2014).
The transdisciplinarity of this first project allowed us to capture students’ interest,
develop a taste for writing and interpretation of meanings, and the pleasure of illus-
tration through a variety of languages and techniques. The information technologies
played a preponderant role in the construction of the texts and in the preparation of
the models.
With the second project, inclusion was once again a concern that guided the
intervention of all teachers. The impact of this project on the community was so
significant that it deserved a televised report by the channel SIC2.
The third project entitled “Drawings: transdisciplinary dynamics” resulted from
the concern of adding to the pedagogy of design and transdisciplinarity the notion of
a contemporary artistic manifestation, maintaining the action-research methodology.
There were contents taught simultaneously by teachers from different disciplinary
areas in the same classroom space that went beyond the classroom boundaries,
a fact that represented a true laboratory of didactic-pedagogical experimentation
(Ramos 2014).
The great applicabilities of the three projects for the area of design were: (a) explo-
ration of differentiated pedagogies, close to the individual and consequently more
efficient in learning; the need for content became better understood by students;
increased interest and enthusiasm in the tasks to be performed; self-determination
and collaborative spirit; the teacher valued himself as a knowledge manager as
an alternative to that of the transmitter and the school came alive and updated
(Cf. Ramos 2014).
It is essential to reflect on the validity of these types of practices and how they
have or did not bring quality to learning, as well as the difficulties experienced in
its implementation, so that the creation of spaces of transdisciplinarity worthy and
consistent can be based.
4 Conclusions
The creation and development of methodological solutions, techniques and new

technologies for improving human conditions, focused on crucial and latent issues
such as reducing environmental, economic and social impacts is urgent and can only
happen in transdisciplinary environments and teams (which will be the receptacles
of a culture of receptivity, openness and innovation) that can overcome and solve the
complex problems of the present and the future.
In addition, when applied in this way, the curricular proposal for the designer tends
to be broad, flexible and integrated transversally with micro-realities, experiences
and knowledge that are naturally linked to multiple dimensions, as Nicolascu (2000)
imagined at the origin and will enable professionals to better serve individual and
collective preferences; seeking to satisfy people with added ethical responsibility.
We present that the traveling chair, transdisciplinary coaching or the consoli-
dation of a transdisciplinary design curriculum for technical, ethically responsible
and environmentally conscious dimensions are valid alternatives to the educational
model.
The understanding of the transdisciplinarity of design represents a more complex
structure, but also necessary for the interested party to be able to embrace the field
of design. There is a clear feeling and the manifest that it is important to illuminate
the relations between the parties, for which it will be necessary to assume the study
of the dynamics of the transdisciplinary structure of design, as pointed out by Vieira

(2018).
Through the insertion of transdisciplinarity into the teaching and practice of
design, consequently there will be a transdisciplinary elaboration of contents, dynam-
ics and interventions that integrate art, sacred and science in different contexts, where
the coaching alternative would act as facilitator of this creative process.
There is already a considerable amount of experience that values transdisciplinary
thinking as applied to design, but recognition of the levels of reality in the metier is
no easy task.
Knowledge niches within the design curriculum can be clusters of power and
influence, not just content apposition. There are different realities that the particular
spaces of each discipline of design, schools, companies and cultures, allow to delimit.
Even subject to criticism and resistance in its pedagogical project, it is undeniable
that transdisciplinary space will ultimately cross all disciplines of design, in the
midst of the innovation society. This is a methodological advantage as it allows the
extension and application in other areas of human activity and integration by other
scientific disciplines, academic and practice of other domains and other references,
in a cumulative effect.
Although there are doubts about when and how this will be done, it is clear that
the opportunity to innovate in this process can not be missed, as there is evidence that
it is in the transdisciplinary space that the opportunities for new design applications,
emerging trends, invariant and where the products of design reach the masses. In
transdisciplinary space, factors such as the extension and consequent absorption
of new technologies, laws and regulations that call for new approaches in classic
disciplines of design, as well as the translation of specific characteristics of the
design in other states for the exchange, expansion and inclusion of transdisciplinary
design, are crucial aspects to develop. Changing methods, thinking patterns and the
ability to communicate throughout the design professions are identified as well as
represent competencies to be developed for the understanding and receptivity to other
and different perspectives of the design processes (Vieira 2018).
5 Recommendations
In order to incorporate the transdisciplinary nexus into the daily routine of design,
one needs attitude, research and transdisciplinary actions in a continuous way. The
transdisciplinary attitude must seek to understand the complexity of our universe,
the complexity of the relations between subjects, subjects with themselves and with
the objects that surround them, in order to recover the senses of the enigmatic rela-
tionship of the human being with reality (like that which can be conceived by human
consciousness) and the real (as absolute and always veiled reference). For this, it is
proposed the articulation of the knowledge of the sciences, of the arts, of philosophy,
of traditions and of experience.
Transdisciplinary research presupposes an epistemological plurality and requires

the integration of dialectical and dialogic processes that emerge from research, keep-
ing knowledge as an open system.
Transdisciplinary actions should be encouraged to articulate the formation of the
human being in his relationship with the world, with others, with himself, with being,
and also with formal and non-formal knowledge. Such actions should also focus on
the mediation of conflicts that emerge in the local and global context, aiming for peace
and collaboration between people and between cultures, but without disregarding the
contradictions and appreciation of their expression.
References
Alvarenga A, Sommerman A, Alvarez A (2005) International congresses on transdisciplinarity:

reflections on emergencies and convergences of ideas and ideals towards a new modern science.
Health Soc 14(3):9–29. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902005000300003
Andrade T, Júnior H (2018) Coaching in the Creative process of visual arts: the case of the Atelier
de Artes in Vila Verde. Retrieved from http://convergencias.ipcb.pt
Barbosa S, Silva B (2010) Human-computer interaction. Publisher Campus-Elsevier
Bertini E, Gabrielli S, Kimani S (2006) Appropriating and assessing heuristics for mobile com-
puting. In; Proceedings of the AVI’06—working conference on advanced visual interfaces, vol
2006, pp 119–126
Bonini LA, Sbragia R (2011) The design thinking model as an inducer of innovation in companies:
an empirical study. J Manage Proj 2(1)
Brown T (2008) Design thinking. Harvard Bus Rev 86(6):84–92
Fredheim H (2011) Why user experience can not be designed. Retrieved from https://www.
smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/why-user-experience-cannot-be-designed/
Fuchs C (2018) Authoritarian capitalism, authoritarian movements and authoritarian communica-
tion. Media Cult Soc 40(5):779–791
Hassenzahl M, Tractinsky N (2006) User experience—a research agenda. Behav Inf Technol 25:91–
97
ISO 9241-11 (1998) Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals
(VDTs)—Part 11: guidance on usability
Jordan P (1998) An introduction to usability. CRC Press, London
Krug S (2006) Do not make me think! a common sense approach to web usability, 2nd edn. New
Riders, Berkeley, CA
Laurel BK (1991) Computers as theaters. Addison-Wesley, Boston
Mahlke S, Lindgaard G (2007) Emotional experiences and quality perceptions of interactive prod-
ucts. In: Jacko J (ed) Human-computer interaction, Part I, HCII 2007, LNCS 4550. Springer,
Berlin, pp 164–173
Minge M (2008) Dynamics of user experience. Technische Universität Berlin, GRK I promised
Franklinstraße 28–29, Sekretariat FR 2-6 D-10587 Berlin. Retrieved from https://www.
researchgate.net/publication/228982807_Dynamics_of_User_Experience
Morin E (2007). he head well set (trans: Mahler P). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Buena
Visión
Morin E, Nicolescu B, Freitas LD (1994) Letter of transdisciplinarity. Retrieved from http://inters.
org/Freitas-Morin-Nicolescu-Transdisciplinarity
Nicolescu B et al (2000) Education and transdisciplinarity (trans: Vero J, Mello M, Sommerman
A). UNESCO, Brasilia
Nicolescu B (2006) Transdisciplinarity - past, present and future. Moving worldviews - reshaping
sciences, policies and practices for endogenous sustainable development. 142–166
Nielsen J (1993) Usability engineering. Academic Press, Boston, MA
Nielsen J (2012) Usability 101: introduction to usability. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved from
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/
Nielsen J, Molich R (1990) Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’90
conference, Seattle, WA, 1–5 Apr 1990, pp 249–256
Oliveira-Silva C, Werneck-Leite N, Carvalho F, Anjos C, Brandão M (2018) Unveiling coaching: a
review from the perspective of psychology. Psychol: Sci Prof 38(2):363–377. https://doi.org/10.
1590/1982-3703000942017
Prokopowicz P et al (2017) (eds) Theory and applications of ordered fuzzy numbers. Stud Fuzziness
Soft Comput 356. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59614-3_2
Ramos C (2014) Visual arts and transdisciplinarity in the age of complexity: a continuous peda-
gogical practice. Revista Lusófona de Educação 26:103–122. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.
mec.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1645-72502014000100008&lang=en. Accessed on
28 Apr 2019
Reis G, Nakata LE (2010) Transtheoric model of change: contributions to executive coaching.
Brazilian J. Prof. Guidance 11(1):61–72
Ribeiro AF (2015) The study of user experience and usability in a mobile context: development
of a mobile application entitled Think an App. Dissertation of Master (Design), Faculty of Fine
Arts, University of Porto
Roto V, Law E, Vermeeren A, Hoonhout J (2011) User experience white paper: bringing clarity to
the concept of user experience. University of Helsinki. Retrieved from http://www.allaboutux.
org/files/UX-WhitePaper.pdf
Santos Neto E (2006) For a transpersonal education: the pedagogical action and the thinking of
Stanislav Grof. Lucerne, Rio de Janeiro
Shneiderman B (1998) Designing the user interface: strategies for effective human-computer inter-
action, 3rd edn. Addison Wesley
Stober DR, Grant AM (2006) Evidence based coaching handbook: putting best practices to work
for your clients. Wiley, New Jersey, NJ
Van der Vegte WF, Vroom RW (2013) Considering cognitive aspects in designing cyber-physical
systems: an emerging need for transdisciplinarity. In: Proceedings of the international workshop
on the future of transdisciplinary design TFTD’13, Luxemburg. Presentation (ppsx), pp 41–52
Vieira S (2018) Transdisciplinarity of design: different levels of reality, vol 13, no 1. Project Man-
agement and Technology, São Carlos, pp 101–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/gtp.v13i1.110646
Whitmore J (1992) Coaching for performance: a practical guide to growing your own skills. Fun
Meister, Wallingford
Exploring Climate Changes Through
LSP: A Learning Experience
José Silva and João Neves
Abstract The present article focuses a exploratory qualitative research on the devel-
opment of a learning experience on the issue of climate change; developed on the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—in specific the Sustainable devel-
opment goal 13—“Take urgent action to combat climate change and its Impacts.” The
project developed under the course unit of Information Design 4d aimed to develop
a perspective on climate change that could trigger a greater emotional affectation on
climate change among potential consumers. The project, included an LSP (Lego Seri-
ous Play) methodology. Students used a strategy to make perceptions of the problem
tangible in order to develop a perspective according to the importance and priorities
of the so-called reptilian brain, in reference to Paul D. MacLean’s triune model fol-
lowing the interpretation by Clotaire Rapaille. From the learning experience carried
out with the LSP strategy, in the discovery session, students identified Nature as a
commodity and from this perspective formed interesting possibilities in the devel-
opment of Speculative Design solutions that reinforce the assumption of Timothy
Morton concept of artificiality. The learning experience was carried out within the
Master of Graphic Design, Association Master between the School of Applied Arts
of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco and the Faculty of Architecture of the
University of Lisbon, 2nd semester of the academic year of 2018/19.
Keywords LSP · Creativity · Climate change · Speculative design · Learning

experience
J. Silva (B) · J. Neves

IPCB, Av. Pedro Alvares Cabral 12, 6000-084 Castelo Branco, Portugal
J. Neves

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_5
56 J. Silva and J. Neves
1 Introduction
According with The Sustainable Development Goals Report (United Nations, 2018)
the year 2017 was one of the three hottest already recorded and was 1.1 °C above
the pre-industrial period. An analysis by the World Meteorological Organization
shows that the global average temperature of five years from 2013 to 2017 was also
the highest recorded. The planet continues to experience sea-level rises, extreme
weather conditions (the North Atlantic hurricane season was the most expensive
ever recorded) and rising concentrations of greenhouse gases. These changes require
urgent and accelerated action by countries in implementing their commitments to the
Paris Agreement on Climate Change. According to Norgaard (2011) although climate
change is present everywhere, however, it is still difficult to discern its psychological
impact on the individual.
1.1 The Evolutionary Perspective
The psychological impact on the individual is pertinent in a design thinking approach.

The climate change subject is closely related with the concept of sustainability.
According to Luzio (2012) Clotaire Rapaille points out that the issue of sustainability
must be in line with the growth characteristics. Clotaire Rapaille defends the idea
that the world is changing all the time and for the author sustainability means that
you are able to anticipate the changes and to be in harmony with the changes. He
proposes the word evolutionary rather than sustainability. Retrieving the concept
of Triune brain model, Rapaille explains that the reptilian brain prefers movement,
growth, likes innovation, progress. The author defends the notion of harmony in
the long-term and reciprocal growth. In the long-term, means that a person takes
care of another, part of an Confucius’s approach in a permanent growth perspective
concerning the environment and the Planet, and even more important in an era that
we call anthropocentrism, because for the first time humans are changing the Planet
and we are not paying attention to this fact.
The perspective presented by Clotaire Rapaille uses a somewhat controversial
logic of the central interests of the individual instinct, the reptilian “fight or flight”
which at times may not be compatible with the benefits of a broader community.
In the Triune model, according to Cory and Gardner (2002) from the infant nurs-
ing, care-giving, and social bonding initiatives and responses of the mammalian mod-
ifications and elaborations arise the motivational source for nurturing, empathetic,
other-interested experiences and behaviors. Here are the warm-blooded, passionate,
body contacting, bonding behaviors identified with the lion, the wolf, the primates.
In a world in which nearly single-minded self-preservation is simultaneously com-
plemented and counterpoised by the conflicting demands of affection.
Exploring Climate Changes Through LSP … 57
According to MacLean (1994) the experimental work in animals as diverse as

lizards and monkeys shows the reptilian complex is involved in displays of agonistic
and defensive social communication. Also it is noteworthy that partial destruction of
the reptilian complex eliminates the aggressive, territorial.
The division of function between the protoreptilian complex and the limbic system
is not clear cut, but rather entangled. The lower structures of the limbic node have
been shown to augment the self-preservational behavior of feeding, fighting, and
self- protection (Reiner, 1990).
1.2 The Acceptance of Artificiality
The Clotaire Rapaille perspective is compatible with the approach of Timothy Morton
(Blasdel, 2017), the idea that “You think ecologically tuned life means being all
efficient and pure” is wrong, there must be an acceptance of artificiality and human
pleasure, as he himself says “Wrong. It means you can have a disco in every room
of your house.” According to the author the Anthropocene teaches us that we can
not transcend our limitations or our reliance on other beings. We can only live with
them. If we give up the delusion of controlling everything around us, we might
refocus ourselves on the pleasure we take in other beings and life itself. According
to Lewis and Maslin (2015) Adopting the Anthropocene may reverse this trend by
asserting that humans are not passive observers of Earth’s functioning.
1.3 Psychological Impact
When studying and understanding the both how and why the denial of risks, impor-
tance, and need for collective action on global warming takes place, in the transitory
moments in which people talk about climate change seriously, Norgaard (2011)
identifies four core reactions: fear, guilt, helplessness, and crisis of identity. These
reactions lend themselves to silent endurance, cultivated distraction, or disassocia-
tion via humor or hyper-facticity, because, she argues, the practical organization of
the lived social process provides them no alternate purchase.
When designing new solutions related to a new mindset it is necessary to know
how to reconcile new technical or conceptual solutions with a narrative logic that is
often influenced by an ecosystem of contexts that are predictable or not, but which
belong to a field of speculative investigation.
1.4 Speculative Design
There are already very interesting solutions in terms of technical approaches, devel-
oped by High Schools and University Institutions, innovative solutions from an evo-
lutionary perspective, focusing on the use of electrical energy, by photosynthesis,
directly from the plants (Marques, 2008), turning the plants in a visible part of the
technical solution (Chuet-Missé, 2019).
According to Auger (2013) speculative design has much in common with other
areas of research associated with the Design project, such as critical design, discur-
sive design, design probes, and design fictions. Although not referring directly, but
associated with the concept of Speculative Design, Dunne and Raby (2001) refer
the role of Critical Design as a practice focused not on solving problems, but asking
“carefully crafted questions”.
There are overlaps between these practices, the differences are subtle and mostly
based on geographic or contextual use: they all remove the constraints of the business
sector that define normative design processes; to use models and prototypes in the
research center; and fiction to present alternative products, systems or worlds. A
physical object as a “design fiction” may be identical to a “speculative drawing”
or a “design probe,” and so on; however, the use of the modifier gives the cultural
object a substantially different value. To outline a methodological proposal, design
speculation requires a bridge between the public’s perception of their world and the
fictional element of the concept. The inspiration and influence for this “perceptual
bridge” can come from a variety of fields, such as observational comedy, psychology,
ecology, horror films, and illusion, to provide insight into the complex functioning
of the human mind and how it can be carefully manipulated to provoke reactions.
All these perspectives meant to be ways to provide critical futures scenarios.
For Dator (2002) the critical futures study combines rational intelligence with
intuitive and visionary abilities to provide a forward-looking context in which some
of the “big questions” can be posed and answered: Where are we going? How do we
get there? What problems need to be solved? Why take this path rather than another?
Such questions are central to Future Studies and vital to the well-being of society.
Auger (2013) warns that one of the main factors responsible for the success of
a speculative project is the careful management of speculation, its proposals should
not go far in the future in presenting implausible concepts or alien technological
habitats because the public will not relate to the proposal, due to lack of connection.
A vital factor in the success of a Speculative Design proposal is the careful man-
agement of the speculation, specifically the information about the use of technology,
aesthetics, behavior, interaction and function of the designed artifact.
These perceptions can be manipulated in a precise and informed way. These exist
as plausible, tangible, and accessible demonstrations or, more specifically, hypotheti-
cal translations of disruptive technological innovations for future products that could
become. The main benefit of this approach is the removal of the trade restrictions that
normally drive the creative process. This decoupling allows the goals to be based on
issues and discourse, not on agendas; hypothetical possibilities of non-real products;
utopian concepts and dystopic counter-products. They can inspire an audience to

think not just about what they want for their future selves but also what they do not
want.
The Lego brick system is a very interesting solution as a way of work perceptions
and logics that are not explicit. For Dyke (2018) the Lego not only supports the
constructivist theory of deeper learning that occurs when constructing something
external to itself, but also suggests a significant element of psychological security
for the process. The author also states that cognitive development and psychological
development occur together.
1.5 LSP
Lego, the company, patented the brick design in 1958 what it is today known as the
bricks’ clicking together feature, the clutch power, that makes the brick system such
an endlessly expandable toy.
According to Rasmussen (2014) in the business world, designers use Lego bricks
for rapid prototyping, simulations, and visualizations. Consultants use Lego bricks
for team building, modeling of factories, and logistic processes. The company vision
for the assemblage brick is that it is “more than a toy”, it is a language for systematic
creativity. The models that people build with the Lego bricks are meant to represent
or to make visible something tangible, whether a product or a process. The model or
the process of constructing should resemble or mirror the real-world topic as much
as possible. In doing so, the user is using the Lego brick as a metonym. Rasmussen
(2014) asserts that a metonym is “a figure of speech consisting of the use of the
name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is
associated” (as cited in “Merriam-Webster”, 2019).
According to Dykes (2018) the Lego Serious Play (LSP) sessions can be consid-
ered a training event at some level considering the kinesthetic nature of the experience
and LSP process steps that require individual and collaborative learning around the
organization problem being addressed.
The creative process of LSP not only supports the constructionist theory that
building something external of oneself produces greater learning, but it also adds
the unexpected and profound element of psychological safety to the equation. This
phenomenon provided freedom to the participants to explore and engage in learning
at a transcendent level. Dykes (2018) asserts that “psychological safety is defined as
a team’s shared belief that the current environment is safe for taking interpersonal
risk” (as cited in Edmondson, 1999). The author states that the LSP allows for enough
structure, responsibility, and rational thought while still stretching individuals to
think, build, and create outside of their comfort zone.
According to Blair and Rillo (2016) and reporting to the possibilities developed
in this article, LSP, can be defined as a method, a process, a communication tool or
a language, a service, a framework, a product line, or a meeting point. It allows a
systematic method that enables people to use Lego bricks to solve problems, explore
ideas and achieve objectives.
It is a structured process where participants through a series of steps, think, build,
tell a story, reflect and refine, to develop a shared understanding of a research topic. As
a Communication tool or language, the LSP enables three modes of communication:
visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. The models allow enhanced expression, deeper
listening and better memory. Shared model building allows teams to understand
each other’s interpretation and create deeper shared meaning of key ideas. The LSP
is a more tangible strategy allows for faster learning times and faster engagement
with the research subject.
According to Marshall (2007) a body of research within education and psychol-
ogy has emphasized the role of physical materials and manipulatives in supporting
learning, this paper points to the potential of tangible systems in supporting learning.
For Anderson (2015) recognizing the physicality of learning, and that multimodal
learning is certainly preferable, we should strive for manipulatives and environments
that encourage embodied learning.
1.6 The Homunculus
The LSP reinforces the “physicality” of manual interaction, present in the homuncu-
lus model. Dr. Wilder Penfield and his co-investigators Edwin Boldrey and Theodore
Rasmussen are considered the creators of the sensory and motor homunculi.
Althought they were not the first scientists to attempt to objectify the function of
the human brain through the representation of a homunculus (Cazala et al. 2015).
According to Marieb and Smith (2007), the motor homunculus represents a map of
brain areas dedicated to motor processing for different anatomical divisions of the
body. The primary motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus and deals with sig-
nals from the pre-motor area of the frontal lobes. The sensory homunculus represents
a map of areas of the brain dedicated to sensory processing for different anatomical
parts of the body. The primary sensory cortex is located in the post-central gyrus and
deals with signals from the thalamus. Penfield noted that his “creations” resulted in
grotesque creatures because of their strange proportions. The sensory nerves arriv-
ing from the hands terminate in large areas of the brain, resulting in correspondingly
large homunculus hands. In contrast, the nerves emanating from the trunk or arms
cover a much smaller area, so that the trunk and arms of the homunculus appear
comparatively small and weak.
This model clearly expresses a predominance of the sensorial area of the hands and
possibly its implication in the construction of a concept and idea. Speech and gesture
are elements of a single integrated process of utterance formation in which there is a
synthesis of opposite modes of thought—global-synthetic and instantaneous imagery
with linear-segmented temporally extended verbalization (McNeill, 1992).
The hypothesis of the homunculus is currently of fashion, but this is, after all,
how everyone thinks of themselves. It would be surprising if this overwhelming
illusion did not reflect in some way the general organization of the brain (Crick and
Koch, 2003). The Homunculus representation reinforces the importance of tangible
interaction in learning processes.
According to Manches and O’Malley (2011) tangible interaction does present
unique learning benefits. Furthermore, by distinguishing two kinds of processes,
offloading cognition, where manipulatives may help students by freeing up valuable
cognitive resources during problem-solving, and conceptual metaphors, where per-
ceptual information or actions with objects have a structural correspondence with
more symbolic concepts. This type of interaction frees space for intuition.
1.7 The Role of Intuition
According to a previous article focusing the relationship between drawing and intu-
ition (Silva, 2014) there is a body of research that presents the idea that intuition
uses implicit knowledge. A growing number of results ranging from the biologi-
cal (mainly, neural) to the cognitive (Lieberman, 2000; Jung-Beeman et al. 2004;
Luu et al. 2010) suggest that pre-existing expertise that requires years of practice to
achieve may not be an essential requirement for intuitive decision-making processes
(Dreyfus, 1980; Ericsson et al. 1993). These authors suggest that intuitive decision-
making processes share some of the same underlying neural structures and cognitive
processes as learning known as implicit learning (Lieberman, 2000; Kaufman et al.
2010). So the hunch moment and its importance could have a relationship with the
immersion level in a particular problem, the narrative could empower the immersion
level in a specific problem-solving in a learning environment.
2 Development
The learning experience followed a strategy of constructionism. For Papert and Harel
(1991) the simplest definition of constructionism evokes the idea of learning-by-
making, The example of someone assembling Legos like a painter is a description of
an activity but evokes a “way” of doing through the use of metaphors. For Maxwell
(2006) community and constructionism go hand in hand. Constructionism allows
two perspectives; one more related to the actual physical experience and staying
close to the object can do as well as those who prefer a more analytic formal style.
The briefing that supported the development of the learning experience comprised
three phases. The first phase, that took place in one session with a duration of three
hours, focused on the theme of climate change. The second phase that took place
in two sessions, with a length of six hours included the development of the strategy
using the LSP, followed by the extraction and discovery of information. The third
phase that took place in two sessions, with a duration of six hours involved the devel-
opment of proposals. In the second phase, after presented the project briefing, each
Fig. 1 Students engaged in

the final composition
student received a small bag containing fourteen pieces. Students carried out two
exercises, repeated twice, before the collective discovery exercise. Firstly, based on
an image of a pre-developed montage, the students were asked to assemble the con-
struction corresponding to the image, the students had five minutes to assemble the
construction. They were then asked to develop a composition on their understanding
of climate change within ten minutes. At the discovery session, now collectively, stu-
dents developed a construction on the question: “How to increase the psychological
impact of climate change?” according to the assumption of Norgaard (2011) about
the psychological impact of climate change (Fig. 1).
Each of the people involved in an LSP session puts in place a personal creativity
strand. For Stierand and Dorfler (2014) personal creativity relates to the ability to (re)
interpret the experience of the objective world into ideas that are original and useful.
Intuition plays a significant role in the dynamics between creativity and judgment of
a new idea. Intuition can also be understood as direct knowledge.
The composition made by the student’s highlights domains of implicit knowledge
made explicit by the tangible experience of externalization with the LSP. The students
analized and identified the structural elements presented in the composition. In the
final LSP montage assembly, at the structural level, it is evident that the elements are
arranged in a row as if it were a moving shape. An item illustrative of the pollution,
represented by the green wires connects the different “sections” of the montage
(Fig. 3).
It is of interest to emphasize the “direction” of the composition, student described
as a representation of the sea, in one end, and in the other end a representation of
the more developed societies. The composition expressed implicitly in its shape,
illustrates a direction towards the more advanced societies (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 LSP final composition overview on analysis notes
In the identification of structures, resulting from the discovery session, students

relate the structure “3” to Nature. This identification is very interesting because the
“representation” of Nature (made with green Lego bricks) doesn´t occur throughout
the composition, it is particularized and designated as a structure, within the sequence,
composed of more groups overall distinguished by different color groups (Fig. 3).
The most interesting of this information, resulting from the discovery session is the
identification of Nature as a commodity. The group discussed the idea that the group
concentrated nature into a segment as if it were something apart from everything
else. Something that “should” be present in all the composition, but in reality, it was
not. It was as if society placed it on a depot, something that became scarce but it
was needed. From this relationship between scarcity and appreciation came the idea
of value and Commodity. According to Huang (2019) commodities are things of
value and uniform quality, this homogenous nature of commodity quality provides
possibility for exchange and distribution. Commodities are uniform to the extent that
they are considered to be equivalent and interchangeable to those of other producers.
Fig. 3 Montage identification containing the different structures

Fig. 4 (Left) Gabriela Silva, hanging garden. (Right) Luisa Varela, self-powered sound flower pot
Commodities are things of value that are traded in large quantities. Commodities
in turn are transformed into different consumer products with different commercial
placements.
This question is of great interest in understanding a guideline for a concept accord-
ing to the perspective of Clotaire Rapaille and Timothy Morton. Although contro-
versial, the perspective of Nature as a commodity allows us to envision innovative
solutions at the level of speculative design, solutions that include product develop-
ment from an evolutionary instead of a sustainable perspective following the concept
presented by Clotaire Rapaille and to understand how the narratives associated with
these products could act at the level preparation of consumer practices.
The effectiveness of this strategy is made explicit by the students’ findings through
the analysis of the composition structure developed in LSP. Discovering very orga-
nized ways of understanding processes and phenomena that would otherwise be
difficult to make explicit, the discovery session puts in evidence that there is a sig-
nificant source of preexisting intuitive information latent in students involved in
the learning experience according to decision-making processes (Lieberman, 2000;
Kaufman et al. 2010).
The sketches developed by students explore the strand of consumer product, where
an evolutionary perspective is present where artificiality is framed in a logic of
comfort reducing the emphasis on productivity logic (Fig. 4).
3 Conclusions
Although the limits of the experience carried out, regarding the subject/question
explored in learning experience “How to increase the psychological impact of climate
change?” the perspective of Nature as a commodity allows to create a connection
of positive “evolutionary” dependence on Nature, and in this specific case, through
solutions that employ Nature “elements” as consumer products. Achieved through

an appropriation that assumes the artificiality of design solutions.
When developing speculative solutions such as the use of energy from Nature,
where plants can be “used” as an aesthetic element of comfort, compatible with the
perspective of Timothy Morton, a perspective of consumer products also occurs. That
perspective allows a better psychological impact, both positive and active, consistent
with the understanding of an “evolutionary” connection with Nature according to the
perspective of Clotaire Rapaille.
The formation of this concept constituted by an evolutionary relationship with the
nature and comfort of a consumer product that, although artificial is in its artificiality
an appropriation of Nature, allows several possibilities in terms of the development
of design solutions and is useful to the level of attraction of consumption.
Resulting of this learning experience, we ask if two-dimensional visual cultural
artifacts do not delimit visual reasoning, if the reasoning limitations are the result of an
operational limitation felt by students in the quality of their visual representations. In
those representations, students seem to be limited in understanding the real extensions
and repercussions of their discoveries.
In the learning experience the LSP offered a tangible strategy, enabling a stronger
engagement with the research subject and allowing richer discovery sessions. As a
strategy, it offers interesting solutions in testing perceptions and logic that are not
explicit and also empowers intuitive insights from implicit learning experiences.
This learning experience will be reinforced with further studies of qualitative nature
to “reinforce” the strategy of tangible discovery, associated to the exploration of
concepts in a perspective of speculative design focused on the issue of climate change.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the collaboration of the students from the
course of Information Design 4d, Master of Graphic Design, course of the Association Master
between the School of Applied Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco and the Faculty
of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, 2nd semester of the academic year of 2018/19.
References
Anderson S (2015Learning and thinking with things. In: Designing for the internet of things
Auger J (2013) Speculative design: crafting the speculation. Digital Creativity 24:11–35. https://
doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2013.767276
Blair S, Rillo M (2016) Serious work how to facilitate meetings & workshops using The Lego®
Serious Play® method, 1st edn. Promeet
Blasdel A (2017) A reckoning for our species: the philosopher prophet of the anthropocene. In:
The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/15/timothy-morton-anthropocene-
philosopher. Accessed 25 April 2019
Cazala F, Vienney N, Stoléru S (2015) The cortical sensory representation of genitalia in women
and men: a systematic review. Socioaffective Neurosci Psychol 5:26428. https://doi.org/10.3402/
snp.v5.26428
Chuet-Missé J (2019) Las plantas también pueden ser fuente de electricidad. In: La Van-
guardia. https://www.lavanguardia.com/natural/20170118/413415278331/planta-electricidad.
html. Accessed 22 April 2019
Cory G, Gardner R (2002) Algorithms of neural architecture, Hamilton’s Rule, and the invisible
hand of economics. In: Cory G (ed) Algorithms of neural architecture, hamilton’s rule, and the
invisible hand of economics, 1st edn. Praeger Publishers, Westport, pp 345–381
Crick F, Koch C (2003) A framework for consciousness. Nat Neurosci 6:119–126. https://doi.org/
10.1038/nn0203-119
Dator J (2002) Advancing futures: futures studies in higher education, 1st edn., p 101
Dreyfus S, Dreyfus H (1980) A FIve-stage model of the mental activities involved in directed skill
acquisition. Operations Research Center–University of California Berkeley, California
Dunne A, Raby F (2001) Design noir: the secret life of electronic objects, 1st edn. Birkhauser, Basel
Dykes W (2018) Play well: constructing creative confidence with LEGO serious play. Doctor of
Philosophy in Human and Organizational Systems and Organization Development and Change,
Fielding Graduate University
Ericsson K, Krampe R, Tesch-Römer C (1993) The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of
expert performance. Psychol Rev 100:363–406. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295x.100.3.363
Huang W (2019) Commodity finance: principles and practice, 2nd edn. Harriman House Limited,
Hampshire
Jung-Beeman M, Bowden E, Haberman J et al (2004) Neural activity when people solve verbal
problems with insight. PLoS Biol 2:e97. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020097
Kaufman A, Kornilov S, Bristol A et al. (2010) The neurobiological foundation of creative cognition.
In: Kaufman J, Sternberg R (eds) The neurobiological foundation of creative cognition, 1st edn.
The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity, New York, pp 216–232
Lewis S, Maslin M (2015) Defining the Anthropocene. Nature 519:171–180. https://doi.org/10.
1038/nature14258
Lieberman M (2000) Intuition: a social cognitive neuroscience approach. Psychol Bull 126:109–
137. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.126.1.109
Luu P, Geyer A, Wheeler T et al (2010) The neural dynamics and temporal course of intuitive
decisions. Public Library of Science
Luzio F (2012) Founder and CEO of archetype discoveries worldwide interviewed by Fernando
Luzio. Novos Intérpretes 8
MacLean P (1994) Human nature: duality or triality? Politics Life Sci 13:107–112. https://doi.org/
10.1017/s0730938400022358
Manches A, O’Malley C (2011) Tangibles for learning: a representational analysis of physical
manipulation. Pers Ubiquit Comput 16:405–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0406-0
Marieb E, Smith L (2007) Human anatomy & physiology laboratory manual, 7th edn. Pearson
Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco
Marques N (2008) A festa da Ciência aberta a todos. Expresso
Marshall P (2007) Do tangible interfaces enhance learning? In: Proceedings of the 1st international
conference on tangible and embedded interaction (TEI ‘07). https://doi.org/10.1145/1226969.
1227004
Maxwell J (2006) Re-situating Constructionism. In: The International Handbook of virtual learning
environments, pp 279–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3803-7_11
McNeill D (1992) Hand and mind: what gestures reveal about thought, 1st edn. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago
Norgaard K (2011) Living in Denial, 1st edn. MIT Press, Cambridge
Papert S, Harel I (1991) Situating constructionism. Constructionism
Rasmussen K (2014) Building a better business using the Lego Serious play method, 1st edn. Wiley,
New Jersey
Reiner A (1990) The triune brain in evolution. In: MacLean PD (ed) Role in paleocerebral functions.
PPlenum, New York, xxiv, 672p. Science 250:303–305 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.
250.4978.303-a
Silva J (2014) The drawing and the intuitive action on knowledge acquisition—empowering design
though reasoning with drawing. In: Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Com-
mittee for Design History and Design Studies. https://doi.org/10.5151/despro-icdhs2014-0099
Stierand M, Dorfler V (2014) Researching intuition in personal creativity. In: Handbook of research
methods on intuition
United Nations (2018) The Sustainable development goals report. In: Unstats.un.org. https://unstats.
un.org/sdgs/report/2018. Accessed 8 May 2019
A Systematic Review on International
Design Research, in Order to Ensure
that the Findings Can Compare Design
Capabilities in the Portuguese Reality
Maria João Félix
Abstract This chapter will present a first phase of a contextual study, which will
initially focus on a systematic study of internationally produced thinking about the
most pertinent contours, challenges, methods and results of design research. This
study will make it possible to establish a reference framework, both for the collection
and classification of data related to the Portuguese reality and for its subsequent
analysis. Design research has a recognized trajectory, but the discourse built so far
is not visible to the academic community. Researchers, creators, and theorists began
documenting design when it was recognized as something that could be taught.
Despite the isolated attempts of theoretical depth by some researchers, the degree of
relevance between research and the different areas of design has been quite diverse,
such as engineering, architecture and product design, still touching on territories
such as arts and crafts. To summarize the available information on the evolution
of research in the area of Design and the problematization that the international
scientific community has generated around the establishment of its outlines and
methods, namely on practice-based research, it will serve as a contribution to the
clarification of aspects that are very relevant to a rapidly expanding area.
Keywords Design research · Practice-based research · Relationship between

science and design · Design research methodology
1 Introduction
Design is still quite recent as a subject, which hasn’t allowed the conceptual and
tendencies updating, creating an impressive lack of understanding and unification,
that other subjects have already acquired. As stated by Charles Owen, Design isn’t a
science, nor an art or any other subject and it has its own goals, values, measures and
procedures. Through used analogies and comparisons in science and arts, we can find
M. J. Félix (B)
School of Design, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal
CIAUD, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_6
70 M. J. Félix
reference points, but Design hasn’t been widely investigated, formalized, codified
or even included in the literature created for this area. Summing up, the theoretical
knowledge base for Design is scarce for the ones looking to work in a more rigorous
way, the academic and scientific models in a search for orientation and references
for the research in Design.
The history or past of this activity, has come since the beginning of the twentieth
century and it is present in the subject development, in the position and academic
recognition and in the search of a “science” and of a methodology that goes on till
our days. In this work, examples of some worldwide points of view will be given,
related to Design research. The goal is to show that there are, on one hand, many
reliable and different positions in the design research and on the other hand, that
they can well coexist. That can make the design research look like a confusing area,
but it is also a sign that there are ongoing processes in its formation as an academic
domain. The research in Design is halfway through an historic definition process as
an established area of knowledge production. This is a process, through which, many
sciences have gone through before.
2 Problem
Bayazit (2004), publishes in the credited magazine “Design Issues” (vol. 20.1) an
article entitled “Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research”
focused mainly on the methodological development efforts and excluding right away
other topics and investigation lines under the typologies that Frayling (1993/1994)
identifies as: Research in Design, about Design and through Design.
These efforts seem motivated by the desire to attribute a scientific status to design,
desire that had a prominent echo in the school of Ulm and opened doors, in a certain
point of view, to the technoscience initiatives in a way to rehearse “intelligent” com-
putational systems to turn Design deterministic or at least, algorithmic. In those days,
research allowed Design the possibility to work based on safe data, and, by doing that,
it allowed the possibility to avoid subjective choices as well. It also allowed Design
to go further the manufacturing level of knowledge, the knowledge acquired by mere
experience and established the base for an additional disciplinary development of
a professional activity. Frayling (1993/1994) observed that differences between the
world inside the academy and the professional world have always existed in the
Design and Art area, but that it is also necessary to preserve these areas’ autonomy.
The academic world needs to form people and generate knowledge, but it is also
true that connections between the two worlds are necessary to increase the tasks
performance and at the same time, find narrower collaboration methods. But the
investigation efforts result equally of the desire to systematize the Design process in
a way to turn it capable of being taught and managed. Other perspectives allow to
question if each Design studio won’t be an investigation lab (Laurel and Lunenfeld
2003), following Universities in the production of the new knowledge, promoting its
reutilization.
A Systematic Review on International Design Research … 71
If experimentation and research in Design processes itself through an artifact

project (in the investigation of new means and languages as a poetry channel, many
times interpreting new processes, materials or programs), through theoretical studies
or in the convergence of the two previous approaches, so the academic investigation
can guarantee that its coverage to the different listed typologies, is evaluated by
national and international peers and without commercial pressures.
It is important to mention that the contour definition of what Design research is
and, consequently, of the configurations that a Ph.D. in this area can assume, continue
to raise discussion, in the international community, though the pressure to qualify
people with this degree, namely in European countries, has made overcome, in a
pragmatic way, these doubts using the outlines established by other disciplines.
The concern with the qualification research in the design area has had, in the
last years of this decade, an extraordinary development by the recognition of its
importance in the innovation matrix and companies’ competitivity, but also for its
importance as a strategic partner, for example, in the search for solutions for the
planet’s sustainability. The research in Design should demonstrate, within the aca-
demic world, that it is a subject which aims to produce the body of knowledge of
a specific subject and thus, be in conformity with the university standards. On the
other hand, through this body of knowledge, it should conquer its own space and
become an independent subject that is recognized as such.
3 Methodology
For the realization of this work it was necessary to proceed with the theoretical
ground, which sustained itself on the collection and bibliographical analysis, through
which we studied and systematized, in a deeper way, the internationally produced
thinking, about the contours, the challenges, the methods and the most pertinent
results of the research, in the Design area.
The contents analysis was done through instruments of primary information col-
lection which consisted of the analysis of official decrees, photographs, letters, arti-
cles, etc. And as secondary sources, books, theses and monographs were consulted.
The analysis of documents was done in libraries, official organisms, institutions, as
well as some reference works acquired for the purpose and relevant for the study at
hand.
The whole instruments elaboration and conception process, previously mentioned,
resulted of the research, analysis and information processing collected during the
bibliographical review. Later, it was defined the problem that ended in the deduction
of our hypothesis that could contribute for the scientific knowledge of the studied
phenomenon. Being a continuous and interactive process, we present the principles of
our scientific procedures and stages, describing the performed operations in a way we
can progress step by step, in this investigation process, until we reach our objectives.
From this context, and to translate the general hypothesis into operational hypothesis,
72 M. J. Félix
we use the inductive process (formation of a theory through already known data) and
the deductive process (prediction of new data through already existing theories).
We continue with the non-interventionist methodology to support our evidences
and translate them in a language and a way that allows us to do a systematic inves-
tigation work for the collection of observation data. In this way, we used written
and unwritten documentation sources, planning the data collection methods through
the documentary research (books reading, articles, investigation reports, through the
opinion of experts with developed work on investigation, and testimonies), defining
our analysis model. In the analysis of the written documentation, coming from the
documentary research, we present a brief explanation of the main approached authors
and that concentrate the aspects and proposed reflections in the wording of our study
object.
To perform the analysis of the theories directly related with the approached phe-
nomena and in a way to reach our proposed goals, we stand out, in our research, the
works and theories developed by Bayazit (2004), Margolin (2002), Archer (1981),
Frayling (1993), Simon (1969), Cross (1993), Schön (1983), Dorst (1997), Friedman
(2000), Findeli (1999), Downton (2003), Laurel (2003), Jonas (2004) and many oth-
ers. At last, some conclusions were drawn, through the systematization and analysis
of the collected information, which had as objective, the production of a strategic
reflection that could be useful in the development of the investigation, in this area.
4 Results
For the theoretical construction of the research in Design and the consequent system-
atization of the internationally produced thinking, it will be important to acknowledge
that there’s a moment in the evolution of each area or subject, on which the intel-
lectual questions focus, as those in which the passage of an ambiguous and irregular
territory is established for one of the substantiated analysis.
Many of the articles about research in Design are related to the history or past
of the activity (Bayazit 2004, p. 17), since each investigation report should prove its
roots. The research field in Design is much wider than most researchers acknowledge
and covers many stakeholders. This area is constituted by multiple discussion groups
or networks, each one with their interests, based on their own criteria, and whose
goals result on the best practices and on significant results, usually, published in
magazines, on internet sites and conferences promoted by the different groups. These
groups have many different purposes and are of different typologies. For some, the
goal of the investigation is to create new products, while others intend to acquire a
bigger understanding of design as a cultural phenomenon.
These ideas overlap frequently, thus, usually, the researchers of these groups
belong to several networks. However, according to Margolin (2010, p. 80), is through
the cross pollination that an investigation field, with several networks, can expand
itself and produce results that transcend the interests of any group. It will also be
necessary to recognize that the concept of “research in Design” has different mean-
ings, depending on who uses it. According to the definition of L. Bruce Archer
(1981), stated in the Portsmouth DRS, research is the systematic inquiry whose goal
is knowledge. “Design research is systematic inquiry whose goal is knowledge of,
or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition, structure, purpose, value, and
meaning in man-made things and systems […]” (Archer 1981, p. 30) This definition
is very simple, but it indicates what research means, being the word “systematic”
perhaps the most important one, because it raises the question of the relation between
science and design, as we will see later on.
Regarding the concept of research, Downton (2003) refers that some disciplines
have felt obliged to migrate to the science paradigm, in a kind of validation for the
respectability and trust science gives.
Frayling (1993/1994) bases himself on the idea that there is too much confusion
in the discussion on the theme Design Research, concerning words’ meanings that
become concepts and especially, at the level of understanding that most people does
of words (Costa 2005), that constitute the base vocabulary of the discussion. It starts
by the very own word research, which deconstructs as re-search. This separation
takes it in two ways, the first indicates the main meaning of the word, the search, the
second one suggests that that search implies going back to the past, a “return” (re)
looking at what exists. This second way, problematic, reveals itself analysis worthy:
in what way can we—namely, in Design, which has as plan the search for something
that doesn’t exist—“research” the new?
We consulted the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the history of the same
word usage, to prove that the usage of research, goes back to the sixteenth century,
and it was done in daily contexts, by individuals in search for some information (with
small r) and not exclusively in specialized on professional contexts (with capital R),
as it is mainly understood nowadays. It also proves that the word was used in artistic
contexts, namely in music, which strengthens the theory that the word and its meaning
aren’t property of the scientific activity.
Research, concluded Frayling (1993/1994) from this collection, implies a search
whose object is exogenous to the researcher. Moreover, than the person or group that
carries on the investigation is capable to communicate with others what it’s being
looked for. Proved the pertinence of the use of the word in artistic activities, the author
goes to a more complex field: what, in art, can constitute research? Referring to a
Picasso interview (1923), where the artist claimed not to be a researcher and not even
wanting to be associated to any kind of search; despite Picasso using some sources
to paint and sculpt, he refers that that doesn’t constitute any kind of research, once
his last goal is not to collect information to reach a conclusion; his goal is to paint
and that, according to Picasso, can’t be searched, it is found. He even says that the
artist is a maker, not a researcher. “In my opinion” said Picasso, “to search means
nothing in painting. To find is the thing. Nobody is interested in following a man
who, with his eyes fixed on the ground, spends his life looking for the pocket-book
that fortune should put in his path […]” (Picasso 1985, p. 2). One of the goals of
the research in Design is to study deeply the artificial world, built by human hand,
and the way activities implied in it have been directed to academic studies or to the
74 M. J. Félix
industry. According to the concept of Herbert Simon, the global activities of design
can be called of “The sciences of the artificial” (1969), in opposition to the natural
sciences.
The term “artificial” is used by Simon to indicate the systems that have a deter-
mined shape or behavior, just because they adapt themselves (or are adapted) to the
environment, bearing in mind certain goals or purposes to achieve. Some art areas,
from handicrafts and design call investigation the activity performed by an artist,
when creating a piece of art or handicraft. This kind of investigation is not the theme
of this work, thus we consider that the performed activities by an artist while creating
a piece of art or handicraft can’t be considered research. However, it is possible for
an external observer, to do research through observing the way the artist works. This
way, he’s giving his contribute for common knowledge. These can be observable
phenomena.
As Christopher Frayling states “Research through art and design is less straight-
forward, but still identifiable and visible” (Frayling 1993/1994, p. 5). Still in “The
sciences of the artificial”, Herbet Simon went even further when stating that “the
proper study of manking is the science of design” (Simon 1996, p. 138). Simon sug-
gested that the Design study be a fundamental and interdisciplinary study, accessible
to all involved in the creative activity of making the world artificial, which includes
the entire humanity. Besides, he suggested that, to understand the creative activity,
we should start by sharing the Design creative and professional process experiences.
This seems to be another challenge in the Design research, helping to build a “con-
versation about Design” mode (Cross 1999, p. 8), which is, at the same time, inter-
disciplinary and disciplined. The paradoxical task of an interdisciplinary discipline
creation proposes a conversation between common disciplines to reach an under-
standing that allows to create new knowledges and Design perceptions. According
to Cross (1999) about some of the main examples of that developing “conversation”,
we can refer to the series of articles, that in past years, have won the annual prize
“Design Studies Award” regarding the best published article in that newspaper. This
prize was set for the first time in 1987, and in an analysis of winners, we can see,
Schön (1988) (Urban Planning, MIT, USA) Designing: Rules, types and worlds,
an analysis of the Design protocols to identify reasoning standards based on rules
derived from concepts-type; Burr and Andreason (1989) (Engineering, Lyngby Uni-
versity, Denmark) Design models in mechatronic product development, an analysis
of the design models properties, leading to architectonic Design adequate models
proposals in the mechatronic area; Downing (1992) (Architecture, Texas A&M Uni-
versity, USA) Conversations in imagery, study of the memory role (mental image
of memorable places) in the architectonic design process; Roy (1993) (Design and
Innovation, The Open University, UK) Case studies of creativity in innovative prod-
uct development, study of creative designers to obtain information about the creative
process and of innovative products development;
Goldschmidt (1995) (Architecture, Technion, Haifa, Israel) The designer as a
team of one, a designer’s work comparative analysis and of a small team facing the
same design problem; Purcell and Gero (1996) (Design Science, Sydney University,
Austrália) Design and other types of fixation experimental, studies of design prob-
lems resolution, aiming the understanding of the fixation causes and effects; Janlert
and Stolterman (1997) (Computing and Informatics, Umea University, Sweden) The
character of things, a consideration of how things (hardware and software), as well
as people, can have a “character”. These examples come from the investigation in
design performed in different domains and with distinctive methodologies, but each
individual contribution had something to say to the members of the biggest research
community in Design.
These contributions of “good practices” of the research in design have the fol-
lowing characteristics in common: “Purposive, based on identification of an issue
or problem worthy and capable of investigation. Inquisitive, seeking to acquire new
knowledge. Informed, conducted from an awareness of previous, related research.
Methodical, planned and carried out in a disciplined manner. Communicable, gen-
erating and reporting results which are testable and accessible by others” (Cross
1999, p. 9).
These characteristics are, naturally, the normal characteristics of good investiga-
tion in any subject. Such criteria, normal and academic, don’t inhibit or prevent the
investigation from being “designerly” (Cross 1999), always related with Design, in
its origin and intention. Still according to Cross (1999), we should establish a dis-
tinction between the practical works and the investigation ones, not considering that
the practical works are investigation works. The most important, while researching,
is to extract reliable knowledge, whether from the natural world, whether from the
artificial, and provide that knowledge to others in a useful way. That doesn’t mean
that the Design practical works should be completely excluded from the Design
research, but, to qualify as research, there must have, first, a reflection by the implied
professionals and, then, a communication of the obtained results from that reflection.
According to Silva (2010, p. 84) the purpose of the research in Design is to
orientate the practice and contribute to the improvement of the area and for the
development of theories and methods.
The practice of design may involve research, but it’s not the research in itself.
Without investigation, we are left to our intuition, based on the existing knowledge.
The investigation involves the creation of new knowledge, which is different from
accumulating information, or the organization of the already existing knowledge.
However, the collection of information can be the beginning, or first step, of an
investigation process. One of the dangers, in this new research area, is that other sub-
jects’ researchers, apart from Design, import inadequate methods and approaches to
develop design understanding. Another danger is that researchers can join underlying
paradigms, of which there’s only one slight perception.
It is necessary to develop this intellectual perception in the Design community. A
good example is Kees Dorst’s work, who analyzed, with explicit comparisons, the
paradigms that justify Herbert Simon approach, on one side, and Donald Schon, on the
other side, which represent, respectively, the positivist philosophy and constructive
philosophy. Simon’s positivism transmits a vision of Design as being the rational
problem solving and leads to the idea of design as a reflective practice. These two
visions seem to get into conflict, but the use of both paradigms to analyze Design
76 M. J. Félix
activity leads Dorst to consider that different paradigms complement each other, in
order to obtain a general vision of all design activities.
Until very recently, the Design area was a complement of art and handicraft. The
Design transformation in one industrial subject brought responsibility that Design
studies only recently started to deal with. Design is, now, becoming a generalizable
subject which can be applied to several areas. Understand design as a subject that
can function this way means to develop a design general theory. This general theory
should support the application theories and operational programs. Going from one
Design general theory to the problems’ resolution task involves a conceptualiza-
tion mode significantly different and an explicit knowledge management (explicit
knowledge) more than adapting tacit knowledge of the individual design experience.
According to Friedman “The challenge of any evolving field is to bring tacit knowl-
edge into articulate focus. This creates the ground of shared understanding that
builds the field.” (Friedman, Creating design knowledge: form research into practice
2000, p. 13).
Until now, the majority of Design theories involve clinical situations or supported
theories which are necessary, but not enough. In social sciences, the supported theory
has become a strong and sophisticated theory formation system in different levels.
Basically, these theories take to higher levels of understanding, whose informed lit-
erature is rich in discussions about the theory construction and theoretical awareness.
One of the big problems of research in Design is the inability to develop a sup-
ported theory in practice (Friedman 2003, p. 520). Instead of that, Designers, many
times, confuse practice with investigation, instead of developing theory in prac-
tice, through inductive articulation and research, some designers argue that prac-
tice is research and that research based on practice is in itself a way of building
theory. Design theory isn’t identical to design practice tacit knowledge. Although
tacit knowledge is important to every practice field, confusing tacit knowledge with
design general knowledge involves a categories’ confusion. According to Polanyi,
who makes the distinction between tacit knowledge and theory construction, we can
consider the theoretical knowledge more objective than the immediate experience.
“It seems to me,’ he writes, ‘that we have sound reason for … considering theoretical
knowledge more objective than immediate experience…A theory is something other
than myself. It may be set out on paper as a system, of rules, and it is the more truly
a theory the more completely it can be put down in such terms.” (Polanyi 1974, p. 4)
Only the explicit articulation allows us to test, consider or reflect about the theories
we develop. For that reason, the failed attempts, to connect Design reflective prac-
tice to design knowledge (Friedman 2003, p. 520) and to propose tacit knowledge
or direct creation, as theory building methods, must be inevitably considered as a
“one-way path”. All knowledge, all science and all practice are based on a wide cycle
of knowledge management that moves from tacit knowledge to the explicit one and
vice versa.
Until now, with its handmade tradition, Design has counted mainly with tacit
knowledge, but it is time to consider the explicit ways in which design theory can
be built and recognize that, without a body of knowledge based on the theory, the
job, in the area of Design, won’t be ready to face the challenges Designers find in a
complex world like today’s.
According to Findeli et al. (2008) the construction of a consistent and coherent
methodology, of investigation in design, has been a constant concern. This phe-
nomenon isn’t unrelated to the tendencies and oscillations that methodologies have
been going through in the past years and that have affected the scientific commu-
nity. This excessive focus on the search of the correct or ideal method tends to be
unsuccessful, if it’s not supported by a necessary epistemological, preliminary and
insurmountable investigation. Unless we know exactly what the goal of our investi-
gation is, it’s not worth arguing, debating and discussing about the correct or ideal
method. Nowadays, the epistemological question of the investigation in design is
far from being solved. We think that it is this way because the doubt between the
investigation objectives and the design projects still persists. As strange as it may
sound, the main question of what the investigation goal in design could or should
be is still under consideration and can be divided in the following set of questions:
“What exactly are the objects of design considered as a scientific, academic dis-
cipline? What are the phenomena of the world we are interested in observing and
understanding, that are not already the “property” of other disciplines? What do we
intend to say about these phenomena that is not known yet and that other disciplines
cannot know or at least that design claims to know better?” (Picasso 1985, p. 2).
We believe that these enlightenments are useful to identify what we consider to be
the main conditions for an investigation that matches the design subject or area spec-
ifications. The vulgarized reflection of the Royal College of Art director, Christopher
Frayling from 1993/94, about the research in Design and which is considered the
founding formula of the discussion between practice and theory, is still the possible
structure of this scientific activity.
Frayling invokes Herbert Read, who had devised a distinction between the three
types of investigation in the teaching of art: research for art, research about art and
research through art. It is from this distinction that Frayling proposes his own formula,
the one that, according to the author, derives from his practice, with the established,
but still controversial terms, and this time applied to design (Findeli 1999; Downton
2003, p. 2).
The concept of Education through Art, which is a literal translation of the expres-
sion that gave the title to the work of Herbert Read- Education through Art, is marked
by the idealism of someone, who had lived the war and wanted a society where it
had no place. Hence the importance of art in education. In the same year that the
third edition of Read’s work was published in 1956, the Portuguese Association of
Education through Art appeared, of which were part, among others, Calvet de Mag-
alhães, João dos Santos, Almada Negreiros, João de Freitas Branco, António Pedro,
Adriano Gusmão, Breda Simões and Arquimedes Santos. A few years later, also
under the influence of Herbert Read’s work, in 1971, it was created in the National
Conservatory, the Educational Teaching through Art Course, which had as teacher,
among others, Arquimedes Santos who stated: education through art serves mainly
the personality formation.
78 M. J. Félix
According to Christopher Frayling typology, the research is divided into three

models (Frayling 1993/1994, p. 5):
(a) research into art and design, in this typology the traditional studies about history,
aesthetics or perception about a variety of theoretical perspectives related to design,
social, economic, political, ethical, cultural, iconographic, technical, material and
structural are included; (b) Research through art and design, the second typology
focuses on the project and connects with what is known in England as practice-led
research. As examples, are quoted the study of materials’ behavior, the development
of technology to fulfill a new task or the methodological reflection about the project
development; (c) Research for art and design, the third typology is the hardest to
characterize in the way that its results are made concrete in the object, or in a objects’
body in which, in a certain way, the thought is materialized in the artefact, in which
the goal isn’t, in the first place, communicable in the sense of verbal communication,
but in the sense of visual, iconic or imagery communication.
According to Costa (2005), it is still weird, in a research context, to join the terms
“art” and “design”. It is necessary to understand that in the scope of the teaching
in England, design and art had, since the middle of the 19th century, an identical
path, thus both were taught in the perspective that knowledge was only knowledge
when connected to the know-how. The Portuguese reality, where design only comes
in higher education, not yet academic, in the last quarter of the century, turns it hard
to join the terms, because, since then, in fact art and design still with common roots,
differed significantly in several points of their economic, social and cultural realities.
This way, what matters to us from Frayling formulation (Frayling 1993/1994) and
that many authors (Laurel and Lunenfeld 2003, p. 11; Downton 2003, p. 2; Jonas
2004; Schneider 2007) have already stated, is the following: Research into Design;
Research through Design; Research for Design.
There are, however, other perspectives based on this typology, Findeli et al. (2008),
for example, proposes the three areas again, where the research projects’ conclusions,
in Design, should be evaluated, but yet, and as he considers that these research practice
typologies, in Design, have received many interpretations, sometimes, contradictory
and not always useful, wanted to clarify his vision, reminding that his method defini-
tion of “Research through Design” comes from a methodological critic to both most
used current methods in the area, the research for and into Design. The argument
divides itself in the following way:
(1) The first, research for design is common to any research project in any sub-
ject. It is an original and significant contribution for knowledge, and in our
case, for design knowledge. This kind of research is relevant for the practice of
design, given that its purpose is to certify that several parameters, on which the
design process accomplishment depends (technological, ergonomic, aesthetic,
psychological, etc.) are treated adequately, which is, that the design project be
responsible and properly informed. However, they aren’t scientifically accept-
able for many reasons, such as (Findeli et al. 2008, p. 70):
– It is generally based on an already available knowledge.
– When new knowledge is produced (for example, after interviews, field obser-
vation, comparative analysis, etc.), generally, is not accomplished with the
expected rigor by the scientific standards, or because the “researcher” isn’t
qualified enough or (more and more) because the timing limitations don’t
allow it.
– It is mainly tacit and there’s no intention to publish it or discuss it in the
design research community. Actually, in many cases, it is really confidential.
This means that the research and the design practice differ in their respective
goals, in the validation and evaluation criteria, in the public and contexts, hence
one shouldn’t be evaluated by the criteria of the other.
(2) The second, research about design, corresponds to an expected improvement
in the design practice and, consequently, in the level of the user’s satisfaction.
This kind of investigation, according to the scientific standards, is normally per-
formed by several subjects, besides Design. Actually, the fact of being published
is, again, the proof of its rigor and acceptance by the scientific community. The
problem found in this kind of research is its relative lack of relevance for design.
“Design”, here, means the design practice and the teaching or research in design.
Research about design (which is, about its objects, its processes, its actors and
participants, its meaning and its importance for society, industry, culture, etc.).
performed by researchers of other areas (like anthropologists, archeologists,
historians, psychologists and many others), has, as main goal, to contribute for
the advance of its own subject and not of design in particular. More precisely,
these researchers aren’t orientated to find out how they can certify that the
produced knowledge, in their research, is relevant for Design, even if it is how
it is expected sometimes. In fact, designers are the ones in the best position
to decide if such knowledge is relevant and, if it is the case, how it could be
implemented in the respective practices.
(3) The third, research through design, brings some useful consequences for the
teaching of design. The previous observations give us two important criteria that
the research must follow: it must be rigorous, this is, it should regulate itself by
the usual scientific standards and it must be relevant, which is, contribute for
the improvement of the design practice. The research through design must be
understood as having properties, not only from the research for design, as from
the research about design.
On one side, the idea of research, through research, earned enough credit for
the creation of research projects, also called by practice-based research, practice
research, action research in design, clinical research or project-grounded research.
On the other side, there is still a struggle for the methodological solidity and scientific
recognition.
The relative dispersion in the semantic space indicates that the interpretations of
the idea and research principles, through design, can differ and that a real consensus
has not yet been reached. The main obstacle, here again, is of epistemological nature.
The majority, if not all promoters, of the research through design, agree that the design
project must have its place in the scope of the research project, but that this last one
80 M. J. Félix
shouldn’t be confused with the first one. Where some researchers differ, or stay in
silence, is about the function (epistemic) to be attributed to the design project within
the research, that is, in the restrictive scope of a rigorous and relevant knowledge
production process in design. This is certainly one of the crucial questions in the
design subjects and, in fact, in all professional subjects.
Behind this question lays the eternal philosophical enigma of the relation between
theory and practice, thus one thing is claiming that the practice is important and
necessary for the construction of the theory, and other, more challenging, is explaining
how this contribution of practice for theory must be planned and operationalized.
In his work, Creating design knowledge: from research into practice, Ken Fried-
man asks “How does new knowledge move from research into practice”, to which
he answers: “Concrete research results become visible to practitioners in a myriad
of ways. Journal results, conferences, corridor talk among colleagues, knowledge
transfer in shared projects, Internet discussion groups. The important issue is that a
field must grow large enough and rich enough to shape results and circulate them.
As this happens, the disciplinary basis of the larger field also grows richer. This
leads to a virtuous cycle of basic results that flow up toward applied research and to
clinical applications. At every stage, knowledge, experience and questions move in
both directions…Practice tends to embody knowledge. Research tends to articulate
knowledge” (Friedman 2000, p. 23).
Based on the Friedman thinking, (Frankel and Racine 2010) represent the positions
regarding the categories and subcategories discussed so far. They refer the flow
between the research for design, the research through design and research about
design as a circular process, in which each action informs the other. Although these
research categories in design are inter-related, they also represent different levels
of knowledge in design. Downton writes about three types of knowledge: “how-to-
knowledge” (Downton 2003, p. 62) demonstrating that it is known how to draw,
“knowing-that” (Id., ibid.), learning how someone draws and “knowledge-of” (Id.,
ibid.), having peripheral knowledge about what people can draw. Dowton states that
“[…]” the theories of design are concerned with what design is, what should be
and could be […]” (Downton 2003, p. 79). Based on this perspective we can wait
that the research in design fits in any of these levels by a variety of combinations,
depending on the initial cause or hypothesis. As mentioned above, design knowledge
is connected to epistemology. “What is design Knowledge about and after?” (Findeli
et al. 2008) which sums up the question. Taking up the question of the design research
purpose, the criteria that any design research project should follow aims at three of the
research final users in design, who are interested in its production: the design research
community, the design practice community and the design teaching community.
“Three “end-users” of design research are interested in its output: The design research
community, the design practice community, and the design education community”
(Findeli et al. 2008, p. 74).
The kind of knowledge and the part of information considered relevant and valued
by each of these communities differ. For this reason, there’s the need for design
researchers to consider these aspects, by building their protocols and by writing
their conclusions and final reports. Expressed in the conventional terminology, the
researchers’ community is interested in the fundamental knowledge or theoretical,

while the practitioners’ community focus on the applied and useful knowledge and the
educators’ community, in the teachable and applicable knowledge. This means that
it’s not worth performing design research if it’s not to improve the act of design and
consequently, the life of the people involved, that is, most likely the entire humanity.
Consequently, the purpose of the design research is directly connected to design’s,
which means to improve or keep the world inhabitable in all its dimensions, physical,
psychological, spiritual), while the conception focuses on the act of design itself, that
is, on the description and understanding of the act to keep or improve these relations.
Bearing in mind this model structure, we see that, behind each project and design
situation, there is potentially; an anthropological question, which is, a question related
to the way an individual or a community inhabits or intends to inhabit the world.
Summing up, nothing that concerns the relations between the human being and his
environment must be strange to design; One opportunity to contribute for knowledge
already available about the act of design. If performed in a reflective way, each design
situation is an opportunity to reveal something new about what’s at stake in the design
practice, or, at least, to confirm an aspect of the “designerly way of knowing” (Cross
1982), which was already observed, described and theorized. Cross used this term
in a 1982 article, and has been applied in several contexts ever since, in the area of
research design, Cross states that there are ways of knowledge peculiar to a designer’s
conscience and capacity and believes that we get that knowledge from three sources,
people, processes and products.
In other words, in the research based on the project, we should look beyond
the immediate product of the design project. Without, however, neglecting the last
one. The challenge for the researchers and research teams is to understand both
potentialities referred above and the adequate and accessible research problematics.
In this context, there are naturally countless potential and available research objects
and projects. The contextual circumstances will help determine which are the most
appropriate for the programed research.
According to Findeli et al. (2008), this is, actually, a vast research program, but
it will be acceptable such ambitious statement? No, if the design scholars pretend
that this is their private territory. But yes, if they believe that they have a word to
say about this serious subject about the description and understanding of the way we
inhabit the world and how some intend to improve it.
A possible entry in the puzzle is to understand that the two potential questions,
referred above, aren’t actually, design private property. It is certain that almost none
scientific subject is completely unfamiliar to our human condition and the way the
human being, individual and collectively, connects with the world. If we adopt a
wide definition of the design objects, then we definitely share these questions with
many other subjects. Trying to isolate a specific part of the world phenomenon and
adequate it on behalf of the design scientific statements, maybe it isn’t the only
possible way to guarantee a specific knowledge domain. We believe that, instead of
that, it is the kind of question Design asks about these phenomena that constitute this
subject’s originality.
82 M. J. Félix
For Costa (2007), in the academic context as well as in the studio practice, the
research in design tends to be developed to and with the users. The limitation of
the object study will be, therefore, an obvious consequence of that tension, decided
from universities and labs, according to their own criteria and properties, and whose
strategies go, naturally, by their geographical, cultural, social and economic contexts.
There will be, however, at the university level, the need to think that path as something
coherent, this is, as a part of a whole where each project or research can add something
to the previous works and anticipate the future ones (Costa 2007, p. 168), creating a
body of knowledge over which other paths will be drawn. Being, apparently, a detail,
this is, however, one of the factors that have prevented a bigger cooperation among
universities and the social and economic base, namely in Portugal.
The search for new and different ideas by the industry will be the evidence of a
split, hardly surpassed, between the academy and the market, about what constitutes
the subject. This split shouldn’t be solved by unilateral yielding, by the academy,
otherwise, in a near future, design won’t be able to assert itself as a research object
and field. This question is especially relevant in the current context of the higher
education reorganization and the consequent need to raise funds by the labs and
investigation units, as the only way to guarantee the survival. According to Cross
(1999, p. 10) we are still building the adequate paradigm for the research in design.
The construction of such paradigm can be useful, in long term, for the practice and
education in design. We still know relatively little about the skills in design and that
restricts our adequate study to mankind, this is the goal of the research in design.
Despite the several approaches related to this theme, we conclude that the var-
ious adaptations of the Frayling typologies, have contributed to the refinement of
the questions that circle around the types of research in design, however, we con-
sider that not to misrepresent the initial reflection, we adopt in this work as basis
the Frayling thinking, where briefly a phasing of three research modes go from the
traditional theoretical observation about the design subject and its material produc-
tions (referring to other subject areas like History, Psychology or Sociology…) to the
ethnographic observation of the designers production processes (seeking clarifica-
tion about their production and creation methodologies), to the most common of the
projects practices in design (watching their own product projected as manifestation
of knowledge).
The first model deals with the Design Theoretical Studies, though directed to the
practice, the products, the speeches or the Design (meta speeches).
The Design Studies (Margolin 1998) are divided in four topics:
(1) The study about the Design practice (which includes the activities related to
conception, planning and products manufacturing); (2) The study about the design
products (in which we should highlight the identity and interpretation of the prod-
ucts and their cultural role); (3) The study of the Design speech (about the Design
ontology, the different arguments of what is or may be this subject); (4) The study of
the studies in Design or meta-speech (the epistemological reflection about this field
of knowledge about itself).
In the second model we can find the research guided by practice, the focused
reflection on the project and directed to the methodological understanding of its
development. And in the third, the results of the research will be applied in the
new drawn product, resulting the research whether on the work, whether on the
convergence of both.
5 Conclusions
In this work, it has been done a revision of the internationally produced thinking and
the most pertinent results of the research in the design area. This contextual study
points its importance for the design methodology, as well as the scientific research.
The majority of the studies about design research, have been made based on the
post-world war II society demands. The scientific developments, during the war and
the lack of resources in the society of the time, demanded and gave an impulse to the
creation of new ways that allowed the resolution of the existing problems. These new
developments would come to contribute to deep alterations in the design teaching
and research.
Design would then be understood as a process and a systematic vision originated
from these alterations. Research in design, included the work of Horst Rittel, at
Ulm University, together with Bruce Archer. This was a second generation of design
methods that acknowledged the participants and the argument as parts of the process.
Rittel understood that the planning problems as “wicked problems”, given that while
science deals with tame problems, most life problems are inexorable. Bruce Archer
acknowledged the importance of education in design, in the general education, at
schools, for children, for all. “Design has its own things to know, ways of knowing
and ways to find them out” and conveyed the idea that science shouldn’t be imitated.
Progressively, it has been recognized that design should be understood in its own
terms. The typical research included a theoretical analysis about what design is, the
descriptive studies and participative methods.
Schon would take the way designers work as a starting point and recognized the
contribution of the professionals of this area, having researched the design cogni-
tion, especially in architecture. However, a split started to occur between the research
in architecture and in engineering. The typical research included a protocol analy-
sis (protocol studies Delft. 1976), parallel methods to design, product engineering
design and computer assisted methods. Comparing the numbers of official studies,
the remarkable events and activities in specific subjects, over time, there has been a
visible change in the design research activity focus. During the 60s and 70s, many
activities in the area of architecture and engineering were performed. Design studies
in mechanical engineering were more useful in the 80 s and more recently, software
and electronic design studies were developed.
The idea of research, directed to the practice, reflects the orientation of these
subjects to develop distinctive practices that explore their capacities and ways of
knowledge. The quick expansion of Ph.D. programs in design created the need to
84 M. J. Félix
form research units or groups that can publish and spread a growing volume of
work in the area. Until this moment, some of those works have contributed for the
development of new design practices, such as interaction design, sustainable design,
medial design, services design, organization design, universal design and develop-
ment design. Bruce Archer recognized, right away, the relation between two types of
research, one directly related with making things and the other, more concerned with
understanding, not only the things in itself, but also the environment in which they
are conceived, made and used. Archer was worried with the practice (praxeology,
modelling, technology and metrics), the understanding (taxonomy, history, axiology,
philosophy and epistemology) and teaching.
References
Archer B (1981) A view of the nature of the design research. In: Jacques R, Powell JA (eds) Design:
science: method. IPC Bussiness Press Ltd, Guilford, pp 30–47
Bayazit N (2004) Investigating design: a review of forty years of design research. Design Issues
20:16–29
Burr J, Andreason M (1989) Design models in mechatronic product development. Des Stud
10(3):155–162
Costa R (2005) Investigação em/por design, Tese de Mestrado em Arte e Comunicação. Faculdade
de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto, Porto
Costa R (2007) Estruturas Triangulares na Investigação em Design, Convergência na Dispersão.
Obtido de http://ria.ua.pt/bitstream/10773/6066/1/MONO_RuiCosta.pdf
Cross N (1982) Designerly ways of knowing. Design Stud 3(4):221–227
Cross N (1993) A history of design methodology. In: de Vries MJ, Cross N, Grant DP (eds) Design
methodology and relationships with science. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, pp 15–
27
Cross N (1999) Design research: a disciplined conversation. Des Issues 15(2):5–10
Dorst K (1997) Describing design: a comparison of paradigms. Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial
Design Enginnering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Downing F (1992) Conversations in imagery. Des Stud 13(3):291–31
Downton P (2003) Design research. RMIT University Press, Melbourne, Australia. ISBN:
0864592671
Findeli A (1999) Introduction. Des Issues 15(2)
Findeli A, Brouillet D, Martin S, Moineau C, Tarrago R (2008) Research through design and
transdiciplinarity: a tentative contribution to the methodology of design research. In: Swiss design
network symposium. Berne, Switzerland, pp 67–91
Frankel L, Racine M (2010) The complex field of research: for design, through design, and about
design. Obtained from www.designresearchsociety.org; http://www.designresearchsociety.org/
docs-procs/DRS2010/PDF/043.pdf
Frayling C (1993/1994). Research in art and design. Royal Coll Art Res Pap 1(1). ISBN 1874175551
Friedman K (2000) Creating design knowledge: form research into practice. In: IDATER (Interna-
tional conference on design and technology educational research and curriculum development),
Loughborough University, UK
Friedman K (2003) Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and methods. Des
Stud 24(6):507–522
Goldschmidt G (1995) The designer as a team of one. Des Stud 16(2):189–209
Janlert J, Stolterman E (1997) The character of things. Des Stud 18(3):297–317
Jonas W (2004) Obtido de Forschung durch Design, Vortrag gehalten beider Tagung des swiss design
network. Scweiz, Basel: http://8149.website.snafu.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/
2004_Basel.pdf
Laurel B, Lunenfeld P (2003) design research: methods and perspectives, Mediaeworks Pamphets
Series. MIT Press, Cambridge
Margolin V (1998) Design studies: proposal for a new doctorate. In: Heller S (ed) The education
of a graphic designer. Allworth Press, New York
Margolin V (2002) The politics of the artificial. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Margolin V (2010) Design research: towards a history. Design Research Society, International
Conference, Design & Complexity to be held, School of Industrial Design, Université de Montréal,
Montréal (Quebec), Canada, p 80
Picasso P (1985) Reprinted from The Arts, New York, May 1923. In: Goldwater R, Treves M (eds)
Artists on art. John Murray, London, pp 416–417
Polanyi M (1974) Personal knowledge. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Purcell T, Gero J (1996) Design and other types of fixation experimental. Des Stud 17(4):363–383
Roy R (1993) Case studies of creativity in innovative product development. Des Stud 14(4):423–443
Schneider B (2007) Design as practice, science and research. In: Michel R (ed) Design research
now, essays and selected projects. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Basel, pp 207–217
Schön D (1983) The reflective practitioner. Basic Books, New York
Schön D (1988) Designing rules, types and worlds. Des Stud 9(3):181–190
Silva FM (2010) Investigar em design versus investigar pela prática do design– um novo desafio
científico. Revista Ingepro, Inovação Gestão e Produção, pp 82–91
Simon H (1969) The sciences of the artificial, 1st edn. MIT Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0262190516
Simon H (1996) The sciences of the artificial, 3rd edn. MIT Press, Cambridge
Communication Design
Graphic Design as Visual Arguments:
Does This Make a Reliable Appraisal
Possible?
Karel van der Waarde
Abstract The article shows how assessments of graphic design can be made more
reliable when graphic design is approached as a visual argument. Each designed
object makes a claim that it is improving a situation thereby implicitly stating that
a current situation was not satisfactory. This article uses two warning pictograms
as examples to show how visual information can be assessed. The pictograms warn
against the risks of taking medicines while pregnant, and the potential affect of
medicines on driving cars. These pictograms claim that they warn effectively about
possible unwanted effects of a medicine. Toulmin’s diagram describes the relation
between a claim and its supporting evidence and reasons. An application of this
diagram to both pictograms shows that just assessing the claim is not sufficient, and
that it is necessary to question the available evidence and reasons too. At least six
different fields provides rules and principles that can be used to assess the evidence
and reasons. Designers, clients, legislation and standards, professional peers, peo-
ple/patients, and society can all legitimately assess the design of pictograms. One of
the major challenges for graphic design is to find relevant evidence and reasons, and
to consider these in such a way that a balance between the different fields is achieved.
Keywords Graphic design · Visual arguments · Warning pictograms
1 Assessing Graphic Design?
Due to the practical nature of the profession, it is hard to define exactly what graphic
design is. Practicing designers will give very different descriptions of their activities,
aims, and results (van der Waarde 2012). The shelves in a bookshop under the heading
of ‘graphic design’ show a similar variety. It is likely that there are books on corporate
identity, posters, pictograms, signage, typography, historical reviews, biographies of
designers, webdesign, and books on tattoos, streetsigns, and calligraphy. It is hard to
K. van der Waarde (B)

Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Graphic Design—Research, Solariumlaan 15, 1982 Elewijt, Belgium
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_7
90 K. van der Waarde
see what these topics have in common and why these are all classified under ‘graphic
design’. And it is not only the bookshops and practicing designers that define and
describe graphic design. Researchers, museum-staff, teachers, publishers, librarians,
job centers, and governments all have their own definitions and descriptions, and
there can be substantial differences within these groups.
It is surprising that most of these groups look mainly at the ‘designing’ of visual
information. The emphasis is on the ‘making’, which are the activities to design and
develop visual artefacts. The ‘interpretation’ of visual information receives much
less attention. A description of graphic design that relates both these areas could be:
‘graphic designers make information visual in such a way that the connections of a
client are enabled to notice, read, learn, consider, and act’.
Any new design claims that it will change an existing situation into a preferred
one. Inherently, any new design therefore criticizes the existing situation and makes
a claim that the suggested change is an improvement. Making such a claim requires
a form of an ‘argument’ in which the claim is motivated by comparing the existing
situation with a changed situation. Both the ‘designing’ as well as the ‘interpreting’
can be seen as an argument because both change towards a new situation. In other
words ‘graphic designers produce visual arguments for their clients’. Visual argu-
ments aim to verifiable change situations for both clients and people by enabling,
empowering, and equipping beholders to act (van der Waarde 2018).
Both sides, the ‘development of an argument’ and the ‘interpretation of an argu-
ment’, are essential to assess graphic design. The lack of clear boundaries and a clear
core of the graphic design profession makes it hard to discuss these assessments in
general, and it is therefore necessary to reduce the scope to a manageable topic.
2 Example: Two Medical Pictograms
Pictograms to inform patients about medicines provides a suitable example. A first

example warns against the risk of taking medicines while pregnant, and a second
example warns against the risk of a negative influence of medicines on driving
behaviour. Both pictograms appear on the outside of packaging for medicines that are
prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacist. These pictograms are mainly
used in Spain and France.
There is ample evidence of the negative consequences of the use of medicine
during pregnancy. And it is very clear that some medicines do influence driving
behaviour because they make patients drowsy and sleepy. However, it is not exactly
known how many people are affected in reality. Road accident statistics rarely record
‘medicine-use’ as a possible cause, and medicine use during pregnancy is usually
avoided as much as possible.
Example 1: Pregnancy warning In France, since October 17, 2017, two pictograms
draw attention to the risks related to the use of medicines during pregnancy. Figure 1
shows a ‘warning’ in a red triangle, and a ‘prohibition’ in a red circle with a diagonal
Graphic Design as Visual Arguments … 91
Fig. 1 Pictograms that appear on medicine packaging in France. Warning: ‘may influence’,
and prohibition: ‘don’t take’. Based on: https://servier.com/en/new-pictograms-for-drugs-that-may-
present-a-risk-during-pregnancy/
slash. Figure 2 shows four alternative pictograms that are used in different types of
patient information, but these do not appear on the outside of medicine boxes.
The pictograms in Figs. 1 and 2 show a range of approaches to indicate ‘a preg-
nant woman’ and ‘do not’. A pregnant woman is illustrated in profile because this
perspective is most characteristic. This can be visualized as an outline (Fig. 2a, c,
d) or as a solid form (Figs. 1 and 2b). The ‘do not’ instruction shows even more
variety: a diagonal red line (Figs. 1 and Fig. 2b), a diagonal grey line (Fig. 2d), a red
cross in a circle (Fig. 2a), and a black cross through a face taking a tablet (Fig. 2c).
The outer shapes also vary substantially: a red triangle, a red circle, an orange circle,
and a black square in a variation of line-thicknesses. Only one pictogram (Fig. 2c)
is supplemented by a text ‘Do not take if pregnant’.
Example 2: Driving warning A second example is a pictogram that indicates that

‘this medicine might impair your driving’. The French health authorities have made
the visual information in Fig. 3 obligatory in 1999 (AFSSAPS 2005).
The colour coding of the pictograms indicates the level of severity. There is a
visual inconsistency here too. The triangular shape of the pictogram in Fig. 3 on
Fig. 2 Alternative symbols or pictograms for ‘Do not take during pregnancy’. These are not used
on medicine packaging. Based on: a https://www.apotheek.nl/kunt-u-dat-even-uitleggen/beelden,
b https://www.iso.org/obp/ui#iso:grs:7010:P042, c https://www.usp.org/health-quality-safety/usp-
pictograms, d http://www.bijsluiterinbeeld.nl/
Fig. 3 A three-step approach that is obligatory in France
Fig. 4 A visual warning on medicine indicating that ‘this medicine might impair your driving’
niveau 3 implies that these are warnings, indicating that the use of a medicine ‘may
influence’. This seems to be in conflict with the accompanying text which states it is
a prohibition: ‘do not drive’.
The pictogram in Fig. 4 is legally obligatory since 2011 in Spain (AEMPS 2012).
An experimental study (N = 1385) showed that “85.7%, correctly related the symbol
with the possible effects of the medicine on driving” (Fierro et al. 2013, p. 1059).
The Druid project (EMCDDA 2012) investigated the use of pictograms in warn-
ings for driving. These pictograms have been evaluated in a study with 270 drivers
and concluded that ‘pictograms can be seen as a valuable means to reinforce both
written and spoken information given to patients by health care providers at the
time of consultation’ (Monteiro et al. 2012). The visual inconsistency of the French
pictograms in Fig. 3 is avoided here by colour coding the ‘level of risk’, and not by
differentiating between ‘a warning’ and ‘prohibition’ (Fig. 5).
The literature on medical pictograms provides a range of reasons to use pictograms
(van Beusekom et al. 2018). The main reasons are that pictograms are faster to
interpret than words, that they are language independent, and that they are more
visually salient and therefore attract attention. The consistent use of these pictograms
since 1999 (Driving) and 2017 (Pregnancy) also seems to suggest that pictograms
are an effective way to inform and warn patients.
These pictograms were designed to change a situation in which patients were
insufficiently warned against the risks into a situation in which patients are sufficiently
warned. The existence of these pictograms on medicine boxes makes a claim that
the addition of pictograms at least amplify the spoken warnings of doctors and
pharmacists, and could in optimal circumstances reduce or prevent the risks.
The selection of these two pictograms as examples makes it possible to formulate
a question about the assessment of graphic design on a more feasible scale: ‘Which
evidence is needed to show that these two pictograms effectively warn about possible
Fig. 5 A rating that shows

‘your risk in traffic’. This
visual was most effective in
an experiment (N = 1006)
because it provided good
insight into the different
levels of driving risks
(EMCDDA 2012, p. 30).
This is not (yet) used on
medicine packaging
unwanted effects of a medicine?’ Or, in other words, ‘could the claim that these
pictograms make be correct?’
And this brings us back to the inconclusive definition of graphic design activities
and results. If the focus of the assessment is solely on the development of the visual
results, the discussion leads to topics like the illustrations, the colours, the shapes,
and the line-thicknesses of the pictograms. If the focus expands to include the inter-
pretation and actual effects of these pictograms, a different approach is required.
3 Do Graphic Designers Really Develop Visual Arguments?
In order to discuss this claim about the example pictograms, it is necessary to have a
look at the kind of evidence that is required. Stephen Toulmin (1922–2009) published
in 1958 five essays in ‘The Uses of Argument’. The third essay is on ‘the layout of
arguments’ and discusses the relation between ‘claims’ and ‘evidence’ (Toulmin
1958). In this essay, Toulmin related the components of an argument in a diagram
(Fig. 6) where the Claim (C) directly follows from the evidence or Data (D).
Applying the structure of this diagram to both medical pictograms, the argument
seems to develop like this:
Fig. 6 Toulmin’s diagram

showing the relation between
components of an argument
Claim (C): The claim C is ‘Pictograms are effective to warn pregnant women and
car drivers about possible unwanted effects of a medicine’.
In order to make this claim, it is necessary to provide some form of data that
supports this claim.
Data (D): Evidence suggests that current warnings are not sufficiently adhered
to. This leads to high risk events in traffic and pregnancy, and it is
therefore necessary to give additional visual warnings to patients to
augment this message.
Qualifier (Q): The claim needs to be qualified to limit the scope because it is unlikely
that this claim is applicable in all circumstances and in all con-
texts. The pictograms only warn for two events, and appear only
on medicine packaging in France and Spain.
Warrant (W): A warrant provides a reason why evidence (data) is relevant to the
claim by providing ‘general rules and principles’. In this example,
it is in general important to warn patients about the risks of taking
medicines to avoid further harm. And in general, people understand
pictograms easier and faster than words. Pictograms are furthermore
language independent which makes them easier to interpret for non-
native speakers and for people who have difficulties reading texts.
These general principles might be questioned because they are based on a com-
bination of assumptions. Asking why the warrants are selected leads to a—usually
implied—authority that can provide a backing.
Backing (B): The rules and principles are backed by an authority. For pictograms,
there are several types of backing, as we will see later.
Rebuttal (R): The rebuttal considers the conditions of exceptions in which the claim
cannot be correct. Example of rebuttals are: ‘Why are these pic-
tograms only used in France and Spain?’, ‘Are there more effective
alternatives to warn patients?’ and ‘Are we sure that additional warn-
ings are more effective than for example selecting another medicine
that does not have these effects?’.
The question ‘Which evidence is needed to show that these two pictograms effec-
tively warn about possible unwanted effects of a medicine?’ can now be formulated
even more specifically by asking: ‘on which rules and principles (W) is this evidence
based, and which authorities (B) back this?’
The application of Toulmin’s diagram might seem as an unnecessary complication.
The question could simply be answered by interviewing designers and their clients,
and by observing and interviewing patients who might be at risk, or patients who took
the risk. But this straightforward approach would not provide a complete picture of
the context in which graphic design needs to be assessed. It would not do justice to the
complexity of the situations in which both pictograms are designed and interpreted.
4 Who Can Assess the Quality of Visual Communication

Design?
Until here, the text has mentioned ‘designers of pictograms’, ‘clients’ (pharmaceuti-
cal industry), and ‘patients’ (pregnant women and car drivers). It has also mentioned
‘French, Spanish, and European legislation’. In addition, there are the views of a
professional disciplines, and of a society. Each of these six fields has a specific per-
spective on the effectivity of both pictograms. Each considers specific evidence to
evaluate the claim and assess the graphic design of the pictograms. And, according to
Toulmin, each field refers to specific backing authorities (B) that provide a basis for
specific rules and principles (W). As Toulmin stated: “The kind of backing we must
point to if we are to establish its authority will change greatly as we move from one
field of argument to another.” (Toulmin 1958, p. 96). This idea of ‘field-dependence’
in arguments is recently developed further into a more practical approach (Jackson
and Schneider 2018). The six fields below are based on this approach, and start from
the idea that the assessment of claims in arguments is based on different fields that
are related, but are independent from each other.
Field 1. Design: The Visual Qualities

The visual qualities of two example pictograms vary substantially. The motivations
and reasons for design decisions related to the pictures of pregnant women and
a car, the colours, the line-thicknesses, and the ways to visualize ‘don’t’ remain
unknown. However, there must have been a designer who has carefully considered
these visual variables, and considered design criteria like aesthetics and originality.
Furthermore, the practical use of these pictograms shows that the evidence that the
designers provided must have convincing enough for clients to accept and use both
pictograms.
Field 2. Client: Commercial and Strategic Qualities

The pictograms were commissioned by a pharmaceutical industry, governmental
institute, and a research organization. They aim to make sure pregnant women will
not take particular medicines because it is safer for mother and baby. The driving
pictograms might increase road safety. These considerations are based on the idea
that both governments and pharmaceutical industry must cooperate in their longer
term strategy related to the safety of patients. A more cynical view is that the use of
these pictograms mainly aims to reduce the risk of liability claims. The commercial
benefits and risks of the use of these pictograms on medicine packaging have been
carefully considered.
Field 3: Standards and Legislation: The Legal Qualities

The European legislation specifically mentions ‘pictograms’ in relation to health
education. The legislation states: ‘The outer packaging and the package leaflet
may include symbols or pictograms to clarify certain information …’ (Directive
2001/83/EC, 2001; Article 62). France and Spain have applied this legislation and
have added pictograms. Apart from the legislation, there are also standards for the
design and evaluation of pictograms by the International Standards Organization
(ISO). For example, there is a standard for designing symbols (ISO 22727), and
there are three standards for testing symbols (ISO 9186). If the same pictograms are
used on a screen, which is highly likely, the accessibility standards of the World-
WideWeb Consortium (W3C) will apply too. Adhering to legislation, and following
international standards increases the likelihood that the warnings are effective.
Field 4: Professional Discipline: The Professional Qualities.

The disciplinary considerations look at the acceptability of approaches that are under-
lying professional practice and its education. Medical disciplines aim to ‘do no
harm’, and use ‘evidence based practice’ that is disseminated through academic pub-
lications, research reports, and protocols. Design disciplines aim to promote good
design through ‘best practice’, design awards, and endorsing the ‘best examples’ in
trade-magazines, annuals, and on websites.
Field 5: Users: Usability, Applicability, Understandability

The fifth field that could examine the validity of the claim are the users (people,
beholders, patients) of these pictograms. Especially pregnant women and car drivers
need to be able to recognize the illustration (‘what is depicted?’), and correctly
interpret its intention (‘what does it mean?’). These users decide if these pictograms
are noticeable, understandable, and relevant in their personal context. Whether people
actually decide to follow or ignore these warnings remains to be investigated.
Field 6: Society: Long Term Benefits and Sustainability

The sixth field relates to the expectations and requirements of a society. Do pregnant
women, which is a relatively small group, and car drivers, which is a substantial group,
warrant this additional warning on the tight space of a medicine packaging? How do
male patients who do not drive a car react? What is further unknown at the moment is
the effect of these pictograms on the costs of healthcare. For example, doctors cannot
know what a specific medicine package looks like. And pregnant women can only see
the ‘pregnancy pictogram’ after they have collected their medicines from a pharmacy.
This collection can only occur after a consultation with a doctor who prescribed the
medicine. If pregnancy was discussed during a consultation, than the pictogram will
cause a conflict between the advice of the doctor (‘take it’), and the warning on
the packaging (‘don’t’ take it’). This could lead to additional consultations, and an
increased insecurity about the risks of a medicine.
Each of these six fields considers different kinds of evidence to assess if ‘pic-
tograms are effective to warn pregnant women and car drivers about possible
unwanted effects of a medicine’.
5 Discussion: Applying Toulmin’s Diagram to Visual

Design Assessments
This discussion brings the three previous sections together. In order to assess graphic
design, it was necessary to take three steps:
– choose examples to reduce the scope of the discussion to manageable dimensions
(=focus on two pictograms);
– select an approach to assess these two pictograms (=Toulmin’s diagram of argu-
ment components);
– determine the different fields that are able to provide assessments (=field dependent
arguments)
Based on these three steps, it is now possible to determine the ‘general rules and
principles’ in each of these fields, and describe on which authority these rules and
principles are based. Toulmin called these ‘warrant’ and ‘backing’.
This suggests that each of the six fields discussed in Sect. 4 needs different types
of evidence, and that they use different warrants and backing. Table 1 shows the
kinds of evidence that could be provided to support a claim in six different fields.
According to Toulmin these backing (B) and warrants (W) are essential to validate
the relation between data and claim in each field. This means that it is now possible
to describe which evidence is required to support the claim ‘pictograms are helpful
to warn against two specific risks’ in each of the six fields.
Assessing design evidence. A pictogram can be seen as successful if the design
is based on the expertise of a designer or a design-studio, it seems functional, it
is aesthetically correct and original, and fulfills the brief of the client. The general
principle (W) is that designers have a professional training and experience to consider
a combination of requirements within financial and time-limitations of a client. This
is backed (B) by the premise that designers have professional expertise, and apply
Table 1 The relations between field, backing, warrant, and evidence

Field Backing (B): authority Warrant (W) general Evidence, data (D)
rules and principles
1. Design Individual expertise, Designers have Experience, opinion
design methods and professional
process experience and ability
to design specific
visual information
2. Client Economic structure Specific commercial Financial monitoring
interests
3. Law/standards Legal structure, Specific legislation Compliance, approval
internationalization and standards
4. Discipline Disciplinary Promote best practice Empirical evidence
boundaries and
activities
5. Users Human centered User centered design Benchmarking,
monitoring,
observations, user
interviews, empirical
evidence
6. Society Long term survival Sustainability, Empirical evidence
ecological, social
inclusion. Cultural
design methods and design processes to develop an acceptable—but hopefully an

extraordinary—visual proposal. The claim gets stronger if the designer increases
experience, expert skills, and specialist knowledge.
Assessing financial evidence. A pictogram can be seen as successful if it was
delivered on time and within a budget, and it fits into a longer strategy of the client.
For both the pregnancy as well as the driving pictogram, the aim – apart from the legal
obligation—is to show that the pharmaceutical industry cares and warns patients. The
longer term aim is to reduce the number of patients who take risks during pregnancy
or while driving. The general principle (W) is commercial because ‘not warning’
might lead to a reduction in sales if patients claim that a medicine has caused harm.
The underlying principle (B) is the economic structure in which pharmaceutical
industries produce and sell their products. The claim gets stronger if financial data
can be provided that indicates potential costs and profits.
Assessing legal evidence and standards adherence. A pictogram can be seen
as successful if it is developed according to the method described in ISO-standards
and fulfills the legal requirements. The general principle (W) is that it is simply
an obligation to adhere to relevant legislation and that following legislation and
standards makes pictograms internationally acceptable. The legal system and inter-
national standards provide the backing (B) of these general principles. The claim
gets stronger if a pictogram conforms to legislation and standards.
Assessing disciplinary evidence. There are several different disciplines involved

in the assessment of pictograms. From the design discipline, a pictogram can be seen
as successful if it wins awards, is shown at conferences, is published in trade journals,
and if it generates more work. In a medical discipline, a pictogram is successful if
it proves to be effective in a treatment which might lead to inclusion in protocols
and best practice guidelines. The general principle (W) depends on disciplinary
characteristics, but the backing (B) is likely a need to develop a discipline through
best practice and education. The disciplinary claim therefore gets stronger if it helps
to develop a professional discipline.
Assessing evidence of successful use. A pictogram can be seen as successful if
it enables individual patients to make appropriate decisions and are able to act in the
most beneficial manner. There is experimental evidence from two studies that people
are able to interpret the ‘driving pictogram’ correctly, but it is by no means certain
that all patients will actually adhere to the warnings. The general principle (W) is that
the design must be ‘user centered’. The backing (B) is provided by a human-centered
approach that focus on the activities and behaviour of people. A claim gets stronger
if empirical data about the reactions of different people are available and there is
some proof that it is ‘not excluding’ particular groups.
Assessing societal evidence. A pictogram can be seen as successful if it benefits
a society in any way. This can be financial by reducing healthcare costs through the
prevention of extra costs, ecological by reducing waste and energy consumption,
inclusivity by not excluding particular groups, and so on. A claim gets stronger if
it really reduces the number of people who drive a car after taking medicines that
affect driving behaviour, and if it really reduces the number of women who take
medicines during pregnancy. The general principle (W) are related to the rules that
keep a society going, which are based (B) on the need for a long term survival. These
criteria can only be monitored over a longer period of time.
The description of the general principles and rules (W) and their backing (B) on
which authority these rules are based shows that each of these six fields requires
different kinds of evidence to assess a claim. The evidence can come from per-
sonal experience, benchmark studies, observations, empirical studies, legal approval,
adherence to standards, and user interviews. It is unlikely that different fields accept
evidence from other fields without a thorough discussion.
The application of Toulmin’s model, and especially a consideration of the warrants
and backing, shows that it is necessary to consider evidence in at least six fields to
assess if a claim is correct. Focusing on a single field, and accepting the evidence in
a single field only, could lead to an incorrect acceptance or rejection of a claim. The
evidence that supports the use of the two example pictograms remains scattered and
is inconclusive in several fields.
6 Conclusions
This article provides an overview of the criteria that can be used to assess examples
of visual information. The design of visual information always makes a claim that
the newly designed artefact is part of a beneficial change when compared to the
existing situation. However, in order to make this claim, it is essential to support
this claim by evidence and reasons. This approach is based on Toulmin’s diagram
of the components of an argument that shows the relation between ‘a claim’ and ‘its
supporting evidence’. Two medical pictograms were used as examples to discuss how
‘a claim’ and ‘its supporting evidence’ are related. The claim is that ‘Pictograms are
effective to warn pregnant women and car drivers about possible unwanted effects of
a medicine.’ It turns out that there are at least six independent fields that can assess
a claim. Each of these fields require specific forms of evidence and each field is
unlikely to accept the evidence of other fields. In order to design visual information,
and claim that the result is effective, it is therefore essential to consider and provide
at least six different kinds of evidence to suit the expectations and criteria of each of
these six fields.
This article is based on the following assumptions, and it is clear that each of
these could be challenged:
– Graphic design as an activity can be seen as ‘developing a visual argument’. This
might not be true for all activities of all graphic designers.
– Both pictograms are examples of graphic design. It is not sure if both example
pictograms are designed by professionals, and it could therefore be possible that
the wrong examples are selected.
– Evidence based decisions are preferable above decisions based on irrational unsub-
stantiated fear-rooted gut-feelings.
However, it is likely that these three assumptions are correct for at least a substan-
tial part of graphic design practice. The main benefit of this approach is that it shows
the necessity to provide reasons, evidence, and data to support claims in at least six
fields. The application of Toulmin’s model reveals different backing authorities on
which assessments are based. These are related to fields of design, finances, law,
disciplinary practice, user-centered, and society.
This approach has two consequences for graphic designers. It becomes necessary
to provide evidence in different fields to support a claim. The difficulty is in finding
the balance between the expectations of the different fields, and providing reliable
evidence for each of them.
The analysis of visual arguments also shows the complexity of the assessment of
two fairly simple pictograms that have clear aims. The actual influence on behaviour
of car drivers and pregnant women is unknown, and it is unlikely that any change in
behaviour could be directly linked to pictograms on medicine packaging. However,
the benefits of these pictograms might be in any of the other fields. Each field could
reliably assess the benefits and risks of developing and interpreting pictograms.
References
Publications
AEMPS (Agencia Espãnola de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios) (2012) Medicamentos y

Conducción. https://www.aemps.gob.es/industria/etiquetado/conduccion/pictograma.htm
AFSSAPS (Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé) (2005) Informations sur
les médicaments et la conduite automobile. https://www.ansm.sante.fr/var/ansm_site/storage/
original/application/36fd6bd36152361b7a426456edabffce.pdf
Directive 2001/83/EC (2001) Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use. Off
J Eur Commun L 311/67
EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) (2012) Driving under
the influence of drugs, alcohol and medicines in Europe—findings from the DRUID project.
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. https://doi.org/10.2810/74023
Fierro I, Gómez-Talegón T, Alvarez FJ (2013) The Spanish pictogram on medicines and driving:
the population’s comprehension of and attitudes towards its use on medication packaging. Accid
Anal Prev 50:1056–1061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.08.009
ISO 9186 (International Standard Organisation) (2014) Graphical symbols. ISO, Geneva
ISO 22727 (International Standard Organisation) (2007) Graphical symbols—creation and design
of public information symbols—requirements. ISO, Geneva
Jackson S, Schneider J (2018) Cochrane review as a ‘Warranting Device’ for reasoning about health.
Argumentation 32:241–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-017-9440-z
Monteiro SP, van Dijk L, Verstraete AG, Alvarez FJ, Heissing M, de Gier JJ (2012) Predictors for
patient knowledge and reported behaviour regarding driving under the influence of medicines: a
multi-country survey. BMC Public Health 12:59. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-59
Toulmin SE (1958[2003]) The uses of argument. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
van Beusekom MM, Kerkhoven AH, Bos MJW, Guchelaar Henk-Jan, van den Broek JM (2018)
The extent and effects of patient involvement in pictogram design for written drug information: a
short systematic review. Drug Discov Today 23(6):1312–1318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.
2018.05.013
van der Waarde K (2012) Communication design education: could nine reflections be sufficient?
In: Poggenpohl S (ed) Special issue of Visible language on ‘Envisioning a future of Design
education’, vol 46(1/2), pp 8–35
van der Waarde K (2018) Research and design watch: a personal view. Inform Des J 24(1):80–84
W3C (2008) Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. https://www.w3.org/
Communication Design and Space
Narratives
Maria Luísa Costa and Inês Amaral
Abstract The experience with space is achieved through projects developed accord-
ing to a design perspective. In addition to collaborating on the creation of spatial
narratives by promoting the experience, the design also acts in the sense of enhanc-
ing accessibility in both the physical and cognitive domain. Wayfinding systems as
well as informational technological systems are informative elements that commu-
nicate with citizens, fostering experiences of greater accessibility and the creation
of social space. This paper discusses the concept of space from its social dimension,
questioning on how spatial narratives, places, and paths can create individual or col-
lective experiences within urban space through Communication Design by the use
of technology.
Keywords Communication design · Wayfinding systems · Spatial narratives ·

Georeferencing systems · Augmented reality
1 Introduction
The growth of cities manifests itself as a historical trend and particularly intense since
the nineteenth century, due to the progressive conversion of the rural population into
an urban population. Data published by the United Nations (UN) in 2008 prove the
growth of cities and reflect the choices of individuals. A study by the Population
Division of the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs indicates that the
M. L. Costa (B)
Centro de Investigação em Arquitetura, Urbanismo e Design, Universidade de Lisboa, Pólo
Universitário, Rua Sá Nogueira, Alto da Ajuda, 1349-063 Lisbon, Portugal
Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Largo da Cruz de Celas nº 1, 3000-132 Coimbra, Portugal
I. Amaral
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, Largo da Porta Férrea,
3004-530 Coimbra, Portugal
Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar,
4710-057 Braga, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_8
104 M. L. Costa and I. Amaral
world’s population living in cities will double from 3300 million in 2007 to 6400
million in 2050. In 2008, for the first time in the history of Humanity, more than half
the inhabitants of the planet lived in cities.
Combining the tendency of growth to the problematic of the hegemony of the city,
it is confirmed the true protagonism that assumes the contemporary urban space and
the necessity of an adequate communication that allows all the citizens to live and to
experience the city in its fullness. The cities grew and evolved according to the citizens
who inhabit it, as well as social and cultural needs of each era. These multi-layered
structures prevail visible in each city, and it is possible to glimpse in these layers the
stories and memories of the citizens who were successively inhabiting them, revealing
and expressing the cities through this plurality and collective experiences. The public
space of cities reflects their reality, their originality, the life and the character of
the citizens, that is, what can differentiate it from the others, the reason why it is
essential that the cities potentiate their public space, through a close connection,
communicating and promoting access.
City and Design are keywords of contemporaneity with exponential growth from
the Industrial Revolution. Cities are growing and increasingly influencing people’s
culture. Design becomes omnipresent in everyday life, and at each moment new needs
and areas of intervention are identified for this disciplinary area. The importance of
Communication Design in the city context manifests itself in the readability of the
city itself, as well as in its communication and projection. The designer should act as
a mediator facilitating the interaction and communication of the city and in the city.
Contemporary discourses emphasize the role of design and its transformative action
in the production of social consciousness.
Communication Design can intervene in space to provide experiences of fruition
of this through wayfinding systems, which potentiate new experiences, mediation of
social practices and the creation of places. If the function of wayfinding is orientation,
its use leads to paths and the production of anthropological places (Augé 1994).
However, the construction of spatial narratives and places through Communication
Design can be increased with the use of technology. This chapter explores the concept
of space from its social dimension and reflects on how spatial narratives, places, and
paths create individual or collective experiences through Communication Design
using technology.
2 Social Dimension of Space
The end of the project of colonialism and the beginning of the urban revolution has
made it evident that it is not only a question of the built environment but of having a
critical concept of space in order to understand its social dimension. Lefebvre (1995)
claimed that there is only social space because there is no emptiness waiting to be
filled. The author argued that it does not make sense to consider a preexisting space
for social practices. Therefore, “the dichotomy space produced versus created space
can be analyzed from power relations and their spatial echo” (Costa et al. 2019).
Communication Design and Space Narratives 105
Lefebvre’s unit theory of space (Augé 1994) argued that the natural space is
disappearing and societies produce their specific social space. Hence, reproductive,
production and symbolic relations are evidenced in a triad of space: (i). Spatial prac-
tices: “The spatial practice of a society secretes that society’s space; it propounds
and presupposes it, in a dialectical interaction” (Lefebvre 1991); (ii). Representa-
tions of space: “Conceptualized space, the space of scientists, planners, urbanists,
technocratic subdividers and social engineers, as of a certain type of artist with sci-
entific bent – all of whom identify what is lived and what is perceived with what is
conceived” (Lefebvre 1991); (iii). Representational spaces: “Space as directly lived
through its associated images and symbols, and hence the space of ‘inhabitants’
and ‘users’” (Lefebvre 1991). The triad proposed by Lefebvre (1991) allows distin-
guishing produced space (reproducible space and that is a product) of created space
(collective and continuous work).
The social space derives from social practices, symbolism, and reproductive and
production relations (Lefebvre 1995). The daily social practices challenge the rep-
resentational spaces, allowing sociological evolutions of spaces through constructed
environments that derive from emergent forms of urbanity (de Certeau 1984). There-
fore, social practices structure the determining conditions of social life. Conse-
quently, the interpretation of space production stems from the circuit of discourses,
practices, and social relations.
The relations of micro-power (Foucault 1984) that establish themselves in the
social space construct spatial narratives that individualize places. Places and non-
places are a dominant note of the contemporary social space (Augé 1994). Contempo-
rary social and cultural practices unfold from the perspective of trends: a plethora of
events and spaces and the individualization of references. The organization and con-
stitution of places are modalities of collective and individual practices. Non-places
are not symbolized and create a unique and non-relational identity, being empty of
affectivity and, therefore, identified as spaces of passage (Augé 1994).
Augé approaches a reformulation of the notion of space and proposes an anthro-
pology of ‘over modernity’, opening horizons beyond what the author considers to be
a kind of ‘ethnology of solitude’ (Augé 1994). ‘Over modernity’ results from a world
of excesses in terms of time, space and individualization. In the ‘over modernity’,
circulation, communication and consumption prevail. This argumentation focuses
on the premise of content and identity as elements both social and spatial. There-
fore, contemporary social and cultural practices unfold in a perspective of trends: the
superabundance of events and spaces and the individualization of references. In his
theory, Augé (1994) differentiates space of place. The first has a more abstract and,
therefore, more comprehensive definition: space is the notion of extension/distance
between two points. The anthropological place generates identity, is associated with
culture located in space and time, and reveals a construction with objectives and
the relationships that individuals maintain with them. Augé’s (1994) approach pre-
supposes a multiplicity of spaces where places and non-places are distinguished,
which take on the whole as contemporary spaces of circulation, communication and
consumption. According to Augé (1994), the organization and constitution of places
are modalities of collective and individual practices, for which the author states “the
anthropological space is both a principle of meaning for those who inhabit it and a
principle of intelligibility for those who observe it” (Augé 1994). Non-places are not
symbolized and create a unique and non-relational identity, being empty of affective
relationship and, therefore, identified as spaces of passage. In the traditional sense,
a place is a space that can be occupied. Non-places correspond to spaces whose
function is to enunciate potential routes to a given destination.
Lemos (2010) argues that “places are a result of negotiations among territories.
Today, new senses of places emerge from these new layers of territories” (Lemos
2010). The author considers that “space is constituted by places that are created by
inside territories in an endless process of mutual influences, horizontal and vertical
(inside each category and among them). Today we have to take into account a new
form of territory in contemporary societies: the digital, informational one. Every ter-
ritory is a place of social control of borders, of informational exercise of surveillance
and violence. The territoriality is a ‘cultural artefact’ that shapes social relations and
our relationship with the material and symbolic world. We are always immersed
in territorial layers (subjectivity, physical, cultural, political, economic), and these
layers constitute places” (Lemos 2010).
Lemos’s perspective does not focus on the idea of the end of places or non-places
(Augé 1994), but rather on the creation of “new senses of places, territories, mobility,
and community” (Lemos 2010). It follows that the spaces are created by territorial
dynamics and, accordingly, are “production of social meaning (emotional, historical,
cultural, political, imaginary)” (Lemos 2010). It is on the basis of this assumption
that the author argued: “space is a vacuum, place is produced” (Lemos 2010).
The emergent forms of urbanity that are produced and reproduced by design
projects in the built environment are elements of communication that foster networks
of significance and meaning sketched by subjects who draw their own subjectivity.
The way each citizen relates to the city is different. The dynamics of contemporaneity,
mobility and mutation are processes that will build citizenship, in micro and macro
scales, in a discourse in which “I” and “Other” are a continuum in alternation. The city
can be interpreted as a portrait of mental and symbolic maps that reflect a different
way of appropriating the same space depending on the presence of individuals and
the relationships between them (Costa and Amaral 2018). Public space, rather than
the emptiness between buildings, is the place where the citizen feels and lives the
city in what is most genuine (Costa et al. 2019). The public space is the place of
construction of multiple memories and spatial narratives grounded in experiences
both individual and collective (Costa and Amaral 2018).
3 Connecting People to Space
Wayfinding systems are informative elements that communicate with citizens, foster-
ing experiences of greater accessibility in the public space. Mollerup (2005) considers
that wayfinding systems intended for ‘wayfinders’, which it defines as being people
walking or cycling, and whose objective is to find a specific place. The function
of wayfinding systems is to enable people to complete their journeys successfully.

According to the author (Mollerup 2005), finding and showing the way are activi-
ties as old as Humanity itself, asserting wayfinding systems as a means to solve a
problem.
This ancestral need is inscribed in our symbolic and oneiric universe. Examples
are manifested from Greek mythology where Ariadne, through the wire delivering
Theseus, finds the possibility of this finding the way out of the maze; or in children’s
stories such as of the brothers Grimm “Hansel and Gretel”, and in which Hansel
marks the way to be able to return home.
The study of wayfinding systems, and the areas directly related to them such
as typographic readability, color perception, systems for the blind, among others
promoted the development of cognitive sciences (Berger 2009). It is common to
confuse signage with wayfinding. Signage is effectively part of a wayfinding system,
but this covers many more areas, such as architecture, landscaping, lighting, signage
and information systems being only part of the wayfinding. Over time, wayfinding
systems have undergone significant changes due to social and cultural needs, which
are interconnected with the means available and technological evolution. The need
to show and make accessible paths has increased, with wayfinding systems essential
in the face of population growth, urban growth and the need to access increasingly
complex spaces.
Lynch (1960) uses for the first time the term ‘wayfinding’ in his book the “Image of
the City” and relates to the process of forming a mental picture of one’s surroundings
based on sensation and memory. It is also in this perspective that Passini (1996) states
that the wayfinding concept integrates the notion of spatial orientation, which means
the psycho-ability of a person to mentally represent the spatial characteristics of a
given environment and to stand within that representation.
Thus, the wayfinding consists of a comprehensive concept that incorporates the
notion of spatial representations, being “composed of three interrelated processes:
(1) decision making and the development of decision plans also called action plans:
(2) decision execution, transforming decision plans into behavior at the right time
and place along a route: and (3) information processing, comprising environmental
perception and cognition which provide the person with the information necessary
for the two decision-related processes” (Passini 1996).
The need for in-depth study of wayfinding systems led in the 1970s to the creation
of the Society of Environmental Graphic Design (Gibson 2009). The name of this
association has been changing over the years reflecting the changing paradigms of
society. Today, in a society where experience is prioritized, the association is called
the Society for Experiential Graphic Design, self-describing itself as a community
that connects people and places by way of planning, designing and building experi-
ences.
The wayfinding is a set of processes and methods that enable information to
physical movement of a point to another and wherein like elements architecture, the
surrounding space, the lighting art and technology assume leading roles. According
to Berger (2009), it consists of a set of activities that allow us to find the way to a
certain destination. Passini (1996) states “wayfinding design concerns all features
of the built environment which are related to the purposeful circulation of people
and their ability to mentally situate themselves in a setting. These design features
include spatial layouts, architectural features related to circulation and graphic dis-
plays including audible and tactile supports”. Rosa (2012) considers that wayfinding
systems allow the user to easily find their destination through the creation or use of
multiple visual, physical and sensorial resources. This connection to physical and
sensorial resources refers to the idea of experience and to the importance that it
assumes in contemporaneity.
These definitions echo the aforementioned Society for Experiential Graphic
Design, whose objectives are to create experiences that connect people with the place,
creating environments that improve the experience and make them more dynamic,
through technologies. Berger (2009) points out that future difficulties in the field of
space graphic design are difficult to predict, and it is almost guaranteed that designers
will need to embrace in their projects an even broader and improved set of transversal
capabilities where new spaces will be feasible through the blending of virtual reality,
cyberspace, and multiple intelligent materials.
The main means used in wayfinding systems usually consist of maps and sig-
nal systems, symbols and colors that indicate the direction of individuals. Progres-
sively these means integrate mobile applications and automatic identification sys-
tems, paving the way for new approaches in wayfinding systems, namely the use
of systems of georeferencing and Augmented Reality (AR). Amaral (2012) states
that digital is not disconnected from the so-called offline world. It will be rather an
intermediate space with presence simulations, through the realization of belonging
in digital environments and the development of new sociabilities without territory.
4 Technology and (New) Space Narratives
The rehabilitation of urban spaces has been one of the focus of design, making
it a responsible part of the creation of built environments that enhance political,
environmental, social, cultural and economic awareness. Communicating the city,
with its idiosyncrasies, is an integral part of the professional practice of design.
Therefore, the answer has been the development of information systems that allow
the spatial organizational fluidity and experiences of space enjoyment. Through the
systems of georeferencing and augmented reality, technology enables a reformulation
of social spaces and the creation of places of individual or collective experiences.
The influence of new technologies in public and private spheres of society has
given rise to a new social field and directly interferes with how citizens perceive and
relate to the city. In Bourdieu’s (2001) theory, field arises as a configuration of socially
distributed relations. According to the author, the field represents a symbolic space in
which mediation between social agents and society takes place. In this perspective,
the social field is a system of positions, which can be challenged and altered. It
follows that the fields are microcosms with their laws. Therefore, agent strategies are
determined by capital (cultural, social, economic, political) and the habitus (schemes
of perception, thought and action) of individuals. In this chapter, we adopt the concept
of the social field proposed by Bourdieu (2001), which refers us to symbolic social
spaces that follow from paths proposed by technological systems. These itineraries
also anchor in perceptions, identities and memories that compete for representations
of the social world through interaction with digital systems of spatial representation.
In digital spaces, the social dimension of shared construction of meanings and rep-
resentations replaces the physical place. The idea of territory is diluted in simulacra
of presence, feelings of belonging, permanence and own codes. Since the Internet
and digital spaces are eminently symbolic spaces, information and the context of
interaction are assumed as preponderant elements in the process of reformulation
of spatiotemporal notions (Gomes 2000) and spatial representations. Therefore, the
transformation of spaces into anthropological places results from processes of indi-
vidual and social cognition within the dynamics of the new forms of sociability that
result from the introduction of interactive technology in individual and collective
spatial narratives. It is therefore essential to understand that the scenario of the new
generation of digital devices in which the user is effectively proactive, using tools that
allow content sharing, worldwide dissemination and the association of users in the
context of networks of interests changes the perception of the user and encourages
the merger of this with the consumer (Amaral 2012).
The concepts of ‘user-generated content’ and ‘user-generated media’ make it pos-
sible to maximize the notion of participation on the Internet through the formation
of social networks of contents that are in permanent mutation, where social repre-
sentations are decontextualized, disaggregated and consumed collectively (Amaral
2012, 2016). In the context of this type of structures, semantics is essential for the
understanding of the development of new practices and, consequently, relationships
based on streaming of contents, drawn by appropriations of the technique. As Jones
postulated, “Computer-mediated communication, it seems, will do by way of elec-
tronic pathways what cement roads were unable to, namely, connect us rather than
atomize us, put us at the controls of a ‘vehicle’ and yet not detach us from the rest
of the world” (Jones 1997).
The technique, through the tools of communication, creates mechanisms of
interaction that, by themselves, are assumed as spaces of collective narratives and
shared social representations through georeferencing systems and content indexa-
tion through geotagging (Amaral 2016). The purposes of using semantic indexing
are varied. These practices refer to the formation of networks where information cir-
culates, and social connections are established. In our perspective, and adopting the
argument of Barata (1989), sociability is the result of all the interactions that occur
in the social field. In this sense, it concerns the form of social relations and sum-
marizes phenomena of interaction or the ability to found groups and build networks
supported in the ties between individuals (Ferréol 2007). Therefore, semantic index-
ing in systems of georeferentiation can be concretized in spontaneous and organized
sociability (Gurvitch 1986).
Georeferencing systems use geolocation applications that allow personalized local
search experience (Amaral 2014). Through a global positioning system (GPS), it is
possible to access interactive wayfinding systems or location-based social media
services applications. Foursquare and Swarm are two examples of location-based

social media service application. Facebook or Twitter, as social networking tools,
also allow georeferencing. These applications use “global positioning-system (GPS)
in mobile devices to generated locations and provides the list of places. ‘Check-in’
is the process of identifying the location where the user is” (Amaral 2014).
Geotagging can be defined as “the process of adding metadata with geographical
identification to content. It is also defined as a form of geospatial metadata” (Amaral
2015). Geotagging allows spatial indexing of content as it is a process of recognized
geographic locations which enhances the development of geographic databases, Web
resources, as well as multimedia content. This practice changes how the user interacts
with content and other users in the digital space. Applications and systems with
geotagging capabilities often add latitude and longitude coordinates, distance, and
place names to media content. The added data consist of textual and visual resources
(Amaral 2015).
As a communicational practice, wayfinding systems depend on sociocultural
needs and technologies. The use of maps becomes obsolete, and we hardly imagine
individuals moving by car, guided by a map in paper form, as well as with whom
one moves on foot. GPS systems have revolutionized the way we project into space
and move into space. Thus, maps have fallen into disuse making their reading and
interpretation increasingly difficult. This situation happens both with young people
who favor the use of technologies and by other age groups where lack of acuity
makes it impossible to read these maps.
The increasing ease with which individuals interact with mobile devices, the
enhancement of their capabilities, as well as all the resources available online, open
possibilities in the context of the creation of differentiated products for use in wayfind-
ing systems, emphasizing the Augmented Reality (AR).
AR provides interactive experiences that are so valued today in our society. AR
creates layers that overlap the ‘real’ world, allowing access to differentiated infor-
mation, more in-depth or more playful, depending on the goal to be achieved. The
addition of a layer of virtual information in the physical context can significantly
alter the way we understand the wayfinding systems and access to different infor-
mation. Many companies, such as Google, are already exploring this possibility. In
addition to finding a way, individuals can experience and experience spaces through
expositive content, immersive experiences using analogical media and multimedia
installations.
Although entirely different, concepts such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Vir-
tual Reality (VR), are somewhat connected, and there is some confusion among its
functionalities, which it is essential to clarify. VR creates a virtual and interactive
world, through which it can include the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. AR also
provides interactive experiences; however aims to be a supplement to the real world
rather than creating an artificial environment (Höllerer and Feiner 2004).
The use of AR in wayfinding systems consists of the provision of additional and
punctual information and can be used in reading paper maps to be used both in
outer and inner space, but without the need for a full immersion as will be necessary
in games or other immersive activities, the technology of which may prove to be

tiresome and damage to the health of users.
Azuma (1995, 1997) considers that the designation Virtual Environments is more
adequate than Virtual Reality, because it allows a more precise description of the
effects achieved. However, whether one term or another term is used, the difference
between VR and AR is in their treatment of the real world. Virtual Environments
completely replace the real world with a computer-generated synthetic environment
that completely immerse the user inside this environment Azuma (1997). In turn,
Augmented Reality adds virtual information to the ‘real’ world through user insight
and never replaces it. It follows allowing an intersection of the ‘real’ and virtual
worlds (Azuma 2017).
Azuma (2017) states that AR will succeed in the consumer market sooner if it
can establish new forms of media that users find compelling. Considering that AR
will make it possible to establish meaningful connections between the surrounding
real environment and virtual contents, generating experiences whose value results
precisely from this connection and not just from one of the worlds.
5 Conclusions
Georeferencing systems and augmented reality are intelligent and interactive systems
that allow users to interact with space through technological interfaces. These systems
individualize spatial experiences, foster new modalities of practices in space, and
recreate symbolic representations. The construction of individual or collective paths
within space allows the creation of new spatial narratives amplified by technology
and communication systems.
Identity, memory, and individual and collective experiences contribute to the con-
struction of spatial narratives through digital devices. These narratives can be indi-
vidual or collective and often become public and therefore shared through social
media. The same itinerary, which previously focused on individualistic logic, can
now be experienced through a collective narrative to which different people con-
tribute through the recording of their perception of space, materialized in data and
metadata. Hence, different forms of sociability arise that allow the construction of
collective narratives in which social bonds are established.
Individual narratives that enhance immersion and unique experiences enable the
construction of spatial representations that result from a mix between the perception
of the moment and the memories that give meaning to the symbols.
The issue of references and formatting of thought have been questionable elements
in the production of space in contemporary times. Urban design has even come to
be seen as a break with the past, enhancing emerging landscapes. Are we faced with
the emergence of abstract spaces, which enable representations and imaginations of
space in a reconfiguration of the relations of power and their materialization in space
practices?
We conclude that emerging forms of urbanity created by urban design for sus-
tainability, based on the question of “glocalization”, point to a perspective of new
structures of sociability that result from a spatialization endowed with multiple iden-
tities and memories. We assume as a premise Benjamin’s (2001) argument about
urban itineraries and collective memory to compete for new forms of sociability in
the contemporary urban world.
References
Amaral I (2012) Participação em rede: do utilizador ao “consumidor 2.0” e ao “prosumer” [Network

participation: from the user to the “consumer 2.0” and the “prosumer”]. Revista Comunicação e
Sociedade 22, 131–147
Amaral I (2014) Geotaging. In: Harvey K (ed) Encyclopedia of social media and politics, vol. 2.
Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, pp 574–575 (2014)
Amaral I (2015) Foursquare. In: Wherry FF, Golson JG (eds) The Sage encyclopedia of economics
and society, vol 2. Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, pp 727–728
Amaral I (2016) Redes Sociais: sociabilidades emergentes [Social Networks: emerging sociabili-
ties]. Editora LabCom.IFP, Covilhã
Augé M (1994) Não-Lugares: Introdução a uma Antropologia da Sobremodernidade [Non-
Locations: Introduction to an Anthropology of Overmodernity]. Bertrand Editora, Lisboa
Azuma R (1995) Predictive tracking for augmented reality. Ph.D. dissertation, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Computer Science
Azuma R (1997) A survey of augmented reality. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 6(4):355–
385
Azuma R (2017) Making augmented reality a reality. In: Proceedings of OSA Imaging and Applied
Optics Congress (2017)
Barata O (1989) Introdução às Ciências Sociais [Introduction to Social Sciences]. Bertrand Editora,
Venda Nova
Benjamin W (2001) Sociologia [Sociology]. São Paulo, Ática
Berger C (2009) Wayfinding: designing and implementing graphic navigational systems. Rockport
Publishers
Bourdieu P (2001) O poder simbólico [The symbolic power]. Difer, Lisboa
Costa ML, Amaral I (2018) Cidades e Sistemas Wayfinding. Convergências - Revista de Investigação
e Ensino das Artes XI(21) (2018)
Costa ML, Amaral I, Daniel F (2019) The contribution of information design to age-friendly cities:
s case study on Coimbra and public transport. In: Rebelo F, Soares MM (eds) AHFE 2018, AISC
777. Springer International Publishing AG, Berlin, pp. 485–496
de Certeau M (1984) The practice of everyday life. University of California Press, Berkeley
Ferréol G (2007) Sociologia: Léxico das Ciências Sociais [Sociology: Social Sciences Lexicon].
Porto Editora, Porto
Foucault M (1984) Space, knowledge and power. Foucault Reader 239(256)
Gibson D (2009) The wayfinding handbook: information design for public places. Princeton Archi-
tectural Press, Princeton
Gomes C (2000) Novos mapas culturais e o ciberespaço [New cultural maps and cyberspace]. Pas-
sados Recentes, Futuros Próximos, Universidade de Coimbra, Actas do IV Congresso Português
de Sociologia - Sociedade Portuguesa(2000)
Gurvitch G (1986) A vocação actual da Sociologia [The current vocation of Sociology]. Cosmos,
Lisboa
Höllerer T, Feiner S (2004) Mobile augmented reality. In: Karimi H, Hammad A (eds) Telegeoin-
formatics: location-based computing and services. Taylor and Francis Books, Boca Raton, pp
221–260(2004)
Jones S (1997) Virtual culture. Identity & communication in cybersociety. Sage Publications, Thou-
sand Oaks
Lefebvre H (1991) The production of space. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
Lefebvre H (1995) The right to the city. In: Lefebvre H, Kofman E, Lebas E (eds) Writings on cities.
Blackwell, Cambridge, pp 63–184
Lemos A (2010) Post − mass media functions, locative media, and informational territories: new
ways of thinking about territory, place, and mobility in contemporary society. Space Culture
13(4):403–420
Lynch K (1960) A Imagem da Cidade [The Image of the City]. Edições 70, Lisboa
Mollerup P (2005) Wayshowing: a guide to environmental signage. Lars Muller Publishers
Passini R (1996) Wayfinding design: logic, application and some thoughts on universality. Des Stud
17(3):319–331
Rosa C (2012) Informação Pictográfica – O universo dos pictogramas: Métodos e procedimentos de
design para obtenção de coerência formal [Pictographic Information - The universe of pictograms:
Design methods and procedures for obtaining formal coherence]. Ph.D. thesis, Faculdade de
Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (2012)
A City’s Cultural Heritage
Communication Through Design
Lourdes Pilay and Marco Neves
Abstract All objects, forms and patrimonial elements of cities are repositories of
graphic memory and history, which account for values and meanings of cultural iden-
tity of a territory to its inhabitants and to its visitors. By review of the main literature
and a case studies method, we characterize significant aspects of heritage buildings
which present by visual means, unnoticed information by most observers. This is
a descriptive and explanatory report, to verify common aspects. Design can take
advantage of this and use such visual elements to add value to contemplated objects
and to cultural interaction that emerges from them. Graphic design is presented as
a strategic tool which contributes to communication of these visual manifestations
which, in turn, constitutes material cultural heritage of a place. Therefore, this paper
approaches cultural heritage of a territory, as treated from the perspective of strategic
design and graphic design. Design acts both as an intermediate and interpreter that
gives meaning to information, so it can be transmitted to citizens.
Keywords Design · Cultural heritage · Strategic design · City
1 Introduction
Territories have groups of people who share customs, traditions, languages, believes,
systems and values, characteristics which, as a set encompass a common sense of
belonging to a place. At the same time, cities create and recreate types of visual
L. Pilay (B)
ESPOL, Polythecnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de
Arte, Diseño y Comunicación Audiovisual, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral,
P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador
M. Neves
CIAUD, Lisbon, School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063
Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_9
116 L. Pilay and M. Neves
and communicational languages that bring people close to their own characteriza-
tion of the environment. Buildings, murals, historic houses, streets, parks and crafts
amongst others are all part of a unique communication system, which is made to be
a conveyance method of cultural transference for the identity of those inhabiting and
those who observe the place.
Cultural heritage being both a tangible and intangible cultural expression must be
first construed by people to be acknowledged and then owned.
Having within its visual elements different manifestations of identity discourse,
how is this cultural heritage transmitted so that inhabitants can make it their own?
How does design influence cultural heritage in its broadest sense? These questions
arise from the perspective of design, communication and cultural heritage education.
Romero (1998) states heritage can be turned into an educational resource, valuable
for the population. To understand cultural heritage, it must be taken into consideration
that it works as a virtual unity for development and sustainability.
In that sense cities are presented as favorable scenarios for design to work through
strategies that add value to the territory. These spaces tell tales and stories through
their visual and informative data, linked to each shape, object or imagined element,
so what happens to the expressiveness of such a place for both those who inhabit it
and foreign visitors? What does this space pose graphically? Is it possible to make
room for its objects within the cultural heritage Cosmo vision? Can these objects
grant an identity? Is this a window to the past to outreach visual cultural heritage
within city areas? This is what we aim to disclose in this research paper: whether
communication is immersed in this debate.
People and cultural expressions are part of a city’s wealth and distinction. In that
sense, graphic design may serve as both a facilitator and a link to reduce the gap
between cultural heritage information given to people and their access to it, allotting
value both to the given data as well as to visually allowing population to embrace
their cultural legacy.
2 Cities Culture and Cultural Heritage
In the Middle Age citizenship was the characteristic which singled out permanent res-
idents of a specific area (Alderoqui 2003). The idea of a city encloses this definition
of citizenship and it extends it, because of urban, architectural, political, technolog-
ical, economic, cultural and social development which follows. In this case, it is the
person’s own conditions (such as skills or essence) and social interaction ability,
which consequently, make up the collective personality of a group of people in a
determined area.
Culture is an acquired practice that evolves with the passing of time and that
involves many people in the process. Supported in anthropological perspective, cul-
ture is mainly defined as that which is socially acquired, and learnt through education,
in the broad sense, as we grow up and become a member of a society (Goodenough
1975). Anthropology have studied culture to get to know different lifestyles, customs,
A City’s Cultural Heritage Communication … 117
and knowledge of social groups, which exposes a more daring conceptualization of

the term culture. Hymes (1964) states culture is “how things are shaped in the mind
of a population and the models through which they are perceived, related and con-
strued” (Hymes 1964: 36). Hence, if this perception is socially accepted, what are
those common things that affect simultaneously a person to give way to a sociocul-
tural construction?
On his part, Leach (1979) states that, despite being binding, concepts of culture
and society are in fact different and therefore worth establishing such differences.
About society it is stated that being a set of social interactions, culture is the
content of said interactions. However, about culture Leach (1979) emphasizes on the
component of accumulated resources, both material and immaterial, which people
inherit, use, transform, increase, and communicate. This last definition of culture
aims to understand how it relates to a city. We know they are strongly related to
cultural studies and that both weave local identity of a society.
From a graphic design view point, the aim is to promote the existent cultural
heritage information as a service available to inhabitants or visitors. Coincidentally,
for Margolin (1991), ‘culture of design’ reinforces the idea by which design is an
activity defined to a point by the social environment in which it works. This means
design intervention can improve things such as: processes, techniques or services
which will result in a change in society as we know it.
The cultural value of a city establishes its identity since that specific characteristic
is the one perceived by both locals and tourists. According to Rivera and Ledezma
(2014) local and cultural values of identity influence in the creation of a city. Said
anthropological influence of design in community behavior and in social habits may
contribute in teaching of cultural aspects that add value to these cultural heritage
resources local as well as global.
3 Strategic Design and Cultural Heritage
Vitta (2003), an image systems researcher, states it is necessary to culturally interpret

a landscape of images surrounding us, since these make up a system through which
we are projected every day. Day to day life experiences reach visual culture, but what
can be salvaged and valued to be turned into a cultural or transcultural experience?
If the way to decode a message transmitted through an object presented to an
individual is unknown to them, the person can hardly relate to it. People must be
provided with tools and instruments to encourage a pragmatic dialogue with culture,
this is key to a visual understanding and training of a person.
Strategic design arises as a starting point, aiming to establish communicational
strategies which enhance the territory from a design perspective. This more recent
perspective of design is based on theories in which design is viewed as science, as
Friedman (1997), who mentions “Design sciences emerge when skills-based pro-
fessions move from traditional rules of thumb or trial-and-error methods to the use
of theory and scientific method”. Also for Cross (2007), the interest of research in
design must focus on development, articulation and transference of design knowl-

edge from these three sources: people, processes and products. When Cross (2007)
mentions processes, he suggests focusing on strategic procedures, techniques and
design methodology. When it comes to products, he alludes to shapes, materials and
outcomes which bring characteristics into design (quoted in Acevedo 2011). This
means we should take a multidisciplinary side of design as an action, which builds
practical and experimental ways to make sense to a whole. In this case watching the
territory and its content in a global way through the eye of design.
For this matter, observing Fig. 1 we will notice that there is an element located in
the upper edge of the gate, which is a metallic ornament. If this element belongs to
a sign, what is its meaning in a specific surrounding?
From the perspective of design how can it be addressed? Maybe from a semiotic
point of view adapted to design, keeping in mind that: “Semiotics studies all cultural
processes (in which human agents play parts getting in touch using social convention)
as communication processes” (Eco 1989). Or from visual communication itself as
the territory’s graphic element, an identification symbol of the observed community
and the craft of an area.
Frutiger (2007) mentions that “everyday objects, rarely have a symbolic meaning
in themselves” (Frutiger 2007: 201), but when we combined them with other objects
or contexts those characteristics determine a new symbolic expression. If that symbol
holds symbolic adherence to a person, its perception may vary.
On the other hand, it should be considered in this same example, other immaterial
cultural heritage principles immerse in the object’s display: the craftsman who built
the shape, the ancient technique applied in it, how the skill was developed, which
Fig. 1 Upper iconography

on Patrimonial House door
in the Historical Park,
Guayaquil (2017). Source
Author
tools he worked with, and what is his influence when designing the object, e.g., the
use of cultural inherited resources to portray it in an ornate object.
Design can communicate these contents to citizens through some means or strat-
egy that can spread knowledge from iconography to interaction with the presented
information. Design makes use of means, resources and media which allow it to
carry messages to people in a specific context. The scope of action of this discipline
in urban visual language allows observers to decode vernacular characteristics in
objects as well as both material and immaterial representations, which establishes
recognition with space so that people can own such information and commit it to
memory. Through design a systemic interactive bond can be established between
image, information and culture.
For a person to be able to interpret visual information which a city provides,
would improve the relationship between them (city and people), as well as reinforcing
citizen’s identity and sense of belonging. From a researcher point of view, strategic
design is presented as a useful tool employed in the development of models or systems
which would link development areas with a common goal.
Becerra (2008) point out that design is capable of managing a meta project, “strate-
gic design considers this new scenario where the product is performing. It adopts
tools belonging to semiology to set out on this expedition leading to the product and
its myths….design itself is an example of all of this. Spawned as a project trade or
profession, whether for products or information, it has become a myth devouring any
field in this way” (Becerra et al. 2005: 10–11).
Strategy is not only set to commercial ends but focused on how each party, factors
and sectors which sometimes work isolated are related and through their systemic
merger they are used to make decisions that bring you closer to problem solving
and innovation. This merger can be observed in Fig. 2, where we have included
information design and visual communication in the term ‘graphic design’. It can
help us deploy a strategy to focus on adding value to contents between cultural
heritage and territory, linking this system of relationships with education for the
citizens.
Communication through a design perspective places citizens as main performers
of this strategic system and the promotion of cultural education. The cross-cutting
sectors involved are education, design and territory, which as a set build the local
discourse for cultural heritage and culture empowerment.
Finally, for this system to work it must make use of technological, social and
economic factors as well as others which will bring along effective communication
that will add value to the city story and will allow inhabitants to relate to their cultural
heritage.
4 Communication of Cultural Heritage Through Design
According to Frayling (1993), research is the most important nourishment for the
practice and teaching of art, craft and design. Research through design requires some
Fig. 2 Strategic system: cultural heritage, territory and design (2019). Source Author
characteristics of mixed methodology to be developed. Its main approach is the com-

pletion of a practical research, making it a more complex methodology than previous
ones. It is mainly made up of these three stages: the search of research material (raw
material and background), tasks development (field work), and applied research (the-
ory verification). Additionally, Pontis (2009) explains that research through design,
combines theoretical research with practical actions, creating a trial and error cycle,
that goes from the most general to the most specific.
Design being a project-based discipline works with theory, practical components,
applied research and field work to test and verify its theories to develop projects.
Designers and communicators encode the world, understanding the code as a sys-
tem of symbols which enables communication amongst people. Flusser (2007), also
points out that the base of our culture is to inform, shape and prevent restrictions in
the new communication ways between verbal and visual. To spread cultural expres-
sions prevents the subject from disappearing, that is how design cooperates with this
manifestation.
Cháves and Sánchez (2001), mentions that in the case of graphics there isn’t a
specific stance regarding cultural heritage, “The general notion we have of cultural
heritage – unlike the undertaken when it comes to fine arts or architecture –, is always
leaving out visual content, such as typography, illustrations or morphology of an

area.” (Cháves and Sánchez 2001). When it comes to urban graphics it refers to other
elements unrelated to art and architecture. He otherwise suggests taking the focus
back to objects, such as inscriptions, serigraphy or materials from a more folkloric
construction, which also have a unique aesthetic identity citizens acknowledge and
recognize as their own. Besides, on many occasions these materials are removed
without anyone realizing they are part of a social construction of the city’s visual
cultural heritage (Cháves and Sánchez 2001).
Cháves and Sánchez (2001) review ‘Barcelona Gráfica’1 by América Sánchez,
noticing that for the broader public, graphic design is part of consumer items, which he
phrases like: “they are utilitarian symbols which perish through their uses unnoticed”
(Cháves and Sánchez 2001). It’s at these moments when graphics and city items
conservation makes sense, since they are part of communication in a common space
along with citizens, it is those works of art from graphic design (Massad and Guerrero
2009); typographies, ornaments, iconographies, editorials, and illustrations that may
be admired by passersby and take them back in time, where the use of such shapes,
images and styles were part of the city’s everyday life before the careful and thorough
look of a few.
Inhabitants recognize their essence in the environment, they watch those details,
and they embrace them, making them part of their own identity. From that point of
view, we take cultural heritage as a commodity available to everybody and willing
to be admired and preserved.
Within the dialogue established between culture and cultural heritage, we can
find graphic design working as a link for the communicational narrative in which
people take part. Cultures change constantly and that changes the way people define
themselves.
5 Case Studies
We undertook two case studies in which design has communicated cultural heritage.
The method was used to understand and interpret graphic design projects through
action research. These projects have improved the image of a territory and its heritage,
to benefit local identity from those cultural resources. In both cases value is added
using creative alternatives through design for safeguarding the presented objects’
content, so to carry out cultural heritage transmission and to promote the territory
they come from.
1 ‘Barcelona
Gráfica’ (2005) is a photograph catalog which gathers about one thousand and nine
hundred images with graphic details of Barcelona.
5.1 Typographic Landscapes
Since 2003 the University Center Senac leads a research in which teachers and
students residing in São Paulo are involved. This project includes São Paulo’s Archi-
tectonic Typography and Typographic Landscapes; both consider the typographic
presence in São Paulo’s historic center building facades. The project intends to iden-
tify, understand, describe and store information on the epigraphs present in these
buildings. They define typographic landscapes as “a subgroup of graphic elements
present in the urban environment: symbols forming words, dates and other messages
made up by letters and numbers” (Gouveira et al. 2008).
The properties located in their research area contribute to the construction of such
landscape with their objects, added items (mailboxes and signage among others) and
epigraphs.
Once the research area has been defined, a log with the present elements is created
and the epigraphs are shaped to get molds. The aim behind this is to be able to
contribute to the city’s memory conservation using this log and experimentation.
5.2 Chilean Stirrups
Undurraga and Bravo (2016), graphic designer, researched decorative items that laid
on her house walls which belonged to her grandfather and held a great emotional
value to her father. The stirrups are characteristic elements on the Chilean huaso2
riding harness, originally made of metal and wood—for support and protection of the
rider’s feet—it is known that they were introduced into the country with the arrival
of the Spaniards. Stemming from that interest she decided to begin an exploratory
research, that led her to gather iconographic information from at least 100 stirrups
from Chilean philatelists and museums.
The project aims to add value to the ichnographic richness of the Chilean stir-
rup. It starts with a bibliographic record which includes the stirrup’s history and its
characteristics, morphology and psychology behind its origin. An image index of
the pieces was put together including illustrations to show the iconography of the
carving. With a huge baroque influence, the evolution of this object comes from the
metal stirrups introduced by the Spanish conquerors, adapting to the materials and
available technologies and incorporating a strong decorative load.
Its iconography is composed of geometric and schematic elements with predomi-
nance of spikes, suns, rosettes, stars, crosses and animal elements such as ducks and
deers, come up as part of the folk culture interlaced with religious influence which
stemmed from the jesuit baroque.
2 The term ‘huaso’ is used in Chile to refer to the individual who lives in the central area or part of
the south of the country and is dedicated to the tasks of the old haciendas of the central valley and
the coast of that area.
Because of this work, ‘The Chilean stirrup. Salvaging visual cultural heritage
from design’ was presented (Universidad del Desarrollo 2016). It was edited by
the Design School from Universidad del Desarrollo and the Chilean Breed Horse
Breeders Federation, Santiago de Chile. This project suggests the formalization of
research through design as a contribution in this area, fulfilling challenges that gen-
erate knowledge and transferring them to society.
6 Conclusions
Sometimes cities, their objects and visual elements with cultural information go
unnoticed by people. As we have observed, design has much to offer for visual and
cultural heritage in a territory. It can contribute to the conservation of cultural assets
through its recording, analysis and sharing; assets which otherwise would be doomed
to be damaged, destroyed altered or forgotten.
The presented cases show that with the appropriate action research procedures
from design we can get effective results for the transmission of cultural heritage.
The practice of design is strategic to solve problems in this field helping retrieve the
city’s identity.
Several of the researched authors state the importance of educating people in
regards of their cultural environment. Research through design is strengthened in
this regard, since it presents a local community with opportunities to add value
through chosen processes. Graphic design has been fundamental in that sense, as it
contributes with its expertise to prolong the life of that existing heritage.
References
Acevedo O (2011) Módulo de Metodología de la Investigación [Research Methodology Module].

In: Strategic design master, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile
Alderoqui S (2003) La ciudad: un territorio que educa. [City: a territory that educates]. CADERNO
CRH, Salvador, N. 38:153–176
Becerra P (2008) Diseño estratégico en los sistemas de comercialización y consumo [Strategic
design in marketing and consumption systems]. Fundación IDC, Mendoza, Argentina
Becerra P, Cervini A, Zapico S (2005) Through and about the product. Strategic design and SME
innovation in the city of Buenos Aires. Instituto Metropolitano de Diseño e Innovación, Buenos
Aires, Argentina, pp 10–11
Cháves N, Sánchez A (2001) El patrimonio gráfico y su recuperación [The graphic heritage and its
recovery]. Revista Tipográfica Nº 47
Cross N (2007) From a design science to a design discipline: understanding designerly ways of
knowing and thinking. In: Design research now. Birkhäuser Basel, pp 41–54
Eco U (1989) La estructura ausente. Introducción a la semiótica. [The absent structure. Introduction
to semiotics]. Lumen SA Editorial, Barcelona, España
Flusser V (2007) O mundo codificado. [The coded world], San Pablo, Cosac Naify. Cited in Cam-
bariere L (2017) El alma de los objetos. [Soul of the objects]. Paidós, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Frayling C (1993) Research in art and design. Royal College Art Res Pap Ser 1(1)
Friedman K (1997) Design science and design education (No. 1997). Norwegian School of Man-
agement
Frutiger A (2007) Signos, Símbolos, Marcas, Señales. Elementos, morfología, representación, sig-
nificación [Signs and symbols. Their design and meaning], Spanish Edition 10° edn. Gustavo
Gili Editorial, Barcelona, Spain
Goodenough W (1975) “Cultura, lenguaje y sociedad”, en El concepto de cultura: textos funda-
mentales [“Culture, language and society”, in The concept of culture: fundamental texts]. Cited
in Kahn JS (1975) Anagrama, Barcelona, España, pp 157–244
Gouveira A, Farias L, Cescato F, Indicatti F (2008) Urban Typography – modeling of epigraphs. 8º
Congresso Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Design
Hymes D (1964) Language in culture and society. Harper Row, New York. Cited in Kahn JS (1975) El
concepto de cultura. Textos fundamentales [The culture concept]. Anagrama, Barcelona, España
Leach E (1979) Political system of Highland Burma. Beacon Press, Boston in Firth R (1968) Man
and Culture
Massad F, Guerrero A (2009) Inventario urbano. Resenhas Online [Urban inventory. Online
Reviews], São Paulo, año 08, n. 087.02, Vitruvius. http://www.vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/
resenhasonline/08.087/3047. [13.01.2018]
Margolin V (1991) Design studies and the education of designers. Temes de disseny 6:49–54
Pontis S (2009) Diseño gráfico: Un novel objeto de investigación. Caso de estudio, el proceso de
diseño [Graphic design: a novel object of investigation. Case study, the design process]. Iconofacto
5(6):9–18
Rivera N, Ledezma M (2014) La ciudad como valor e identidad en ampliando ámbitos y prácti-
cas [Identity and public space. Expanding scopes and practices]. Universidad de Extremadura,
Fundación La Caixa, Cáceres, España, pp 77–95
Romero C (1998) Identidad y Espacio Público. Ampliando ámbitos y prácticas [Identity and pub-
lic space. Expanding scopes and practices. Universidad de Extremadura, Fundación La Caixa,
Cáceres, España, pp 13–30
Undurraga C, Bravo U (2016) El Estribo Chileno. Rescatando el Patrimonio Visual desde el Diseño
[The Chilean Stirrup. Rescuing the visual heritage from design]. Universidad del Desarrollo,
Santiago de Chile, Chile
Vitta M (2003) Los sistemas de la imagen [System of Images]. Paidós, Barcelona, España
Contributions to Brand Systems
in Lisbon Tailoring Brands
William Cantú and Fernando Oliveira
Abstract The present article intends to articulate the subject of Branding and brand
language synthesis contributing to a cross-cultural analysis in the areas of Branding,
Graphic Design and Fashion. The perspectives approached here attribute a multidisci-
plinary method for the advantageous outcome of insights benefiting a more effective
brand management. The articulation of the matters sought the comprehension of the
current panorama of fashion brands in the tailoring section, with metaphorical names,
in Lisbon, as well as its visual patterns. On the context of the analysis undertaken
on this research, the model for the representation of visual identity systems (Oliveira
2015) occupied a centre spot on the concept of diagrams expressing the visual lan-
guages of brands here studied, contributing to a bigger understanding of the subjects
here referred. For the development of this research, a qualitative methodology was
utilized, which based itself on case studies complemented by a deep literary revision
intertwined between the subjects. It allowed the conclusion of the importance of
the brand language synthesis on the process of brand language analysis and cultural
expression of their DNAs. On visual trends, it is concluded that there are similarities
in structure and ways of communication between the brands.
Keywords Brand language · Visual identity · Model · Diagrams · Tailoring

Lisbon Brands · Fashion
1 Introduction
This article refers to the process of visual language analysis on brands of a very
specific market segment. Contemporary tailoring in Lisbon, on the taxonomy of
W. Cantú
Culture and Communication Program/Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon,
Lisbon, Portugal
F. Oliveira (B)
UNIDCOM-IADE/IADE Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_10
126 W. Cantú and F. Oliveira
metaphorical brand names (Mollerup 1999, pp. 111, 114), becomes in this research
the study group given the relevance and the interest of the population in the making
of made-to-measure clothing, which can be verified through the existence of several
brands within the same segment,1 which will not be elucidated in this article. The
objective of this text is to contextualize and map the language of the brands in this
sector, allowing to understand the elements that constitute them, as well as their
importance in the system. This work seeks to understand the elements of visual
language as a representation of the brands’ DNAs and the importance of visual
design as a contribution to the control of brand language. It is intended to understand
how these business units communicate by testing the applicability of the model to the
representation of visual identity systems developed by Oliveira (2015, p. 367). This
same model uses the languages of visual synthesis to perceive visual languages of the
brands, generating comparative aspects between its elements and codes in relation
to the DNA. The synthesis of visual languages is presented here as a methodology
that allows the synthetic representation of communication elements of the Tailoring
brands.
2 Objectives
The objectives of this article are related to the perception of brand languages through
their arrangement. We try to understand if there is a readiness in the interpretation
and analysis of the brands’ visual systems through the aid of visual synthesis lan-
guages/diagrams. This article intends to focus on the elements of visual creation,
giving light and projections about them on the level of visual behaviour and strate-
gic management components. Thus, it aims to clarify the market niche and visual
behaviour, allowing to compare the visual behaviours and to perceive the differ-
ences between the visual languages of the cases studied, as well as their respective
visual elements, and to understand the value of the application of the Model in the
aforementioned analysis.
3 Methodology and Research Question
Through a qualitative and analytical approach (Bauer and Gaskell 2008), the obser-
vation of the case studies (Yin 2001) presented in this article originated the following
research question: Are there patterns in the visual languages of Lisbon fashion brands
with metaphorical names in the segment of tailoring?
1 Other tailoring brands, which have patronymic names and which for this reason will not be eluci-
dated in this article are for example, Paulo Batista, Rosa and Teixeira, Nunes Corrêa, Brito Alfaiate,
João Bento Vicente & C. Lda., Venâncio Alfaiate, among others.
Contributions to Brand Systems in Lisbon Tailoring Brands 127
The nature of this article is an applied investigation, generating knowledge with

possible practical applications and referring to the solution of certain problems
(Pradanov and Freitas 2013, p. 51). It analyses a segment to withdraw strategic
insights about it. The methodological processes used throughout this research have
emphasized bibliographical research, seeking to approach different placements in a
cross-cut way and appending theoretical concepts for the development of the research
(Yin 2001; Pradanov and Freitas 2013). In bibliographical research, a methodolog-
ical procedure allowed the use many sources with raw data to understand relevant
concepts and finally in the case study, the focus was into perceiving a business unit
through a pragmatic analysis of a representative part (Gerhardt and Silveira 2009,
p. 39). To these methods, visual synthesis languages/diagrams were also added (Tufte
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) as well as DNA analysis of the brands (Mateus and Gomez
2009; Menegazzi and Gomez 2013). Regarding diagrams as an auxiliary research
method, Lupton and Phillips (2008) affirm that these are systems of graphical and
synthetic representation of processes or events. According to Oliveira (2015), dia-
grams may also be useful in the perception of brand language since they help in the
comparison and synthesis of data, as Tufte (2010) refers, and that they are essential
for the mapping of brand languages.
The approach given to this research reveals itself as mixed, being the first part
(non-interventionist) constituted by a literature review where the subjects serve as a
basis to questioning and informing about study areas (Teixeira and Neto 2017). At a
later stage, through the observational procedure, an interventionist approach was used
to interpret the visual language syntheses of the segment studied, using the method
developed by Oliveira (2015, p. 367). The analysis, carried out in a qualitative way
through a comparative procedure, sought to understand gaps and relations between
the case studies. At last, in a final phase through a monographic procedure, there was
an attempt of understanding if the visual languages syntheses contribute in fact to
the analysis of fashion brands’ visual languages in the tailoring segment.
4 Theoretical Framework
Authors such as Marshall and Erlhoff (2008), Olins (2008), Wheeler (2009) and
Raposo (2012), define ‘brand’ as a representation of a product, service or organization
and as an immaterial representation which the human-being intercepts and relates
to. For Erlhoff and Marshall (2008, pp. 49–50), the brand is a name, a design or
a symbol that differs products or services and adds value the consolidation of a
structure (brand architecture), as the authors Olins (2008, pp. 44–53) and Wheeler
(2009, pp. 22–23) state, is relevant because it helps in understanding the brand and its
strategy. Wheeler (2009) and Olins (2008) emphasize the importance of the strategic
and value component that are allied to brands through their behaviours, which reflects
the realities where they are implemented.
The search for ‘exclusive’ has become a common behaviour pattern in contempo-
rary societies, as well as customization because both have an extension in consumer-
brand relations. The search for the ‘singular’ emerges as a trend and seems to be
adequate to the reality of Lisbon through the revival of old crafts (Pimentel 2015).
In relation to the graphical representations, Tufte (2009) emphasizes its value by
confirming that it is possible to draw relations through trademarks, but for this, it
is necessary to follow some principles of visual representation. When we mention
the concepts of Tufte (2009, p. 51), we speak for example of “graphic integrity”, the
notions of “data-ink”; representation through information groups; proportionality
of the data represented; application of subtitles; in the excellence/graphic elegance
(Tufte 2009, p. 177) or in the format that can be adapted to the context (Tufte 2009).
No less relevant are the cause and effect relationships provided by the informa-
tion comparisons, which are useful in the perception of patterns and which should
demonstrate a macro and micro reading hierarchized by priorities of information
(Tufte 2010).
About visual languages, they allow better readings of complex information. Tufte
(2010, p. 51) references that visual representations aid the communication and under-
standing of messages and also that visual systems are communicators that help trans-
fer signification. Oliveira (2013) points out that Tufte’s notions seem to be fundamen-
tal to create visual orientations that facilitate the comprehension of the language as
a whole and that those graphic notions can expand the visuality with clarity and effi-
ciency. Therefore, schemes become a set of systems since they begin to contemplate
a set of meaning and syntax. As so, they are facilitators of messages and can include
a large amount of information that is read with greater clarity and less complexity
(Oliveira 2015).
In terms of brand languages, the elements of a brand serve to identify and dif-
ferentiate it, its product and or services (Olins 2008; Wheeler 2009). According
to Lupton (2011, p. 132), brand languages components (colour, typography, form,
imagery) works as a system and helps to communicate the values associated with
it. The same author still infers that the language of a brand should create a cultural
dialogue with society by establishing communication with its public. For Wheeler
(2009), the brands must transmit not only structural but visual coherence through a
representative language in which its elements have the capacity to transmit imme-
diate recognition. The definition of Oliveira (2015) tries to merge aspects of theory
and practice, supporting his work not only in the ideas from authors like Mollerup
(1999), Wheeler (2009), Raposo (2012) or Olins (2008) but also in the trough inter-
viewing branding and design professionals. The result is a model for the analysis
of brands’ visual languages which represents a system that synthesizes and orga-
nizes its elements revealing the main component groups and the relations between
them. This components that form brands visual language are defined by: Personal-
ity; Basic Elements (Name, Symbol, Color, Typography); Complementary Elements
(Imagery, Sound, shape, Movement); 5th. Element; Graphic Mark and Brand Appli-
cations/communication. Other models such as Mono (Raposo 2008, p. 134), or Van
Nes (2012, p. 7) are relevant for this kind of study, however, Oliveira’s (2015) pro-
posal is concerns the process and is exhaustive in the characterization of the elements.
For this reason, it has proved to be the guiding thread of this research work while
dealing with the mapping of visual brand languages in the given business unit.
5 Case Study
The case study presented in this paper is exemplified by a group of Lisbon tailoring
brands. In this context, the brands analysed possess metaphorical names (Rodrigues
2014). Based on the aforementioned principles (Tufte 2009) the schemes of visual
language systems were elaborated not only to represent the language of the brands
but also through a visuality capable of comparing the collected information. This
conditioning factor formed the brand representation, so it has a neutral foundation in
the diagram and in the displayed information to reveal the behaviour of the language
analysed (Figs. 1, 2 and 3). The analysis of the brands has the main objective of
identifying the trends in the visual language representation as well as investigating
if there is a density of patterns related to some elements of these brands. For this,
we have structured the analysed information by grouping the referred content in a
manner that is comparable.
The brand seeks to represent a highly personalized project, comfortable suits,
modern and daring, where the consumer can be identified as “unique”. The audience
fits in the gentleman’s lifestyle, who are metrosexual men and joyful entrepreneurs
in living in the scope of the city. The brand physical store is located in Principe Real,
a neighbourhood in Lisbon characterized by its refinement and bohemian nightlife.
This neighbourhood is in a privileged location, which welcomes designers, concep-
tual brands and irreverent gastronomy. UOY seeks to be elegant and modern through
an appearance which converges with a revived classic and creative environment. The
name of the brand originates from the word “YOU” and plays with the concept of
being original (uncover the original you). The logo has three varieties, all with the
same elements and within the same visual community: the logo (UOY) with the slo-
gan of the brand (uncover the original you); the design of the letter “Y” resembling
UOY
Fig. 1 UOY—Uncover the Original You brand language synthesis. Developed by the authors ©
William Cantú/Fernando Oliveira
CUTTER
Fig. 2 - Cutter brand language synthesis. Developed by the authors © William Cantú/Fernando
Oliveira
ALPHAIATE
Fig. 3 Alphaiate brand language synthesis. Developed by the authors © William Cantú/Fernando
Oliveira
the design of the blazers. The official typeface of the brand is Quattrocento Sans
and its design is classic, elegant and humanistic. The characters are wide, and the
height of x allow great legibility. The characters also have a great personality to be
used in larger sizes and displays. The main colours of the brand are brown, grey and
blue, worthy and prestigious colours (Heller 2014, p. 48). There is a predominance
of stains of flat colour and brown. Terms such as “flat” and “clean” are emphasized
in communication both printed and digital given its visual clarity. The fifth element
of the brand is not yet a total reality but seems to be designed with this intent as it
seeks the distinction with the “Y” of the logo. This element is also responsible for
the transposing transparency stains and image cuts with a 45° angle. In the imagery,
there is a relevant presence of textures and photographic dynamics. A model stars
in the photographic sessions and represents the persona of the brand: someone with
an aesthetic sense that is preoccupied with the formality of dressing, but which aims
sophistication and irreverence. The shop is similar to a gentleman’s club and the
communication occurs through different platforms as Facebook, Instagram, physical
store, printed materials (flyers, diptychs, photographs, vouchers, stamps, posters and
bags.). To sum up, the UOY language displays avant-garde elements and praises the
innovation which goes along with an exquisite visual representation. The brand tends
to create a connection with the city and the search for the representation of tailoring
is given by elegant fabrics with textures of character.
The personality of the brand represents the casual urban man who is in contact
with the communities of the metropolis. There is a relationship between the brand,
the Architect and the Planning. The representation of its approaches and concepts
is related to the perfectionism of the confection. The brand seeks to transpose the
message of exclusivity and experience in the suit making while creating credibility for
the service provided. The locations of Cutter’s physical stores are in Lisbon, Príncipe
Real and Oporto, in Largo dos Lóios. These spaces are characterised by a strategic
location of passage and also by the centrality, in the respective cities. They are places
with personality, flooded with irreverence and sophistication. The name of the brand
can be related to the very concept of Architecture and cutting. The logotype does not
have an associated symbol and it is used in its fullness in the graphics applications.
No specific typeface was identified, but there were very reliable approximations to
the one used. It is an old-style2 typeface with serifs and where a slight difference
in the thickness of the characters is visible. It is intended to transmit stability and
discipline within a controlled letterform design. The secondary font is a neutral sans-
serif typeface that does not influence the legibility on documents. The brand colours
live through the predominance of blue, which is related to the royalty and aristocracy
as well as premium and high-quality fabrics. The brands’ colours intend to represent
tranquillity, the perfect seam, time-consuming and meticulous work. The dark blue
can be seen as a global representation and is a source of transmission of brand
trust, customer loyalty and product integrity (Heller 2014). The brand universe of
images (Imagery) is related to the tailoring, store space and the confection. The whole
ambience of the stores is warm and contemporary, representing the irreverence. The
Form is reflected in the pop-up shop, which reflects formality and seriousness. In this
brand, modern tailoring is revived with first-rate fabrics and a careful and organised
image. The brand communicates through Facebook, Instagram, physical store and
website. In short, Cutter’s language idealizes itself through the construction of suits.
It is a young brand that speaks to different age groups and with different lifestyles. It
has a diverse communication, which uses different elements to represent, with great
emphasis, the blue colour and the flat design approach.
The Aphaiate brand represents itself as an icon of visual elegance that conveys
the quality and high class of its products in a clean way. The personality of the
2 By Old Style we consider, in the light of Heitlinger’s ideas (2014, p. 934) the fonts with the following
characteristics: "moderate contrast, little difference between thick strokes and fine strokes. Capitals
are almost the same height as lower-case ascents. The height of the x is moderate. (…) Serifs
somewhat irregular, but robust and with round support. Diagonal bar in the letter ’e’. Quite long
capitals (M, W, K)”.
brand assumes the revival of the tailoring tradition and conveys confidence to the
consumer through organization and advantages over ready-to-wear. The location of
the brand’s physical store is in Santos, a traditional and very characteristic neigh-
bourhood of Lisbon, which has the presence of the creative industries and as well
as a lifestyle that oscillates between bohemian, creative and business. The logo is a
stylized representation of the Greek letter “alpha”. It originated in the mutation of the
Latin “ph” > ”f”, generating homophony between “alpha” and “alphaiate”, the brand
name. The font associated with the brand is AVENIR ® NEXT from Monotype.
This is a non-serif and geometric typeface that has a good influence when concern-
ing the readability (Heitlinger 2014, p. 220). It also allows us to clearly perceive that
there are transparency and minimalism between the typeface and the communica-
tion. Alphaiate’s colours are also clear associations to royalty. The beige humanizes
the whole identity and conveys confidence. The use of this chromatic creates an
elitist profile for the brand and to overflow the conviction and intimacy between
tailor and client (Heller 2014). Charm and elegance are characteristics present in the
brand language. The typology of images used belongs to the universe of tailoring
and the gentleman’s lifestyle. However, there is an impression of absence in rep-
resenting the casual way of life, which is not that visible in the imagery. There is
also a substantial amount of details represented. In this way, the image of the brand
represents refinement and modernity linked with consumer satisfaction. The suits
are the representation of a daily dress that should look for constant comfort. The
architecture related to the brand refers to luxurious and refined surroundings and the
brand communication media are Facebook, Instagram, physical store and website.
Synthesizing, the language of the Alphaiate endeavours to represent a soberer uni-
verse through the clear colours that make up the brand’s palette. The communication
is incorporated with relevance into the photographs that portray the different fabrics,
details of the products, the brand projects and its persona through a photographic
universe representing the corporate man.
5.1 Global Synthesis and Comparative Analysis
Generally, we can see that there is a search for elements that transpire the concept
of an old craft in both three brands, either by the presence of imagery based on
photographs or by spaces decoration. The brand imagery is similar between the
brands and the product is aimed at the same audience. The details of the images such
as fabrics, textures, urban notes, architecture or masculine objects, breathe this urban
lifestyle and creates communication within graphic refinement.
The three brands communicate predominantly with neutral colors conveying a
classic and exquisite environment—UOY, brown, blue and grey; Cutter, royal blue
and Alphaiate, violet, royal blue and beige. The use of metaphorical names reveals
the purpose of the business through an indirect association. The associations create
feeling and bring with time heritage and culture to the brands. The names tend
to represent concepts surrounded to the brands. UOY—Uncover the Original You
creates an association with its tailor-made concept of co-creation where the customer
gives personality to his pieces discovering the client “original side. The brand Cutter
- suit architect relates the suit-cutting (modelling) to the architectural designer, who
performs precise measurements. Alphaiate relates his name directly to the tailor’s
profession. The typography of the brand is quite distinct and does not seems to reveal
a pattern in this sector. The only brand that lives through the symbol is Alphaiate. The
Greek letter alpha replacing the “a” creates a symbolic and verbal connection with
“alpha” (Portuguese phonetics) of tailor. The alpha letter is also used as a trademark
symbol, appearing alone or together with the name. The UOY is a typographic brand
and having no icon uses the lettering as a representative. The same happens with
Cutter. The UOY and Cutter marks are related to the concept of the service they
present. The Alphaiate brand does not have an associated signature, differentiating
itself in the sector through other approaches like the light imagery. The 5th. element,
as we have already mentioned, identifies the marks without the need to use the
other associated elements (Mollerup 1999; Oliveira 2015). It is only present in UOY,
which highlighted the “y” relating it to the collars of the blazers, giving expressivity
to all the communication of the mark (see Fig. 2). The communication supports of
the brands are also the same, there is a site for e-commerce, a Facebook and an
Instagram page. Through these supports analyzed it was possible to understand all
graphic consistency presented as well as to perceive the level of investment of these
brands in their communication. The trends of brands related to communication points
to a similar path. In other words, is intrinsic and transversal in the analysis carried
out that the brands are not revealing an innovative or irreverent personality to the
public.
6 Conclusions
Apparently, the three brands communicate in the same way using the same channels
and the same media. Having a similar audience, the differentiating concept does
not prove to be sufficient to differentiate the way they communicate, which is very
similar. Not only the communication is similar to the brand structure, it does not
allow differentiation. The same material used (for example the style of images) is
also a problem when concerning the differentiation, which creates direct competition.
To differentiate themselves, the selling effect through promoting the products may
not be the only suitable approach. The very irreverence that is sought in a brand to
stand out, becomes obsolete when we talk about labels that have no design vision
and focus only on digital marketing as a tool to generate sales. In these cases, access
to diversified campaigns in loco or communication using alternative channels could
be some of the strategies to promote the brand name in the social environment. The
fact that there is no cult around the brand leads us to question whether the same
exists in the internal structure itself, which seems to present imperfections, because
as we can see with Wheeler (2009, pp. 22–23) and Olins (2008, pp. 44–53) all
the consolidation of an organization or service must be structured primarily by the
internal organization, trough the brand architecture, willing all the actors involved in
the brand management process to transmit the concepts associated with the brand in
a clear and effective way. We believe that they are very new brands in the market and
therefore do not have a consolidated position in Portuguese society, given the high
degree of intangibility socio-cultural phenomena referred to by Bauman (2000). The
lack of internal culture of the brand and the fact that it is still expanding, makes it
difficult to convey the idea of identity and worship or even to create them. The word-
of-mouth advertising process is the method to convey brand awareness and situations
similar to Privet Banking in which sellers have a strong relational component and
are holders of a customer portfolio that generates sales. Trademarks should seek
a representation that is different from what is being done in their sector in order
to make their participation in the market relevant and meaningful. Socioeconomic
factors such as the demand for technological liberation,3 the transparency of the
Internet or the veracity of the contents found on the web,4 influence the audiences
and the relations between brands and people. To combat these weaknesses, the content
and the capacity to interact with emotions should be coherent points in the discourse
and in the communication of the companies. In this sector (tailoring brands), betting
on stories and sensitive content can become the key to engage communication of
the brand and to attract new audiences. In the view of all these imprecision already
promoted, the study of new markets, the intersection with these case studies and the
continuity of this work must be fostered so that the structure of the brands can be
adapted as well as strategies created, allowing the brands to gain power, to create
stronger identities and generate life to solidify brand heritage.
References
Bauman Z (2000) Liquid modernity. Polity Press, Cambridge

Bauer M, Gaskell G (2008) Pesquisa qualitativa com texto, imagem e som: um manual prático.
Vozes, Brasil
Erlhoff M, Marshall T (2008) Design dictionary. Prospectives on design termnology. Birkhauser
Verlag AG, Germany
Gerhardt T, Silveira D (2009) Métodos de Pesquisa. Editora da UFRGS, Brazil
Heller E (2014) A Psicologia das Cores. Gustavo Gilli, Barcelona
Heitlinger P (2014) Tipos & Fontes. Tipografos.net, Portugal
Lupton E, Phillips J (2008) Graphic design: the new basics. Princeton Architectural Press, New
York
Lupton E (2011) Graphic design thinking. Beyond Brainstorming. Princeton Architectural Press,
New York
Mateus A, Gomez L (2009) Brands revolution. In: Proceedings das 5as. Conferências Internacionais
em design. UNIDCOM/IADE, Lisboa
3 Relation with the macrotrend “Connection and Convergence” identified by the platform Trends
Observer (http://trendsobserver.com/trends/macro-trends/).
4 Relation with the macrotrend “Trusted Content” identified by the platform Trend One (https://
www.trendone.com/en/trend-universe/trends-2018/trusted-content.html).
Menegazzi D, Gomez L (2013) Think, view and use the brand: the TVU brand methodology. In:
Proceedings of 3rd international conference on integration of design, engineering & management
for innovation. IDEMI. Faculdade de Engenharia, Porto, pp 371–379
Mollerup P (1999) Marks of excellence. Phaidon Press Limited, New York
Oliveira F (2013) Diagramas no processo de design: a esquematização na metodologia e no projeto
de sistemas de identidade visual. Convergências - Revista de Investigação e Ensino das Artes
VI(12)
Oliveira F (2015) Diagramas e Marcas. Contributo sobre a utilização de diagramas na conceção e
análise do discurso visual das marcas. Tese de Doutoramento (Doutoramento em Design). FAUL,
Lisboa
Olins W (2008) WALLY OLLINS: the brand handbook. Thames & Hudson, London
Pimentel A (2015). Alfaiates do século XXI. A tradição casou-se com a modernidade [Artigo online].
https://observador.pt/especiais/alfaiates-seculo-xxi-tradicao-casou-se-com-modernidade/ (Veri-
ficado em 23/03/2018)
Pradanov C, Freitas E (2013) Metodologia do Trabalho Científico. Universidade Feevale, Rio
Grande do Sul
Raposo D (2008) Design de Identidade e Imagem Corporativa. Edições IPCB, Castelo Branco
Raposo D (2012) La Letra como Símbolo de Identidade Visual Corporativa: Codificación y descod-
ificación visual del sistema de identidade. Tese de Doutoramento (Doutorado em Design). FAUL,
Lisboa
Rodrigues D (2014) Naming — O nome da marca. 2AB, Brasil
Teixeira M, Neto M (2017) Uma proposta de tipologia para pesquisas de natureza interventiva, Vol.
23, nº. 4. Ciências da Educação, Bauru, pp 1055–1076
Tufte E (2010) Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative. Connecticut,
USA
Tufte E (2009) The visual display of quantitative information. Graphic Press, Chestire
Tufte E (2008) Envisioning information. Twelfth printing, New York
Tufte E (2007) Beautiful evidence. Graphics Press LLC, New York
Van Nes I (2012) DYNAMIC IDENTITIES: how to create living brands. BIS Publishers
Wheeler A (2009) Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the entire branding team. Willey,
New York
Yin R (2001) Estudo de Caso: planejamento e métodos. Bookman, Porto Alegre
https://uoy.me. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.facebook.com/UncoverTheOriginalYOU/. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.instagram.com/uncovertheoriginalyou/. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.facebook.com/cuttersuitarchitect/. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.instagram.com/cutter.suitarchitect/. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://alphaiate.pt. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.facebook.com/alphaiate. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
https://www.instagram.com/alphaiatept/. Accessed during 25/10/2016 to 31/12/2017
From the Genesis to the Project Result:
The Success of Design for Place Branding
also Depends on the Modality
of Contracting
Emílio Ribeiro, Daniel Raposo and Marizilda Menezes
Abstract This chapter results from a research on place branding, within the scope
of the Doctoral Program in Design of the School of Architecture of the University
of Lisbon, referring to partial results of the research, specifically on contracting
models of designers responsible for the design of place branding brands. Therefore,
cases are analyzed from the hiring modality and points are presented for hiring
improvements. The methodology is qualitative and descriptive, based on the literature
review. The chapter assumes that among the determining factors for the success of a
brand branding design is the hiring modality. Direct or indirect, open or restricted,
they are aspects little considered when defining the demand for a place branding.
One observes the importance of a modus operandi of who does and how does the
contracting to minimize the failures. As a result, it was observed that the briefing
should be associated with other tools for a better understanding of the territory, as
well as a parametric analysis of existing brands to avoid plagiarism or similarity. The
singularities of the place should be considered to give it authenticity, effectiveness
and sustainability. On the other hand, the result of the design of the brand passes
through a rigorous research on the territory, its image and its identity that determined
the (re) positioning of the place.
Keywords Place branding · Hiring mode · Branding design
E. Ribeiro (B)
University Ceuma, São Luis, Brazil
Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
D. Raposo
Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, nº 12, 6000-084 Castelo
Branco, Portugal
CIAUD Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063
Lisbon, Portugal
M. Menezes
University UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_11
138 E. Ribeiro et al.
1 Introduction
The identity of a place results from a set of appropriations made over time by diverse
experiences and by interaction with others, resulting in a sense of belonging to the
territory, a set of dominant beliefs or values and a notion of place, taking into account
their history, cultural characteristics and their position in the world.
The identity of the place is conditioned by culture as a process of social construc-
tion of one’s own identity, both in the appropriation and transformation of meanings.
The cultural characteristics of a place are part of a process of construction that
took place in the course of its history. The diversity of the elements that draw their
peculiarities are the integral parts that define this cultural stratum and which are
represented by the material and immaterial elements of the place. A place branding,
part of that context. It must be authentic and therefore must emerge from the attributes
that determine the identity of the place. Marketing strategies for a place should
consider the place and its material and immaterial elements that characterize it and,
in a way, value and identify it. Changing this truth is compromising the essence that,
historically, one knows about the place. On the other hand, place branding can be a
way to catalyze the competitive participation of the place in a Globalized scenario.
However, some care must be taken when the demands for a place branding arise.
In the scope of this study, a Seminar was held in the city of São Luís/Brazil, with
the purpose of discussing the models of hiring designers to create brands for place
branding.
The competitions, most frequent modality in this type of project, are defined by
their amplitude, open or restricted. Openings allow anyone to propose a design for
the brand. Restrictions dictate that registrations can only be made by professionals or
specialized agencies. On the other hand, it is important to determine how the identity
and the place image are interpreted by the managers of the contraction process.
Finally, the sufficiency of the briefing is analyzed as the only source of information
on the territory. It should be noted that the briefing tends to be a medium that translates
the wishes of the project applicants culminating in a narrow view of the place and, as
a consequence, may compromise the results. Therefore, we present the discussions
about the modality of contracting projects for place branding.
2 Methodology
A qualitative mixed methodology was selected, based on the literature review and on
the Descriptive Case Study (without control over the object of study, used to describe
how it happened) (Yin 2005).
According to Yin (2005) the Case Study is an empirical scientific methodology,
useful for the collection and analysis of qualitative data that allows to understand
subjects or objects of study complex, similar and difficult to delimit clearly. This
From the Genesis to the Project Result … 139
methodology allows us to study the cases in their context, perceiving “what”, “how”
and “why”.
The Descriptive Case Study permits us to identify common denominators and
draw conclusions based on previous processes, which may be indicators for future
projects.
In this way, cases of design of brands for place branding were selected in the
scales of the country, city and region. These scales help in the best framing of issues
related to brand design for the territory. The typologies of the contracting modalities
were analyzed for a better composition of the scenario on the modus operandi of the
competitions for the design of marks of a territory. The types of competitions, open
and closed, and direct signings are classified and analyzed. The elements that define
a demand for brand design for a place branding were structured into 3 categories:
demand, which refers to who does and treats about thinking the place; the process in
designing marks for territories that determines how to do and generate the concept for
the project and on the design of the identity, which proposes the means for a correct
devolutive on how to deliver the results. The cases presented in this research were
synthesized in a parametric analysis that demonstrates the scenario about the design
of marks for place branding between 2014 and 2019. Based on the results obtained
by the Case Studies and their analysis considering the literature review, some prin-
ciples are presented and recommendations that may contribute to the effectiveness
of contraction models for brand design in place branding.
3 Place Branding: The Valorization of the Territory
The monument of Christ with his open arms is not something exclusive of the city
of Rio de Janeiro/BR. There are other places. However, Corcovado hill and all sur-
rounding landscape present characteristics that are unique and peculiar to that place.
Cristo Redentor, a symbol of the city of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, was widely socialized
in the media since its inauguration in 1931. Photographs, postcards, cinema, tele-
vision, advertising, miniatures, instagram, among other means that popularized the
monument and, consequently, the city of Rio de Janeiro/BR. Similarly, it is observed
that the Statue of Liberty is an image associated with the city of New York/USA,
just as the Christ Redeemer is a visual synecdoche, or rather a stratum of the city of
Rio de Janeiro/BR that represents it (Fig. 1).
Although there are other monuments similar to Cristo Redentor, the correlation
between this monument and the city of Rio de Janeiro/BR is most likely. This phe-
nomenon is due to the fact that the image of the monument of Christ the Redeemer
has gained notoriety since its inauguration and, consequently, occupies an important
presence in the minds of the people. This notoriety refers to the knowledge of an
element of the place that, when establishing a parallel with the knowledge of mark
proposed by Keller (2009), is observed as to the concept on the image of mark, that
is defined by the set of perceptions or mental images about, in this case, the city of
Fig. 1 Monuments: Christ the Redeemer (Brazil) and the Statue of Liberty (USA). Source Google
Images, 2019
Rio de Janeiro/BR. Therefore, each territory has cultural characteristics that identify
it.
Hanna and Rowley (2008) present a synthesis of place branding terminology
based on branding practices for the various scales of geographical indications. From
a hierarchical structure, the word place is correlated to a range of terms which, by
association, hold a relation to the possible dimensions for place (see Fig. 2). Based on
this design, Hanna and Rowley (2008) present the brand dimensions from: culture,
industry, agriculture, heritage and tourism (see Fig. 3).
The identity elements representing the place are exemplary of man’s creative
capacity. Its cultural effervescence reveals itself in the material and immaterial man-
ifestations that identify the place and assume a character of its own and peculiar.
The diversity of the monuments associated with time (Lefebvre 2008), matter first,
for the citizens who, in their own way, see and relate to this or that artifact of the
place and then to visitors who, although temporary, elect cultural productions of
Fig. 2 Branding reputation

and image management for
place branding and the
diversity of terms that define
your goals. Source Authors
(2018)
Fig. 3 Terms place and its variants. Source Hanna e Rowley (2008)
their preferences. Therefore, associations, even visual, about the place, go through
elements that, historically, identify it.
The value of the territory is relevant, however, this perception of value is inherent
to its products that go back to its tradition. In this sense, it is fundamental to recognize
and highlight local values and qualities (Krucken 2009). It is from this perspective
that place branding comes about.
Cities now need their brands materialized and organized by a visual identity that
favors their insertion in a scenario of strong competition between places. The reputa-
tion of a place, region, city or country, if positive, tends to favor its competitiveness
with others (Anholt 2007). Globalization has imputed the urgency of determining
a competitive position that strengthens the expertises and singularities of the place.
On the other hand, the shortening of the distances between the places in face of the
new technologies of mobility offered to the contemporary man better possibilities
of coming and going. For tourism, it was important to arouse the interest of this
“new nomad” willing to know and live new experiences in different places. This
scenario moves the economy and creates impacts that can be positive if, in fact, there
is planning that goes beyond the limits of tourism.
The speed of change—social, economic, political, technological, among others—
has promoted the rise of new demands in the cities agenda, among them place brand-
ing. This dynamic and fluid volatility circumvents the characteristics of contemporary
life. Habits and customs that have consolidated in the course of modern culture, share
space with the urgency of these days. Everything is ephemeral (Bauman 2007). The
image socialized yesterday in social networks, today, will be passed. The new is
recurrent. Nothing solidifies. This transience may have affected the perception of the
perenniality of artifacts, habits, and customs that go back to the tradition of a place.
Being those, the remaining copies of a legacy that conferred singularity to the culture
of that people, for the elements that can be an integral part of the place branding.
On the other hand, the applicant’s discussion on whether or not the graphic brand
is relevant to a place branding (Govers 2013) reveals a bit of this contemporary
dynamic where the urgency for a brand design for the territory, for example, is not
considered, in some cases, the pertinence of guidelines and methods that favor a
promising result.
Public managers, who are eager to leave a frame of their management, do not
realize that there is complexity when it comes to the representation of the image
of a place. The degree of difficulty lies in predicting the potential interrelationships
between the parts of that whole, and the part of each is to understand its part in the
whole (Cardoso 2012).
Branding is one of the elements of place branding that, by definition, refers to
reputation management (Govers 2013), or, better, brand equity management. A brand
for a city should give visibility to the place and, likewise, generate and add value to
the territory from its local products.
It is worth mentioning that the brand is an important component for a place
branding. It is defined from a double dimension (Raposo 2008): (a) physical image,
materialized by a graphic mark composed by symbol, logo and color, articulated
with the other elements of the visual identity system (eikon) and (b) by a mental
image (imago) that reflects the set of symbolic, logical, emotional and reputational
associations (stored in memory), but associated with the visual image. Brands go
beyond images and representations. They reveal our preferences, attitudes and com-
municate an idea, a behavior to be shared, (Consolo 2015). They are an integral and
important part of the social dynamics in which contemporary man lives and defines
his choices and options by certain brands, including. Therefore, it is understood that
the graphic brand is a fundamental component for the strategies of a place branding
in the promotion and valorization of a territory.
In general and particularly in the case of place branding, the graphic brand (symbol
and/or logo) constitutes the pinnacle of the brand’s visual identity system, not only
because it is one of the most commonly used identity signs in communication (just
after the name), and because over time the audiences attribute to it new meanings,
fruit of the experience with the brand. For this reason, it is often confused brand and
visual identity with graphic mark.
4 The Place Branding: Between Being and Being
Place branding is an evolving concept. Academic studies date back to the 1950s
(Hankinson 2015). At present, the scope of the term has raised some difficulties
as to its nature. On the other hand, place branding originates from branding in the
perspective of a management focused on the reputation and image of the place,

while the second focuses on the product and the services. As for the diversity of
terms—place marketing, place promotion, city branding, destination branding, place
branding, among others, for this research the current term will be place branding since
it understands that this covers the place in the scales of the nation, city, region and
territory (see Fig. 4).
A place branding should emerge from the authentic present in place. However,
graphically well-identified marks are observed, but they do not represent the territory
or the elements of its identity. A brand is proposed that does not establish any relation
with the place and, consequently, it is not possible to establish the necessary connec-
tions for its success. One has, then, a brand that is, momentarily, representing what
it does not reflect itself, the territory. In this sense, it is a transitory mark, one that is
not the legitimate representative of the territory, but it is. Therefore, to represent the
territory, one must consider the elements of their identity associated with the notion
of belonging of the local people.
Regarding the notion of belonging, Hall (2015) reveals the relation of the subject
to what he assimilates as an integral part of his cultural identity. Belonging is an
important indication of the affective bonds that city people have with their place. It is
the recollection of experiences with the place, which awakens the sense of location
in the context in which this man inserted himself. The place and its cultural tradition
focused on the habits and customs historically constructed:
It is in the past of the subject - his cultural tradition - that he governs the perception of the
present space, which makes him recognize the places. Not a historical past (or the space of
the past), but the past that tells us of the everyday experiences that we live, in space: lived
space. The space in which our emotions, good and bad, are impregnated from the events in
which we take part, both as agents and receivers. (Malard 2006, p. 29).
This tradition has in Architecture and in the remaining monuments the configuration
of the cultural substratum that characterize the city and give it value. Two aspects can
be highlighted in the question of value in Riegl (1858–1905): reminiscent value and
Fig. 4 Time line on the evolution of place branding. Source Hankinson (2015)
contemporary value. It is the relation between the old pair and the new pair that must
live in harmony in favor of the preservation of the aspects that confer singularity for
the territory.
The idea of a hegemonic identity leads to the question of the probable existence of
universal standards that leads to the alleged legitimation of those standards (Bonsiepe
2011). Therefore, if one wants to intuit the existence of a static and universal identity,
the feeling of the question arises orbiting around the domain and the power, not
prevailing the quality of the artifacts, the culture and the identity of a place in the
margin of the Center.
In the context of place branding, there are cases of failure of trademarks that
did not meet the objectives sought by the applicants. The urgency for innovative,
surprising design, complex as the territory itself or for a dynamic identity in its
visual manifestations, perhaps, has induced the actors of the whole process, design-
ers and plaintiffs, to fall into a smear. They forget, in some cases, the territory and
the elements that, historically, define it. The brand is in the territory. What must be
done is to extract, with some skill, the fundamental elements for the representation
of that territory. The places themselves are marks (Anholt 2015). Perhaps, due to
this universe of possible identities, it has expanded and generated a broad spectrum
of cultural signification and representation (Hall 2015). In this sense, Hall (2015)
identifies different conceptions of identity from the subject: subject of the Enlight-
enment that maintains its identity unchanged; a sociological subject that modifies
its inner core from the dialogue with other identities that the cultural world offers
and the postmodern subject, fragmented and composed of diverse identities. These
conceptions intersect with the perspective of modernity having paved the way for the
flexible and changing, and therefore for an identity is not fixed or lasting. Therefore,
a place branding should translate the territory itself, or rather be the territory and not
be, as a transitory and transient element.
5 Hiring: The Genesis of the Solution or the Way to Failure
The design of a brand comes from a need. This is characterized by a demand that aims
to draw a scenario around the object of this design. In this context, the briefing1 is the
recurrent tool in the transfer of information that helps in understanding the proposed
problem. In this sense, the instructions about the project can be synthesized by the
brand brief2 and the creation brief. For (2008), the brand brief is a document approved
by the managers, which contains the essence and attributes of the brand, while the
creation brief compiles the project objectives in favor of brand creation. However,
it is important that the creative brief is a partnership between the applicant and the
1 Briefing, series of references provided, which contains information about the product or object to
be designed (ADG 2012).
2 Brief, refers to the sum of knowledge about the project object (ADG 2012).
designer. Ultimately, it can be said that the briefing is an important tool for developing
a brand design. But is the brief enough to understand the problem?
The unfolding of the briefing in the brand brief and the creation brief, result in
a synthesis that comes from the efforts among the actors in the process. According
to Wheeler (2008), the brand brief consists of: vision, mission, brand essence or
grand idea, brand attributes, value proposition, guiding principles, target audience,
key markings, competitive advantage and stalkeholders; and, for the creation brief,
are: team goals, communication goals of all elements of brand identity, list of the
most important applications, functional and performance criteria, mental map or
SWOT,3 positioning, protocols, confidentiality statement, documentation systems
and benchmarks and presentation dates. It is worth noting that the brief, the brand
and the creation, are an integral part of the method proposed by Wheeler (2008). It
is a process that unites research, strategic thinking, design and project management.
However, it is noted that a branding for a place requires the understanding and
dimensioning of the complexity that lies there. It is worth emphasizing that, in terms
of territory, its interpretation goes through a multidisciplinary perspective in terms
of management, sustainability and competitiveness (Gaio and Gouveia 2007). For
Kotler (1999), the presence of multidisciplinary groups is important to compose a
diagnosis about the reality of the place through tools, among them a SWOT, so as
to have a broader view of reality concomitant with a ψstrategic plan that attributes
value and competitiveness to the territory.
In response to the demands for design of brands for a place branding, it is observed
that the briefing is the recurring tool in proposing the problem. The contests, espe-
cially those that use online platforms, use the briefing to mediate the transfer of
the project objectives. It is a document focused on the understanding of the actors
involved in the management of the demand process that designers tend to use as the
only resource in response to the proposed problem. However, there are cases in which
the briefing is the result of an in-depth analysis of the problem being associated with
data and information that are made available online and in other cases a simple and
direct proposition about the problem and the objectives to be achieved.
In the method proposed by Wheeler (2008), Phase 1 refers to conducting research
that aims to clarify the strategy, goals and values, where it is also sought to perform
an analysis of the brands and architectures of existing brands, besides of a language
audit. These components of phase 1 are synthesized in an audit report for the knowl-
edge of the key decision-makers. It is a tool that can be used throughout the entire
process with the objective of building a strategic and complete brand identity system
(Wheeler 2008). In conducting the research reveals itself as a tool for understanding
the company which, in the case of place branding, refers to understanding about the
place.
3 Created by management consultant Albert Humphrey in 1960, S (Strengths), W (Weaknesses),

O (Opportunities) and T (Threats) is a tool to assess the current context and to imagine future
possibilities. In its realization, SWOT makes it possible to gather the opinion of the people involved,
directly and indirectly, in the context of the analysis. The more opinions are collected, the deeper
the analysis (Pazmino 2015).
Brand is understood as the crux of place branding. Without it, without image,
without contact, without reference. But where and how to extract it? If for Anholt
(2015) the territorial brand already exists in the territory itself, why some projects
fail to materialize it into a graphic brand? Or why some projects were objects of
repudiation by the city? The answer to these questions matter for a better reflection
on process of obtaining a brand design for the territory, from the hiring. It is worth
mentioning that the image of the territory reflects its identity and there are places
that have a positive image in people’s minds. However, there are images that do not
reflect the reality of the place or differ from the pretentiousness of place branding to
the (re) positioning necessary to meet the desired competitiveness and to improve its
reputation. Therefore, only the briefing may not be enough to answer the questions
related to the territory, and among them, perhaps, a new image that emerges from an
authentic identity.
The image arises from the interaction with a place that derives from its territorial
identity, which is the result of the media spread through the territory (Holloway
and Hubbard 2001). On the other hand, identity, the physical and psychological
assets of the place carry with it all the complexity present there that converge to
a dialectic between the emitting and receiving elements of the territory (Gaio and
Gouveia 2007). In this sense, identity is the transmitting element and the image the
receiver. Therefore, place branding refers to the strategic vision of the place for the
place, or rather, for its unique and competitive elements that must be, in addition to
being evidenced, strategically positioned. These are the positive aspects where the
determinant of the brand essence of the place reflects a cross between the people of
the place and the things that are produced and realized there (Anholt 2015).
As for the image of the place, the hexagon of the places branding developed by
Simon Anholt assesses the image and reputation of a nation (see Fig. 5). This model
presents six components: tourism, exported brands, internal and external politics,
Fig. 5 Model for assessing the image and reputation of the Nation and the city. Source Anholt
(2007)
investment and immigration, culture and heritage and people. These components
are criteria that help in the capture of information that allows an evaluation on the
reputation and, consequently, the image of the country. Based on these components,
the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Index ranks among the top 10 ranked countries. The
perception of the reality of the place, based on data, is important to position itself
in the face of the fragilities and potentialities identified. On the other hand, when
the hexagon is adapted to a city the elements become: presence, which refers to
comparing the city to the others at international level; place, is defined by the tangible
and intangible aspects that characterize it and competitive opportunities emerge from
its singularities; potential, rests on the opportunities evident there in the economic,
social and cultural spheres; rhythm, it is the lifestyle of its citizens; people, refers
to what we think about those who live there, and, prerequisites, is the mental image
about the place that must be verified and (re) positioned.
In relation to identity, the model proposed by Cai (2002), focuses on the identity of
the place and part of the mix of brand elements composed of 3 components: attributes,
affectivity and attitudes. In the construction of the brand image, the model proposes:
a brand program, marketing communication and management of the secondary asso-
ciations. The model emphasizes the importance of the role of brand identity but does
not specify how to build and develop it (see Fig. 6).
The communication about the territory in all its manifestations, including visual,
must emerge from a process that starts from the identity of the territory. Thus, the
most viable path to a place branding is through the understanding of identity, because
how this place identity is defined impacts conceptual decisions for place branding
design and therefore affects its execution (Kavaratzis 2004). Therefore, the identity
of the place should be understood as a complex process of identity construction,
which emerges from the dialogue between the stakeholders and the place branding
(Kavaratzis 2004). Formulating a strategic vision for the place should involve man-
agers, people and all potential partners. In this way, the model proposed by Kavaratzis
(2004) is a process that leads to new actions that culminate in the infrastructure, land-
scape and incentives and opportunities for the various publics. Therefore, when the
four stages of the model are fulfilled, the actions can be communicated (see Fig. 7).
The proposal for an analysis of the reputation and the image of a place, suggested
by Anholt (2007), is important so that one can know the fragilities and the potential of
the place. The question is how to think the place from these data. On the other hand,
the identity of the place is the central element, in the perspective of Cai (2002), so that
a place branding can reveal a consistent brand identity. On the other hand, Kavaratzis
(2004) presents a model of communication of the image of the city that starts from
a strategic vision that arises from the perspective of the social actors of the place.
However, regarding the brand design for a place branding, it is observed that in phase
1, of the process proposed by Wheeler (2008), a research culminating in a report that
compiles the data serve as the basis for the emergence of the brand and creative briefs,
which can be consistent, depending on the rigor for which they were designed, from
the stages proposed in stage 1. In summary, what is proposed is the appearance of
a brand that reveals the essence of the place from of their identity. However, it is
observed that, when identifying the need for a place branding, the management of
Fig. 6 Model focused on

identity. Source Cai (2002)
the place, main demander, seeks alternatives for the design of their brands through a
tender or direct contracting. The designs of a few places have culminated with brand
launches that do not dialogue with the territory and, as a result, have frustrated the
wishes of those who identify in place branding a way to face the strong competition
in the process of Globalization.
The contracting orbits around two fundamental aspects: who does and how does
(see Fig. 8). Public managers and institutions linked to the spheres of government
are the drivers of the hiring process. The model of how to do tends to 2 alterna-
tives, through open competition or direct contracting. The idea of open competition
starts from the reasoning that, the more comprehensive, the more people contribute
Fig. 7 Communication of the city image. Source Kavaratzis (2004)
Fig. 8 Hiring mode for place branding projects. Source Authors (2018)
and participate. The pretense of involving everyone, designers and non-designers,

weakens the model. Involving all the social actors of the place is important, however,
one must know how and when to involve them. When the competition is limited to
design experts, it is noted that the problem is solved in part. With regard to direct
contracting, the transparency of contracting should be evident.
Regardless of the contracting modality, it is observed that the briefing is a recur-
ring tool. It is a compilation of information that, hypothetically, comes from a deep
analysis of the local specificities in relation to its place branding.
6 Hiring Mode: A Solution or a Problem?
The contracting modality should consider a model that allows reflection on the place.
It’s about how to think the territory from itself. This thinking gains relevance due to
the consistency that can be obtained when one knows which way to go. At this point,
there are clues to place lights on the Herculean task of place branding. The probable
distortions that may exist in a briefing, which has its origins in the way the manage-
ments assimilate the place from a narrow and very particular view. Fascioni (2009)
draws attention to the importance of reducing these distortions with the adoption of a
participatory method for extracting corporate identity. Therefore, before contracting,
one must dimension the complexity of this identity from a mapping of the things of
the place that can be revealed from its identity and its image from the people who
make and who live the place.
In the model proposed by (Cauwenberge 2015), he synthesizes the relationship
between the issuer and the receiver of this corporate identity (see image 9). The
desired image is part of the integral elements of corporate identity, which are defined
in the course of its history. It is the cross between what it says it is and how its
attitudes reveal, in fact, how it is perceived by those who somehow connect to that
information. The image is not a static representation of corporate reality, it is dynamic
and therefore there may be disparities between what is said to be and the way it is
viewed. On the other hand, in relation to the territory, the perceived identity is the
image that must be considered by the managers of the place as a parameter to be
crossed with the identity that starts from the attributes historically contained therein.
A place branding should start from a reflection on the place. It must be a moment
to think the territory from the manifest identity in its singularities. The briefing
should be one of the instruments to be sent to the designers, as well as a SWOT
that maps the opportunities and the threats, and a Butterfly Model to establish a
comparison between what is valuable in this territory and the problems existing in
other territories and, from that crossing can identify competitive opportunities. This
information can be augmented by a mind map that branches the heritage elements,
identity, culture, and place symbols, as well as the potential of their industries and
Fig. 9 Image as a reflection

of the mix of corporate
identity. Source:
Cauwenberge (2015)
Fig. 10 elements for a design demand for place branding. Source Authors (2018)
their creative economy. The positioning should be presented clearly and be in tune
with the results of the diagnosis. In summary, there are 3 phases to highlight: who
does, which corresponds to demand; as it does, which refers to the design process
and how to deliver that determines how the project should be presented as a result
fulfilling all the prerequisites proposed (see Fig. 10).
Associated with the diagnosis, there is the modality of demand, which can be
through a competition restricted to professionals and specialized agencies (see
image 11). There may be cases where the best route is the direct hiring of a special-
ized agency. However, this process should be transparent and justified to all actors,
including local people. It is understood that large and unrestricted competitions are
not relevant. Those where any person, qualified or not to the field of design, can
participate. These cases generate a large number of proposals that overwhelm jurors,
in addition to the results presented, which are mostly amateurs and have no relation
to the assumptions of what is intended for the place branding of that place. You lose
a lot of time.
7 Cases
In order to demonstrate a brief scenario on the modus operandi of the design of

marks for place branding, the following cases were chosen: Firenze/IT, due to the
strong repudiation by the citizens when it was launched; Bologna/IT, for conducting a
wide and unrestricted competition; Porto/PT, for the important success of the result;
Fig. 11 hiring modality. Source: Authors (2018)
Alicante/ES, for resulting in a mark surrounded by criticism; Bucharest/RO, for

drawing us the attention of how not to make a contest; Paraguay, for the short time
between one brand and the other; Argentina, through direct contracting and, Swiss
Wine, because it is a region that intends to strengthen its wine brands.
In 2014, the proposed brand for the City of Florence/IT was the subject of much
criticism. The model of hiring was the crowdsourcing4 that gave a briefing to the par-
ticipants who, from him they created their proposals that culminated with 5 thousand
inscriptions. Few were relevant to the proposed objectives. The absence of the lily in
the winning proposal, generated an important difficulty for the citizen to accept the
result that was much questioned at the time. The newspapers Il Corriere Fiorentino
(2014) and La Nazione (2014) presented the results of the dissatisfaction, 89 and
91% of respondents, respectively.
The city of Bologna/IT, through the Urban Center Bologna,5 institution that con-
ducts the whole process to create the place branding, part of a research on the percep-
tion of the image of the city at the local and international levels. This research, carried
out in the first phase of the process, sought to extract the image of the city, from the
people’s perspective, to a desired identity, or rather, from the perceived image to
the identity that defined the position proposed by the briefing (Grandi 2015). Based
on the results of the research, a briefing was generated that guided the International
Competition for the creation of the brand (Grandi 2015). The model adopted for the
4 Itconsists in the act of outsourcing, in an open and collaborative manner, a work traditionally
performed by a hired employee of a company. This outsourcing takes place in the form of an open
invitation to a large group of people, and is usually conducted from the web (Dickie et al. 2014).
5 Urban Center Bologna is the communication center with which the city of Bologna presents and
discusses territorial transformations and urban policies (Grandi 2015).

contest was crowdsourcing via the Zooppa website.6 There were 534 projects from
17 countries. The diagnosis about the image and the identity of the City has rescued
information about the place from the people. This strategy is the point that defines
the difference between the model adopted by Florence/IT and the care proposed by
Bologna/IT in the conduct of the hiring process.
From a restricted process, the City of Porto invited 3 design studios to present a
brand proposal to the city. The contest starts with a briefing that was presented to
the participants in a face-to-face meeting. The White Studio was the winner when
proposing a brand that was is not restricted to tourism or the mere promotion of
the City, it is a brand that encompasses all services linked to the City. The logo
PORTO, Is the main brand of a brand architecture that proposes a visual identity
for the Municipality of Porto, for municipal companies, for municipal services and
for municipal projects. The visual identity is completed with a family of minimalist
icons that can be joined by a mesh that forms a large panel.
The brand for the City of Alicante/ES was the result of an open competition. This
contest did not present important criteria for a consistent brand proposal and that
it met the proposed objectives (Zamora 2017). The absence of strategic objectives
favored subjectivity, which for a brand, including a territory, is a problem. Finally,
next to the delivery of the result came the information that the brand would be part
of a “premium” strategy (Zamora 2017). So, soon after the conclusion of the Contest
arise new elements for the branding strategy. With this result does the proposed
solution apply that did not consider these strategies?
The case of Bucharest/RO is an important example to cite due to the sequence of
obvious problems at the time of publication of the outcome of the competition (see
Fig. 12). The City of Bucharest/RO promoted a competition for brand of the city and
the winner presented a proposal with similarities to the City of Taipei/TW (Faura
2017). In identifying the problem, the organizers of the Contest chose the second
place winner. However, in the proposal adopted similarities with the graphic marks
of the Cities of Prague/CH and Florence/IT, respectively. The question then arises:
how is it possible to achieve identical results for different territories? This finding
leads us to reflect on how to proceed when we need to think about a territory from
place branding. It is the choice of the most appropriate procedures for extracting the
identity of the place, and this requires a method.
Fig. 12 winning mark of the competition for Bucharest’s place branding and its similarity with
logo for Taipei/TW. Source Faura (2017)
6 Zooppa is a creative platform for the production of videos, graphics and advertising ideas for major
brands around the world (Zooppa 2019).

A recent interesting case study is the place branding for Paraguay. In 2017, the
Government of Paraguay launched its brand. A brand, whose design did not even
consider the colors of the Country. A design, which proposed to represent the growth,
riches and opportunities of the place from a symbol that was composed of 3 elements:
the flower, the sun and the gear. Finally, a color palette based on green and not the
colors of the flag of Paraguay. The result was a brand that could not keep up. In
April 2019, through a contest, a new Paraguay brand appears. In this, the colors
and elements of Paraguay are present in the mark establishes an important distance
between the previous and the current mark that did not despise the elements of the
identity of the place (see Fig. 13).
From the title: updating of the Country Brand logo, the bases and conditions for
participation of the competition for the new Paraguay Brand designated the redesign
of the logo launched in 2016. The previous contest was the result of an international
public bid that resulted in a visual proposal that abdicated of the flag colors of
Paraguay. For this new Competition, the organizing committee made available all
the information on the Contest website. Brief, bases and conditions and presentation
model were the documents presented. A workshop on strategy and briefing was
held to define the meaning of the Country Brand and counted on the participation
of Norberto Chaves. The winning brand of the Contest, rescues the origins of the
name Paraguay and highlights the letter “Y” in Guarani means water, land of waters
(BrandNews 2019).
In 2018, the Government of Argentina announced its new country brand. From a
direct contracting, the redesign presents a graphic mark composed by a symbol in
the circle format that contains the letter “A” in the lower part of the circle making
an allusion to South America (Foro Alfa 2018). The logo is composed by the letter
Gotham Rounded. The simplicity of the mark allows, from the shape of the circle,
variations in the background with the insertion of images that establish a direct
relation with the object of communication.
Swiss Wine Promotion aims to promote the region of the Swiss vineyards (Brand-
News 2014). Composed of regional offices, the Association sought to create a graphic
brand, a means to represent the territorial identity of that place. The design of
the brand focuses on a graphic that represents the region of those vineyards. The
monochromatic proposal has in red color and white background a visual relation
Fig. 13 Paraguay mark, left to front and right to current mark. Source BrandNews (2019)
with Switzerland that completes with a bar composed in red and with the cross,
symbol of Switzerland, that is applied in the part superior of the bottles. The project
was a direct contracting.
8 Discussions
Place branding emerges from the relationship between the identity and image of
a territory and, consequently, its competitive singularities. The form for extracting
those singularities depends on a set of factors that permeate the interests, especially
of the contractor. On the other hand, it is possible to observe that the citizen is an
integral part of the process and this is added to the other actors and factors that must
be considered from the moment in which it is predisposed to think the city from a
place branding. It was observed that the form of this thinking should be composed
of propositional guidelines for a model appropriate to the context in which this place
branding was inserted.
The cases selected for this study—Firenze/IT, Bologna/IT, Porto/PT, Alicante/ES,
Bucaresti/RO, Paraguay, Argentina and Swiss Wine, show points in common and
at the same time, different about how to conceive a place branding. Among the
problems identified in those cases, it was observed that the contracting modality
should be considered as an important and strategically thought-out requirement, in
order to avoid the introduction of a place branding where a plagiarism is identified, for
example. This leads to another relevant question—the uniqueness of the place. In the
case of Bucaresti/RO, the similarity with the Taipei/TW graphic brand demonstrates
that it starts from a concept that distances itself from the characteristic features of the
place. It is worth mentioning that the briefing is a peculiar element in all competitions,
however, it is perceived its importance in the complication of the information to
understand the assumptions for the design of the brand, but, it is observed that when
that briefing is added to a judicious research on the place, its image, its identity, its
expertises, finally, on the way one thinks the place and the expectations for its future,
being this information presented in a workshop, for example, where this thinking the
place can be socialized in a very tenuous perspective on the place and its singularities.
To synthesize the information about the brands analyzed, a parametric table was
assembled based on the following criteria: contracting modality, type of place brand-
ing from the scales—Country, City or Region, type of brand—modern or postmodern
and the amount of colors present in the mark. Regarding the type of brand, it was
considered a modern brand whose design is static and formalistic and, for postmod-
ern brand, the one whose design suggests a dynamism in its visual manifestations
(Table 1).
Brand design for a place branding should emerge from a contraction model that
draws on a set of guidelines composed of recommendations in addition to a briefing.
The contraction, direct or indirect, should be based on transparency. The criteria for
such hiring should be excellent, and for this must come from a rigorous process of
Table 1 Parametric analysis of graphic marks.
Source Authors (2019) based on Wheeler (2008)
investigation into the place, its identity and its image. The singularities of the place
should be considered to give it authenticity, effectiveness and sustainability.
9 Conclusions
Territory is composed of tangible and intangible properties. In them, we find the

aspects that, in the course of its history, have built up its identity. The image, the
product of that identity, reveals how the territory is perceived by people who directly
or indirectly know it. Place branding has been the tool used in favor of a competitive
positioning for the territory. However, for strategies to promote their success, the
hiring of designers and specialized agencies must start from a model that considers
the use of tools beyond the brief itself.
Open competitions should be discarded. They tend to have too many proposals
that, in addition to not attending the briefing, generate a significant volume of ideas
without the desired quality. Direct contracting is an option, however, because it is
a territory, it is pertinent to be transparent throughout the process, including the
justification for adopting this modality.
The briefing should emerge from a survey on the image and identity of the place
as well as being the result of a discussion on the (re) positioning of the territory.
The use of tools other than briefing should help in thinking. Local society should be
aware of the relevance of place branding and at some point it should feel part of the
process. Regarding the type of brand, modern or postmodern, this will depend on the
degree of complexity associated with the concept proposed by the identity design,
the narrative that is intended to be adopted in the process of brand communication
with the public.
A parametric analysis of the design of existing brands can create a scenario that
will reduce the likelihood of similarities or plagiarism. As well as the symbols that
give it evidence can guide a way to the solution, both formal and chromatic. A
place branding, through restricted tender or direct contracting, should reflect the best
investment level of public resources. A brand design for the bad territory conceived
due to fragile criteria in the genesis of the process and, consequently to its course,
should be summarily avoided. Public managers should surround themselves with
specialists so that the thinking of the territory does not sum up to a narrow view of
the place. Finally, to obtain a model for place branding that considers the before,
the during and the later, or rather, of the genesis about thinking the territory passing
through the design of the brand until its implantation, will be a contribution to avoid
the problems reported here.
References
ADG (2012) ABC da ADG (Associação dos Designers Gráficos do Brasil). Blucher, São Paulo
Anholt S (2007) Competitive Identity: the new brand management for nations, cities and regions
hardcover. Palgrave MacMillan, New York
Anholt S (2015) Branding de locais e de países. In: Clifton R, Simmons J (Org). O mundo das
marcas. Actual Editora, Lisboa/PT
Bauman Z (2007) Tempos Líquidos. Trad. Carlos Alberto Medeiros. Jorge Zahar, Rio de Janeiro
Bonsiepe G (2011) Design, cultura e sociedade. Blucher, São Paulo
Brandnews. (2014) New logo for Swiss Wine promotion by Winkreative. https://www.
underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_swiss_wine_promotion_by_
winkreative.php. Accessed 20 Mar 2019
Brandnews (2019) New country brand for Paraguay. https://www.underconsideration.com/
brandnew/archives/new_country_brand_for_paraguay_by_alejandro_rebull.php. Accessed 20
Mar 2019
Cai LA (2002) Cooperative branding for rural destinations. Ann Tour Res 29(3):720–742
Cardoso R (2012) Design para um mundo complexo. Cosac Naify, São Paulo
Cauwenberge R (2015) 10 models for identity & branding: schematic tools to assist the understand-
ing of complex problems and the identification of solutions. Total Identity, Amsterdam
Consolo C (2015) Marcas: design estratégico, do símbolo à gestão da identidade corporativa.
Blucher, São Paulo
Corriere Fiorentino (2014). Ecco il nuovo brand di Firenze, ma la Rete lo contesta: Si
legge Renzi. https://corrierefiorentino.corriere.it/firenze/notizie/cronaca/2014/10-marzo-2014/
ecco-brand-firenze-2224190697488.shtml. Accessed 23 Mar 2019
Dickie IB et al (2014) O Processo de Desenvolvimento De Produtos Via Crowd- Design: opor-
tunidades para a sustentabilidade. In: Congresso Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em
Design, 11, 2014, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Gramado. Anais… Gramado, pp
1268–1279. Accessed em 20 May 2019
Fascioni L (2009) Método participativo de definição da identidade corporativa. Estudos em Design,
Rio de Janeiro, pp 18–38
Faura R (2017) Bucarest elige marca-ciudad tras una descalificación por plagio. http://www.
brandemia.org/bucarest-elige-marca-ciudad-tras-una-descalificacion-por-plagio. Accessed em 5
May 2019
Foro Alfa (2018) Qué dicen los creadores de la nueva Marca Argentina¿Por qué es tan simple?,
¿tiene relación con el gobierno?, ¿es una copia de Mashable? https://foroalfa.org/articulos/que-
dicen-los-creadores-de-la-nueva-marca-argentina. Accessed 20 Mar 2019
Gaio S, Gouveia L (2007) O branding territorial: uma abordagem mercadológica à Cidade. Edições
UFP, Revista a Obra Nasce, p 2007
Govers R (2013) Why place branding is not about logos and slogans. Place Branding Public
Diplomacy 9:71–76. Retrieved 23 janeiro 2017 from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/
pb.2013.11
Grandi R (2015). È Bologna giallo progetto: city branding. i Quaderni: Urban Center Bologna.
Retrieved from http://www.urbancenterbologna.it/images/Bolognacitybranding/Q2_Bologna_
City_Branding_WEB_bassa.pdf
Hall S (2015) A identidade cultural na pós-modernidade. 12ed. Lamparina, Rio de Janeiro
Hankinson G (2015) Rethinking the place branding construct. Rethinking place branding: compre-
hensive brand development for cities and regions, pp 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
12424-7_2
Hanna S, Rowley J (2008) An analysis of terminology use in place branding, vol 4, no 1, pp 61–
75. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pb/journal/v4/
n1/full/6000084a.html
Holloway L, Hubbard P (2001) People and place: the extraordinary geographies of everyday life.
Pearson Education, Harlow
Kavaratzis M (2004) From city marketing to city branding: Towards a theoretical framework for
developing city brands. Place Branding Public Diplomacy 1:58–73
Keller, KL (2009) Building strong brands in modern marketing communications environment. J
Mark Commun 15(2–3):139–155
Kotler P et al (1999) Marketing places Europe. Pearson Education, London
Krucken L (2009) Design e território: valorização de identidades e produtos locais, 1st edn. Studio
Nobel, São Paulo
La Nazione (2014) Il brand di Firenze non piace. E su Facebook spunta un logo alterna-
tivo. https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/2014/04/10/1051038-nuovo-logo-brand-firenze.
shtml. Accessed 23 Mar 2019
Lefebvre H (2008) O direito à cidade. Documentos, São Paulo
Malard ML (2006) As aparências em arquiteturas. UFMG, Belo Horizonte
PAZMINO A (2015). Como se Cria: 40 Métodos Para Design de Produtos. Editora Blucher, São
Paulo
Raposo D (2008) Design de identidade e imagem corporativa: branding, história da marca, gestão
de marca, identidade visual corporativa. UCB, Castelo Bran- co
Wheeler A (2008) Design de identidade da marca. Tradução: Joaquim da Fonseca. Bookman, Porto
Alegre
Yin R (2005) Estudo de Casos: Planejamento e Métodos. Editora Bookman, São Paulo
Zamora I (2017) El nuevo logo de Alicante es un fracaso como ciudad que trabaja para profesion-
alizarse. http://www.brandemia.org/el-nuevo-logo-de-alicante-es-un-fracaso-como-ciudad-que-
trabaja-paraprofesionalizarse. Accessed em 5 May 2019
ZOOPPA (2019) Retrieved 20 march 2015, from https://community.zooppa.com/
The Creation of Brands in the Online
Experience: A Study About the Brand
Image of Children’s Clothing
Vera Barradas, María Victoria Carrillo Durán and Daniel Raposo
Abstract Nowadays, digital social networks represent a new way of being con-
nected. These powerful tools widely present in our lives are a form of communica-
tion, information and social experience transversal to several areas of knowledge.
What transposes to the outside of the virtual network for “real life”, are also busi-
ness models that represent challenges for new forms of communication of the brands,
highly based on the relation between the brand and the interested parts. With a strong
focus on people and their individual choices. Based on an exploratory analysis of a
brand of children’s clothing created online and a subsequent questionnaire survey
of brands from the same sector of the Iberian market, this study made it possible
to clarify the steps for the proper creation of a brand based on online experience.
Allowing us to understand how the behavior of people in social networks allows and
also values the emergence of business forms directed to defined groups and highly
personalized preferences.
Keywords Digital identity design · Brand image · Brand experience · Branded

content
V. Barradas (B)
Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Campus Politécnico, 10, 7300-069 Portalegre, Portugal
M. V. C. Durán
Universidad de Extremadura, Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación y la Comunicación,
Plaza Ibn Marwan, s/n. 06001, Badajoz, Spain
D. Raposo
Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, nº 12, 6000-084 Castelo
Branco, Portugal
Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063
Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_12
162 V. Barradas et al.
1 Introduction
The brand image and the experiences lived through the brand in the online context
is experiencing a really exciting moment. Brands have never lived so close to their
publics and never before have individual opinion and choice ever had this level of
relevance. We are interested in focusing on the present research the response that the
brand image has before this market of emerging needs. Outlining a plan for how a
brand creates value online based on the experience it offers to its stakeholders.
In the course of this research process, we worked actively on the construction of a
brand of children’s clothing and observed a very peculiar environment of relationship
between the brands, between the brands and their public and the society’s response
to these micro-phenomena that touch the areas of communication, technology, soci-
ology, management, image and design.
The specific choice of brands of children’s clothing is also a result of the phe-
nomenon called smart mom—this universe of maternity strongly linked to the new
technologies through which mothers share their doubts, needs and experiences, cre-
ates in the online environment a community of mothers of which many are influencers
and to which the brands of the infant universe is clearly attentive. With a strong unem-
ployment rate, the online environment and social networks have become the most
direct response to the creation of new markets and to the creation of professional
activity in a fusion of this and personal life. From that moment comes a market cen-
tered on the person and his experience. This experience is shared on social networks
and is able to create effective return.
For this reason the changes that the online context has had in people’s lives and in
the way these changes alter the view of social behavior, merge with business issues.
There is new behavior towards this online market.
The Spanish and Portuguese markets have common denominators, not only in the
high unemployment rate, as mentioned above, but also due to the similarity of online
phenomena observed. The blogs of mothers, the importance of children’s fashion in
the business sector, brands of children’s clothing created around social networks and
activities outside the network, such as markets and fairs formed and disseminated on
social networks.
Doing research in this context also leads to a new reading of the applied research
methods. Data and numbers are likely to contain weaknesses inherent in this envi-
ronment, such as the constant emergence of new data, new users and even new tools
that will change behaviors.
The objectives resulting from the proposed theme arise from the need to adapt the
methodologies to be applied at the level of the brand image on social network.
The present study has as main object of study the birth of children’s clothing brands
in the online experience, focusing on digital social network. It aims to analyze brand
image and brand experience values as the basis of online reputation and as effective
value generators.
Based on the general objectives of the research, we have the following specific
objectives:
The Creation of Brands in the Online Experience … 163
– Investigate the steps for the design of a brand of children’s clothing on social
network.
– Analyse the role of the brand’s visual identity in the effective communication of
the brand on the network.
– Know results of brand activities from online relationships.
– Find within social network the tools that best fit the creation of a brand on digital
social network.
In order to reach the objectives set, and resulting from the reading and verification
of the state of the art within the object of study, the following hypotheses of research
were formulated:
H1 The construction of a brand of children’s clothing in the online environment
corresponds to defined and concrete steps.
H2 The corporate identity, represents in the online environment, added value in the
identification of brands.
H3 In the online context, relationships are established that result in profitable activ-
ities for the development and growth of brands.
H4 Social networks have tools and techniques that allow the construction of a brand
of children’s clothing in the online environment.
2 Methods and Structure of Research
The review of the literature inherent in the research process focused on three main
themes:
1. The brand image of experience
2. Digital social network
3. The brands of children’s clothing online.
The studies found allowed us to deduce hypotheses as well as to recognize the
difficulties inherent in a research with a strong connection with digital social network
and social phenomena related to the universe of brands. Applied research allows us
to corroborate or reject the hypotheses found through the theoretical survey of the
themes mentioned.
The constant mutation and difficult accounting of the online environment led us to
resort to two different research methods so that the conclusive data were as close as
possible to the reality researched. For the reasons presented, during this research we
searched for the main sources of information about the themes within the network.
And in this context blogs specialized in the topic, represent a safe and effective source
of updated information. The number of users and the daily dynamics of these sources
becomes the main meter. Professional experience and approach to the subject has
become the main ally in the planning of research that relies on research methodology
with an exploratory study basis. This is intended to have a living knowledge of the
subject that allows to advance to the second phase of research in a more secure and
prepared way. Applied research thus divided into two distinct phases:
1. Exploratory study, active participant observation
2. Non-interventionist research: inquiry (Carmo and Ferreira 2008).
Researching online requires an analysis and reading of the techniques to be
addressed. Access to people, networks and groups in an immediate way can be
misleading and can be seen as a facilitated means of research. However, research in
the online environment poses specific challenges and if collection techniques are not
properly used they may be seen as unwanted or even intrusive.
When the questionnaire survey was established as a technique for collecting quan-
titative data, its design showed the need to find a qualitative basis for work.
Thus, before proceeding to the process of inquiry of brands, we analyzed the main
guidelines (guidelines that were established through the development of the state of
the art) of a brand of children’s clothing, built in the online environment, for children
between the 3 months and 7 years old.
This exploratory study and the consequent active participant observation with the
brand, besides the data and the analysis that we present, allowed us a dip in the sector
that we propose to analyze, thus establishing parameters and marking criteria of the
brands to be inquired.
We then entered the planning phase of the questionnaire survey and sample selec-
tion. We selected 300 brands (150 Spain and 150 Portugal) through the observation
of the medium, with a high presence in the online environment, considering this the
universe and starting point of the investigation.
The data processing of the online questionnaire surveys was developed through
graphs and their essential reading in the comparison of data and contrast of the
hypotheses placed.
3 The Brand Image Experience
In this approach to the theme of brand image experience, and being the term brand,
connoisseur of various contexts and consequent meanings, we approach the main
dimensions and meanings of the brand. Directing our bibliographic research for the
brand in its emotional aspect and able to attribute value to relationships with its
public in a reciprocal way. We intend to understand the main concepts inherent to
its evolution, making clear the differences between the concepts that are part of the
theme. Thus, we indicate as main objectives:
– Define brand and its dimensions (Coelho and Rocha 2007);
– know the most important moments in the history of the brand (Raposo 2008);
– identify brand image (Costa 2004);
– differentiate corporate identity from corporate visual identity through the definition
of both concepts (Carrillo et al. 2009);
– define the brand experience and the value of emotion in building rich identities
(Martins 2007).
In order to reach the proposed objectives, we begin by defining the brand, using
definitions of revised authors. Stressing the brand ages, brand types and brand image.
In the theme are still defined the concepts: corporate reputation management, full
communication: corporate identity, brand design: the corporate visual identity, typol-
ogy of the graphic brands and the brand experience and its emotional nature (Villafañe
2004).
We finish the approach proposed in these points concluding that the experience and
management of the brand depends on the alignment of the tangibles and intangibles
that constitute it. Since the brand is always the result of the alignment of these
variables. It is of utmost importance the coherence between these and the experience
lived by the client, by the person (Alloza 2004).
If the brands are made of people it is important that these find themselves in and
are in a common experience. People are online in organized groups and new ways
of relating. In the following themes it was intended to find and describe the tools
made available for effective living in the digital context, beginning with searching the
root of the social network for the logic of group behavior that leads to phenomena
of influence, tendency and micro tendency. Fundamental to the creation of brand
experience online.
4 Digital Social Network
After the bibliographic review of the main concepts related to the brand experience,
in the previous points, in the present theme we approach the social networks, a
fundamental element of the present research. What is wanted in this exact point of
the research is to know the origin of social networks looking for analogies that allow
us to bridge the phenomenon of the current digital social networks, both from a
personal and business point of view. Having as main objectives the theme:
– Search the origin of social networks (Buezas and Camarero 2006);
– identify and analyze the main social software available (Shih 2011);
– understand the role of the blog, corporate web and product web in the online
experience (Ros 2008);
– analyze the challenges of interactive design as an online experience generator
(Pratt and Nunes 2012);
– study the actors in the current digital landscape and how they influence behavior
(Gladwell 2007).
In order to fulfill the stated objectives, we cover the following themes: the origin
of personal social networks, digital social networks—facebook, twitter, linkedin,
Google +, pinterest, instagram. As well as the blog as a privileged tool and with an
increasing value in content sharing and trend creation (Weber 2009).
The corporate and product web, as a key element in online presence, interactive
design and users. We conclude this topic with the focus in the present research,
which is related to examples of phenomena generated in the environment previously
exposed: influencers, trends and micro-trends. Exposed and tools and the context of
the users we enter what we call as the synthesis and contextualization of the reviewed
themes, centered on the specific object of the investigation.
5 The Brands of Children´S Clothing Online
The brands of children’s clothing represent the case study of the present research,
which is why it is fundamental to contextualize the theme, as well as an integration of
the previous concepts with the specific case of this universe. Children’s clothing in the
online context is associated with phenomena that do not only concern the purchase
of products. We are not so much interested in children’s clothing in the market sense.
But rather try to understand what leads the Mothers of these children to become
bloggers and how closed groups of Mothers on the facebook social network reach
more than 13,000 members. Mothers buy online, but most of all they share. They
generate content for brands and live experiences inside and outside the network,
with their tribe. In short, the main objective of this specific point of the study is
to synthesize, contextualize and relate points and themes already reviewed bringing
them to the more specific context of the object of study.
– Contextualize children’s clothing in the brand experience market (Cardoso 1994);
– analyze the parallel phenomena of the public linked to that market (Shapiro 2001);
– define the brand experience in the online context (Castells 2004);
– identify consumer behaviors online and analyze the tools of digital markets (Ron
et al. 2014).
In this sense, the following themes were addressed: the children’s clothing brand
and smart moms, as a key player in the online experience of children’s clothing
brands, the creation of the online experience brand, the consumer society and elec-
tronic commerce, and branded content in the image of brand experience online. This
last crucial point of connection between the brands and their audiences.
It is concluded that it is fundamental in the management of the online experience
brand always to have the attention (from part to part), identification (of the public
before the actions of the brand), the emotion implied to the experiences provided and
the relation of permanence and fidelity. The brand has to be today, a “being” always
available, always attentive, always connected.
6 Exploratory Study: Active Participant Observation

of the Brand
As we said, the examination of the brands led to a preliminary observation of the

medium (Scott 2013).
Experience brands in the online environment are not necessarily registered as a
company and occur spontaneously from the will of the author and owner of those
brands. Which makes the measurement process cautious and challenging.
Social networks are user territory and brands live a time in which their image has
passed into the hands of the consumer. These two factors are decisive when planning
our observation, taking us to a dive in the experience and the construction of a brand
in the online environment.
The study was based on the Cherry Papaya kids brand, firstly because it appeared
in a timely correspondence with the planning of the research but also because of
the proximity to the members and managers of the brand that allowed to explore its
development in a dimension of diving observation more accentuated.
Despite this proximity, which allowed us to work very closely and actively follow
the strategies adopted by the brand, the data presented here are public. Any user
has access to them through the visit to the corporate website/online store and social
networks of the brand, which we describe below, in this point (in, III).
The observed items result from the subjects under study in the state of the art, so
we found it relevant to observe the brand with regard to:
• Brand typology and definition;
• The corporate visual identity;
• Digital social networks and content branded;
• Other online communication tools: website;
• Characterization of the product;
• Brand activities outside social networks.
The observation and analysis of these concrete points of the Cherry Papaya Kids
brand, as well as the proximity to the actions and activities of the brand, since its
inception, enabled the present research to know the main sources of information
related to the object of study and thus to formulate the universe and consequent
sample, for the application of the active research methods previously exposed (Fig. 1)
7 Non-interventional Research: The Questionary Survey
A questionnaire survey was selected for the present study. The fact that the respon-
dents and the researcher were not in a physical situation affects the way in which the
number of answers is mastered, but it allows to fill the question of physical distance.
Considering that the respondents are in Portuguese and Spanish territories and that
Fig. 1 Visual Identitiy | Digital content
these are connected to the internet (by the nature of the universe) electronic mail was
the chosen medium of distribution.
The questionnaire consists of 19 questions, 15 of which closed questions. All
questions are straightforward and the sequence of the questionnaire is intended to
be logical so that it is the most comfortable for the respondent. In the elaboration of
the questionnaire the questions were formalized considering the estimated degree of
comprehension of the respondents, resorting to the use of control questions to verify
and confirm the veracity of the answers.
We used the survey model by self-administered questionnaire, without the pres-
ence of the researcher sent by electronic mail. The emails were sent in three phases,
for the first contact a newsletter format was developed aiming at a previous clar-
ification of the study, objectives and later phases, after this email was sent a link
through which the brand could access and complete the questionnaire and a third
stage provided for in the absence of sufficient answers to recall the response to the
survey and in which cooperation was appreciated.
The questionnaire was developed using the type form tool. In Portuguese and
Spanish. This allowed us to target respondents and at the same time keep a clearer
comparative record. The questions are open and closed questions. The former,
although more difficult to quantify, can cover a greater number of information, the
latter facilitates the quantification of data and allows faster response.
The online tool allows a result with high levels of usability which was proven by
the speed of response. Formally the questionnaire is clear, enlightening the steps to
follow and enjoyable.
In addition to the exposed sources (sector markets and blogs of the theme) it was
also useful in the definition of the universe the personal network in the facebook
social network of the researchers involved. Based on these sources, 300 brands were
collected from Spain and Portugal.
This collection was established between April 8 and May 15, 2015, and it was
found that the data that has undergone the most changes to the current date was the
number of fans of the facebook pages.
The products of the universe chosen, are located in children’s clothing from 0 to
12 years. 52.3% of the brands have an online store hosted on a website. The social
networks used by these brands are: facebook, pinterest, instagram, youtube, twitter,
google+, vimeo, linkedin, tumblr and bloglovin.
Although the comparison between the Portuguese and Spanish markets is not an
objective of the research, we can not fail to note that of the brands analyzed in Spain,
24.6% of them have an active blog, whereas in Portugal this figure drops to 9.3%.
Similarly, in relation to the presence in the social network instagram in Spain is
registered in 74% and in Portugal the percentage is 65%.
Based on the 300 Iberian brands found in the exploratory study, the sample size
was established in the simple random sampling model by randomly selecting the
number of tags to be surveyed.
The definition of the sample comes from an error margin of 5% and a confidence
level of 95%. 50% is the margin of distribution of the answers. From this estimate,
we obtain the value of 169, which is the value of the sample considered. Considering
this the minimum value for the validity of the resulting data. The randomness of
sampling is facilitated by the size of the universe.
The data collected above allow us to establish comparative relations and funda-
mental conclusions to contrast hypotheses and final conclusions. This quantitative
study with the brands demonstrates a great similarity between the Spanish and Por-
tuguese cases, allowing to deduce that there is a strategic line of the online environ-
ment independent of the country of origin of the brand. This helps strategic thinking
and allows you to deduce common steps for creating an online brand.
Regarding general data and impressions, facebook continues to lead both in terms
of business tool and in terms of direct contact with the customer.
Both cases fully agree on the importance of designing a graphic brand in the initial
definition of the brand. Perhaps the point of least concordance among cases is exactly
who develops that visual identity. In the case of Spanish, 59% of the brand owner,
while in the Portuguese case, 57% of the respondents reported having referred to a
communication design professional to carry out this task (Graphic 1). More than half
of the brands do not have, however, a manual of norms that allows to help the good
use of the identity by the one who develops the contents.
Also, most of the brands consider the use of the graphic brand as important. And
more than 80% believe that the public identifies the brand by the components of the
visual identity (Graphic 2).
Graphics 1 to 6 Portuguese case

In relationships established outside social networks, only 2% of brands refer to

never having personal contact with customers and 6% in relation to other brands
(Graphics 3 and 4). This data will be fundamental in the human perception of online
relationships. Still in this field more than 80% of the brands participate in events of
the sector, such as markets, fairs or showrooms (Graphic 5). It should be noted that
this response would be only confirmatory given that the formulation of the universe
came largely from data presented by markets and childrenswear fairs. Over 80%
agree that they have effective results in this participation.
Regarding the return coming from social networks, facebook continues to play
a preponderant role although it is also felt on instagram, pinterest, twitter, blog
and website. When talking about the online social tool in which a more profitable
interaction is established, facebook is clearly ahead in preferences. With percentages
close to 80%.
A fundamental data for the investigation comes from the question in which the
brands are inquired about the importance of the social networks in the decision
making of the creation of the brand. More than 70% of respondents agree and totally
agree that the existence of social networks was essential in this decision-making
(Graphic 6).
The brands clarified that the volume of sales of the brand has a direct correspon-
dence with the campaigns of greater interactions in social networks. Being that the
photographic images are the type of content with which the brand gets more inter-
action of its public. A relevant comparative data reveals that in Spain only 3% of
the brands consider that personal content is attractive for this interaction, whereas in
Portugal this percentage rises to 21%.
Curious and unexpected given the theoretical framework is that for brands the
association to a blog sector does not seem to be essential. Since more than half say
that connection is not essential. Unlike the website that for the brands is a key tool
of online strategy.
Brands made it clear through adherence to the present study that not only are
active participants in this context, but also show great interest in the results. Through
the e-mail address that we placed at our disposal, we received the votes of success in
the development of the investigation as well as reports of interest in the analysis of
this new market model. A market closer to that which connects us to the old methods
of sale in which the customer had a more significant proximity to the seller, for
example, on large commercial surfaces. The facebook network has a preponderant
role in the various answers obtained and the care with the brand image is assumed
by the actors of this experience that the digital social network and its tools have
brought us.
8 Contrast of Hypotheses
H1 The construction of a brand of children’s clothing in the online environment

corresponds to defined and concrete steps.
Data presented reveal that despite the experimental nature inherent in new tools,
the fundamental steps for the creation of a brand in this environment are identified.
The state of the art digital tools and survey results demonstrate the strategies to be
adopted not only for building but also for brand management in this environment.
H2 The visual corporate identity, represents in the online environment, added value
in the identification of brands.
Taking into account the state of the art and the observation of the brand of chil-
dren’s clothing this hypothesis would be verified. But in surveys, although the vast
majority of brands demonstrate the importance of a visual corporate identity and its
proper use, we find that it is still in the hands of the owner of the brand and in large
percentage the brands show that they do not have access to the graphic norms manual.
The design of the visual corporate identity should correspond to technical standards
that allow the development of effective identity systems capable of responding to
the challenges of online and digital tools. In this way although the importance given
in theory is verified and although from our observation results a caution with the
contents that include the logo, data of the inquiries do not allow us to confirm in full
the truthfulness of the hypothesis.
H3 In the online context relationships are established that result in profitable activ-
ities for the development and growth of brands.
The importance of activities outside social networks, but derived from this com-
mon starting point, has been demonstrated at all stages of the research. Traders
not only regularly participate in markets and fairs of the sector, but also show that
they have effective results. The partnerships that are established between brands and
between brands and blogs are within the network strong example. Corroborating
this hypothesis also allows to affect the human character and the power of online
relation. Making digital social networks a platform for building personal networks
with strong interference in the development and success of the brand.
H4 Social networks have tools and techniques that allow the construction of a
brand of children’s clothing in the online environment.
This hypothesis is linked to hypothesis 01 in the way it is verified. If it is first

agreed that it is not only possible to establish steps for a model for the creation of
an online children’s clothing brand, it is confirmed here that social networks and
monitoring applications are fundamental aid in the construction of a brand online.
9 Conclusions
We live in a new world. For the first time we are (almost) all connected. What unites
us is no longer the territorial, family and temporal coincidences. What unites us is
more intrinsically connected to who we are. We are united by the photographs we
like on instagram and the news we share on facebook. We are linked by digital boards
and we organize in circles. Brands experience this new world. They are attentive and
offer experiences in exchange for sharing. 69% of the Portuguese brands surveyed
and 63% of the Spanish brands do not have a physical store and mostly keep in touch
with their customers through facebook. They are available at any time of the day,
answer questions, help clients in making decisions and discover affinity, become
friends. If the digital social network on the one hand entails the lack of commitment
of physical distance, the brands work in the opposite direction and create codes of
identification with their public. From this identification is born the emotional bond
that is worked daily by the brand.
The future comes from the past and mothers faced with a fragile professional
background have returned to make their children’s clothes, to be at home and to
abandon the false ability to be super women. Mothers have been given the freedom
to share, they have lost the fear of asking questions and commenting on responses
and from doing business. The evolution of blogs and the intelligence of online rela-
tionships gave women the power of constant interaction with their peers, and with it
also learning methods and business models.
At the same time that the brands claim to have had the existence of the social
network as an influence for their creation, they also need a face-to-face contact. 88%
have already participated in markets in the sector, markets that reach profit values
well above expectations and with a strong growth trend.
On the other hand, the challenges that this new world offers are inexhaustible.
Sociology, design, communication and management are bound to remake their size
and establish new rules. Capturing the client’s constant attention, working relation-
ships daily, responding to expectations through product quality, astonishing, winning
customer time and delivering emotion-filled experiences.
But of all the challenges, one should be seen by brands as the primordial of this
new relationship. To have a brand today is according to Coelho and Rocha (2007),
tell every day a seductive story that never ends and continues the next day.
The dynamic of this living relationship between the brand and its public and
consumers, leads to a constant change of the paradigm. At the same time that power
is on the side of people, these as users are generators of content. These contents
are filtered and analyzed by the brands and these brands have in their power more
and more means of personalizing their products. The brand responds with what the
consumer feels identified and somehow re-assumes a power relationship. Between
the paradigm changes and the exchange of roles, it is necessary to constantly capture
the attention of the client, daily working the established relationship. A story that
engages all stakeholders by crossing and elevating the emotional experience of the
brand and the emotional values of consumers.
Acknowledgements This chapter results from the doctoral thesis entitled “La imagen de las marcas
de ropa infantil creadas a através de a experiencia online.” completed on January 4, 2016 at the
University of Extremadura, Spain.
References
Alloza A (2004) MK Marketing + Ventas. El caso BBVA. La marca experiencia y la reputación

corporativa. N 189. España
Buezas TC, Camarero DB (2006) Antropología, Teorias de la Cultura, Métodos e Técnicas. España:
@becedario
Cardoso A (1994) Marketing de vestuário de criança: a percepção das crianças sobre as marcas de
vestuário, sobre a moda e sobre o estilo de vestir. A influência dos grupos de pares (grupos de
referência e de pertença) na escolha do vestuário das crianças. Tese de doutoramento. Universidade
do Minho, Portugal
Carmo H, Ferreira MM (2008) Metodologia da investigação—Guia para a Auto-aprendizagem.
Universidade Aberta, Lisboa
Carrillo MV, Núñez de Prado S, Tato JL, Delgado JP, Castillo A (2009) Comunicación integral y
resposabilidad social de las organizaciones. Person Educación, México
Castells M (ed) (2004) La sociedad red: una vision global. Alianza Editorial, Madrid
Coelho C, Rocha P (2007) Brand taboos. Booknomics, Lisboa
Costa J (2004) La imagen de marca. Ediciones Paidós Ibérica, Barcelona
Gladwell M (2007) A chave do sucesso. Dom Quixote, Lisboa
Martins JS (2007) A natureza Emocional da Marca: Construção de empresas ricas, 6a edn. Elsevier,
Rio de Janeiro
Pratt A, Nunes J (2012) Inter-active design. Rockport, USA
Raposo D (2008) Design de Identidade e Imagem Corporativa. Branding, história da marca, gestão
da marca, identidade visual corporativa. Edições IPCB, Castelo Branco
Ron, Álvarez, Núñez (2014) Efectos de los contenidos de marca em niñosy jóvenes bajo la influencia
del branded contente. ESIC Editorial, Madrid
Ros V (2008) Posiciona tu marca en La Red: e-Branding. netbiblo, España
Scott J (2013) Social network analysis, 3a edn. SAGE, London
Shapiro AL (2001) El mundo en un clic. Como internet pone el control en tus manos. Grijaldo,
Barcelona
Shih C (2011) The facebook era, 2a edn. Pearson Education, Boston
Villafañe J (2004) La buena reputación—claves del valor intangible de las empresas. Ediciones
Pirámide, Madrid
Weber L (2009) Marketing to the social web, 2a edn. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New Jersey
A Practice-Based Research Model
for Interaction in Print Design
Marco Neves
Abstract Print design is defined by a relationship with technologies that promote

static existence of objects. This characterization is usually opposed to interactive
possibilities and modification by users. Given its practical nature, the presence of
interaction in print design benefits from practice-based methods. To establish a sys-
tematic presence of interaction in print design media, we developed a specific method,
based on features of design practice. There was an initial planning phase for con-
ception and enhancement of ideas and selection and definition of objects to further
improve. We than created models and prototypes and from these, we undertook a
design project where we included interaction features in a controlled way to test their
application in print production. The method presents a contribution for the inclusion
of interaction in print design, modifying objects and their relationship with people.
Keywords Print design · Practice-based research · Interaction
1 Introduction
Almost every daily concern seems to be allied with a technological rising and media
broadcast. Design occupies a changing place in face of this, between a professional
practice which provides solutions to already established needs and a research field
aiming to offer an optimization of material conditions and suitability to people and
their time.
In the case of print design, most used processes to conceive and produce visual
communication appear to show no interference from research conducted in the area,
at least one which may contribute to such media and user adequacy. Print design
is historically centered on unilateral elaboration of material for production through
printing technologies. Print media are understood as a group of static objects and
M. Neves (B)
Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063
Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_13
176 M. Neves
information. When compared to its digital counterpart, they lack dynamic infor-
mation and most of all, interaction with their users. Print media does not support
hyperlinks, does not change its behavior or the system by which information is
transmitted, if the choice rests on users.
Nevertheless, print media can become more interactive, even without considering
an electronic existence or adaptation. Interaction has been defined when it comes to
design (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2002; Moggridge 2007; Saffer 2007) and opera-
tionalized (Neves 2013). Previous studies have indicated most common features of
digital production of interaction (Cooper et al. 2007; Neves 2016a), how it would
relate to print production (Neves 2016b) and how such features would apply to a print
produced specific object (Neves 2017; Neves and Caixeiro 2019). These studies have
shown interaction can relate to print design and how to translate common interac-
tive concepts to an already defined printable format. However, it is still necessary to
explain how to systematically implement interaction on print design processes and
how to change the way print media relate to their users.
By interaction, we do not refer to a technological environment, usually constituted
by digital systems, which allows updating, modification and contribution to the very
same system, through a relationship with hardware and software. We refer to a
general concept (Bonsiepe 1999), explained by the possibility placed in artefacts
for action-reaction, alternating messages and behavior decision (Bolter and Gromala
2003; Cooper et al. 2007). In other words, to provide a common framework to
various media, as a continuous mapping of working hypotheses adaptable to several
situations, in conception and development stages. If so, this strategy may be an
innovation statement in print design, or at least, an attempt to increase possible
solutions during visual communication.
So, the main goal is to implement interaction as a regular procedure in print design,
benefiting objects submitted to printing technologies and the relation they have with
their users. How to implement, increase or just control the levels of interaction in a
print design process.
2 A Practice-Based Method
For this purpose, we followed a qualitative based methodology. We undertook a

practice-based research, where we mixed a structure for project development, based
on information gathered from previous research (Neves 2013, 2016a) with a print
design project approach. Such specific process was outlined to achieve a material
outcome in these circumstances.
Having a research method established through project practice is meant to test
new information and ideas and to fit the creative practices being worked on (Logan
2006). The correct way to name the inclusion of a design project in a research method
might be ‘practice-led research’ (Rust et al. 2007; Nimkulrat 2007; Haslem 2011)
or ‘practice-based research’ (Pedgley and Wormald 2007) which derives from the
action research method (Archer 1995).
A Practice-Based Research Model for Interaction in Print Design 177
Rust et al. (2007) explain it as “research in which the professional and/or creative
practices of art, design or architecture play an instrumental part in an inquiry” (Rust
et al. 2007: 11). But inclusion of a design project within a research method may lead
to misconception, since design activity does not meet all the necessary criteria to
be considered research (Pedgley and Wormald 2007). Still, we should distinguish
research made about a certain practice, from the one with purposes of practice and
yet from the one done through practice (Archer 1995: 11).
Archer (1995) gives us a reasonable description of the method: “there are cir-
cumstances where the best or only way to shed light on a proposition, a principle,
a material, a process or a function is to attempt to construct something, or to enact
something, calculated to explore, embody or test it” (Archer 1995: 11). The associa-
tion between interaction as a concept and the development of print design is not fully
theoretical, and may be better understood with material evidences of such association.
It is although advisable that such material construction can be paired with a
description and reflection of the process which enables it (Pedgley and Wormald
2007: 82). So, a part of the entire developed project is presented as a real object,
produced and distributed. This will help to make the result authentic, as the method
itself is conducted simultaneously through a detailed description. In this sense, design
projects included in a research method should be documented (through sketches,
technical drawings, audiovisual materials, texts, prototypes, etc.) so they can become
information to be processed and for conclusions about the method be taken.
3 Print Design Project
What we name as print design project does not intend to address common problem
solving (Johnson 2002; Davis 2008) in well-defined and circumscribed situations.
Our project initiative was not only to execute, but also to generate a system from
which several print design projects could be carried out. It brings together a set of
alternative and broad solutions, given the collection of information during research.
In this way, it follows:
What would happen if we used our knowledge about current practices not to answer certain
questions by our design, but to avoid answering them? Or, in other words, if we tried to
make our design ask questions about use that were open for its users to answer, rather than
thinking of the design as a way of providing well-defined answers from the start. (Redström
2005: 136–137)
Also, the intention of a typical print design project is arguable when related to a
research aim, for reasons stated by Scrivener (2000):
In contrast, in projects where the work is progressed through the creation of and interaction
with artefacts, issues, goals, and priorities may change throughout the project resulting in a
stream of outcomes, thereby never settling on a specific problem or yielding a’final‘solution.
Perhaps the main reason for this is that the artefact matters as an object of experience.
(Scrivener 2000)
178 M. Neves
Any purpose to generate print design projects in this situation does not fit with
already known results. This opposition between project as a solution for a given
problem and project as a creative production does not exclude the existence of a set
of rules to both. In the latter case, Scrivener (2000) specifies:
• the result of this production should be original (not derive from the work of others);
• the work should be an artefact as an answer to concerns and interests;
• concerns and interests reflect culture and should manifest themselves through
produced artefacts;
• artefact must contribute to human experience, even if with no utility.
An acceptable result from this method would be understood as material existence,
which will be the confluence of previous knowledge and the one which we were trying
to generate through its production. In a simple way, interaction can be understood
and implemented in print media and allow users to play a part in it.
To achieve a material outcome for these requirements, we outlined a structure for
project development following the suggestion “a key feature of action research is
that it adopts a dynamic, cyclical process which moves through phases of planning,
action, observation and reflection” (Bloor and Wood 2006: 10).
3.1 Structure for Project Development
To conceive print media from interaction categories, the following structure was
used:
I. Planning
• listing interaction categories from literature review and previous research;

• conceiving and developing ideas;
• selecting and defining objects.
II. Action
• prototyping.
III. Observation or discussion

• experimentation;
• reflection;
• changes and improvements.
IV. Extra
• gathered theory;
• process documentation;
• process and reflection analysis.
Planning consisted in establishing possible connections between print and digital

interaction and how can it be applied to certain objects. Conceiving and selecting
ideas for objects were moments of free production. In the sense that it is not intended
to change a subjective part of design projects or the individual role of each designer.
However, selection may be subject to greater criteria specification, such as proximity
to interaction categories or technical restrictions.
After selection, there was a second phase called ‘action’ where at least one idea
should be developed with better detail through prototypes, to enable real object
production.
Observation was done on all collected material and reflection about suitability of
interaction as a concept, to print media development.
The last phase was mainly used to describe all work carried out and to aid on
method synthesis.
4 Project Development
Picking up on our project development structure, all phases were carried out, so that
this method would convert into applied research, understood as knowledge acquisi-
tion, conversion or extension for use in some situations (Archer 1995).
4.1 Planning
Connections of Interaction Categories

For the planning phase, we established a bridge between interaction categories, iden-
tified in digital artifacts, with techniques frequently used in print production. To
better visualize it, we built a three-column structure, relating such categories and
techniques with a listing of some of the most known printed materials developed
by graphic designers. Digital interaction categories are summarized in: point and
click, drag and drop, pull down menu, customization, browsing, visualization and
text insertion. As print production techniques, we synthesized in: folds, cuts, overlay,
transparency, creative participation of users (through drawing, writing or other) and
relationship with digital artefacts.
The main materials developed by graphic designers can be frequently named as
books, magazines, newspapers, catalogues, posters, fold outs, signage, visual identity,
flyers, stationery and business cards.
The purpose of the scheme is to add a digital interaction category to a print
technique, or to make an interpretation of digital interaction, through printed means.
But always ending in a connection to a known print media. In Fig. 1 we can see all
categories and established connections.
180 M. Neves
Fig. 1 Interaction categories and print design connections
By performing these connections, media on the last column should endure modi-
fications when challenged by interaction categories. These modifications were trans-
lated into sketches and short descriptions, with the aim of demonstrating appropri-
ateness of this new proposal for better user experience. We have doodled some ideas
through early sketches, without any order. Figure 2 shows early sketches for some
of these connections.
Fig. 2 Early sketches (selection)

These first sketches are brief representations where we tried to advance, through
fast and schematic drawing, a visual explanation of the intention of the object, by
applying categories of interaction. Each sketch represents an idea, which is the result
of an established connection between categories of interaction and which may be
developed as a printed medium with interaction.
Poster/Book
Following on early sketches, one of those ideas was further detailed through a dia-
gram, devising a model, which could be applied to a real working context. Such
model became the basis of our design project to test interaction features in a print
design.
The design project consisted of a poster/small book. As a poster, it is printed front
and back; the front is ready to be posted anywhere and the back will serve as book
pages. It has two folds which allow it to be placed in an envelope and sent by postal
service. In both fold lines, dividing the paper sheet in half, height and width, two
perforated lines are produced. Each part divided by these lines can be detachable.
Numbers in small type size were placed in the poster to serve as indicators. Users
can follow these numbers and sort all detachable parts, fold them all in half, and thus
form a small 16-page book. The diagram can be seen in Fig. 3.
This dual function keeps two levels of information. A more immediate and direct
one for exhibit and a more detailed reading in book form. Transformation is done by
users, which modify the object to access a second level of information.
4.2 Action
The idea for this object was applied to a poster for a congress in Lisbon, Portugal,
named ‘Books with a view’. This international congress was dedicated to architec-
ture and culture of the eighteenth century and celebrated 300 years of the birth of
Portuguese architect and urban planner Eugénio dos Santos. The congress was held
in Lisbon between November 23th and 25th, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Fig. 3 Poster/small book diagram

182 M. Neves
The poster for the congress gave the possibility to test previous results in a real
context and became a material evidence of what we intended to prove, as well as the
carried-out research. We have tried to adapt previously generated ideas to the real
conditions of the situation at hand. Therefore, all information which is possible to
raise through this project cannot be dissociated from its specific material context.
Prototypes
We initially made low fidelity prototypes to understand what would be the best
placement for information. It would also guide us in establishing numeral indications
and order of contents, between poster and book design.
We determined an A2 size (420 × 594 mm; c. 16.5 × 23.4 in.) for this poster,
so that the final book could be A5 (148 × 210 mm; c. 5.8 × 8.3 in.). We prepared
an Adobe Illustrator file with A2 measures, where a division between four zones
was done, each corresponding to an A5. We also prepared simultaneously an Adobe
InDesign file, with A5 measures, where we developed all book pages. This was a
decisive step to see how the poster could be presented and afterwards divided as a
book. It also allowed to understand how book pages could be designed in line with
the poster or, alternatively, how could they influence poster layout.
The chosen poster layout was overlapped by the set of numerical indications which
corresponded to book pages and by the lines for production of folds and puncture.
Indication of page numbers was adjusted on the poster, to follow book margins. A
layout grid for book pages was placed over the poster as a temporary aid, to determine
the exact place for numbers to appear on the poster. The front of the poster was also
imported into the Adobe InDesign file and placed in the corresponding book pages
to visualize the result.
Both front and back of the poster were prepared as preliminary version to produce
a high-fidelity prototype. The poster was printed on colored paper, to approach the
remaining objects produced for the congress, without requiring a significant amount
of ink. However, during layout stages we used a background color in both files, to
replicate the final paper color effect.
After printed, the prototype was folded and its behavior observed, as if it were
made available by postal service. It was also observed its behavior when divided and
overlapped to form the book.
4.3 Observation
Main Results and Reflection

This poster/book promoted the event as a poster and allowed participants to keep
the main information as a book. It had a run of 200 copies, printed in two colors,
front and back through offset technique. It gave us a possibility to test the research
in a real context as it also constitutes a material evidence which intends to prove the
carried-out study.
Final produced object includes attributes related to interaction. It addresses alter-

nating messages, by allowing users to make a request with the purpose of modifying
the object. From an initial message (poster), the object replies with another message,
related to the first one (making of the book). It also presents users with the possibil-
ity of action, for which there will be a reaction. In this way, users are defining the
following behavior for the object.
This practice-based research method originates a progressive level of fidelity
which can be observed through various results: schemes, sketches, high definition
prototypes and actual production of the object, which becomes an integral part of
material culture. The obtained group of evidences contributes in two ways to human
experience. First, the produced object was used by a group of people. Secondly, both
interaction categories scheme and consequent development of ideas and proposals,
contribute to the study and practice of print design.
By observing the prototypes, we understood the first layout did not favor the
book, where certain pages seemed devoid of content. However, our primary concern,
to maintain a layout which allowed interaction, was obtained. Number sequence was
easy to understand and transformation from poster to book did not present difficulties.
What we obtained during this step showed us a process through which two objects
were simultaneously conceived and developed, with an increased level of difficulty
– the relationship between them. Therefore, making a print media convertible by its
users adds some effort to the design process and implies a careful consideration on
how to prepare it.
Changes and Improvements

Changes were made to the congress poster/book to improve communication and
smooth transition from poster to book. We created a pattern with symbols extracted
from the event’s visual identity which would assist in a better distribution of infor-
mation. This option was also relevant for book page layout. Thus, a large portion
of the poster area was filled with an incomplete pattern. Small drawings made from
a mouse cursor used in digital artefacts were added, with intention of directing the
eye. Final version is shown in Fig. 4.
Reflection on the Process

According to Pedgley and Wormald (2007: 80) design projects should reflect “two
specific indicators of excellence: ‘completeness’ and ‘esteem’” to be considered as
research. The first one refers to production of high quality results in design. These
results can be artifacts of pre-production, working prototypes or models. Essentially,
material to be presented should not allow doubt on previous research. The second
indicator concerns the meaning such results may have outside the academic institution
in which they were carried out.
This practice-based research method originated a progressive level of fidelity,
which can be observed through various results: schematic executions, low and high
fidelity prototypes and actual production of the object, which becomes an integral part
of material culture and available for several users (Fig. 5). We may also understand
184 M. Neves
Fig. 4 Final printed poster (front and back)
it as part of a professional practice, carried out by the researcher himself and subject
to acceptance of a designer-client relationship.
Scrivener (2000) proposes standards for projects obtained through creative prac-
tice, when integrating research. Most significantly, artifacts should be produced and
be original in their context, contributing to human experience. They should be made
as a response to questions, concerns and interests, expressing them somehow.
When comparing our project results with these standards, we realize there was a
significant production of artifacts, all of them original and placed within a specific
context. This context refers to the practice of print design and implications that
interaction may have in such area.
All materials resulting from this method, manifested at various levels, the issues
raised by our research. Indeed, interaction categories scheme and consequent devel-
opment of ideas and proposals for print media, becomes a contribution to the study
and practice of graphic design.
The method is also oriented by a specificity, in which various elements that com-
pose it are related to the possibility of obtaining interaction in printed matter. This
starting point has made work an intentional task, through which it sought to generate
new knowledge.
Even the results of project development, apart from the produced object, present
themselves as proposals of possible application and the method can therefore be
generalized to other situations.
Fig. 5 From poster to a book
5 Conclusions
This practice-based research method is simultaneously a statement of restlessness

and a devising of proposals. Both can be understood at two levels: interference in
a work process, which will precede a project practice and the possible results from
this change.
The conducted work intends to, at first, through a set of generated ideas, add
solutions to graphic designers when print media is designed. Secondly, whether
these options can be used, incorporated into a professional practice or disseminated
in material existence, they show modification in user experience.
Some connections established through the interaction categories scheme origi-
nated ideas which could be applied in other print media. Despite the options for their
presentation and explanation, each idea must be interpreted as flexible in the face of
specific situations.
The presented project development had explicit and defined purposes. It was
intended to implement and control interaction in media obtained through printing
technologies. Procedures for this to happen were described and explained. Also, the
remaining generated ideas and their progressive definition can be applied, replicated
or modified. This group represents a work basis, which obtained results according
186 M. Neves
to the outlined objectives. It is transferable knowledge and therefore perhaps more

important than what was produced, since the object is just a demonstration of exis-
tence of knowledge.
Although it has been applied to a real context, it is not yet proven interaction can
be implemented and obtained systematically in print design. It will be necessary to
repeat the process several times and in different circumstances to be able to ascertain
this. Likewise, after repeating the process or gathering a greater number of results,
it will also be necessary to test and collect information about their use.
References
Archer B (1995) The nature of research. Co-des Interdisc J Des 6–13

Bloor M, Wood F (2006) Keywords in qualitative methods: a vocabulary of research concepts. Sage
Publications, London
Bolter J, Gromala D (2003) Text rain: the digital experience. In: Windows and mirrors: interaction
design, digital art, and the myth of transparency. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Bonsiepe G (1999) Interface: an approach to design. Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht
Cooper A, Reimann R, Cronin D (2007) About face 3: the essentials of interaction design. Wiley
Publishing, Indianápolis
Davis M (2008) Why do we need doctoral study in design? Int J Des 2(3):71–79
Dubberly H, Haque U, Pangaro P (2009) What is interaction? Are there different types? Access
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/what-is-interaction.html
Haslem N (2011) Not an academic type: what do communication designers know about research?
Iridescent Icograda J Des Res 1(1):178–191
Johnson M (2002) Problem solved. Phaidon Press, London
Moggridge B (2007) Designing interactions. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Neves M (2013) Printed interactivity towards a new understanding of graphic design. Iridescent
Icograda J Des Res 2(2):22–37
Neves M (2016a) Enhancing user experience in graphic design: a study in (unusual) interaction.
In: Rebelo F, Soares M (eds) Advances in ergonomics in design. Advances in intelligent systems
and computing, vol 485, pp 801–810
Neves M (2016b) Printed matter as an interactive system. In: Marcus A (ed) Design, user experience,
and usability: novel user experiences DUXU 2016, part II. LNCS, vol 9747, pp 625–637
Neves M (2017) The future of print design relies on interaction. Des J 20(Suppl 1):S4087–S4100
Neves M, Caixeiro I (2019) Interactive printed book: a design experience. In: Monteiro MR, Kong
MS, Neto MJ (eds) Modernity, frontiers and revolutions: proceedings of the 4th international
multidisciplinary congress (PHI 2018) 3–6 Oct 2018. CRC Press, São Miguel, pp 209–214
Nimkulrat N (2007) The role of documentation in practice-led research. J Res Pract 3(1)
Pedgley O, Wormald P (2007) Integration of design projects within a Ph.D. design issues 23(3):70–
85
Preece J, Rogers Y, Sharp H (2002) Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction. Wiley,
New York
Redström J (2005) Towards user design? On the shift from object to user as the subject of design.
Des Stud 27:123–139
Rust C, Mottram J, Till J (2007) Review of practice-led research in art, design & architec-
ture. UK, Arts and Humanities Research Council. Access http://shura.shu.ac.uk/7596/1/Pactice-
ledReviewNov07.pdf
Saffer D (2007) Designing for interaction: creating smart applications and clever devices, 2nd edn.
New Riders, Berkeley
Scrivener S (2000) Reflection in and on action and practice in creative-production doctoral projects
in art and design. Working papers in art and design 1
Gravitim APP and the Contribution
of Digital Media in the Process
of Pregnancy
Nuno Martins and Tânia Araújo
Abstract This paper aims to demonstrate the importance that digital media can have
in the support to the process of pregnancy, namely in the contribution for a more
informed relationship between the pregnant woman and the healthcare professional.
This research consists of the development of a mobile application of pre-natal care
with the support of the Health Local Unit of Alto Minho (ULSAM), where the app
is being studied in a joint work with doctors and patients. With the development of
our mobile application the aim is to create a more effective and secure pre-natal care
that contributes to an improvement of the levels of transparency and effectiveness
in health care services. In recent years, there are several computer systems that
have been developed and implemented in the health area in Portugal. Portugal is
first in the digital ranking of Health, having been distinguished by the European
Observatory of Health Systems as an example of good practices. The development
of digital platforms is a strong investment of the National Health System (NHS) for
the improvement of the quality of its services (Ministério da Saúde (SNS) in Retrato
da Saúde, Portugal, Lisboa, 2018). This paper begins with a contextualization of this
problem; a presentation of a critical analysis about the main digital platforms existent
in the market; and the proposal of the application under development.
Keywords UI/UX design · Digital design · Prenatal care · Pregnant health

bulletin · Digital application
N. Martins (B)
IPCA and ID+, Vila Frescaínha São Martinho, 4750-810 Barcelos, Portugal
T. Araújo
IPCA, Vila Frescaínha São Martinho, 4750-810 Barcelos, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_14
190 N. Martins and T. Araújo
1 Introduction
The main objective of this research was to contribute, through Design and digital
media, to a more informed and monitored prenatal diagnosis and surveillance process.
The solution consisted in the development of a mobile application (app), of public
utility, in the area of Obstetrics, in order to contribute to a better communication
between the health professional and the pregnant woman. The objective was to design
an interface that represented, in a structured and dynamic way, the results intrinsic
to prenatal surveillance.
This app intends to be a complementary means of support for the pregnant woman
and the health professional, without the pretension of replacing the habitual and
necessary direct and personal relationship between the health professional and the
pregnant woman.
This project also aimed to respond to a set of specific objectives:
1. Contribute to social equity, in terms of literacy and access to diagnosis.
To raise awareness of the importance of a Digital Culture in the field of Obstetrics.
2. Centralize and monitor prenatal surveillance information in the mobile
application.
Through the fieldwork carried out (follow-up of consultations with pregnant
women), we have seen the use of various physical supports, from the Pregnancy
Health Bulletin (BSG), the Diabetes Bulletin, the Blood Pressure Registry, and
the Consultation and Exams.
It is important to develop a means of communication that facilitates the accom-
plishment of these registers, between the pregnant and the clinician, which aggre-
gates all the information, replacing the physical supports.
3. Provide a set of interactive tools that help the expectant and health profes-
sional to get better results.
All data intrinsic to the state of health of the pregnant woman and the fetus are
recorded in the bulletins and in the software that the health professionals operate.
However, given the diversity of software used by health professionals (SClínico,
OBSCare, Astraia e PEM) ()the interpretation of data becomes extensive and
more complex, leading to a greater delay in understanding them.
4. Sensitize pregnant women for greater pro-activity.
Depending on the clinical cases, not all pregnant women express an interest and
full responsibility in the monitoring of pregnancy. Through the mobile application
it is possible to sensitize the personal and collective interest on the importance
and benefits of an informed pregnancy process.
Gravitim APP and the Contribution of Digital Media … 191
2 Methods and Techniques Adopted
This study was developed at the Health Local Unit of Alto Minho (ULSAM), in
Viana do Castelo. We began to follow the prenatal diagnosis consultations, in order
to observe, analyze and understand how the process of prenatal surveillance is devel-
oped.
We also developed a survey (90 women) to obtain a generic idea about mobile
applications in pregnancy. After the data were collected, the results were analyzed,
managing the research objectives and creating a plan.
Later, we developed a moodboard, in order to organize and direct the information
architecture of the application. Information architecture is based on competitive anal-
ysis; creating people and using cases/flowcharts; and the development of wireframes
and workflows, for later high-fidelity prototyping.
In the development of interface design (UI), there were several methodologies
associated, namely the identity of the application, the visual design of the workflows
and the possible successes and again the prototyping.
To better understand the user’s interaction with the application, usability tests have
been developed with the target audience (a significant number of people, about 10
pregnant women and 5 health professionals). We used specific metrics to verify and
evaluate the usability tests. In this way, we intend to improve the visual experience
and the process of conception and development of the application.
At present, the application is being tested as a pilot project, in partnership with
ULSAM, and we already count with good results. All the users of this sample,
consider the application very important in supporting the process of diagnosis and
prenatal surveillance.
After application development, data collection, review and feedback of usability
testing, the goal is to finalize the application. And, later, to aspire the application to
be implemented throughout the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS), both in
the public and in the private system.
3 Reference Mobile Applications
For the design of our App was also important to ascertain the national and interna-
tional applications in the market. In this chapter we summarize our review of the top
Apps: Nove Meses (2015), BabyCenter (2017), A Minha Barriga (2017), Babynote
(2017) and Gravidez+ (2017).
We performed an exploratory analysis by collecting data from these applications,
such as: application designation, popularity, average rating, price, features, language
and technical specifications (Table 1).
Regarding functionality, the application that meets almost all criteria is Gravidez+.
The Babynote is the application with less functionality.
Table 1 Comparison of existing applications
None of the applications analyzed presents the main prenatal surveillance data,
such as blood pressure registers/indices, growth curves, glycemic indexes/indices,
multichannel alerts (in the app, by email, by SMS), and such as monitoring the
diagnosis in real time with the health professional.
Only one of the five applications analyzed, A Minha Barriga, presents the prenatal
surveillance guide. This guide consists of informing the pregnant woman about the
timing of the respective laboratory tests, ultrasounds and specific analyzes. However,
high-risk pregnant women (hypertensive and diabetic) have no indication in the
guide about the exams or analyzes specific to their own clinical condition. The guide
presents only a general schedule of prenatal surveillance.
All the applications have the gestational age in which the pregnant woman is, and
almost all of them allow to create a profile of the user (the only one that does not
allow is the Nove Meses). Other data intrinsic to prenatal surveillance that are not
included in the applications analyzed are: personal history, place of surveillance and
health professional, as well as the recording of clinical and analytical data (blood
group, etc.).
Only two of the five applications analyzed make it possible to consult and verify
the history of exams, ultrasounds and vaccines.
About technical specifications, all applications work on Android and IOS, and only
Babynote on smartwatch. All apps are free and have the option of the Portuguese
language.
The app that has the highest number of downloads is Gravidez+, with more than
17 million; followed by Babycenter with more than 10 million; the Nove Meses
with more than 100 thousand; Babynote with more than 2500; and, finally, A Minha
Barriga with more than 1000.
4 The Problem
After analyzing the reference mobile applications, we verified some problems and
lack of data intrinsic to the evaluation of pre-natal care. In this way, when analyzing
the problems that a product can present, we must answer the question “Why are we
developing this product?”, Simultaneously with the definition of the target audience
“Who are we developing?” And what is the problem “What problems are there?”, to
find the assertive solution. It is the answer to these questions that will help measure
the success of our application:
1. Why are we developing this product?
The development of a digital solution contributes to a more informed and moni-
tored pregnancy process, improving physician-to-pregnant communication, fos-
tering digital culture, centralizing prenatal care information, and providing a set
of interactive tools by form to obtain results more effectively, and by sensitizing
pregnant women to greater pro-activity.
2. Who are we developing for?
The target audience of this app are mostly female people, framed in low, mid-
dle and/or upper cadres, as well as health professionals (obstetricians, nurses,
gynecologists).
3. What problems exist?
This study shows a diversity of physical supports essential to the pregnant woman
and the clinician, from the BSG, registration of consultations and examinations,
the Diabetes Bulletin and the Hypertension Bulletin. Whenever the pregnant
woman travels to the National Health Service (health units or hospital) or to the
private service (clinics), she must be accompanied by all these recording media.
Although the clinician registers all the information in the computer programs, the
most relevant information is always present in the BSG (paper format). However,
if the pregnant woman forgets the BSG (or another bulletin), the information risks
losing.
Thus, the development of a mobile application with adequate monitoring of preg-

nancy is an advantage in the clinical context, in the context of the interaction between
pregnant and health professionals and self-management of pregnancy by the pregnant
herself, especially in pregnant women at risk, and may prevent future complications.
5 The App Gravitim (Mobile Application)
5.1 Value Offer
The success of a product is primarily to meet the basic needs of people, before
meeting the needs of the highest level.
As the authors of the book “Universal Principles of Design” (Lidwell 2010), the
principle of the hierarchy of needs specifies that a product must first respond to
lower-level needs (e.g. functionality) and then level (e.g. creativity).
According to the authors, based on the Maslow Pyramid, the five major levels of
needs are:
1. The Functionality: referring to the analysis of the most basic requirements of
design (structuring);
2. Trust: stable and consistent performance lends credibility to the user;
3. Usability: be easy and effective for the user;
4. Competence: empowering users to do better than before;
5. Creativity: it is the level where all needs are met and users begin to interact in an
innovative way.
Developing a differentiating product that responds to the needs and objectives of
different users requires that the key characteristics, needs and frustrations of a spe-
cific segment are observed, resulting in a solution with differentiated characteristics,
benefits and that leads the user to an emotional involvement in the digital experience.
5.2 Personas Model
To understand and direct the purpose of the application, we use the Personas model,
which consists of archetypes based on behavioral patterns, which we observe during
the fieldwork conducted at ULSAM (follow-up of prenatal care visits) (Fig. 1).
After verifying and analyzing the personas, we directed the development of the
application to two fundamental people: pregnant hypertensive (Laura) and pregnant
diabetic (Manuela).
Fig. 1 Personas
5.3 Information Architecture
After analyzing the competition and the development of the archetypes (personas),
we proceed to the elaboration of the information architecture process, in order to
determine objectives and organizational stages in the development of the application.
Based on the fieldwork carried out at ULSAM, together with the considerations
proposed by the clinical team, for the development of this research, we carried out
the survey and analysis of the context, users and their content, based on the diagrams
of Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville (2007).
We started by schematizing a flowchart, defining the main actions and contents
necessary for the user.
After the development of several studies, we came to a final version of the
flowchart. For the sake of standardization, ease and monitoring, we decided that
registration in the application will be through the number of users, based on access
to the Citizen area, of the NHS. In this way, it is possible to migrate the user infor-
mation available in the SNS to the application. It is also possible to enter new data,
completing the fields that are still to be filled, regulating the profile of the user. In this
flowchart, the page splash and registration is only for the first use of the application,
in later uses the user is directly directed to the dashboard.
5.4 Wireframes
Based on the flowchart previously developed, we developed the wireframes (white

board sketches) in order to synthesize and design the functionalities, the flows and
the content of the application. Subsequently, we proceeded to the wireframes scheme
in the Sketch software.
We start by designing the user input into the application, through the splash
page and the “login” area. The splash page is the first screen that the user views,
identifying the entity where the pregnant woman is being watched (in this case we
chose ULSAM). The user is cleared of the content of the application by means of
a short message. The entry in the application is performed through the “START”
button, as we can see in Fig. 2. After clicking the “START” button, a new window
will open where the user will be able to login, using the user’s number and password.
The process is the same as the way the user accesses the SNS through the “Citizen’s
Area” platform. If the user don’t already have the registration in the “Citizen’s Area”
platform, the user can also automatically register by the “REGISTER” link.
After login, the user profile screen opens with a welcome message. In this area
of the app, the user can insert a user photo, and put various information, such as:
personal data; surveillance data; current gestation and personal history, etc.
After checking and entering data into the profile, the user is directed to the
dashboard. In this dashboard is represented the current gestation of the pregnant
(number of weeks, days and the respective quarter) and a graphic icon that will
vary the visual configuration throughout the gestation. According to the profile of
the pregnant woman (normal, diabetic or hypertensive), the dashboard itself will
present the menus intrinsic to the surveillance of the pregnant woman herself. If you
Fig. 2 Wireframe
are a normal pregnant, the menus represented will be: weight; calendar; consulta-
tions/examinations. If you are a diabetic pregnant, the menus represented will be:
glicemias; Weight; calendar and consultations/examinations. If you are a hyperten-
sive pregnant, the menus represented will be: blood pressure; Weight; calendar and
consultations/examinations.
5.5 Workflows
For the development of workflows we use Sketch software. We started by identifying

two personas: the diabetic pregnant woman and the pregnant hypertensive woman,
and then we outline and direct the possible actions and thoughts of the user through
the workflows.
In the diabetic pregnant person, one of the frustrations was to have to manually
introduce, at different stages of the day, the glycemic values in the support bulletin
(physical support). Another pertinent question was that the pregnant woman did
not have glycemic index/peaks alerts, since the bulletin does not allow visual and
monitored evaluation.
In this sense, as we can see in the workflow of the glycemia (Fig. 3), the purpose
of this application is to allow the introduction of the values, in different stages of
the day, by the pregnant herself. It also allows the issuing of alerts for the pregnant
woman and the health professional.
Another important feature of the application is the daily, weekly and monthly
visualization of different glycemic indexes, allowing a more effective and regular
diagnosis.
In the hypertensive pregnant persona, we verified in the field work that pregnant
hypertensives record the values of blood pressure in small personal notes or notepad.
And it is only when the pregnant women go to the clinic, that they inform the doctor
Fig. 3 Glicemias workflow

Fig. 4 Workflow arterial tension
of the values recorded during the absence of surveillance. The problem is that they
do not always make the records or indicate median values, without the precise values
of the indexes.
Through the application, they can record the values more effectively, at different
times of the day. And they can also have the daily, weekly and monthly record
history through visual and chromatic compositions—which helps a good reading of
the information (Fig. 4).
In this way, the application results in a dynamic prenatal surveillance bulletin. And
it has the particularity of allowing a more preventive and participatory monitoring
by the pregnant woman and the health professional. The app also centralizes the
information, obtaining more effective results.
5.6 Interface Design (UI Design) and Prototyping
The next phase of the work was the development of the layout, the visual elements
and the respective chromatic palette of the application.
As we can see in Fig. 5, in addition to structuring the content, we chose to differ-
entiate the contents with chromatic properties. In this way, we categorize different
information, menus, indexes and values. Through this solution, the user can perform
the tasks more efficiently.
We have also developed different graphical icons to identify the menus and to
create the onboarding screens (screens that display a set of messages that indicate to
the user the resources available in the application).
Fig. 5 Different main screens of the application
To implement the prototype, we used the digital platform Invision, a free platform
that allows the development of prototypes of digital products, with the particularity
of transferring and updating the wireframes developed automatically in the Sketch
software. Through the prototype, we have an application close to reality, allowing
perform usability tests with users.
5.7 Usability Tests
There are several methods for studying and evaluating usability. The most commonly
used is user testing. According to J. Nielsen (Cooper 2007), gathering a group of
5 users, who may or may not have knowledge about the application, it is possi-
ble to evaluate 85% of usability problems. For Robert Virzi, with a group of 10
participants it is possible to detect 90% of the problems. There are more usabil-
ity evaluation techniques, namely, prospective techniques, predictive techniques and
objective techniques.
For app usability testing, we focus on two types of techniques: prospective tech-
niques and objective techniques.
The usability tests were observed by a researcher, UX/UI Designer, at the Gyne-
cology and Obstetrics Service of the Local Health Unit of the Alto Minho (ULSAM),
in Viana do Castelo, through direct contact with the users. For the sample, 10 pregnant
women (4 hypertensive pregnant women, 3 diabetic women and 3 low risk women),
aged between 23 and 41 years, and 5 specialists in prenatal diagnosis were selected.
During this stage, the researcher’s role was to observe the reaction of the users,
in the interaction with the interface. The observation was made through an online
digital system. The researcher asked the users to perform certain tasks and indicate
the difficulties, doubts and suggestions for improvement.
After the activation of the prototype, we proceeded to compile a list with different
tasks, corresponding to different user profiles:
Tasks list Number of pregnant women

(a) Validate your personal data 1
(b) Enter the glycemic values of today, from the first moment of 2
the day
(c) Complete the task of the day at fault 1
(d) Check the hypertension values for the month of July 3
(e) Validate your vaccination report 2
(f) Consult your surveillance site and its assistants 1
From the tasks proposed, the tasks most tested were (b), (d) and (e), with pregnant
women at different gestational ages, different health conditions and different age
groups.
According to the observation made to the participants, all were able to carry
out the proposed tasks without any restriction. There were only different times in
the accomplishment of the task, due to the different levels of digital literacy of the
participants.
According to ISO 9241-11, one of the parameters to measure usability is user
satisfaction. To evaluate the degree of satisfaction of the participants, we developed
a questionnaire, QUIS, with the objective of evaluating the user’s interpretation and
satisfaction with the application prototype.
In this questionnaire, users were asked about issues such as ease of interaction with
the application, the quality of the data generated and presented, the usefulness of the
application in the diagnosis, the level of digital literacy and the overall appreciation
of the application.
The questionnaire was divided into five parts:
(1) ease of use (related to user interaction);
(2) data quality (related to the interface and interpretation of data);
(3) utility (related to the purpose of the application);
(4) digital literacy (related to the level of knowledge);
(5) overall appraisal of the application (the degree of satisfaction with the applica-
tion).
By analyzing the answers to the “Ease of Use” questions, 87% of users consider
the application to be clear and comprehensible; 93%, which does not require a high
mental effort given its simplicity and is intuitive and easy to use; and, 100%, which
presents very pleasant visual compositions.
Regarding the issues of “Data Quality”, users were unanimous in considering that
the quality of understanding, interpretation and management of the data generated
is very good.
In the questions regarding the usefulness of the app, all users considered the appli-
cation an important and useful tool in the management and monitoring of pregnancy,
and in the significant improvement of prenatal diagnosis.
About “Digital Literacy”, we obtained different responses: 40% of users men-
tioned that they already use an application about pregnancy; 20% who use more than
one; 87% using applications, but from other areas; and 60% replied that they did not
use any pregnancy app. Regarding the last part, “Global Assessment”, the users were
unanimous, considering the application very beneficial.
6 Conclusions
To develop and implement this digital application, it was fundamental to think about
the specific problems of the user and to study a solution through a multidisciplinary
work. This project involved not only pregnant women, but also health professionals,
those responsible for health institutions, designers and computer programmers.
The implementation of a digital prenatal surveillance bulletin aims to contribute
to: greater social equity in terms of literacy and access to diagnosis; centralize and
monitor prenatal surveillance information; to sensitize the pregnant woman to the
self-management of pregnancy; improve understanding and communication of pre-
natal diagnosis; provide a set of interactive tools that help pregnant and health pro-
fessionals effectively achieve results; and, finally, to prevent future pathologies and
complications.
Due to the potential of this project—not only nationally but also internationally—
we believe that the pilot project being developed with ULSAM clinical teams and
users can be an important lever for its growth and expansion.
References
Babycenter.com (2017) APP Baby Center [online]. Novemeses.pt. Available at: https://www.
babycenter.com/2_babycenter-app-tutorial_10419338.bc. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Babynoteapp.com (2017) Babynote APP [online] Babynoteapp.com. Available at: https://
babynoteapp.com. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Cooper A, Reimann R, Croni D (2007) About face 3—the essentials of interaction design. Wiley
Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis
Direção-Geral da Saúde (2011) Diagnóstico Pré-Natal. Pre-natal diagnosis. E-Konomista. Available
at: http://www.saudereprodutiva.dgs.pt/diagnostico-pre-natal
Google Play Store (2017) APP A Minha Barriga [online]. play.google.com. Available at: https://
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pt.angelini.barriga&hl=pt_PT. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Health-and-parenting.com (2017) APP Gravidez+ [online]. Health-andparenting.com. Available at:
http://www.health-and-parenting.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-app. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Lidwell W, Holden K, Butler J (2010) Universal principles of design. Digital edition. Rockport
Publishers, MA. 978-1-61058-065-6
Ministério da Saúde (SNS) (2018). Retrato da Saúde, Portugal (Portrait of Health, Portugal). Lisboa.
ISBN 978-989-99480-1-3
Morville P, Rosenfeld L (2007) Information architecture for the world wide web. O’Reilly Media,
Inc
Novemeses.pt (2015) APP Nove Meses [online]. Novemeses.pt. Available at: http://www.
novemeses.pt/pt/aplicacao-9meses. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Salgado C, Espirito Santo R, Valente S, Saldanha J (2017) Preenchimento do Boletim de saúde
da Grávida: 18 anos de Evolução. Pregnant Health Bulletin Completion: 18 Years of Evolution.
Ata Pediátrica Portuguesa. vol 48, pp 19–27. Departamento de Pediatria. Centro Académico de
Medicina de Lisboa
Serviço Nacional de Saúde (2016) #Estratégia Nacional Ecossistemas de Informação de Saúde
(ENESIS) 2020. National Strategy for Health Information Ecosystems. http://spms.min-saude.
pt/2016/11/estrategia-nacional-ecossistema-informacao-saude-enesis-2020-aprovada-pelo-
governo, 8 Nov 2016
SPMS.min-saude.pt (2017) SClínico Hospitalar [online]. Spms.min-saude.pt. Available at: http://
spms.min-saude.pt/product/sclinicohospitalar. Accessed 30 Dec 2017
SPMS.min-saude.pt (2017) PEM—Prescrição Eletrónica Médica [online]. Spms.min-saude.pt.
Available at: http://spms.min-saude.pt/product/pem. Accessed 30 Dec 2017
Virtualcare.pt (2017) AnesthCare, BreastCare, ObsCare [online]. Virtualcare.pt. Available at: http://
virtualcare.pt/index.php/produtos. Accessed 30 Dec 2017
Communication Through Character
Design: ‘Inside Out’ Case Study
António Manuel Rodrigues Ferreira, Pedro Mota Teixeira

and Daniel da Cruz Brandão
Abstract According to Teixeira (A Representação Emocional da Personagem Vir-

tual no Contexto da Animação Digital: do Cinema de Animação aos Jogos Digitais.
University of Minho, 2013), in the animation field and regarding an animated char-
acter, there are seven non-verbal dimensional layers with communicative value. In
this sense, a concise relationship between all layers is crucial to allow an unequiv-
ocal communication process between the character and the viewer. In this chapter
we will be analyzing character design and two other related layers: facial and body
expression. Previous studies have shown the significance of non-verbal expression
in communication—which is the case—and audiovisual companies are focused on
implementing universal symbols, to minimize ambiguity. So in that sense, this study
consists on analyzing a paradigmatic example, which is ‘Inside Out’ by Disney/Pixar
partnership, and specifically its main characters—Fear, Anger, Sadness, Joy and Dis-
gust—,which are direct references to primary universal emotions.
Keywords Animation · Character · Design · Emotion · Gestures
1 Introduction
Character design is widely used by the animation industry as reinforcement on char-

acter’s personification as well as on emotions’ transmission. Although several authors
A. M. R. Ferreira (B) · D. da C. Brandão

Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade (Instituto de Ciências Sociais—Universidade do
Minho), Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
D. da C. Brandão
P. M. Teixeira
ID+ Instituto de Investigação em Design, Media e Cultura (Grupo de Investigação: CAOS
Comunicação, Arte, Objecto e Sinergia, Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave), Campus do
IPCA, Lugar do Aldão, 4750–810 Vila Frescainha, Barcelos, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_15
204 A. M. R. Ferreira et al.
still inspire themselves on standard character types (villain, hero, antihero, child and
grotesque), as well as in their peculiarities, the fact is that nowadays many of these
standards are mixed or even questioned, making room for a randomness margin to
expand the boundaries on characters’ concept creativeness. In this sense, instead of
getting a wide range of unwanted reactions by the audience, since the well-defined
Disney revenues were implemented for decades, animated features are getting more
and more spectators and fans through the years. The athletic, powerful character
with high leveled alertness and resilience may not be the hero. The annoying and
sometimes hateful character may not be the villain and it can even be loved by the
audience. The cliché of a slender protagonist and a showy hero, in contrast to bad,
ugly and rude villains continues to work, but it is no longer universal.
Additionally, the progressive investment on emotions’ expressions through body
and face, contributed to the communication process enrichment between the character
and the viewer.
2 The Importance of Emotions
In an interview for the blog ‘Character Design’, De’Von Stubblefield (Sly 2012)
emphasizes the importance of emotions’ representation:
I learned to ask what the character is and to be sincere when drawing emotions. The only
way to be sincere is to draw from life experiences and to identify with what I’m drawing.
Les Pardew (2007, p. 1) has the same opinion, considering that in character ani-
mation the ability to express emotion in a convincing way is a task that requires
understanding the phenomenon:
Animation, like acting, is based on life. Life is the foundation, even if the animation is
exaggerated. By first learning how to see emotion, you will then be better equipped to
portray emotion in your animation. (…).
According to the same author, that is why the animator must give himself to
recognize and be able to make great changes, sometimes very subtle, that mirrors
certain emotions. For Ekman and Friesen (2003, p. 7) emotions are evidenced by the
expression on the face:
Emotions are shown primarily in the face, not in the body. The body instead shows how
people are coping with emotion. There is no specific body movement pattern that always
signals anger or fear, but there are facial patterns specific to each emotion.
In this context, the face represents the most important communication instrument
of a character, defining his personality and mood.
Facial expression varies enormously from photorealistic or realistic aesthetics to
American cartoons and other stylized ones.
McCloud (2006, p. 94) enumerates four visual languages that provide different
readings, especially when expressing the characters’ actions and emotions: realistic
Communication Through Character Design … 205
(simplified or stylized), exaggerated or caricatured and symbolic. All of them con-

verge to the same concern: achieving a high degree of expressiveness, emotion and
communication with the viewer.
3 The Nature of Emotions
Since Descartes’ Error that Damásio (1994) argues that emotions are indispensable
for the existence of all rational life. This makes us unique, and it is precisely by the
emotional behavior that we distinguish ourselves from one another. Damásio also
argues that the nature and intensity of emotional reactions depend not only on the
brain but on its interaction with the body, and also that our intellectual and moral
values are determined by our emotions. Thus, from his laboratory experiences, this
author demonstrates that:
Emotion is an integral part in the processes of reasoning and decision making, for the worst
and for the best. (Damásio 1994, p. 61)
Turner (2000, p. 101) follows the same principle:

The ability of humans to engage in complex decision-making processes does not eclipse,
therefore, emotionality; sophisticated decision-making depends on the capacity of human
beings to produce broad spectrums of emotional valence.
In an attempt to define an emotion, Keltner et al. (2014, p. 4) make the following

statement:
An emotion is a psychological state or process that mediates between our concerns (or goals)
and events of our world.
We can control our expressions through a voluntary control over our facial move-
ments. We can prevent others from understanding our true intentions and we can
even send false signals with appropriate facial expressions (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 2017,
p. 476). This is why the actor can express himself and rehearse various expressions
of emotion. On one hand, if the human being can control their expressions, on the
other hand, body posture and mood are less probable to be voluntarily controlled
(Ekman 2003). It’s precisely because of the human being’s ability to recognize these
differences, some incredibly subtle, that the animator is obligated to reconstruct these
interactions in such a way that they are believable to the observer’s eyes, who can
look at a character with “true” underlying feelings and goals, instead of watching a
simple set of moving pixels (Kundert-Gibbs and Kundert-Gibbs 2009, pp. 56–57).
More than that, we create authentic mental bridges searching for facial expressions in
abstracter, simplified drawings (McCloud 2006), or even in animals’ representations.
The universally uniform recognition of expression could develop independently and could be
acquired anew by each individual, since the expressive movements reliably indicate specific
moods of the individual. One argument that our understanding is innate is based on the fact
that we also respond clearly to even though it is a very simple form of facial expressions,
and in particular, it is an example of facial expressions. In fact, the eagle’s face is a perfect
model for an expression of heroic decisiveness, making it particularly suitable for a heraldic
symbol, even though nothing in the eagle’s behavior actually corresponds to behavior we
consider to be heroic. The eagle looks the same way when it is frightened The camel, on
the other hand, appears arrogant, because its demeanor causes the nostrils to be held high
relative to the eyes, although this “snooty” looks like nothing with the animal’s current mood
state at any given time. But since we reject someone by sticking our nose in air, an intention
of withdrawing from the other partner whom we dislike, we interpret the camel’s disposition
as unfriendly. Other animals are responded to more positively, because they appear to be
smiling. (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 2017, p. 475)
4 Facial Expression
Much of life and emotion of a digital character is read through the face, and while facial setup
is a mix of motion and deformation systems, the issues intrinsic to this aspect of character
development require specific attention. (O’Neill 2016: 4)
The face is one of the most important reference instruments on interpersonal

communication (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 2017, p. 443). For O’Neill (2016, p. 3), the aliveness
and emotional states of a character are generally read through facial expression
and therefore all these aspects, about deformations, movement systems and facial
expressions’ structure, require special attention from the animator (McCloud, 2006,
p. 92). Studies by CH Hjortsjo about facial modifications boosted by various types of
emotional experiences motivated authors such as Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen,
whom in the mid-70 s set out to research facial expression and emotion, focusing on
its universal context rather than cultural context (Kundert-Gibbs and Kundert-Gibbs
2009, pp. 56–57).
We have conducted cross-cultural comparisons in Great depth, especially with regard to
tribal societies, and congruence exists even in very fine details of facial expression. The
lively expressions of man signals specific elemental behavioral tendencies (mood states) and
needs, beyond cultural barriers and are thus applicable for all humans. (…) It is surprising
how much facial movements coincide among the various cultures and races throughout the
world, in view of the fact that the differentiation of the facial musculature shows considerable
racial variation. (…) And yet the facial expressions of the various human races are so similar
that we safely understand them cross-culturally (…). (ibidem)
Ekman and Friesen have discovered evidence that seven basic emotions are
expressed similarly in most cultures (Matsumoto and Hwang 2011): happiness, sad-
ness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust and contempt. These expressions may be condi-
tioned by cultural variables, regulating dimensions such as intensity or repression of
each expression (Keltner et al. 2014, pp. 75–76).
In this context, these facial expressions do not only represent internal biological
self-reactions but also work as easily recognizable and identified signals that help
social relations to be established (Eisner 2008, p. 57). This is the reason why facial
expressions are triggered most of the time in the presence of other people.
5 Body Expression
McCloud (2006, p. 103) agrees with Ekman and Friesen, in the sense that the body
shows how people cope with emotion and suggests that the face reveals the various
combinations between eyebrows, eyes and mouth—which results in coded emo-
tions—and that body gestures are contextually variable. McCloud exemplifies three
distinct contexts in which the face mirrors the universal emotion of fear and the body
reacts variably—facing a pistol, fire and a snake.
Ferreira et al. (2015), in a study about body expressions in animation, propose
that expressions of universally recognized body emotions correspond to a group
of various types of gestures, that is, a sum of meanings, which often compensate
the inevitable facial expression. McCloud (2006, p. 104), from the same point of
view, argues that there are relationships between the several body gestures and their
messages; but in opposition to the logic of facial expressions, there are no primary
body poses from which all others derive.
6 Disgust Character
Disgust is a haughty character, looking down her nose upon everyone else. She
clearly exposes her rejection stance regarding to almost everything that surrounds
her. Although the character’s name is disgust, the fact is that she expresses the most
with contempt emotion or blends between contempt and other emotions (Ferreira
et al. 2016, p. 6).
Based on numerous authors, Ferreira et al. (2015, p. 11) organized by categories
the different occurrences of contempt emotion and all of them reveal very specific
gestures: Signs of disinterest, annoyance, impatience, superiority, invasiveness, dom-
inant, phallic, deformed, simulated discomfort, rejection, mockery, insulting and
filthiness. A large part of these gestures can be found in disgust character all over
the feature film (Ferreira et al. 2015).
Regarding character design, she is a young girl in a sleeveless pompous green
dress with V-neck. She wears a lilac scarf around her neck and dark green leggings
beneath her dress. The delicate shoes are also lilac, as well as the lipstick that she
uses. She has a side swept hairstyle, falling until the shoulders height, eyelashes
that stand out due to their considerable size and uses soft make-up on the cheeks
and upper eyelids. The mouth is a crucial element on communicating contempt and
disgust emotions, so when it goes up it is complemented by the big size of the chin
area, exaggerating the human emotion’s version.
The predominant color (green) is a key element, since it is highly related with
rejected products by the human being. It is no coincidence that green food is not
approved by children, since we all suffer from the mammalian distaste response
(Rozin and Fallon 1987). It is also usually related to vomit, nasal mucus and insects,
that is, elements that provoke nausea and disapproval.
Regarding body gestures, suggests a girl who integrates an aristocratic family that
clearly assumes the annoyance and disinterest when socializing with other people.
She is not a stereotypical teenager considering that she is not thin and presents a
well-composed and healthy shape. This reinforces the concept of indifference to
what other people say and the extreme self-esteem and self-confidence that people
of this sort possess, considering that nowadays thinness is synonymous to beauty.
7 Fear Character
Fear is a highly frightened character, even by the minimum insignificant event. He is

immensely confused and does not risk a single decision without some disarray. Fear
emotion is mainly caused by the possibility of physical or psychological damage
(Ekman and Friesen 2003, p. 47).
On this character, the eyebrows are mostly raised and contracted to the forehead’s
center, the upper and lower eyelids are raised, the mouth is opened with contracted
and retracted corners, forward projected arms, separated and opened hands, the head
without rotating oscillation, bent and united legs and a leaning forward spine (Ferreira
and Teixeira 2016).
Curiously, it is a character whose head design only works with a blend of the 3/4
view and the profile view. The fact that he has big jiggle eyes, no forehead and no
neck creates a weird image on the top, back and profile views. His clothes reveal a
mixed concept: a studious well-dressed style (from the waist up) mixed with and a
clumsy style (from the waist down). From the waist up he has a pompous purple bow
tie, a vest with the pattern of the classic ‘Houndstooth’ Scottish brand, a buttoned up
shirt with light blue vertical lines pattern. From the waist down he wears oversized
trousers with folded hems and wide toe shoes. He has a tall and very thin shape,
whose elements with greater prominence are the hands, eyes and nose, due to its big
size.
Overall, his character design’s allusive to an anti-hero with a goofy behavior
and body posture. Usually, when someone experiences fear, it is often said that the
person is “colorless” or pale. In animation field, lilac color is widely used to represent
paleness, reinforcing that fear immensely affects the bloodstream.
8 Anger Character
Anger is the most “explosive” character of the entire animated feature film, rein-
forcing that it is the most intense emotion we can experience (Ekman and Friesen,
p. 80). He is never totally peaceful or relaxed, however, when everything leads one
to believe otherwise, he reveals himself mocking, being ironic and sarcastic. It is
a short duration emotion usually related with violence, possibly involving physi-
cal and psychological damage. Blood pressure increases, the face becomes red, the
breathing rhythm accelerates, body posture becomes erect, tense muscles, etc. The
main causes of anger emotion have to do with moral principles violation, frustration,
physical threat, disappointment, rejection, among others (Ekman and Friesen 2003,
pp. 79–80).
As far as the character’s design is concerned, Anger looks like the stereotypical
grumpy boss. White shirt, rolled-up sleeves, zigzag patterned tie, brown flannel
trousers with folded hems, brown leather belt and black shoes. He is short and has no
forehead, which means the upper limit of the head is defined by the eyebrows, and
the highlighted parts on the face are the big sized eyes, immensely large mouth and
fairly thick eyebrows. This compensates the fact that this character does not have a
nose. Although much of the muscular contraction is centered on the eyebrows and
wrinkled nose, it did not affect the emotion’s communication on this case. The skin’s
red color is highly related to anger because our blood concentrates on the face when
enraged.
9 Sadness Character
Sadness is a constantly crestfallen character, negativistic and always with something

sad to tell, regardless of context. She is easily bored when some task is channeled to
her and rarely smiles during the feature film. As a universal emotion, it is the most
enduring one, since it extends for long periods of time. Loss is the main cause of
sadness and the innate function of its facial and body expression is “a request for
help” (Ekman 2003, pp. 88–89, 91).
The character design follows a social pattern, namely a stereotypical obese girl
with several depression symptoms. Her main color is blue, she has big sized glasses,
a thick sweatshirt with high-fitting collar, blue pants and shoes, and side swept
hairstyle limited by the chin’s height. Eyes, eyebrows, mouth and nose are small
sized elements.
Overall, Sadness shows the “cold side” of human emotions through the intense
blue that surrounds her character, but also through the high-fitting collar and the emo
stylish based haircut. The little given emphasis on her face area—with small eyes,
nose and mouth—reinforces the constant low expressive behavior, which reflects a
sad, depressing and self-flagellating conduct.
10 Joy Character
Joy is the narrative’s engine. She tries to happily deal with any kind of context,
although she realizes that it is not always possible because we always need room for
other emotions. Any kind of sensory pleasure, invoked by our five senses, can cause
joy and, as a positive emotion, it is related to fun, contentment, excitement, relief,
wonder, ecstasy, high self-esteem, etc. (Ekman and Friesen 2003, pp. 99–103). She
has an elegant shape, a light skin tone, a light green dress, large mouth and eyes,
blue hair and she is always barefoot. It looks like a young energetic and very happy
girl. Joy overflows positivism through her highly expressive body and face gestures.
Nowadays, elegance, dynamism and bright colors are highly related to happiness and
well-being.
11 Conclusions
The dissociation between head and body in animation goes beyond the simple tech-
nical issue; they coexist as two interconnected entities, but with sufficient autonomy
to express themselves individually. If the face has a natural predisposition to com-
municate emotions, the body takes advantage of the action. From this perspective,
gestures and body movement are also capable of creating strong emotional reactions,
reinforcing personality traits and character states of mind. We can say that the fact
that these characters of “Inside Out” are self-representative of the primary emotions
gives it a double meaning. Firstly, they define a characterization that seeks the poten-
tiality of the “emotion-character” blend, and, secondly, it fits the development of a
character design using a thoughtful and planned design methodology carried to its
extreme, personified in a triad relationship “emotion-character-visual”.
In short, if character design always strives for engagement with the viewer, we
can state that in “Inside Out” this reality is not different, as it presents scrutinized
evidence of character-emotions that seduce us and lead us through an amazing story,
reinforcing its quality of autonomous and imaginative language that exposes the
DNA of human nature: its emotions.
References
Damásio A (1994) O Erro de Descartes: Emoção, Razão e o Cérebro Humano (e-book)

Eibl-Eibesfeldt I (2017) Human ethology. Routledge, New York
Eisner W (2008) Expressive anatomy for comics and narrative. W.W. Norton & Comp, New York
Ekman P (2003) Emotions revealed: recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and
emotional life. New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11231-005-7891-8
Ekman P, Friesen WV (2003) Unmasking the face (Reprint). Malor Books, Cambridge
Ferreira A, Gomes R, Teixeira PM (2015) Estudos de Expressões Corporais para Animação. In:
CONFIA—International Conference on Illustration and Animation. Braga
Ferreira A, Teixeira PM (2016) Análise da longa-metragem “Inside Out” da Disney/Pixar—As
Emoções Primárias na Personagem “Fear”. In: AVANCA | CINEMA—International Conference
Cinema—Art, Technology, Communication
Ferreira A, Teixeira PM, Teixeira JP (2016) Análise da Longa-Metragem “Inside Out” da Dis-
ney/Pixar—As Emoções Primárias na personagem “Disgust”. In: CONFIA—International Con-
ference on Illustration and Animation
Keltner D, Oatley K, Jenkins JM (2014) Understanding emotions, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken
Kundert-Gibbs J, Kundert-Gibbs K (2009) Acting lessons for CG animators. Wiley Publishing Inc.,
Indianapolis
Matsumoto D, Hwang HS (2011) Reading facial expressions of emotion. Retrieved 24 June 2019,
from https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facial-expressions
McCloud S (2006) Travers, K, Williams J (eds) Making comic. Harper, New York
O’Neill R (2016) Digital character development: theory and practice. C&C Press, New York
Pardew L (2007) Character emotion in 2D and 3D animation. Boston
Rozin P, Fallon AE (1987) A perspective on disgust. Psychol Rev 94:32–41
Sly R (2012) De’von stubblefield interview. Retrieved 5 Feb 2019, from http://devon-stubblefield-
interview.blogspot.com/
Teixeira PM (2013) A Representação Emocional da Personagem Virtual no Contexto da Animação
Digital: do Cinema de Animação aos Jogos Digitais. University of Minho
Turner JH (2000) On the origins of human emotions: a sociological inquiry into the evolution of
human affect, 1st edn. Stanford University Press, Stanford
Drawing and Image in Design
Chromatic Cognition and Human
Behavior
Fernando Moreira da Silva
Abstract For humans, cognition is the processing or interpretation produced by the

brain of all information captured by the five senses, based on different capacities,
such as perception, imagination, reasoning or memory, and the transformation of
that interpretation into fundamental knowledge for our own way of being. How-
ever, most of our reactions are still unknown, such as those concerning chromatic
cognition. Recent research has been able to identify areas of the brain that are acti-
vated during the phenomenon of chromatic cognition, just as we begin to be able
to measure human behavior with regard to color issues. The visible brain consists
of multiple functionally specialized areas that receive their input largely from two
areas of the brain known as V1 and the area around it known as V2. Through these
areas the Human Being perceives the Color and these, in turn, can be more or less
stimulated when we see different colors. This document presents some results of a
quasi-experiment methodology still in development, using the Virtual Reality (VR),
trying to verify the human brain reactions, mainly the chromatic cognition, to the
different dimensions of the colors. In an earlier phase, in addition to the literature
review, other methods were used, such as survey research and direct observation.
It is intended to compare the results obtained with the use of these methodologies
with those of the quasi-experience. This book chapter focuses on the acquisition
of scientific knowledge in the area of chromatic cognition. As future results of this
research, we intend to achieve a systematization of scientific knowledge reusable by
all within the scope of Color/User interaction and chromatic cognition; and produce
guidelines to serve as a projective tool for designers to use and apply color in design
projects, as well as a reference to the use of Color for general users.
Keywords Color · Chromatic cognition · Human behavior · Virtual reality
F. Moreira da Silva (B)

Lisbon School of Architecture, CIAUD, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_16
216 F. Moreira da Silva
1 Introduction
The present book chapter focuses on the cognition of color and human perception,
and its importance for design and design development. Although there are some
studies in this area, they are still insipid and many of them are not very scientific,
so it is considered not only a current theme, but also a pertinent one. After the use
of methods such as research by inquiry, direct observation and literature review, the
second phase, a quasi-experience with users using the Virtual Reality (VR), is now
presented in order to verify the brain reactions to the different color dimensions, in
particular the color cognition, comparing the results obtained with the previously
used methods.
The waves of light affect us every minute of our lives and enter our energy system,
whether we are awake, whether we are sleeping, whether we are visual or blind. Our
growth, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, muscle activity, immune system, etc.,
are all affected by the rays of light. The colored rays affect not only our bodies but
also our emotions, dispositions and mental faculties.
As highly colored beings, our forms are made of vibrant, ever-changing colors,
and the Human Being responds actively or passively to the chromatic impulses in
everything we do. We all have a personal relationship with Color. Often, we give
ourselves an instinctive color treatment, just choosing clothes of a certain color or
placing certain colors around us, in our homes, gardens or in the work environment.
Most of our reactions, however, are unconscious and only when we begin to use color
in an informed way can we take advantage of this extraordinary vital force to improve
the quality of life and our well-being (Moreira da Silva and 2016). The Human Being,
during its evolution, created psychological and physiological reactions to the color,
although in many cases they can not be controlled nor explained objectively; however,
make color a necessary medium for information, communication and understand-
ing of the environment. Color has the function of attracting attention, transmitting
information, adding emotions and stimulating illusions (Gamito et al. 2009).
By understanding the effects of physiological and psychological color, we can
select the best colors for our clothes, for our home and work environments. There
are not many studies on the subject, and even those are merely descriptive of a
period or time. So far, there has never been an attempt to understand the global
phenomenon. This article presents a research project, which aims to understand the
correlation between human statements when they see different colors, using research
methodologies by inquiry and direct observation, and the areas of the brain that are
activated when humans see a specific color using artificial cognitive systems.
The main objectives of the research project are the acquisition of scientific knowl-
edge in the area that can serve as a projective tool for designers, as well as contributing,
through the dissemination of its results, as a reference to the use of color for general
users.
Throughout the project, a qualitative and quantitative, interventionist and non-
interventionist methodology was used, with user-centered research, with participa-
tory design, using the survey, direct observation and quasi-experience, supported by
Chromatic Cognition and Human Behavior 217
mechanical means, in the laboratory, using artificial cognitive systems and virtual
reality.
2 Colors Code
The code is a system of principles that bestows a certain value on certain siamas. Value is
mentioned and does not mean, in order to give a more general character, because meaning
is used only in relation to communication between human beings; In the case of human
communication, the receiver has a voluntary act of comparing message and code and decodes
it. (Eco 1967)
This type of message is visual and the signals must correspond to the perceptual
needs themselves, which belong to human beings. Therefore, the system of princi-
ples must give a certain value to certain signals to become a code and that certain
value has a significant basis. In terms of Color, particularly color/space language, the
organization of codes follows general rules that are strictly linked to the possibility
of manipulation of color language, to the limits and differential thresholds of percep-
tual ability in general, whether signals or visual field and the categories of meaning
that are embraced by the language of color, as analyzed before, according to the
color/space signs that are the color communication, and those that communicate by
color, or with characters of simple signs, overlapping or supersigned signals. Thus
chromatic codes are organized as having the repertoires of color/space signals as the
basis, programmed according to categories and shade or shade classes, and depend on
the range of signal repertoires of the individuals participating in the communicative
process, consideration of the environment and the context of common experience.
Primary and primary color/space codes are organized according to requests for har-
monic tone types, boundary extension, and levels of differentiation between shadows
or tones.
By these codes, which are applicable to the programming of languages for all
the fields of the project, one can define the types of chromatic harmonization that,
from a group of color/space signals, constitute a new signal indicator of a certain
communicative situation characterized as a message by total quality and by the
amount of visual vibrations between tones it transmits. Based on the formation of
signal repertoires, the overlapping color/space codes for designating communica-
tional intentions of something more than color/space are defined according to the
context request. These codes follow the common communicative structure of the
languages applied to them, besides the chromatic reference given by the previous
code, the qualification established by the communicative structure. The selections
of units of interest in the coding are applied to the repertoires of signals and, for the
set, a system of rules is established for the transmission of the message (Moreira da
Silva and 2016).
3 Neuroscience of Color
In order to approach Color, one must understand the brain and how the nervous
system works. Neuroscience studies the nervous system, particularly with regard to
Human Beings. This field is significant for the study of Color because it allows an
understanding (as much as medical science allows) of the process involved between
the arrival of the light wave and the physical reactions that result in the interior of
the human body. Chromatic vision results from a very complex process in which
the nervous system compares the intensity of light at various wavelengths through
specific interactions that are known to be different from those needed to produce the
perception of other properties of the universe visual.
It is known that people only see Color when light and chromatic signals that reach
the eye reach the brain. The structure of the eye is not at all simple. The very structure
of the retina is very complex and acts as the function of the first level of light inter-
pretation. As the color of a given wavelength reaches the retina, all photoreceptors
capable of responding do so. The combination of responsive receptors allows the
brain to interpret the exact color of light. For example, if light with a wavelength of
600 nm (nonometers) reaches the retina, 30% of the green photoreceptors respond
together with 55% or 64% of the red receptors. From this information, the brain will
calculate that the color in question is orange. The reason there are two possible red
responses is because 60% of the population has the amino acid at position 180 of the
opsin protein, while the rest have alanine at that position. Therefore, although they
all describe red and their variations in the same way, it is likely that there may be a
difference in color perception.
From the retina, visual information passes to the optic nerve, joining the optic
chiasm. Here, images are organized so that the information one or both eyes see on
the left side of the vision is directed to the left half of the brain and vice versa. With the
help of both eyes focused on the same object, the Human Being can perceive depth
and distance, while each eye produces a slightly different image of the same object.
The visual cortex of the brain completes the task of organizing visual information,
which began in the retina. As mentioned earlier, processes in the brain are poorly
understood, although the brief description above reflects current medical studies
(Moreira da Silva 2016).
The visual system is adapted to obtain maximum information with a minimum of effort: what
is not required immediately, or can be considered as acquired, can be considered redundant,
the eye has evolved to see the world in immutable colors regardless of the unpredictable,
shifting and uneven lighting. (Lancaster 1996)
Graham (1997) undertook studies in cats to determine the role of various areas of
the brain (only a small survey was conducted on humans). Five areas were identified
within the cat’s brain, which control the perception of: form; movement; color; and
coordination of form and movement; and coordination of movement and color. The
perception of shape is therefore very important for cats, with movement and color,
respectively, in second and third places.
Once visual information has reached the human brain, it is interpreted through
the various elements present in this structure. The Human Being has several types of
memory that correspond to various brain locations. It is assumed that memories of
specific functions, with more or less identified locations, correspond to the cortical
location. Although both sides of the brain are involved in mental functions, it is
known that each side has its specific functions. The cerebral cortex contains 90% of
all nerve cells, and receives and interprets the sensory impulses. The brain contains
the voluntary and conscious process, with the right side controlling the imagination
and the left side controlling the logic. The thalamus deciphers sight, hearing, taste, and
touch; the hypothalamus regulates blood pressure and body temperature, translating
emotions into physical (physiological) responses. The pituitary gland is the largest
endocrine gland in the body, controlling all other glands; the cerebellum is responsible
for muscle coordination; and direct training regulates emotion. All these glands are
interrelated and related in the response to visual stimuli. Questions about the role
of striated cortex, the first visual area of the superior mammalian brain in color
perception, have recently been restarted (Johnson 2001).
Cells in the striatum cortex are excited by light from a distribution of wavelengths
and inhibited by light from another distribution, falling into a small region of space.
Adjacent or surrounding regions show the opposite pattern of responses. The cells
therefore respond optimally to the edges with a specific chromatic contrast that
crosses the center and surrounds the regions of their spatial receptive fields. These
findings suggest that specific color processing begins earlier in the visual system
than previously thought. The first mechanisms of constancy of color, our ability to
recognize the colors of objects, irrespective of the color of the light that illuminates
them, may occur in the striated cortex. If so, people without striated cortex, like some
older people, will lose color contrast processing.
So, the visible brain consists of multiple functionally specialized areas (Fig. 1)
that receive their input largely from V1 and the area surrounding it, known as V2.
These are currently the most thoroughly charted visual areas, but not the only ones.
These are the areas where we perceive color and can be more or less stimulated when
we see different colors.
Fig. 1 Brain scheme, with

V1 and V2 areas signed
4 Cognition and Artificial Cognitive Systems
Artificial cognitive systems are an emerging field. Cognition anticipates the need
for action and develops the ability to predict the outcome of these actions. The field
of artificial cognitive systems has the ultimate goal of creating computer systems
that can interact with humans. It involves self-nomy, learning and development,
memory and prospecting, knowledge and representation, as well as social cognition.
This happens on the basis of a characterization of cognitive systems as systems that
exhibit adaptive, anticipated and proactive behavior orientated behaviors (Vernon
2014).
Cognition implies an ability to understand how things can be and take this into
account in determining how to act (Berthoz 2000). A cognitive system exhibits
an effective behavior through perception, action, deliberation, communication and
through an individual or social interaction with the environment. The characteristic
of a cognitive system is that it can function effectively in circumstances that were
not explicitly planned when the system was designed. That is, it has some degree of
elasticity and is resilient in the face of the unexpected (Vernon 2006).
Mental states are always based on real or imagined physical states, and problem space
operators always expand into primitive capacities with executable actions. (Langley 2005)
For cognitive systems, cognition is representative in a strong and particular sense:

it involves the manipulation of explicit symbolic representations of the state and
behavior of the external world to facilitate proper, adaptive, anticipatory, and effective
interaction and the storage of the knowledge gained from that experience to argue
even more effectively in the future (Hollnagel and Woods 1999).
5 Development of an Experimental Part (Quasi-experience)
This research project has already achieved important results, going beyond the review
of the literature on the research topic in question, mainly due to the empirical phase
of the project, or applied research. Through recent research, we know which areas
of the brain are activated, as well as we can measure the behavior of Human Beings
with respect to Color-related issues. Thus, user experimentation is underway with
the aim of if the brain reactions to the different dimensions of the color were verified,
comparing the results of this experimental phase with those obtained by the other
methods previously used.
So, and because we are developing an experiment with humans, we decided to
use the quasi-experience methodology.
Quasi-experimental research is a research that resembles experimental research
but is not true experimental research, i.e., doesn’t corresponds entirely to experimen-
tal research requirements. Although the independent variable is manipulated, par-
ticipants are not randomly assigned to conditions or orders of conditions (Cook and
Campbell 1979). Because the independent variable is manipulated before the depen-
dent variable is measured, quasi-experience eliminates the directionality problem.
But because participants are not randomly assigned—making it likely that there are
other differences between conditions—quasi-experimental research does not elimi-
nate the problem of confounding variables. In terms of internal validity, therefore,
quasi-experiments are generally somewhere between correlational studies and true
experiments. Quasi-experience is an empirical interventional study used to estimate
the causal impact of an intervention on target population without random assign-
ment, most likely to be conducted in field settings in which random assignment is
difficult or impossible, or when we are working with humans or animals. This type
of research is often performed in cases where a control group cannot be created or
random selection cannot be performed.
Quasi-experimental research is similar to experimental research in that there is manipulation
of an independent variable. It differs from experimental research because either there is no
control group, no random selection, no random assignment, and/or no active manipulation.
(Abraham and MacDonald 2011)
In a quasi-experience research, the researcher lacks control over the assignment to

conditions and/or does not manipulate the causal variable of interest. When we have
access to a relatively large number of people who have or will receive a particular
type of social work intervention, and we try to figure out what the effects of that
intervention may been, then quasi-experience research can be an excellent approach,
as it is in the present case.
To be aware of the seen color, one must interact directly with a person’s brain,
intercepting information at source and translating it into a cognitive color map. In
this phase of our research, we are using the Virtual Reality (VR), trying to verify the
human brain reactions, mainly the chromatic cognition, to the different dimensions
of the colors.
In the present research project, to achieve this, we had to use a brain-computer
interface using electroencephalography (EEG) and virtual reality. Our brain absorbs
all kind of information, being constantly active, compacting and re-connecting exist-
ing data, and integrating everything into a consistent base. It shapes how we see
our environment, filters or highlights objects and information most relevant to us. It
creates its own knowledge based on our thoughts, emotions, desires and experiences,
ultimately driving our behavior. The human brain consists of billions of cells, half
of which are neurons, half of which help and facilitate neurons activity. The neurons
are densely interconnected via synapses, which act as gateways of inhibitory or exci-
tatory activity. Any synaptic activity generates a subtle electrical impulse referred to
as a postsynaptic potential, which can be measured on the head surface.
EEG or Electroencephalography is the physiological method of choice to record
the electrical activity generated by the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp surface.
It is the process of recording a person’s brain waves through electrodes attached
directly to the skull. For faster application, electrodes are mounted in elastic caps
similar to bathing caps, ensuring that the data can be collected from identical scalp
positions across all respondents.
The EEG has the potential to unlock a truly immersive Virtual Reality (VR) by
capturing a person’s brainwaves while they are in the world of VR, and translating
those moving signals from the participants. So, it measures electrical activity gener-
ated by the synchronized activity of thousands of neurons, providing excellent time
resolution, allowing you to detect activity within cortical areas, even at sub-second
timescales.
Therefore, it is relatively easy to detect electrical impulses emanating from a
brain. However, the signal is sometimes so cloudy that it is difficult to decode the
data. EEG has proven to be effective in detecting general brain phenomena, such as
areas of the brain activated when people see a specific color.
6 Conclusions
Until now, during the quasi-experimental phase, we have worked with a group of 43
volunteers aged 23–41 years; and another group of 52 volunteers aged between 45
and 67 years. A helmet, similar to an elastic cap, was used to provide the feeling
of Color using immersive virtual reality (Fig. 2). Nowadays, virtual reality helmets
have become lighter, more comfortable and with clearer images. However, we had
to spend some time to test and adapt the users to the use of the helmet, as well as to
the immersive reality, especially the second group. All selected volunteers present
normal vision. Some members of the second group evidenced the existence of a more
aged vision. However, they clearly distinguished the different used colors. During the
experiment, we always used the same color (through the Pantone reference system,
for analog and digital support), which we used previously during the research-by-
survey phase.
During experimental development, 11% of the first group found that they were
color-blind: although they were seeing different colors, they activated the same loca-
tion of the brain in the striated cortex. In the second group, only 4% were color blind.
The results also evidence that regardless of which group they belonged to, 87% of the
Fig. 2 Helmet used during

the quasi-experiment, using
immersive virtual reality
volunteers activated the same area of the brain when they saw a specific color. The
achieved findings are already very significant data that can contribute to a greater
knowledge in the scope of the perception and the chromatic cognition in the Human
Beings.
The current project aims the acquisition of scientific knowledge in the area that
can be used as a projective tool for designers, besides contributing as a reference
for the use of color and for other investigations in areas related to color and the
advancement of artificial cognitive systems.
References
Abraham I, MacDonald K (2011) Encyclopedia of nursing research: quasi-experimental research.

Springer Publishing Company. Available at: http://0-search.credoreference.com.brum.beds.ac.
uk/content/entry/spennurres/quasi_experimental_research/0
Berthoz A (2000) The brain’s sense of movement. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Cook TD, Campbell DT (1979) Quasi-experimentation: design & analysis issues in field settings.
Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Eco U (1967) Appunti per una simiologia delle comunicazione visive. Bompiani, Milan
Gamito M, Moreira da Silva F (2009) Cor no Mobiliário Urbano: um factor de Inclusividade,
Orientação e Identificação. In: 5º CIPED. Bauru, Brasil
Graham H (1997) Discover color therapy. Ulysses Press, New York
Hollnagel E, Woods DD (1999) Cognitive systems engineering: new wind in new bottles. Int J Hum
Comput Stud 51:339–356
Johnson MH (2001) Functional brain development in humans. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:475–483
Lancaster M (1996) Colorscape. Academy Editions, London
Langley P (2005) An adaptive architecture for physical agents. In: Proceedings of IEEE/WIC/ACM
international conference on intelligence agent technology, pp 18–25
Moreira da Silva F (2016) Bridging color effects and fashion design: the ColorErg. In: Soares M,
Rebelo F (eds) Ergonomics in design—methods and techniques. CRC Press, Taylor & Frances
Group, FL, pp 55–72. ISBN: 13-978-1-4987-6070-6
Vernon D (2006) The space of cognitive vision. Cognitive vision systems: sampling the spectrum
of approaches. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 7–26
Vernon D (2014) Artificial cognitive systems: a primer. The MIT Press, London. ISBN 978-0-262-
02838-7
Sketches Versus New Technologies
in Design Creative Process
Ana Moreira da Silva
Abstract As the designer has to conceive and develop solutions for specific prob-
lems of different nature, sketches may present themselves as an operative support
for conceptual reflection, problem solving and critical analyses within the several
phases of the design process. Once, hand drawing and sketching ruled design cur-
ricula, because there simply was no alternative. The introduction of CAD, image
editing, on-line search engines and other new technology advances have irrevocably
changed the way we perceive and map the world around us. As a result, the status
and value of hand-drawing has changed and it is important to reflect upon the func-
tions, the teaching and the evaluation of the tools we use to express design. One of
the main questions we would like to find answers is if the nowadays wide use of
new technologies doesn’t invalidate the important role played by hand-drawing as a
stimulating instrument when sketching the first ideas and as a critical verification of
the several solution hypotheses. Sketching survival facing the artificial intelligence
growing importance is this research main issue. Through the study of several state-
ments from various authors we intend to investigate not only the permanence of the
sketching important role since mid-last century to present, but also its possible use
in the future. From this theoretical approach we also intend to verify the relevance of
hand-drawing teaching in the formation of the future designers, despite the paradigm
changes that emerge from the new technologies advances.
Keywords Sketches · Technology · Drawing · Design process
1 Introduction
This text stems from a current post-doc research project motivated by the need of
producing more knowledge and reflection on Drawing. The present research focus
is to analyse nowadays importance of using sketches within design process. We
A. Moreira da Silva (B)

CIAUD—Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
CITAD—Faculdade de Arquitetura e Artes, Universidade Lusíada, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_17
226 A. Moreira da Silva
also want to discuss if sketching may serve as mind stimulus during the creative
process phase, using for that a quasi-experience methodology, in laboratory, trying
to compare and analyze the brain activity. Based on a survey methodology with
two different moments, being the first an inquiry based on a questionnaire applied to
undergraduate students, and the second a group of semi-structured interviews applied
to designers, to verify the permanence and the importance of sketching in their daily
design work, although the constant use and the progress of the new technologies.
We intend to get some answers that could help us to define in a more accurate way
the future adjustments on drawing teaching methods for Design courses. Here we
present the first stage of this research project.
2 Sketches Versus New Technologies
Sketching has been used long ago, especially since Italian Renaissance when drawing
started to assume a more important role as the basis of creation. In this period drawing
assumed its intellectual character and some authors of those times, like Alberti or
Vasari, considered it like something that the hand achieves coming from the human
brain (Moreira da Silva 2010) (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) sketches for mechanical inventions. Source http://www.
leonardodavincisinventions.com/. Accessed April 2019
Sketches Versus New Technologies in Design Creative Process 227
Since then we can find sketches as the basis of creative production not only in the
fine arts but also in design projects. We can consider the relevance of hand-drawing
in the act of designing not only as stimulating instrument when sketching the first
ideas but also as critical verification of the several hypotheses.
Norman (2010) states that designers are inextricably associated with drawings.
We can find reference to drawing in the very origin of the word design. ‘Des-
ignare’, is a Latin verbal form, which covers both the meaning of ‘to designate
something’ and of ‘to draw something’. In its origins the term already has a double
sense: a more abstract aspect of ‘to attribute, to conceive, to project’ and another one
of more concrete nature of ‘to register, to configure, to form’ (Denis 2000).
Design adds intention to drawing: to imagine, to conceive and to assist in the
achievement of solutions for practical problems, which can be of very different
nature. During all the complex process which goes from one imagined object to its
implementation, designer has one essential media to help him on developing the
idea—drawing (Fig. 2).
Drawings have been used for generations of designers. The use of sketches not
only helps a great deal in starting the ideas generating process, it also enables high
quality concepts to begin with as initial ideas. These ideas can be accessed, combined,
selected and developed.
Sketches can be the initial basis for the process of generating ideas, and they
also allow to develop the project from these initial ideas. Through this drawings we
can easily create, visualize, analyze, combine, cross, compare, criticize, select and
develop ideas for future solutions in the several areas of the project.
As the designer must conceive and develop solutions for precise problems which
may be of very different nature, sketching can work as operative support for inventive
problem-solving during the creative process.
The complexity, characteristic of the transition from the idea to its materialization,
is related to the actual extent of projects where a number of factors come into play,
such as the ability to understand the context and imagine the solutions, the ability to
know and take advantage of the processes and materials as means or vehicles through
which the solution can be materialized, the ability to transform ideas into appropriate
forms, having in mind the limits and material possibilities. Drawing holds, in itself,
the making visible quality of the whole mental process underlying the conceiving
stage, from the first sketches of a vague idea of we want to create until the final
solution.
Drawing’s transcendent importance lies in the capacity it gives to materialize
abstract conceptualizations and to create the ideational basis for new forms and
objects.
Several authors have written about the importance of drawing in design method-
ologies. Their general conclusion points out to drawing as an essential tool as it
allows ideas to flow and provides a critical investigation of the several alternative
solutions in creative processes.
Cross (2005) states that drawings are a key feature of the design process. At
the early stages of the process they are communications with oneself, a kind of
Fig. 2 Charles Eames sketches for several chairs (1946). Source https://www.google.pt/search?q=
Charles+eames+sketches&tbm. Accessed April 2019
thinking aloud, and concludes that the conceptual thinking processes are based on
the development of ideas through their external expression in sketches.
In The Inexorable Rise of Drawing, an article that analyses contemporary thinking
about drawing, Tilley (2008) tries to identify the reasons why, nowadays, the drawing
subject became so relevant. According to Tilley (2008) the interdisciplinary nature
of drawing has been acknowledge nowadays and also recognized drawing’s facility
to allude to or to describe the intangible.
For Schön (2000), the practice of manual drawing goes beyond the simple repre-
sentation of ideas, encompasses the development of knowledge from the perception
and analysis of the drawing itself, considering the sketch as an instrument that even
allows reflection in action.
Ortega and Weihermann (2017) state that when students use sketches, new ideas
flow, qualities and relationships that were not previously imagined reveal themselves.
According to Baskinger (2008), drawing and sketching are an integral component

to the development process for many designers. Sketching tends to be very engag-
ing and invites others in for collaboration. Drawing by hand can enable to think
differently about a subject or a design problem and can equip with greater persua-
sion and impact during collaboration. Hand-generated drawings can also provide a
basis for transitioning into digital sketching in a variety of tools. The expediency and
impromptu nature of picking up a pencil and letting ideas flow onto paper can be
both powerful and compelling. Drawing ideas can serve to clarify, lead, and facilitate
collaboration in meaningful ways.
Sketching is fast and easy, allows to explore and refine ideas in a quick, interative
and visual manner. No need to learn any fancy design tools, just need to put a pencil
or a pen to paper or marker to whiteboard and let the ideas flow. Sketching is a
very simple and easy tool used by many creative professionals in any circumstance,
because we can draw anywhere, anytime, with any medium (Fig. 3).
According to the architect Jean Nouvel, one of his latest work, the Abu Dhabi
Louvre, opened in late 2017, began to take shape from simple sketches made on a
paper napkin during a meal in a restaurant (Fig. 4).
The search for solutions, even for simple problems, implies that drawing studies
in detail each phase of the process for obtaining the result we seek. The complexity
of the required drawings emerges as the designer approaches the solutions which
he considers ideal or that are possible. During the conception phase we should not
disregard the importance of a trace, of a scribble, of a sketch. They can all contribute
to the idea development (Fig. 5).
For a designer, the sketchbook is not just a place to draw but also a place to order
thoughts, to gather graphically and visually information and to develop a design
response. It emerges as a way of thinking through drawn lines as a creative process,
revealing the central role that drawing can play within the development of any project
(Fig. 6).
According to Rhode (2011), the real goal of sketching is about generating ideas,
solving problems, and communicating ideas more effectively with others.
Fig. 3 Sketches on a paper napkin showing the ideas evolution for a fire extinguisher. Source
https://mv2011.files.wordpress.com/baskinger-pencils_pixels. Accessed April 2019
Fig. 4 Sketches by Jean Nouvel for the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2011). Source http://www.saadiyat.ae/
en/inspiration-details/3/Louvre-Abu-Dhabi. Accessed April 2019
Fig. 5 Graphic design sketchbook layout. Source https://www.google.com/search?q=sketchbook+

layout+sketches+for+graphic+designers. Accessed April 2019
Fig. 6 Sketching allows to explore a wide variety of ideas all at once. Source https://alistapart.com/
article/sketching-the-visual-thinking-power-tool. Accessed April 2019
Drawing, within design processes, serves several functions. We can narrow them
down to four functions that are indissolubly interrelated: recording, exploration,
communication and expression. These functions do not stand on their own, more
often one drawing is able to combine several of them (Lawson 2004) (Fig. 7).
The act of drawing allows that the reasoning and thoughts we have developed
can be gradually translated and decoded throughout the drawn lines. Somehow, we
struggle with our own ideas on the paper space. We scratch, we draw, we over-
write features, we configure, we represent, we visualize, giving physical form to our
thinking. There is a direct link between the thought and the hand that performs the
drawing: the hand as an extension of the brain, of the reasoning.
For Wilkinson (2016) it can be a simple drawing to start, but something happens
when sketching that encourages the creative thinking and ideas begin to flow, some-
thing begins to take form and “thinking through drawing” allows the evolution of
several solutions and their critical analyses.
According to Norman (2010) the recent profound changes in project processes,
due to the contemporary historical context where new technologies are so important,
justify an extended discussion on the crucial role played by drawing in design courses,
adapted to the new paradigm.
The fact of using new technologies doesn’t invalidate the important role played
by freehand drawing, both at the initial stage of recording the first ideas and during
their subsequent development and in the critical analysis of the different hypotheses.
Rohde (2011) states that sketching is the visual thinking power tool and that adding
sketches to the design process is a great way to amplify software and hardware tools.
He concludes that the use of sketching during the creative process reveals the central
role drawing plays within the development of a project and the importance of free-
hand drawing, particularly in an age dominated by digital media. For Rohde (2011),
sketches can work not only as a visual thinking tool but also as a primary language for
capturing thoughts, exploring ideas, and sharing those ideas. So sketching provides a
unique space that can help us to think differently, to easily generate a variety of new
Fig. 7 Mike Dutton’s sketches for a Google doodle (2014). Source http://www.google.com/
doodles/john-venns-180th-birthday. Accessed April 2019
ideas, to explore alternatives with less risk, and to promote constructive discussions
with colleagues and clients.
In a previous research approaching this subject, we concluded that drawing accom-
plishes the most different objectives, such as:
• a way to communicate;
• a means of discovery;
• a process of interiorization;
• a graphic method of study;
• an observation and registering process;
• a research tool;
• a privileged mean for the communication of ideas;
• a link in the mental and creative process.
So, the importance of drawing assumes a broad sense, conferring to the act of
drawing the ability to become a means of multiple resources.
Fig. 8 Sketches for a mouse by Adam Fairless (2016). Source https://medium.com/@haydmills/

-creative-professions-that-use-sketching-as-a-tool-in-their-design-process-and-why. Accessed
April 2019
When analysing and comparing manual drawing and digital based drawing taking
into account the creative process, Roome (2011) considers that what is truly inter-
esting and beneficial is the possibility of cross-fertilization between traditional and
digital platforms (Fig. 8).
Frank Gehry is one of the contemporary architects who most uses new technolo-
gies to achieve his works, however, he always uses sketches to fully develop his
creative ideas (Fig. 9).
According to Hamilton (2009) the value of hand-drawing is associated with the
knowledge that drawing is the essence of creativity and its value lies in allowing
our individual ability to continuously express and create, using self-exploration and
creative thinking through the act of drawing, linking together interesting ideas and
technical know-how, enhanced by the assistance and the interaction with new tech-
nologies.
Domingos (2017) in his recent book, The Master Algorithm, talks about the
extraordinary advances of Artificial Intelligence and its promising future, but as
he mentioned throughout this book, Artificial Intelligence is developing in the direc-
tion of Automatic Learning, but not yet capable of creating something new which is
the very essence of Creativity.
Automatic Learning based on Artificial Intelligence can enlarge our data and
integrate multiple learning components, and so, can be very useful for generating
creativity through knowledge, but still, creativity is something more beyond knowing,
it is a special ability that, for now, is an intrinsic part of the human being. Creativity
is something that big data does not explain, but, however, machine learning can help
us to build more accurate fundaments and research findings for our creative works.
Fig. 9 Sketches by Frank Gehry for the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris (2006). Source www.
google.pt/search?tbm=isch&q=Frank+Gehry+Sketches. Accessed April 2019
Drawing holds, in itself, the making visible quality of the whole mental process
underlying the conceiving stage, from the first sketches of a project vague idea to the
creation of its final form. Drawing’s transcendental importance lies in the capacity
that it gives the designer to materialize abstract conceptualizations and to create the
ideational basis for new design forms and artifacts.
Drawing today serves as a primary medium for generating, testing and recording
a designer own creative and conceptual musings about a project. If drawing is central
for conceiving, it is also fundamental for defining how that conception is managed
as it moves from its initial stages through its actual development and realization as
a material form. Sketches illustrate various aspects of the creative design process.
Therefore, the importance of drawing assumes a broad sense, conferring to the act of
drawing the ability to become a means of multiple resources to practice the discipline
of design.
3 Conclusions
From many authors’ statements and according to the professional practice of many
designers, we can conclude, from this initial research phases, that drawings are the
key to the creative process in design. Drawing presents itself as an operative support
for problem-solving and critical analyses in the design creative process.
We can also conclude that new technologies offer the designer new ways, allowing
him to save time and facilitating many of the daily practice tasks, even becoming
indispensable in many work phases. However, they do not replace sketching, which
continues to assume a ‘chameleon’ shape during the various historical periods, in
a constant time adaptation, and, especially by incorporating a critical dimension in

design’s creative process.
New technologies can be a stimulus for creative capacities, but it doesn’t invalidate
the important role of sketching in the creative process. When executing a drawing,
the one who performs it makes choices, composes, and selects what and how to com-
municate, both in the representation of reality and in its transformation by invention.
Drawings can show appearances of things as experienced by someone who draws,
evoke some aspects of human existence, and seize the meaning of the subject under
inquiry. The experience of freehand drawing may provide attentive awareness and
add reflexive value.
Although we cannot predict what the future may bring in the Artificial Intelligence
field, we believe that in the near future thinking machines will hardly replace the
creative capacity that sketching can trigger. Drawings are able to trigger ideas while
offering the practical tool to express those ideas. Sketches can be the key instrument
of creation and control, also playing a critical role within the design creative process.
Despite the paradigm shift required by the changing times, we believe that hand-
drawing will remain inseparable from the designers training and professional prac-
tice, assuming essential operating support in the project activity which continues
being the design basis.
In the future, design education should pass through a systematic approach to hand-
drawing in order to highlight and analyze the flexibility with which it adapts itself to
various purposes, efficiently fulfilling a wide range of intentions, in a constant and
vital adaptation to the continuous changes in the teaching and in the practice of the
student and of the designer, given the new techniques and technologies.
To validate these assumptions, the current post-doc research can constitute a con-
tribution for the understanding of the importance of hand-drawings permanence as
the basis of the design creative process, although the constant progress of the new
technologies.
References
Baskinger M (2008) Pencils before pixels, a primer in hand-generated sketching. In: Interactions,
vol XV. https://mv122011.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/baskinger-pencils_pixels.pdf. Accessed
Feb 2019
Cross N (2005) Engineering design methods, strategies for design. Wiley, Chichester
Denis RC (2000) Uma Introdução à História do Design. Blucher, São Paulo
Domingos P (2017) A Revolução do Algoritmo Mestre. Manuscrito Editora, Lisboa
Hamilton P (2009) Drawing with printmaking technology in a digital age. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/
microsites/sota/tracey/journal/dat/images/paul_hamilton.pdf
Lawson B (2004) What designers know. Elsevier, Oxford
Moreira da Silva A (2010) De Sansedoni a Vasari: um contributo para o estudo do Desenho como
fundamento do processo conceptual. Universidade Lusíada Editora, Lisboa
Norman D (2010) Why design education must change. http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/why_
design_education_must_change_17993.asp. Accessed Jan 2019
Ortega AR, Weihermann S (2017) Graphic dialogues: the progress of knowledge in architecture
studio. In: Kong MSM, Monteiro MR (eds) Progress(es)—theories and practices. CRC Press,
Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp 111–114
Rohde M (2011) Sketching: the visual thinking power tool. http://alistapart.com/article/sketching-
the-visual-thinking-power-tool. Accessed Apr 2019
Roome J (2011) Digital drawing and the creative process. [email protected]. Accessed Feb 2019
Schön D (2000) Educando o profissional reflexivo: um novo design para o ensino e a aprendizagem.
Artes Médicas Sul, Porto Alegre
Tilley A (2008) The inexorable rise of drawing. http://www.transitiongallery.co.uk. Accessed Mar
2019
Wilkinson C (2016) Thinking through drawing. https://vimeo.com/15908559. Accessed Feb 2019
The Design-Body Project in Analogue
Corpus – Tattooing as a Graphic
Expression in Paper and in Portuguese
Skin Since the Beginning
of the Twentieth Century
Susana Azevedo Cardal
Abstract In this chapter we propose not to think about “the canvas” where it is
usually present but change the discourse of its territory and invest in a new identifier
space/support, the human skin – the tattooed body as a support of elements for
communicational graphic expression. The “analogue corpus” generates a new critical
process in the history of the tattooed image and the graphic design, as well as in the
use of materials, instruments and techniques suitable for the fulfilment of these body
marks in paper and on the skin. We intend to examine the evolution of these body
marks by the handling of the materials and instruments used in the paper drawings
and the skin of the Portuguese throughout the XX century, focusing on three phases
of study (INMLCF – 1911/43; Portuguese Colonial War – 1961/74; Post Carnation
Revolution, April 25, 1974), as a graphic expression of visual perception on the
form of the human body as a means of communication, allowing us to develop a
synthesis of these in the development of these body marks as a historical framing.
At the same time, we confront “design-project” with “body-project”. The tattooed
body affirms itself today, as a privileged means of the contemporary representations
of the identity of a certain individual, collectively establishing the social portrait of a
given generational group, given the qualification and evolution of its professionals,
as well as the resources they use to obtain significantly improved results compared
to previous years.
Keywords Tattoo · Lettering · Legal Medicine · Portuguese Colonial War ·

Portugal
S. A. Cardal (B)
FAUL – Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, CIAUD – Centre for Research in
Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Lisbon, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_18
238 S. A. Cardal
1 Introduction
«The original form, prime, is the simple course of the tool. Only hand writing preserves the
characteristics of a single line. Hand writing is exercised with a single trace. Lettering is the
writing done with built shapes.»1
Gerrit Noordzij
Tattooing, in Western culture, and more particularly in Portugal, was cast aside from
the artistic milieu for almost a century. From late 1990’s onward – and more recently
– the tattooed body found itself inserted in the fields of the visual arts, through
elements drawn and tattooed, acquiring a biographical, and potentially narrative,
and identity connotation. We came across elements of graphic expression, as is the
case of letters’ tattoos, originating from calligraphy or lettering, who speak directly
of the “body marking project” (Ferreira 2008), be it psychological, social, political
and/or cultural, that a certain individual adopts. The “denounced confession” by the
representations present in these bodies freely expressing themselves, is reinforced by
the growing need for affirmation and presence in tattooed individuals, as well as by
the recognition of the professionals who execute them. These body marks, given their
visibility and projection, become potential tools within the scope of representation,
of observation and self-control, as a “body-document/body-file”, – a vast graphic
portfolio, reflecting the need for difference. Yet like many other bodies, only different
in the most intimate details.
Contemporary interest in the drawn tattoo, private in the public eye, highlights the
shift in paradigm representing this bodily marking, especially tattooing as a graphi-
cal expression, often named “written tattoo”, or, as in the past, “inscriptions” (Silva
1926). These marks are associated with character drawing, or lettering reproduced as
means of communications. This type of drawing, common nowadays, has been dom-
inating daily Portuguese tattoo consumers’ visual communication. The “original”
image has a strong impact in urban centers and is an object of desire, linked to fash-
ion trends. Alongside the bodily project (Ferreira 2008) of this social and individual
mutation, it points towards a new relation between the consumer and producer, as
well as the offer and demand and the outcome in line with the desired quality. We are
looking to address the drawing before, during and after the actual execution of these
bodily marks, looking at drawings and respective tattoos, gathered at a tattoo studio
and given by a graphic designed specialized in lettering for tattoos. Concurrently, we
aim to look at different time periods, including archived material from legal medicine
and testimonials from the Portuguese Colonial War veterans.
1 Noordzij (2013, p. 11).

The Design-Body Project in Analogue Corpus … 239
2 Tattooed Characters in the Portuguese Context
2.1 Background
«(…) in a fight body to body between the individual and the social.»2
Vítor Sérgio Ferreira
To understand the relation between lettering and the tattooed individual, we need
to go back until the emergence of tattooing in Western culture,3 whereby we could
find urban social context with some alphabetization, especially in the Portuguese
context. During this period, tattooing was mainly comprised of signs with simple
lines without any formal concerns. The cursive style mimicked the physical action
of writing before being copied onto the human skin. Although this bodily marking
was looked at as a “primitive” and “outcast”, its development owes, in great part, to
the desire of marking the body, and inscribing ink on skin, as a rebellious action of
individualized memory, an unchangeable eternal mark. It is worth mentioning that,
according to research about tattooing and tattoos, mainly in areas connected with
legal medicine, anthropology and sociology, most individuals marked their body out
of desire and imitation, “see and do” (Silva 1926). In his taxonomy of tattoo themes
and categories, Rodolfo Xavier da Silva, named the ones composed by letters and
numbers “inscriptives”, and, according to his own data, these were the most common
in Portuguese skin.
With time, in Portugal, the “inscriptives” tattoo moves on to the Portuguese Colo-
nial War all the way to present day. However, for the IMLFC4 Southern Delegation,
Lisbon (1911–1943) and during the Portuguese Colonial War, these were also made
through sewing needles attached to a stick with sewing thread dipped in India Ink
and introduced in the human skin. Composition-wise, until 1974, the type of tat-
toos remained unchanged, predominantly using block capitals, names and dates and
themes and preferred content. Arms and forearms were the privileged anatomical
areas for tattoos, without any bodily marking project; they were produced according
to the consumer’s spontaneous desire. Likewise, there was not an identifiable evo-
lution in its formal configurations and characters’ construction. These were written
in paper and directly on the skin, keeping its cursive origins, uniquely based on a
set of written signs written by a certain individual, without any previous drawing
project. Considering the locations where they were produced (bars, ships, prisons
and war camps), often without the producer having no drawing experience, or in the
tattooing act itself, or even how precarious the materials and tools were, quality was
very low. It is worth noting that, especially during the first half of XX century, a large
2 Ferreira (2008, p. 35).

3 Whilst sailing for England, Cook discovered Tahiti in the end of XVIII century, and since then
“bodily marks were popularized in European Western society” (Ferreira 2008). This bodily change
attracted sailors, who started tattooing regularly, both for its originality and the bodily mutation it
entailed. Although there are no specific dates, that is how tattooing comes to Europe.
4 Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.
240 S. A. Cardal
part of the illiterate population marked their bodies with characters, fully trusting
the “markers”5 (Silva 1926). It is also worth noting that the contexts in which these
bodily markings took place had very low hygiene and public health standards; that,
allied with the lack of knowledge of how human skin behaves, as well as appropriate
materials and sterilized tools. It was “one size fits all” and the tools and materials
were the same for all people. There was no post-care, unlike what happens nowadays,
whereby there are health and care concerns during and after the tattooing process, as
well as considering the body as a living canvas, previously outlined, more, or less,
spontaneously.
2.2 INMLCF (1911–1943)6
Whilst analyzing the photographic archive, looking at the contents and letters’ design,
both from human skin and iconographic illustration from individual records, we
observed that in its majority written tattoos were in block capitals or upper case,
accompanied by drawings referring to the female gender, patriotic symbols, religious
representations, sports teams’ crests, and even criminal or military tools. However,
the use of initials, for oneself, family members or even love affairs are predominant
in the skin of these individuals. For women, they mainly wrote their husband and/or
lover’s full name, most of times without any drawing, and usually next to the anatomic
place of the human heart.
With regards to the letters themselves, most characters are presented sans serif,
falling back on the handwritten characteristics of the cursive style, with simplified
shapes to enable faster writing, originating both mechanically from typewriters as
well as school-learned handwriting Fig. 1. It is rare to observe more typographic or
lettering-based evidence. Generally, “[they] spend their time painting, or allowing
their body to be painted” (Silva 1926). These bodily marks were composed by contour
lines, very similar to handwriting. There are also cases where a double contour line
and no filling are observed, others with filling, but never with shading.
In the bodies with several tattoos we observed a lack of composition and an
inadequate tattoo in relation to its placement. These bodies are generally covered by
clusters of tattoos with different sizes, often representations or figurative illustrations,
with different characters – coeval and random. The tattoo placement followed no
specific orientation and followed no formal or compositional guidelines amongst
themselves Fig. 2.
5 Designation
attributed to tattoo artists at that time.
6 AzevedoCardal (2016a).
Azevedo Cardal (2018).
Fig. 1 Human skin

fragment (1923), INMLCF
collection – South Branch
Fig. 2 Human skin

fragment (1917), INMLCF
collection – South Branch
242 S. A. Cardal
2.3 Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974)7
The characteristics and the execution of these tattoos are rather simple, with drawings
alluding to military symbols, battalions and respective companies, alongside written
messages, in block capitals, without any additional ornaments. Beside the military
symbols, heart-shaped tattoos are rather frequent in in the typology of these marks.
Names and dates are the most usual. As it happens, these marks reflect the identity
of a member of this community, that is, unique and individual marks portraying their
war and personal experience.
«Amor de mãe»,8 «Angola 1968», «Esposa e filhos»9 are amongst many other
tattoos executed during Portuguese Colonial War. They identify a specific Portuguese
generation. These written records in some Portuguese male bodies are currently being
updated, according to each tattoo artist’s professionalism and skill: there is demand
for maintaining the original record, updating them, according to technique and abil-
ity of the tattoo artist. This makes up for the inability, lack of knowledge around
the actual letters’ design and the actual tattooing technique of the makeshift tattoo
artist. These individuals reduced the letter’s graphic elements as much as possible,
with straight stems combined with bowed segments – shapes without any decora-
tion. Spontaneity is one of the emotions more clearly present in these bodily marks
Fig. 3. Formally, they were composed by dry lines, geometrical and rational. How-
ever, this formal simplicity amplifies the emotional weight that these texts carry, a
“reactionary” writing, appropriate to war contexts. This irrational choice by whom
executed the letters formally is essential to the character and credibility of the mes-
sage. The characters used are typically male, as they reveal a formal weight noted
by their robust rectangular forms – we could even suggest that it is “property” of the
military context where it is set Fig. 3 (Fig. 4).
Fig. 3 António Filipe,

62 years old, Guinea
1972/1974 – Mechanical
Cable
7 Azevedo Cardal (2012).

Azevedo Cardal (2018).
8 TL: «Mother’s love».
9 TL: «Wife and Children».
Fig. 4 Armando Ramos,

61 years old, Mozambique
1972/1974
– BCP31/Parachutists
2.4 Post-Carnation Revolution (April 25, 1974 to Present

Day)
With the change of regime in Portugal, the increase of quality of life of Portuguese
people, as well its consuming habits, visual culture acquired a new connotation
weaving different artistic areas in a way to match itself with the industrial innovations
happening worldwide.
Where design is concerned, calligraphy, during this period, whilst still very much
traditional, starts adapting to the new technologies and handwriting moves to a sec-
ondary role. The appearance of computers in schools and the focus on digital in
detriment to handmade had a deep effect on the Portuguese generation growing dur-
ing the 1990s. The country itself juggled a balancing act in a way do reign in the
information pertaining to what was “new”, that rose on the market day after day. In a
period where the digital overcame the handmade in the design disciplines, tattooing
was still strongly an analogue, handmade activity. Still, a new generation of tattoo
artists are using software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to achieve
better results when it comes to color and luminosity and select and edit digital fonts
of their graphic expression tattoos.
Concurrently, in Portugal, during this period, the first tattoo studios open to the
public open in Lisbon and Oporto. Later, they disseminate around the country. The
human body started being exposed differently, an important factor in the evolution
of tattooing, specially when it refers technical aspects, health, safety and hygiene.
The representation of the body has always been relevant from a social, historical
244 S. A. Cardal
and artistic point of view. As an art object, the body’s perception via tattooing is
balanced between the aesthetic experience and its relation to daily life. Unlike the
“untouchable” work of art, the human body is in constant contact with other bodies
and objects, such as the clothes that cover it daily, therefore in a constant “involuntary
mutation”, even more when we consider the natural aging process.10 Furthermore,
in Western culture, the concept of beauty has always been wanting of cutaneous
props. However, currently, these props are more easily accepted, especially amongst
younger people, especially when the notions of being extreme and exuberant are
paramount.
The human body is in constant movement, even when perfectly still. Sculpture,
painting and photography suspend the movement, unlike other artistic expressions,
such as theatre and dance, where movement is necessary for its artistic fulfilment.
In theatre, the body reveals a verbal and non-verbal language; in dance, a non-
verbal language11 ; body art or body modification, tattooing made with characters,
carries a visual-referenced communicational language whereby its understanding
differs depending on the culture where it belongs. However, the rise of artists such
as Gordo Letters,12 with its new alphabet branded as «abstract calligraphy», where
direct perception is not its main goal. This «abstract calligraphy» is particularly
well accepted in bodies whose inscriptions are meant to point to cultures other than
Western. However, they still need to capture the reading structure within Western
culture, where on the owner and the tattoo artist know what the written content
means Figs. 5 and 6. “Their” calligraphic bodies are now an aesthetic and formal
propagation vehicle. The bodily image remains as a base for the aesthetic idealism,
where each body is shown according to its owner’s desire. The tattooed body is
Fig. 5 “Force”, male left

shoulder (2016) – by tattoo
artist Gordo Letters
10 Wolf (2011).
11 Idem—Wolf—Id. (2011).
12 Azevedo Cardal (2016b)
Fig. 6 “the way to

paradise”, female left
shoulder blade (2016) – by
tattoo artist Gordo Letters
represented by a variety of symbols that, depending on their placement, will have

more or less visibility in public and/or private settings.
3 Lettering Drawn on Paper and on Skin
Lettering is understood “as letters that are drawn and not written”,13 a unique letter
drawing, customized and made for a specific application (Flor, 2018). This type of
writing is developed through building shapes. These are, however, still subject to
editing in order to increase their proportionality and final result (Noordzij 2013).
3.1 The Tattoo Artists
Currently, lettering is the preferred typology amongst professional tattoo artists14

specialized in developing customized graphic expression tattoos. Generally speaking,
they are heavily influenced by the «chicano» 15 style, starting the development from
one or two letters and conversations with the customer. They first sketch on paper
Fig. 7 or directly on a digital device through software such as “Pro Create”, developed
exclusively for iPad using digital brushes. If the original sketch was paper-based, it is
digitalized and then edited with software such as “Adobe Photoshop” and/or “Adobe
13 Hernestosa and Scaglione (2012, 28)

14 This new generation of tattoo artists, in its clear majority, holds degrees in Graphic Desgin or
Arts.
15 Fusion between American and Mexican styles. Its origin is traced to the Mexican immigration
into USA and is related with gangs. The «chicano» style is favors black color and shading, either
behind the drawing or inside the actual drawn letters. This type of lettering is usually conscribed
by a very thin contour line.
246 S. A. Cardal
Fig. 7 Male and female

personal names, and words
“Love” and “Family”.
Drawings of lettering for
tattoos on paper (2015) – by
Illustrator” and only later placed on the skin, through a decal. The decal is made
using a thermos copying machine Fig. 8 or is done freehand, more commonly, with
two-tip16 permanent markers17 Fig. 9, adjusting the scale to the placement. The paper
sketch is developed with pencil or ballpoint pen, and its process is like any sketch
developed by a creative professional. The favored color is black, and the preferred
placement are the arm—in all its length—, chest and neck. Large lettering is more
frequently observed in male bodies Fig. 10, and cursive style is favored on female
bodies Figs. 11 and 12. Using upper case in the beginning of words and the remaining
letters in lower case is also a very telling characteristic of this type of bodily marks.
Texts, sentences, or words that reflect a lifestyle, are in its clear majority in English.
Names, family members, love affairs and friendships are tattooed in Portuguese.
Fig. 8 Decal made in a

thermos copying machine
and hand-drawn decal (2019)
– by tattoo artist Ricardo
Frazão, at the studio Just
Tattoos
16 The finer tip is ideal for lines and drawing, and the other one is very similar to a brush. The ink
is non-toxic.
17 Round tipped are preferred. Some tattoo artists also drawn the decal up with ballpoint pen.
Fig. 9 “Born and raised”,

preliminary design in
freehand (2016) – by tattoo
Fig. 10 “Born and raised”,

tattoo (2016) – by tattoo
artist Gordo letters
3.2 The Designers
Nowadays, many designers devote themselves to lettering in several supports such

as murals, chalkboards, branding, posters, book covers, packaging, merchandising
and clothing. With regards to human skin, there are some designers that work on
lettering specifically for this effect, for specific anatomical places, for their own use
Figs. 13 and 14 or for others Figs. 15 and 16 who want to have them tattooed. The
drawing process is like the ones used by tattoo artists, starting with a paper sketch
that gets processed into a digital format, or start working immediately on a digital
format. These designers hold degrees in Graphic Design and are well versed in the
rules on how to develop lettering, from their terminology and weight, contrast, the
use of upper and lower case, spacing and optical adjustment, as well as coherence
248 S. A. Cardal
Fig. 11 “Child of the

Universe”, female left arm
(2015) – by tattoo artist
Gordo letters
Fig. 12 “I refuse to sink”,

female right rib (2015) – by
Fig. 13 “Xesta Studio”,

drawing of lettering on paper
by the designer Hugo Moura
(unknown date)
Fig. 14 “Xesta Studio”,

Hugo Moura forearm
(unknown date) – by tattoo
Fig. 15 “Bird of Prey…”,

drawing of lettering on paper
by the designer Hugo Moura
(2014)
Fig. 16 “Bird of Prey…”,

male back (2014) – unknown
tattoo artist
between width, height, inclination and baseline, serif or sans serif and its origin:
calligraphic, cursive or typographic. The selection of the font and style of lettering18
are very relevant to the “body-design project” and is perfected with the customer at
the time of decision.
18 Serif, or sans serif letters; handwritten; gothic letters; decorative letters, three-dimensional; etc.
250 S. A. Cardal
Fig. 17 Drawing on the paper and the tattoo by the tattoo artist Ricardo Frazão
4 Observations on a Tattooed Lettering
The lettering creation in the images below, authored by Ricardo Frazão, is heavily
influenced by the «chicano» style. The English contents and placement indicate
its desire of being widely and universally read (and seen). The drawing is quite
decorative and with flowered details, and the letters, upper and lower case, are rather
exuberant. F and B were built similarly, and their endings are alike; the letter r
rises above the remaining letters on the word “Forever”. The letter s from “Blessed”
descends from the baseline, the letters o, e and v all have the same height and are
built similarly. Finally, l and d have a deep relation between, as the stems end in
the same way. There is a homogenic relation in all the words in this composition:
same degree if inclination, the thickness and line extremities are coherent, the thick
vertical stems and slim in the remaining. With regards to spacing, this is small but
proportional between characters, as their connection is visible. To the final tattoo was
an applied a black dégradé shading, with white highlights, as small light simulation
details (Fig. 17).
5 Final Considerations
It is really on human skin, on the surface of the body, that these individuals personalize
and differentiate themselves. In order to achieve the purpose of the unique body
image itself, the selection of criteria such as letter design (notorious recurrent use
of lettering), content, anatomical localization and language are of high importance
in constructing the identity of each individual, in view of their projection towards
the society in which they move, that is, the visibility of these body marks, marks the
largest or smallest projection towards the observers and the way their bearer connects
with the world. The ability to make contact with other individuals is enhanced by
the differences and originality of each human being, through a deep understanding
given to the body. In each historical period there were different conceptions, from the
point of view, of identity construction, from technological advances (materials and

instruments used) to project, compared to the initial drawing (on paper or digitally
designed manually) and in the human skin itself, during the act of tattooing. Since
the body is one of the privileged supports of the ornament, it becomes a field for
study and application of new concepts in the area of graphic design. The body has
always been a support and vehicle of communication, of sharing visual narratives, a
“space” that allows the other to observe coded messages that presuppose an initiation
into the reading of symbolic discourse introduced into the skin through these body
inscriptions.
Acknowledgements A special thanks to Miguel Fernandes Ceia, for the translation of this book
chapter.
References
da Silva RX (1926) Crime e Prisões. Depositaria Livraria Moraes, Lisboa

Ferreira VS (2008) Marcas que demarcam – Tatuagem, body piercing e culturas juvenis. Imprensa
de Ciências Sociais (ICS), Iª Edição. Lisboa
Hernestosa M, Scaglione (2012) In: Dias, Ruben e Félix, Ana. Uma perspetiva sobre letras – escrita
e caligrafia/lettering/tipos de letra e tipografia. Article published at the III Meeting of Typography
held from October 5 to 6, 2012, at DAI.ESMAE.IPP, with the general theme “Convergences”, p
28
Bibliography
Azevedo Cardal S (2012) Marcas es(ins)critas na pele dos portugueses – Tatuagem e Tipografia na
Guerra do Ultramar (1961–1974). In: Book of proceedings UD12, 1st meeting of Ph.D. in design.
UA Publisher, University of Aveiro
Azevedo Cardal S (2016a) Marcas “Sobre-Viventes” em Outros Corpos – A tatuagem escrita na
primeira metade do século XX em Portugal. In: Book of proceedings UD16, 5th meeting of Ph.D.
in design. UA Publisher, University of Aveiro
Azevedo Cardal S (2016b) Pedro Cerqueira, “Gordo Letters” – The first Portuguese [tattoo]grapher?.
In: Livro de Atas 7ET, 7th edition of the typography meeting. CIAUD – Research Center in
Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon
Azevedo Cardal S (2018) O«Corpo-Cons(umo)truído» no século XX em Portugal – A tatuagem
como expressão gráfica em três fases distintas. Convergences – J Res Teaching Arts XI(22).
Retrieved from http://convergencias.ipcb.pt
Castro Ivan (2016) The ABC of Custom lettering – a practical guide to drawing letters. Korero
Press, London
Costa J, Raposo D (2010) A rebelião dos signos: a alma da letra. 1ª ed. Dinalivro, Lisboa
Flor M (2018[2016]) Os segredos de ouro do lettering: design de letreiros, do esboço à arte final.
Gustavo Gili, São Paulo
Harvey M (1980[1975]) Lettering design – form & skill in the design & use of letters. Bonanza
Books, New York
Haslam A (2011) Lettering. Manual de producción y diseño. Gustavo Gili, Barcelona
252 S. A. Cardal
Kane J (2012) Manual dos Tipos. Gustavo Gili, Barcelona

Noordzij G (2013[2008]) O Traço: Teoria da Escrita. Blücher, São Paulo
Willen B, Strals N (2009) Lettering and type. Princeton Architectural Press, New York
Wolf AS (2011) O Corpo fotografado por Spence Tunick: um retrato contemporâneo do eu. In:
Paper presented at the GT of visual and visual history, integral of the viii national meeting of
media history
Graphic-Semantic Expression Map:
A New Approach in Design Teaching
Methodologies
Cátia Rijo
Abstract This paper aims to contribute to the discussion in design teaching and its
consequent research context, considering participatory practices and methodologies.
In the context of curricular units related to design and teaching experience, the
problematic question arises: in the teaching of graphic design, what methodologies
and instruments can we apply that associate semantics with visual thinking? This
problem led to the need to better-evaluate the methodological instruments currently
used and to perceive the feasibility of readapting them in order to overcome the
difficulties experienced. Based on the traditional concept map, we create a graphic-
semantic expressions map that intends to make the relationship between the various
evaluable elements more understandable.
Keywords Design teaching · Teaching methodologies · Graphic design ·

Expression map
1 Introduction
In design teaching the intention is to simulate, as far as possible, real projects. Using
active methodologies, the student is the main agent of their learning. This method
encourages criticism and reflection, in which, although accompanied by the teacher,
the student is the center of this process. In this way it is possible to orient learning
in a more participative way, since the involvement of the student brings fluidity and
the essence of active methodology. This method enhances the student’s autonomy,
developing it as a whole, so that they are able to understand aspects within the various
areas of knowledge: knowing-knowing, knowing-how and being or being.
This methodology requires the student to take on an active role. It encourages
the student to be autonomous, responsible and capable of fulfilling their potential,
to work in a creative and inquiring way and with the knowledge of a reality that is
C. Rijo (B)
ESELx IPL—Higher Education School from Lisbon Polytechnic, Lisbon, Portugal
CIAUD—University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_19
254 C. Rijo
changeable (Scallon 2015). Active methodology involves research, analysis, reflec-

tion and development of ideas individually or in pairs.
In fact, it is generally agreed that active learning is especially important in uni-
versity education because it helps enhance higher order thinking and learning, such
as synthesized analysis and problem-solving skills.
There are a number of tools that must be applied in the classroom in order to apply
the active method (Dreeben 1976), although it has been observed that in some situa-
tions the students demonstrate difficulty in understanding some of these instruments
and their applicability in the creation of a design project.
Many studies have been done in the field of visual or formal language, which
I provide as references for the project, considering categories, relations and basic
elements of form and visuality (Lessa 2006).
The project was designed within a Polytechnic Higher Education institution,
which is built on the affirmation, among others, that importance is given to exper-
imentation and observation, knowledge, techniques and technologies. Considering
the practices and methodologies normally used in the teaching of graphic design,
the research was developed in search of alternative tools to those commonly used,
contributing to research in design teaching methodology.
In the practice of teaching in the area of graphic design, the problem is systematic;
there is great difficulty (on the students’ part) in the process of transposition of
design delimitation. Here it is interpreted as expression design delimitation, or as the
design phase for the investigation of context, problem identification, definition of
objectives and concept. This designation is the nomenclature used in the educational
environment for the graphic composition of the various elements constituting a design
basic element of visual communication Such difficulty led to questioning and looking
closer at the methodological instruments that are currently used. A little research
explores the application of semantic contours in graphic elements.
2 Graphic-Semantic Expression Map—A New Tool

in Design Teaching
During the development of a design project, it is necessary to articulate abstract or

metaphorical concepts in images, in order to give visual meaning to the concepts.
The semantic panel provides a visual form capable of stimulating and inspiring the
process of design projects. This is a technique that helps the active method, which
aims to represent meanings through the visualization of images, i.e., it is a technique
that translates verbal language into visual signs.
Concept maps provide a visual and sensory channel of communication and inspi-
ration for design research and development, which could be considered more log-
ical and empathic within a context, than traditional verb-centric approaches. Con-
cept maps are means of visual or multi-sensory communication (texture, movement,
Graphic-Semantic Expression Map: A New Approach in Design … 255
sound) that can be useful in the construction of communication and design process
(McDonagh and Denton 2005, p. 36).
This is a tool that relies on communication through visual metaphors and is usu-
ally built by collages (manual or digital) with clippings of pictures, photographs or
drawings.
This type of semantic panel offers a visual and sensorial channel of communication
and inspiration for design research and development, which could be considered more
logical and empathic within a context design than traditional verb-centric approaches.
Primarily, mood boards provide a mechanism for students and practicing design-
ers to respond to perceptions about the brief, the problem as it emerges and the ideas
as they develop. The construction of mood boards potentially stimulates the percep-
tion and interpretation of more ephemeral phenomena such as color, texture, form,
image and status (Garner and McDonagh-Philp 2001). Through this it’s possible to
communicate in a more tangible way abstract concepts.
Ultimately, through the construction of mood boards, it is possible to stimulate the
perception and interpretation of more ephemeral phenomena such as color, texture,
form, image and status, i.e. a semantic panel can extract references such as color,
shape, textures, typography as well as subjective concepts, such as emotions.
Based on the traditional semantic panel, we create a Graphic-Semantic Expres-
sions Map (GSEM) that intends to make the relationship between the elements pre-
viously mentioned more understandable.
This map was tested and evaluated as an instrument to facilitate the creation and
development of projects in the field of graphic design (Fig. 1).
This tool proposes crossing the collection made in the research phase, the design
concept and the elements of inspiration with the typography, color and shape.
It’s a methodological map, which will assist the process of synthesis expressive
code and also boost the relationship between graphic expression and semantics in
design practice.
3 Workshop
In order to test the aforementioned map, a set of workshops to be taught in Higher

Education Institutions was conceived to be taught on courses which had curricular
units related to graphic design, both in the first and second cycle of studies.
It was a requirement that the curricular unit in question demanded students to
develop a graphic brand for a particular product or service. Although the proposed
map can be adapted to other projects in terms of graphic design, for a first validation,
it was decided to restrict its area of activity to the universe of graphic brand creation,
in order to better validate the results.
In the present article we will analyze the results obtained from the master’s in
digital Identity Design at the Polytechnic of Portalegre, where the briefing consisted
of the development of a graphic mark constituted by symbol and/or type, or the visual
basis of the Identity of this master’s degree. For this, it was necessary to contact the
256 C. Rijo
Fig. 1 Structure of the graphic semantic-expression map proposed. Author’s image
coordinator of the curricular unit in order to be able to plan the best timing for the
accomplishment of the same.
Considering the parameters in which the students should respond to the matrix
of graphic-semantic expression, it was established that the ideal time would be after
the teacher gave the briefing and the students had already carried out their research
for the project and after the definition of the concept of the same.
3.1 Workshop Implementation
The Workshop entitled “From concept to design—Graphic-Semantic Expression

Map” took place on the premises of the Higher School of Technology and Manage-
ment of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre on December 14 and 15, 2018.
The workshop was structured in two distinct moments: the first moment char-
acterized by a more expository and exemplifying part (2 h) and the second time
characterized by the individual work of the students (6 h).
The first moment was structured in four parts: (1) Exposition of the concrete
objectives of the workshop; (2) contextualization of the research, its objectives and
presentation of relevant information on the subject to be addressed; (3) presentation
of the matrices as tools in the practice of graphic design, which are the objectives and
their use and (4) a presentation, with an example, to better explain the problem and
the correct use of the tools presented. The second moment was characterized by the
application of the students working individually, trying to fill the matrices according
to their individual work, whose briefing, collection and investigation had previously
been done.
The workshop was attended by 17 students, aged between 21 and 45 years old and
lasted 8 h, 4 h on the first day and 4 h on the second. In order to obtain information
that could be analyzed to validate if the use of the Graphic-Semantic Expression Map
(GSEM) facilitated the process of creating graphic marks, after the implementation
of the workshop, the students had three weeks to complete their projects. These were
developed in the curricular unit where the workshop was given, and the evolution
of the work was accompanied by the teacher of the subject. The teacher, with the
permission of the students, shared the final results of the graphic brands at the end, in
order to make the comparative analysis of the results of the matrices with the project.
3.2 Workshop Results
As it is not possible to evaluate all the results obtained in this article (Fig. 2), of
the 17 students who participated in the workshop and who are part of the master’s
degree, we selected four for analysis.
These were chosen according to the criterion of divergence from each other, that is,
it is intended to bring a sample of four projects, which although using the same brief,
produced final results quite different from each other. In this way we can analyze the
many possibilities for the same project.
In the first example (Fig. 3) the student, after completing the GSEM, concluded
that for the creation of the graphic mark, the guidelines were: Typography should be
sans serif, with straight rods and could be in regular, medium or bold; the predominant
colors are red, blue-gray, and black; the shapes could be curved or straight, with a
static composition but giving the sensation of visual uneasiness.
With these guidelines the student created a graphic mark where the symbol is
three straight lines with the round terminals, where the middle line is read like an
“i”, alluding to the name of the master “Digital Identity”. The “i” circle changes
color among the brand’s many applications. The source used was Din Bold and
Roboto Condensed Light, both fonts without serif, DIN 1451 is a typeface without
serif, which is widely used in signage, due to its readability and its design of straight
and straight stems. It is an uncomplicated and unadorned source. From the Grotesks
family, the Roboto fountain has a double nature, on the one hand it has a mechanical
skeleton and the shapes are largely geometric, on the other hand it has friendly and
open curves.
258 C. Rijo
Fig. 2 Resume map with the results of the GSEM and the respective logo created of all students
of the master’s degree. Author’s image
Fig. 3 Graphic-Semantic Expressions Map of the student Beatriz Martins. Adaptation of the author
In the second example (Fig. 4) presented after completing the GSEM, the student
obtained the following conclusions: sans serif typography, right light stems, regular
and/or bold; orange, blue and black appear as predominant colors and for the symbol,
curved shapes can be represented as straight lines.
Through the previous conclusions, the student develops a logo where the “D” of
“Design” and “Digital” presents at the same time as type and symbol.
By means of the color contrast used (orange and blue) and the combination of
these with the forms created, the symbol presents a sensation of movement. From
the main logo the student predicted two secondary decompositions of the him that
could be used, through the various supports, where it will be applied.
In the third example (Fig. 5) the student obtained as conclusions Humanist Typog-
raphy without serif, with straight stems, light, regular or bold; black, gray, turquoise
260 C. Rijo
Fig. 4 Graphic-Semantic Expressions Map of the student Débora Trigueiro. Adaptation of the
author
blue and gold are the predominant colors and geometric shapes, with straight lines
with movement as guidelines for the construction of the symbol.
With these guidelines the student created a logo based on patterns constructed from
geometric shapes (Fig. 6), these representations are a simplification of the combina-
tion of architectural elements of the ESTG building and elements representative of
the formative area in which the master’s degree belongs.
The source used is the Tenth Regular Pro Bold in order to establish a relationship
with the graphic image of the Polytechnic of Portalegre, since this is the source used
in the graphic brand of the mother institution, where this master’s degree course takes
place.
In the last example presented, the student concluded after completing the GSEM
(Fig. 7) that for the creation of the graphic brand, the guidelines are: sans typography
Fig. 5 Graphic-Semantic Expressions Map of the student Ana Carvalho. Adaptation of the author
with a more geometric, regular and/or bold design; the predominant colors are dry
green, yellow, orange, beige and two different shades of pink. For the drawing of the
symbol the conclusions are organic, round and irregular shapes.
Based on the findings, the student developed a logo where the symbol is an organic
form that visually refers to the letter “D”, design and digital, but also the design of
the inner lines in the symbol allude to the landscape of the town. The various spots of
color used meet the various tonalities that can be observed in the Alentejo landscape
and internal shapes characteristic of this place. The complete designation of the
Master of Digital Identity Design comes in the logo, using the Decima Pro (Bold
and Regular) typeface making the link between the Identity of the Polytechnic of
Portalegre and the Master’s in Digital Identity Design.
262 C. Rijo
Fig. 6 Photos presented in the GSEM that the student used as a basis for creating the patterns
associated with the graphic brand
3.3 Workshop Conclusions
After evaluating the logos created from the results obtained in the GSEM, it was
concluded that this gave rise to a set of very useful guidelines for the creation of
graphic brands.
It is interesting to note that the logos created demonstrate final results reflecting
the inspirational references of each of the students, It’s also observed that almost
all the students were concerned about maintaining a link between the logo of the
Polytechnic of Portalegre and the logo of the school (Fig. 8), the location of the
master’s degree course, and almost all of them chose to use the same typography
Decima Pro of the main logos as a way of maintaining this relation.
Another interesting factor to analyze is the fact that the students identify them-
selves in the brands that they created, these being a reflection of a certain style already
adopted by the students. In this way, the tool used was not an inhibiting element of
the students’ creativity or their own style.
From the feedback received by the students, the GSEM helped fundamentally in
the choice of colors and typography, these being the elements causing most difficulty
for students when constructing a logo. There is generally a difficulty in combining
colors and choosing the type font to use.
It is also interesting to note that all students chose to create a logo composed of
symbol and typography, since the briefing gave students the freedom to choose the
elements that make up the graphic brand. However, almost all of them felt the need
for the symbol to somehow refer to the letter “D”, often associated with Design,
Digital and the acronym DID (Digital Identity Design).
Fig. 7 Graphic-Semantic Expressions Map of the student Carolina Marmelo. Adaptation of the
author
Fig. 8 On the left logo of the Polytechnic of Portalegre, at right the logo of the school ESTG that
belongs to the Polytechnic
264 C. Rijo
4 Conclusions
It is noticed that, although all the students had the same briefing, and all of them had
the objective of creating a logo for the same institution, all the results that emerged
were quite different from each other.
In this way, we can prove what was initially intended: a tool that helps in the
research, analysis and systematization of information, giving rise to guidelines for
possible paths of action. In design there are no recipes, the results are only guidelines
that may help in the creation of a logo. These guidelines are a sum of the different
steps inherent in creating a project in the field of graphic design.
With these guidelines, the possibilities are endless, without compromising the
creativity or the uniqueness of the project, as we show in Fig. 2, where it is possible
to see 17 different results for the same briefing and using the same tool.
In the classroom process, there are many exploratory tools that help students in
the research phase, in designing the project and which help in achieving the various
design phases.
At the end, an attempt is made to evaluate whether the association of semantic
elements with graphic elements promotes the convergence between the project goals
and the synthesis of expressive codes, while facilitating the interpretation and creation
of new graphic products.
References
Dreeben R (1976) The unwritten curriculum and its relation to values. Gimeno Editora J. & Perez,
Tradução
Garner S, McDonagh-Philp D (2001) Problem interpretation and resolution via visual stimuli: the
use of ‘mood boards’ in design education. Int J Art Des Educ 20(1):2–129
Lessa WD (2006) Linguagem visual: algumas considerações. In: Textos selecionados em design 1.
PPD/ESDI UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, p 9
McDonagh D, Denton H (2005) Exploring the degree to which individual students share a common
perception of specific mood boards: observations relating to teaching, learning and team-based
design. Des Stud 26(1):35–53
Scallon G (2015) L’évaluation des apprentissages dans uneapproche par compétences. De Boeck,
Bruxelles
Fashion Design, Interior
and Product Design
The Experiential and Trans-Aesthetic
Substance of Fashion and Design.
Culture and Creative-Based Models
and Processes
Maria Antonietta Sbordone
Abstract The occurrence of phenomena characterized by ‘actuality’ is ceaseless,

they are produced with trajectories that often escape the attempt to trace a general
sense, even the identification of the characters that bring them together, the dynam-
ics that pervades all activities and determines the capacity of absorption remain
unknown. The essay reflects on the contemporary scenery of the activities aimed at
the production of goods that are based on assumptions oriented to processes of dif-
fused aestheticization of dailylife. It deals with production of tangible and intangible
goods at the center of phenomena that cause aesthetic inflation favored by the current
economic model that imposes an unquestionable change of paradigm; from a type of
strong industrial capitalism to an aesthetic and emotional one define artist (Lipovet-
sky and Serroy in L’esthétisation due monde. Vivre à l’âge due capitalisme artiste.
Editions Gallimard, Paris, 2013). It’s a paradoxical combination of the product from
the double opposing nature that is played between the industrial production of mass
consumption and the goods that communicates with the market, to adhere perfectly
to the aesthetic-emotional needs of every consumer/user.
Keywords Contemporary scenery · Experiential and trans-aesthetic · Fashion ·

Design
1 Foreword
The occurrence of phenomena characterized by ‘actuality’ is incessant, they are

produced with trajectories that often escape the attempt to trace a general sense, even
though the recognition of the characters that link them together, the dynamics that
pervade all activities and determine their absorption capacity remain unknown. A
thin layer of demarcation between what is current and what is no longer, defines the
meaning and therefore the degree of actuality of one production compared to another.
M. A. Sbordone (B)
Department of Architecture and Industrial Design (DADI), Università Della Campania Luigi
Vanvitelli, via San Lorenzo, 81031 Aversa (CE), Italy

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_20
268 M. A. Sbordone
The layer becomes a demarcation level, a sort of algorithm, when finally it is

formed it contains and is animates by trajectories and nodal points that open to
further layers; a multidimensional universe of languages, of completely renewed
contents, of meanings that, though evoking be distinguished traits from the past,
transform the common sense and the culture of time.
Translations, recoveries, quotations, time leaps are all mechanisms that contribute
to make the different levels supportive each other, they are the explicitation of
creative operativeness that substantiates the visual and aesthetic identity of every-
day life. Complex construction that contributes to the setting-up of articulated sur-
faces, where ripples, contact points and discontinuities are highlighted, Enzensberger
(2000) defines them as “non-contemporaneity”.
Episodes that bounce back from the past or anticipate the future, express the ability
to redefine the directions to take in the production of content and consequently in
the influence they will exert on the identity of goods.
Fashion and Design take on a central role in the creation of that reservoir of
“genres” from which to draw to renew and renew oneself; the contaminative and
anticipatory nature acts as a propeller with respect to those immanent processes,
succeeding in invading other fields of knowledge and extrapolating practical knowl-
edge to be used.
Goods that arise from the hybridization of concepts, methods, models, practices,
shaped within their project areas and practical application, are available for con-
tinuous rearrangements, suggesting a substantial interaction with other production
sectors.
Fashion and Design are considered “creative and cultural industries” they take
on the role of manufacturing industries with production capacity and distribution in
large numbers, while holding a privileged role as a thermometer of consumer taste
and the cultural and aesthetic advancement of society.
The European Commission, in its Green Paper (2010) on “cultural and creative
industries”, acknowledges a potential role in the switch from factories to creative
communities; whose raw material, identified in the imaginative capacity to innovate
through creation, is the basis of production and distribution of goods or services in
which cultural values are transmitted. Fashion and Design draw from culture as a
driving force for innovation, playing a critical and distinctive role within society,
translating culture as a pre-eminently functional character within the production
process.
The production of goods in Fashion and Design is not only and simply an affaire
de goût incontestable, a precept, but it represents a value that runs through society
and that makes tangible the culture of an era, expanding, interpreting, declining it,
in short, making it in “alive” and “usable” material.
The Experiential and Trans-Aesthetic Substance of Fashion … 269
2 Aesthetic Experientialisation of Goods
The actuality embodied by physical and virtual, tangible or intangible objects, par-
ticularly in the fields of Fashion and Design, arise from very complex processes of
design and production thought processes. Fashion and Design feed on the persuasive
dynamics of “widespread aestheticization”, in some ways widely experimented and
codified in contemporary societies; it represents the concrete evidence of the “value
of goods” that is transmitted primarily through the perceptual mechanism of aesthetic
asset, then through the evaluation of the technical-functional contents, and finally of
the economic one and its environmental and social impact.
Today we are experiencing a particular phase of widespread aestheticisation which
paradoxically fully interprets the current economic model, and which imposes an
unquestionable paradigm shift; from a type of ‘robust industrial capitalism’ to an
‘aesthetic and sensitive one’ defined (…) artist”. Artist capitalism has the character
of creating economic value through the aesthetic and experiential value” (Lipovetsky
and Serroy 2013) (Fig. 1).
Therefore, assuming the characteristics of the ‘new’ as values that cannot longer
do without and that must be present in all production, sales and distribution systems,
Fig. 1 The widespread

aestheticisation. Vendor of
tea capsules in a shopping
mall. Jinan, China 2018
270 M. A. Sbordone
ultimately the consumer/user is led to an experience of goods which are increasingly

contaminated by aesthetic-emotional models as a tool for personal affirmation that
occurs through the purchase.
The main features of the aesthetic-emotional experientialization are to be ascribed
to phenomena concerning the aestheticization in a broad sense of the places, the
means of communication and distribution, accomplices of a type of seductive repre-
sentation to induce the continuous purchase of goods.
Some aspects are highlighted that have an increasing weight in the dynamics of the
offering and they can be distinguished in this way: the growing weight of “markets
of sensitivity” in line with the nature of goods which have a leverage on affective
and communicative-symbolic factors; The Design Process, intended in the sense of
new value configurations, through the design of tangible and intangible goods that
moves from the logic of design-driven (Verganti 2013), result of the connection of
economic-managerial, socio-cultural and aesthetic-communicative knowledge; the
capillary aestheticisation of the places of commerce, distribution, private life, work
and entertainment; the constant “de-differentiation” of the economic and aesthetic
spheres, with the consequent hybridization of methods and operating practices.
If then, the economy, hybridizing itself with aesthetics and sensitive experience,
discovers in the imagination, in the uncoded knowledge of peripheral experience
(Granovetter 1988) and in design-driven innovation, new levers for the value creation,
it is essential that a sort of intuitive and aesthetic “artist economy” be configured,
confirming the rise of the immaterial and communicative register.
However, far from the occurrence of conditions of widespread beauty that would
increase the aesthetic and cultural level of goods and living environments in gen-
eral, this phenomenon does not guarantee that there is a correspondence between
aestheticization and contents; “the artist dimension of capitalism has to do with the
objectives and business strategies, not with the results obtained” (Lipovetsky and
Serroy 2013).
It is, therefore, an economy that aims at exploiting the new values which emerge
from society that they obey at the arising of orientations, even divergent, in the
demand for goods that satisfy explicit or latent needs. Fashion and Design fully
fulfill the demand for goods strongly characterized by aesthetic-emotional values,
enclosed in all possible partial worlds. Through the creation of different “genres”, the
connections with the consumer/user are multiplied; incorporated in a single stratifica-
tion, the autochthonous characters are mixed with the stylistic systems and languages
of global cultures.
Unexpected openings towards the outside bring back into the production systems
the concrete experientialisation of the dialogue established within the design process
that collects and organizes the elements useful for the project; it systematizes and
deploys knowledge, sets up dialogue between the actors, produces value within the
‘transesthetic industrial culture’ (Sbordone 2018) of “artist capitalism” (Lipovetsky
and Serroy 2013).
3 Productions of Sense
It can, therefore, be said that Fashion and Design derive value from the generation of
“pervasive aestheticization”, transforming it into a “marketable sense” (Lipovetsky
and Serroy 2013), thanks to which a real cognitive supply chain is set up, based on
heterodox ways of value creation processes.
The identification of a heroic phase of the production of contents inseparable from
their identity as form-goods refers to the amplified economic value by symbolic-
aesthetic values; a phase that depends on the invention of economies based on the
values of daily life that stand between the economies of luxury and the emerging
ones of ‘diversified homogeneity’ (Sbordone 2018).
The “generalization of aesthetic strategies” (Lipovetsky and Serroy 2013), i.e.
the aestheticization extended to all productive sectors, is the theoretical foundation
of the supported “artist” economy and which, vice versa, favors the development
of the “diversified homogeneity”. The latter, by executing the commercial strategies
of “creative capitalism”, mixes and crosses different fields and genres in order to
propose an extremely differentiated offer.
The commercial strategy of ‘diversified homogeneity’ permeates all sectors,
experimenting one sector with another by hybridization the distinctive features: fast
fashion and design mass market adopt the stylistic codes of luxury; reception areas
and showrooms become places of communication of brand values; restored histor-
ical centres become sets, aspiring to provide film contests or set for events; the use
of museums and of the digitalised artworks provides an immersive and disneyfied
growing experience; advertising often becomes a sequel to episodes like a mini tele-
vision series; fashion shows leave the catwalks become performances; the domestic
environment moves between the spectacularization of hypertechnological solutions
and the most sophisticated exhibition of a personal and unique style (Fig. 2).
The category of ‘diversified homogeneity’, as an oxymoron, gives the idea of
the product-goods that combines the double soul; the industrial production of mass
consumption and the goods that dialogue with the market, to adhere perfectly to the
aesthetic-emotional needs of each consumer/user. Critical capacities are inhibited
and the real experientialisation of goods, made up of direct personal knowledge
and experimentation, is replaced by a mass of passive spectators, individually (and
unconsciously) preys by an acclaimed ‘seductive addiction’ (Sbordone 2018) (Fig. 3).
The ability to distinguish between the production of goods that still have a mean-
ing, denotes a dynamic of conscious appropriation and direct responsibility that can
lead to diametrically opposed mechanisms, i.e.: the ones dedicated to the claim of
aesthetic-ethical principles through the achievement of shared projects in a social
context, supporting the values of everyday life; with aesthetic-emotional mecha-
nisms, the others, according to the tendency of hedonism tout-court, in pursuit or
anticipation of self-gratification.
The drifts are known and widely tested, in order to hinder the spread and the indef-
initely deepening in all the production systems which act indiscriminately through
the improperly recalled value levers, it is necessary a reorientation of the markets.
272 M. A. Sbordone
Fig. 2 The diversified

homogeneity. The fashion
shows leave the catwalks
become performances.
Vertigo Sylvio Gardina
performance, Roma, 2018
Fig. 3 The diversified homogeneity. Teapots set on shelves for the coffee break. Guandong, China
2016
The risks and opportunities will be interchangeable, in the name of an alleged ‘mirror
economy’ (Sbordone 2018) of the real one whose distinction mechanisms (of the true
or false type) for an eventual selection will be definitively abolished because they
are no longer so distinguishable.
On the other hand, the claim of aesthetic-ethical principles with the possibility
of achieving shared objectives, would limit the parabolic and illusive effects; the
affirmation of the commitment in personal terms is disposed to a relational dynamic
that arises from the social change and acts on the local level to extend to the network.
This represents the critical aspect of the de-regulation of aesthetic and economic
categories, to which one responds with the appropriation of one’s own sphere of
action that promotes the creation of forms of participatory design.
The mix of values between social engagement and new forms of value creation
is interchangeable, in relation to contexts of life, to peripheral ties, in short, to the
rebirth of everyday economies that build global interfaces (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 The diversified

homogeneity. The designer
Nendo materializes air with
breeze of light by Daikin.
Milano, Italy 2019
274 M. A. Sbordone
4 The Dyschronic Creativity of Fashion and Design
In general, the systems of Fashion and Design, discount and promote the consequence
of the continuous switching between real events and “mirror events”; ultimately,
Fashion, above all, has anticipated for a long time the occurrence of phenomena of
“aesthetic inflation” due to “hyper-production”, emblematic aspects of contemporary
phenomena (Lipovetsky and Serroy 2013).
Fashion and Design, among the privileged areas of present-day manipulation,
are based on local and global, artisan, industrial or digital production methods, all
converging in the sole objective of semantic actualization of society.
In particular, the processes of Fashion in their complex phenomenology, are the
perfect example of the experience of the contemporaneity, lending themselves to
the definition of the sphere of human activities which introduces a substantial dis-
continuity in the flow of linear time, a phase shift translated into a substantial “de-
synchronization”.
The statement on actuality or inactuality, the non-being-more-fashionable, calls
into question the temporal linearity of events that are no longer so automatic. The
actuality or otherwise of the fashion could be enclosed exclusively in the moment in
which an outfit is created or when it becomes a prototype to move on to the various
stages of processing. Conversely, it refers to the catwalk or to the moment in which it
appears in magazines or when it gets to the distribution, and you see the dress worn
that crosses the places and therefore the space and time of everyday life.
It shows a “dyschrony” (Sbordone 2012) or a real “de-synchronisation” between
living one’s own time and being already out, representing an unreachable threshold of
which the markets are aware and act as a lever on the mechanisms of personalisation
and the belonging to selected groups or elites. The conception of the transition of
time in Fashion for Agamben (2008) is related to a de-synchronized time with a
‘dyschronic’ character, stating that “fashion has its time to manifest itself and is
constitutively in advance of itself and, precisely for this reason, even always late, it
has incessantly the form of an elusive threshold between a not yet and a not anymore”.
In this sense, if the actuality of fashion involves a mismatch, being fashionable means
at the same time already being out of fashion.
The spasmodic search for actuality is supported by the industry which, by produc-
ing at a rapid rhythm and completely upsetting the custom of seasonality, conveys on
the markets huge quantities of always updated goods, causing an acceleration and a
proliferation of “seductive addiction” (Sbordone 2018).
In general, this condition, known and explored by the fashion system, causes the
frustration of never corresponding to one’s own time. Instead, who fits perfectly,
cannot be contemporary because he/her is not able to live it in full consciousness.
This peculiar “displacement” favours the realization of another important condi-
tion of non-contemporaneity, that particular dynamic enclosed in the “quoting”; it is
emblematic the case of fashion that returns, the ‘50s, ‘60s, or ‘70s, inspiring collec-
tions characterized by the phenomenon of “vintage”.
The observation and the unconditional adoption of these phenomena, with their
reappearance, inevitably involves the continuous revision of the past, that is infinitely
interpretable and manipulable. The plurality of visions is the ground from which the
“dischronies” (Sbordone 2012) feed; a sum of layers which hardly can be separated
and from which elements in chaotic temporal order emerge.
This process of re-invention from the re-emerging past is at the basis of the dynam-
ics of the creation of so-called ‘mirror events’ (Sbordone 2018). In the actuality of
fashion, the process of de-sacralizing of the original is a common practice, the recog-
nition of manipulation is accompanied by a sort of appropriation of the authorship of
the original models, authorized by the ability to re-invent them and thus make them
recognizable only as “cultured quotations”.
The dynamic of re-invention of the original model to innovate, is the engine of
“dyschronic creativity” (Sbordone 2018) that anticipates the past, and reflects the
ability to push forward into the contents to extrapolate new ‘marketable sense’.
5 Advanced Territorial Organizational Model

of Widespread Creativity
The current processes of value creation, through the production of goods, are gener-
ated in environments where the relational dynamic is established in terms of networks
between the different stakeholders of the production, training and distribution sys-
tem. The social and cultural impact of product-goods, at the centre of a system of
relations promoted by ICT, introduces new organisational models in all phases of
value creation.
The Design system, with all its implications, acts on the new design oriented pro-
cesses aiming at the realization of continuously updatable experiences with reference
to knowledge-based goods. The model to implement starts from the need to share
expectations and desires corresponding to a system of relations that it is translated
into a ‘decentralised model of production, distribution and consumption’.
Knowledge-based merchandise is a combined expression of the individual’s com-
mitment and of ‘profitable’ local production conditions; capabilities are identified,
which are made opportunities to become new forms of commitment and thanks to
the creation and availability of new methods in production systems, their value is
deployed through the “cognitive chain” in multifunctional networks.
The manufacturing, training and research structure of Design in productive ter-
ritories is configured as many ‘system-areas’, where an aggregative logic is estab-
lished and it promotes dialogue and cooperation between the actors. A sort of local
organizational model that focuses on the availability of specific and distinguishable
resources, aware of the fact that it facilitates the implementation of innovative activi-
ties, if integrated into production systems, would avoid competition on costs with all
the implications of the case. The centrality of the interaction between the production,
training and research systems is essential to introduce knowledge and creative-based
276 M. A. Sbordone
innovation, which translates into a clear process of identification of capabilities;

through research, analysis and listening, the objective is to relaunch local production
based on cooperative and integrative dynamics.
5.1 Persistence of Tacit Knowledge and Capabilities
The development that comes from below produces resources that are not pre-
established and predetermined, but derive from dynamics which are produced locally;
the local communities regain strength by recovering their own values to lead the
processes of transformation, and become consolidated communities of ‘sense’ that
encourage the rise of ‘capabilities’.
These are the result of individual commitment reinforced by knowledge supported
by training and continuous experimentation within collective learning in territorial
laboratories and digital networks. The capabilities introduced in the productive net-
work guarantee the realization of so-called ‘dynamic competitive advantages’; in fact,
they are the nucleus around which the local actors experiment innovative solutions
for the continuous evolution of the contexts. Through the availability of knowledge
and skills, accompanied by a prospective vision, we learn and develop integration
processes of ideas and design practices; it is highlighted the need to connect inte-
grated supply chains in a perspective of complementarity, incorporating local skills
and capabilities within the production-creative systems.
The development of local integrated supply chains marks the watershed with
the previous economic model and it is grafted onto the current model of “hyper-
complexity”: human needs represent “the agents, both beneficiaries and successful
bidders of progress, but they could also be directly or indirectly the main means of
any production”.
5.2 Systemic Innovation Processes
The processes of innovation in Design have a strong accent of immateriality, in fact,

the new developments are not only of a technological nature, but those that con-
cern intangible contents play a fundamental role: the enrichment of the narrative, the
meaning and value which takes place through design, the reorganization of processes
and work commitment, marketing and branding. The shape of a system of relation-
ships considers the presence of actors of production, training and research, gathered
according to an aggregative logic following the rules of networking.
For a long time, the Italian University has been investing in research and training in
areas of excellence typical of Made in Italy: degree courses at several levels dedicated
to design and fashion contribute to create the conditions for the establishment of a
“creative ecosystem” in synergy with research centers and companies (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5 The creative

ecosystem. New Silk Textiles
Design made by co-creation
processes between
University, Research Centers
and Factories. Università
della Campania, Textile
Design Course Master
Degree in Fashion Ecodesign
(prof. M. A. Sbordone). San
Leucio, Italy 2019
278 M. A. Sbordone
The latter is based on human capital, which is the basis of the contemporary
knowledge-based economy. The aim is to aggregate universities, businesses and
institutions in a sort of “productive ecosystem driven by research and innovation”.
The aggregative logic sets out in place specific skills for the realization of multidisci-
plinary interactions and comparisons in terms of operational development strategies
that dialogue with specific clusters. From the point of view of the “productive ecosys-
tem driven by research and innovation”, it is assumed a type of aggregation according
to the rules of the Network, which the training and scientific skills and the network
of national and international relations are combined in.
6 Conclusions. Submission to Widespread Aestheticization
The continuous surpassing of phenomena of actualization contents is essentially

the expression of a practice that implements small incremental updates; the ‘new’
advances and it seems to adapt well to the laws that D. F. Wallace identified in an essay
from a while ago (“The seminal importance (so to speak) of Terminator 2”, in the book
“Di carne e di nulla”, 2013) and these laws paradoxically seem to pervade the sectors
of creative and cultural industries. Production planning is permeated by the pursuit of
‘newness’ which must be channeled into programmed and consolidated production,
dissemination, and consumption formats, determining the offer of a market that is
now saturated and which the consumer is “avidly submitted” (Sbordone 2018).
This unusual and controversial dynamic denotes the unconditional submission to a
type of offer that the consumer suffers and against which he/her is not the spokesper-
son for requests in terms of qualitative contents; at the same time characterized by
avidity, makes the same consumer, fed with special effects and sequels, an active
buyer in pursuit of continuous updates.
If the contents of the productions, based on widely tested formulas and functional
now to the profitable encounter between supply and market, are stabilized on methods
that lead to well-defined formats, it is clear that the consolidation of the offer is also
based on a general flattening of the demand.
According to Wallace, the assumptions can be traced back to a paradoxical law,
the “Law of Reverse Cost and Quality (Lcqi)”, which fits well to the productions of
creative and cultural industries; the law “says quite simply that the greater the budget
of a film is, the more the film will suck”. In short, the financiers provide megabudget
productions to make films that surely will sell out the box office, ensuring in this
way the return with obvious surcharges.
The conditions, to ensure with absolute certainty the return of capital, are deter-
mined by rigid formulas already widely tested that Wallace encloses “in the insidious
triple cycle of the Special Porn Effects”: a cycle that confirms the decreasing quality
of contents inversely proportional to the contribution of digital special effects, with
the consequent progressive abandonment of the narratives in favor of entertainment
that causes the definitive discommitment of creative young people.
The general dulling, caused by the incessant spectacularization of everyday life,

is one of the searched effects and the sophisticated marketing strategies, based on
“distractive valorization”, are responsible for an even more lethal effect, a real ‘seduc-
tive addiction’ that concerns the spheres of individual sensibility. The latter, when
stimulated, must be continuously fed, of course the goal is to increase the desire for
new experiences based on the constant updating of the “special effects” that causes
precisely addiction.
Wallace’s critical analysis, although focused on the entertainment industry, shows
how the decalogue of extractable rules is functional to a well-established practice
that instrumentally acts on the ‘mature creative industries’, extendable to the universe
of contemporary productions subject to the same rules even if with different execu-
tion methods. By establishing the functioning, the analysis gives us, in short, with
impressive evidence, a dimension of contemporary production piled up with events
that translate into goods (of the most varied nature) that are based on the assump-
tions of an extraordinary as well as ordinary and homologated “way to widespread
aestheticization”.
In other words, Lipovetsky identifies a fourth phase of aestheticization of the world
characterized by strict rules of “commercialization and individualization”; if it is true
that the dulling caused by the massive production of images with special effects as
a ‘seductive addiction’ as result, this is supported by the production of tangible and
intangible goods that determine the phenomenon of “aesthetic overabundance or
inflation” (Lipovetsky and Serroy 2013) (Fig. 6).
In general terms, we are in a phase called “transesthetic”, a kind of “hyperart”
(Lipovetsky and Serroy 2013) in which every form that intrudes into art, it infiltrates
into industries and in all the interstices of trade and dailylife. To be implemented in a
widespread and homogeneous way, it needs a “generalization of aesthetic strategies”
that have an immediate feedback in all parallel commercialization and distribution
strategies.
According to Lipovetsky and Serroy (2013), these assumptions follow the “ex-
treme logic of commercialization and individualization” that invade all sectors of the
cultural and creative industries; the sectors are those of cinema with films financed
by colossal budgets, advertising that become sequels, the overflowing of TV series,
shows on television and in large shopping malls, museums, concerts; all these present
duplicate realities of hybrid and generalized formats that aim to create temporary but
especially memorable ‘distracting experiences’.
280 M. A. Sbordone
Fig. 6 The aesthetic

overabundance or inflation.
Prada collection fall/winter
2018. Milan, Italy
References
Agamben G (2008) Che cos’è il contemporaneo?. Nottetempo collana I Sassi, Assago Milanese
Barthes R (1967) Il sistema della moda. Einaudi, Torino
Barthes R (2006) Il senso della moda. Forme e significati dell’abbigliamento. Einaudi, Torino
du Gay P, Hall S, Janes L, Mackay H, Negus K (1997) Doing cultural studies: the story of the Sony
Walkman. Sage Publications (in association with the Open University)
Enzensberger HM (2000) Zig Zag. Saggi sul tempo, il potere e lo stile, Einaudi, Torino
Granovetter M (1988) La forza dei legami deboli. In: La forza dei legami deboli e altri saggi. Liguori
(original article: The strength of weak ties, in «Am J Sociol» 78, 1973)
Granovetter MS (1973, May) The strength of weak ties. Am J Sociol 78(6):1360–1380. The Uni-
versity of Chicago Press. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28197305%
2978%3A6%3C1360%3ATSOWT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
Lipovetsky G (1991) L’empire de l’éphémère. Folio Essais, Paris
Lipovetsky G, Serroy J (2013) L’esthétisation due monde. Vivre à l’âge due capitalisme artiste.
Editions Gallimard, Paris
Lipovetsky G, Roux E (2015) Le luxe éternel. De l’âge due sacré au temps de marques. Folio Essais,
Paris
Manzini E (2000) Design research: reasons and possibilities. The production of a design knowledge:
taking time in the age of real-time. D+R Design Plus Research Conference, Milano
Mc Donagh D, Hekkert P, van Erp J, Gyi D (2004) Design and emotion: the experience of everyday
things. Taylor & Francis, New York
Rullani E (2003) The technological evolution of industrial districts (a cura di) (Belussi, Con F,
Gottardi, EG), Amsterdam, Kluwer
Rullani E (2004) Economia della conoscenza. Creatività e valore nel capitalismo delle reti. Roma,
Carocci
Rullani E (2010) Modernità sostenibile. Idee, filiere e servizi per uscire dalla crisi. Marsilio, Venezia
Sbordone MA (2012) Discronie. Fenomeni del contemporaneo nella Moda e nel Design. Alinea
Editore, Firenze
Sbordone MA et al (2018) Listening design. II Design per i processi di innovazione. Collana design
experiences design, vol 5. Listlab editore
Simmel G (2001) La moda. Oscar Mondadori, Milano (1895 prima edizione)
Sterling B (2008) La forma del futuro. Apogeo, Milano
Thorstein V (2011) Il consumo vistoso. Editore Centopagine (1902 prima edizione Conspicuous
Consumption)
Trabucco F (2015) Design. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino
Verganti R (2013) Design-driven innovation. Cambiare le regole della competizione innovando
radicalmente il significato dei prodotti e dei servizi. Rizzoli Etas, Parma
Wallace DF (2013) Di carne e di nulla (Both flesh and not). Einaudi, Torino
Trends Management: The Qualitative
Approach as a Methodology
Sandra Regina Rech
Abstract The potential of trends management is originated in the ability to under-

stand the changes in human behavior and to translate this knowledge in guidelines
that can bring innovation. The qualitative approach considers the society composed of
individuals and groups, who share meanings according to collective expectations and
perspectives. Based on these precepts, the researcher in the field of trends investigates
processes, facts and situations in the social scene that, interconnected, may explain
the analyzed phenomenon. Through literature review and theoretical problemati-
zation, the concepts and approaches referenced in qualitative research and trends
management are discussed, evidencing the methodology and guiding assumptions
of transformations in the patterns of human behavior.
Keywords Trends management · Fashion · Qualitative research
1 Introduction
In the field of fashion design, the trends management, in its various facets—market,
consumption, concepts, among others—, provides interesting information for the
product development department. It is a tool used by companies to deal with this
requirement, since the future that is to be foreseen, stubbornly, is an indeterminate
future and may be subject to numerous interpretations. The continued pursuit of prod-
uct differentiation as a way to avoid standardized types, commodities, which directly
generate profitability in companies with high production scale, continues to be the
key to the survival of smaller industries. Therefore, the fashion chain must be restruc-
tured, initially, through a direct offensive to the fragility and fragmentation of small
companies, a characteristic prevailing in the central Brazilian production centers.
This particularity inevitably influences the level of productivity and the competitive
insertion of these organizations into the different market niches, since sustainable
S. R. Rech (B)
UDESC—Santa Catarina State University, Florianópolis, Brazil
CIAUD—University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_21
284 S. R. Rech
competitive advantage is the foundation of above-average technical performance in

the long term.
In this way, constant and oblique monitoring of trends—uninterruptedly associ-
ated with the paradigms on which they are based—becomes strategic information
packages and an instrument for the development of products and services and the
management of innovation and branding processes. Intangible assets are increasingly
useful in the competitiveness of the textile-clothing industry. In this type of business,
intangible assets in no small extent include prior and post-production assets, such as
design, product design, engineering, marketing, brands (preferably global), logistics,
chain management, and coordination capacity.
It is mandatory to unveil at the same time what the consumer feels about existing
products or create new needs to arrive at the concept of a new product. The literature
points out that, in any case, it is in the direct contact with the contemporary socio-
cultural panorama that one obtains the necessary references for the elaboration of an
updated and commercially situated collection, since the research of trends analyzes
and decodes information of diverse areas, such as economics, politics, sociology, arts,
science, and technology. The expected result of trend management is not to rational-
ize that only one direction is correct, positively, but, conversely, to present plausible
options for the future. With this, we seek to research and analyze research techniques
that assist in the monitoring and application of trends to guide organizations in the
construction of an innovation process.
It should be noted that trends management is a new area of research within the
Academy and a disciplinary field that aggregates concepts and tools from different
disciplines. Also, they make it possible to understand the oscillations of consumption
patterns and human behavior, within the scenario of why and how they are external-
ized, as well as providing guidelines for the planning of marketing strategies based
on the analysis and interpretation of these manifestations. Thus, not only do they aim
to translate these standards into clues of innovation, allowing for better management
and policy generation, but also presuppose the practices of identifying and monitor-
ing the trend. Consequently, to analyze trends, transversal knowledge is necessary,
which is opposed to a Cartesian line of thought. There is, in this process, an approach
with the Social Sciences and Human Sciences in the use of methodologies that allow
the identification and analysis of manifestations present in contemporary society.
Qualitative research, likewise, expresses plurality and a variable field encompass-
ing diverse approaches, techniques, procedures, and resources under philosophical
and methodological conceptions that aim to research, interpret and explain the social
world, at the same time representing possibilities and challenges for the production of
knowledge. The qualitative approach of the research considers the society composed
of individuals and groups, who share meanings according to collective perspectives.
Starting from this methodological design, and from a sequence of hypotheses, the
researcher investigates processes, facts, and situations in the social scene that, inter-
connected, can explain the phenomenon analyzed. The comparison method asso-
ciates inductive and deductive research aspects, through the collection, codification
and simultaneous analysis of the data.
Trends Management: The Qualitative Approach as a Methodology 285
The result of the association between these two areas of research produces sta-
ble and reliable information about the behavioral transformations of the actors of
society, aiming to generate insights, from the social movements, and the identifi-
cation of opportunities, through the connection with the needs, wishes, and desires
of consumers. Given this context, the general objective of this chapter is to verify
the importance of qualitative research at the trends management in the design of
fashion products. Through literature review and theoretical problematization, the
cardinal premises which guide the qualitative methodology in trends management
are evidenced.
2 Qualitative Research
It is profitable to produce texts that address the defense of rigor and quality of
qualitative researches, despite the discussions on insufficiently scientific and rigorous
principles on the part of qualitative researchers. The truth is that, for the most part, the
debate on the quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and also on their paradigms,
results in a continuous focus on conflicts, since the nature of the research is defined
by methods, and not by research techniques. The interaction between theory and
practice is implicit in ways, which, in turn, configures and elucidates the direction
of the investigation. So, the methodology is intimately linked to nature and the study
object.
2.1 Fundamental Concepts
According to Gerhardt and Silveira (2009), quantitative research has its matrix in
positivist thought and tends to highlight the rules of logic, deductive reasoning and
the measurable particularities of human experience. Under another perspective, the
qualitative research emphasizes the holistic, dynamic and individual dimensions of
social practice, to understand the whole context of those who are experiencing the
phenomenon. From the late 19th to mid-20th century, tracing a historical evolution of
the quantitative and qualitative approaches, it was noted that the first dominated the
investigative processes in Social Sciences instead of the second. In general, the imple-
mentation of qualitative researches is associated with objective data and numbers,
while the base of the qualitative analysis is composed of personal material, words
or images. Moreover, the distinction between quantitative and qualitative research
is in the use of closed questions (quantitative hypotheses) instead of open questions
(qualitative questioning). However, broader ways of visualizing the degree of differ-
entiation of both are based in the basic philosophical inference that the researchers
directly to the study, in the various strategic research models used and in data col-
lection and analysis tools.
286 S. R. Rech
Vieira (2013), likewise, reports that it should be understood that the qualitative
research, instead of being monolithic, expresses plurality and translates a different
field that includes several approaches, techniques, procedures and resources under
philosophical and methodological conceptions, representing, at the same time, pos-
sibilities and challenges to produce knowledge. The author reports that possibilities
involve “plurality and diversity in the face of an increasingly postmodern economic
and social reality, fragmented, hybrid, hyper-real, with reversion between produc-
tion and consumption, decentralized subjects and juxtaposition of opposites”, there-
fore they do not admit inflexible or predestined investigative and analytical process.
The challenges, in turn, require “clarity of ontological conception, epistemological
understanding capacity, wide chronological horizon, theoretical depth, and analytical
consistency” (Vieira 2013).
Rodrigues (2014) says that “qualitative research strategies are based on Social
Sciences, this being the best way to research in Design since it is research through
consumers and consumers”. Social researchers seek to probe why changes in vari-
ables, not just how variables change, specifying the causal factor as the independent
variable and the effect of the variable as a dependent variable (Kawamura 2015).
Therefore an understanding of cause and effect is fundamental because it enables
researchers to anticipate how a pattern of behavior is produced and reproduced,
establishing relationships of time, chance, interpretation, and convergence between
concepts, generalizing so-called connections of theories.
Flick (2009) states that qualitative research is relevant to the study of social rela-
tions because of the multiplication of the spheres of life. The idea of the author
emphasizes that today, the researchers confront new contexts and social perspectives
derived from the rapid social oscillation and resulting diversification of the social
universe. Therefore, traditional deductive methodologies are not sufficient given the
individuation of objects. Thus, the research should be guided by inductive strategies,
considering that the theories are optimized from empirical studies.
2.2 The Dichotomy Between Qualitative and Quantitative

Research
It is important to emphasize that an essential point in the discussions about method-

ologies is the dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative research. However,
this is not the case for mutual exclusion. Creswell (2014) points out that the two
approaches, quantitative and qualitative, should not be considered as opposites, rigid
or dichotomous, as they represent different purposes on a continuum. Guerra (2011)
ratifies this opinion and affirms that qualitative and quantitative research should not
be seen as opposing, since there is a mutual influence, despite the epistemological,
theoretical and methodological gap between the two.
One way to understand the gradations between the two types of research lies in the
underlying philosophical assumptions that researchers use in the study, the kinds of
research chosen, the strategies adopted, and the methods and tools for data collection
and analysis. For example, the selection of quantitative data, through questionnaires,
can indicate information in the triangulation of the research and add credibility to
work. The analysis of the qualitative data resulting from interviews focuses groups
or video can determine the meaning of the study.
However, it is known that “qualitative research, in general, privileges the anal-
ysis of micro processes, studies of individual and group actions and performs an
intensive examination of the data collected by several specific methods” (Gutberlet
and Pontuschka 2010). The importance of qualitative research lies in the production
of knowledge that, besides being useful, points to creativity, guided by an ethical
project. Given this, for the development of qualitative research, a competent theo-
retical base is indisputable, besides the methodological rigor and creativity of the
researcher throughout the research process. That is, the qualitative researcher must
conduct the whole process of study supported by theoretical and methodological
references, governed by a creative ability and not only by the technique.
2.3 Validation of Qualitative Research
It is necessary to live in a prolonged and intensive way in the study environment

and among the participants to validate and legitimize qualitative research, with a
consistent and reliable study. Gutberlet and Pontuschka (2010) describe that in these
face-to-face moments the ability to see and hear is required, in addition to seeing and
understanding, “about what has been the task of the researcher. The triangulation
and the checking by the participants to give rigor to the qualitative research, besides
winning the confidence of the participants”.
Thus, the approach, methodology and research techniques are part of the same
whole. Gerhardt and Silveira (2009) discuss the link between the three axes of
research:
1. The rupture: in the first constituent axis of the methodological stages, a break is
proposed with preconceived ideas and “with false shreds of evidence that give
us only the illusion of understanding things”;
2. The construction: the “rupture is only effected when we refer to an organized
conceptual system, capable of expressing the logic that the researcher supposes to
be the basis of the object in a study. This phase is the moment of the configuration
of the research path: explanatory proposal of the object, necessary operation, and
expected results;
3. The observation: is the stage of verifying the facts, since a “research proposal
has the right to scientific status when it is likely to be verified through concrete
reality information”.
288 S. R. Rech
Ullrich et al. (2012) explain that the “the word ‘qualitative’ in scientific researches
refers to the emphasis in the processes and meanings, in which the rigorous or mea-
suring exam in terms of quantification, valorization or sequence does not correspond
to the questions proposed in these studies”. Based on the differentiation between
quantitative and qualitative research, the authors show five premises of qualitative
research:
1. Regarding the use of positivism: concerning the “adoption of statistical obser-
vation and analysis procedures, instrumentalizing and quantifying the research
procedures”, either through the use of a quantification software in content anal-
yses of interviews or through the structuring of hypotheses for future testing;
2. Regarding the acceptance of postmodern sensibility: it considers the approaches
of critical theory, of constructionism, of post-structuralism or of postmodernism
in the use of “alternative work methods such as verisimilitude, emotionality,
personal relations, ethics, praxis, multivocal texts, dialogues with subjectivity, in
which the criteria of scientific reason and truth are questioned”;
3. Regarding the capture of individual and social perspective: “the recognition of
the perspective of the other’s point of view, or the perspective built by social
authors”, reflecting the richness of observations and interviews;
4. Regarding the investigation of daily life restrictions: it allows “to discuss social
actions immersed in specific contexts, as well as the relation of the emic with the
ethical”;
5. Regarding the guarantee of detailed descriptions: it allows to understand the
minimal details of daily life, marked by social relations through the descriptive
detailing of the world.
It is also possible to identify modulations in the construction of qualitative research
dynamics in the following levels:
1. Ontological, on the perceived nature of reality—is the locus of ideas and struc-
tures of analyses;
2. Epistemological, based on the relationship between researcher and researched—
configurations or games of the research questions;
3. Axiological, focused on the role of values in research—the methodology estab-
lishing the specific ways of examining problems.
In summary, it can be stated that, in addition to the primordial rigor with data
collection techniques, the analysis of the process-interactivity perspective must also
consider the participants’ movement in the research environment. Both the researcher
and the researched, plan the activity of data collection, highlighting the research
process with the purpose of exhausting the network of meanings pertinent to the
analyzed phenomenon. This commitment produces solid, reliable information that
results in an in-depth analysis.
3 Qualitative Research and Trends Management
Concerning the qualitative research, generally associated with the studies of Human
or Social Sciences, the principal axis focuses on the analysis and interpretation of
patterns or paradoxes related to social processes. According to Kawamura (2015),
researches focused on human behavior; in general terms, cover two fields: 1. Macro,
of deductive approach; and 2. Micro, which reflects an inductive approach. In other
words, ideological conflicts, of macro perspective, are investigated through quantita-
tive methods, while questions regarding symbolic interactionism, of micro perspec-
tive, tend to use qualitative methods.
The author also highlights that lay people in trends management, fashion or cloth-
ing may believe that this area has no relation with Social Sciences. However, the
author sanctions that, to earn respect in the academy, scientific investigation in these
study areas is necessary, since, daily, it is possible to find information and subjective
opinions on trends or fashion in any vehicle of information, in most cases, without
reference to any reliable source as a base. Therefore, human behavior cannot be inves-
tigated in precisely the same way that Natural Sciences, Chemistry or Physics are
studied, nor “can no problem or behavior be understood in isolation, it is necessary
to consider the dynamics in operation in the global system” (Vieira et al. 2014).
Denzin and Lincoln (2006) ensure that the problem is related with some factors,
such as the researchers’ ability to observe the social field; the establishment of the
world concepts by social subjects; the several facets of the world obtained through
research processes, epistemologies and forms of representation. Trends management
is a complex set of elements, with nonlinear patterns and independent subjects, which
interact in several ways. The interest lies in investigating social behavior, by the type
and form of feedback that this social system issues, in addition to particularities and
duration of the feedback cycle of the information in the order.
According to Morin (Pimenta 2013), “when we are researching, thinking, analyz-
ing the complex, we will never achieve completeness, and doubts, more interactions,
researches and questions to be processed will always be present”. “Totality is the
non-truth”, highlights Morin (2015), who lays out three principles to elucidate com-
plexity:
1. Dialogical, which “allows to keep duality within the unity. It associates two terms
[order and disorder] at the same time complementary and antagonistic”;
2. Organizational recursion, based on the recursive processing, “a process in which
the products and effects are, at the same time, causes and producers of what
produces them”, that is, the social sphere results from the interactions between
individuals;
3. Hologrammatic, connected to the recursive, which, in turn, is linked to the dia-
logical principle. “The idea […] goes beyond the reductionism that only sees
parts and beyond the holism that only sees the whole” and that “immobilizes the
linear spirit” (Morin 2015).
290 S. R. Rech
3.1 Fashion and Trends Management
Lipovetsky (2010) sets fashion and, therefore, trends management, as a mirror of

society, since it is possible to research it in several places and moments: in the
streets, on the internet, at the supermarket, in an art exhibition or music festival,
in releases of the cinematographic industry, in various reports, in people’s customs
and habits. To paraphrase Pastoreau (2014), it is the society that architect trends,
that defines its senses, that structures its codes and values, that plans its praxis and
designates its inferences.
We know that observing human behavior in its natural environment is essen-
tial. “Understanding cultural and social elements becomes necessary to provide the
empirical information needed to discern the nature and weight of the various man-
ifestations of trends, such as new products, services, behaviors, styles, and repre-
sentations,” given that there is a conceptual difference between the manifestation
of tendencies and object derived from the tendencies (Gomes 2015). The analysis
of trends enables the discovery of new consumption behaviors and new directions,
highlighting the acute social and cultural reality that, through an individual mentality,
detects the collective unconscious. Tovar (2014) asserts that there are two ways to
investigate trends:
1. From the bottom to up: highlighting the relationships between small manifesta-
tions in various aspects of human life and consumption categories, encompassing
global trends;
2. From top to bottom: examining major historical events or international brand
strategies at a massive level, permeating the lives of consumers in their everyday
dimension.
In other hands, it is possible to assert that all thinking, and action is intrinsic to the
ways of thinking, apprehending, interpreting and absorbing of social subjects through
a process of interaction with their context. By drawing an analogy with Trends
Studies, the five dimensions of the ecosystem perspective allow the trend analyst
to consider the facets of behaviors, mentalities, and symbols associated with trends
in their social environment, in a relationship of the individual with the collective,
because the “all is in part, which is in the whole” (Morin 2015).
We agree with Morin when he affirms that the framework [of the Studies of Trends]
is being constructed at the same time as the improvement, without a predetermined
model. As the poet from Seville, Antônio Machado, said: “Walker, there is no road,
there is road when walking.”
4 Conclusions
Trends management is not constituted as a stable and unified area, so, they do not
always present uniformity among its fundamentals. The scope is to stitch clues
together, in a search for deciphering and unraveling social mentalities and behav-
iors, focusing on the investigation of past and present moments to understand the
future. In short, they represent an essential part of the process of designing new busi-
ness and communicational strategies, as well as new policies, social projects and,
consequently, innovations.
The qualitative research, likewise, expresses plurality and a complex field that
includes several approaches, techniques, procedures, and resources under philosoph-
ical and methodological conceptions, representing, at the same time, possibilities and
challenges to produce knowledge. The result of the association between these two
research areas produces robust and reliable pieces of information regarding the behav-
ioral transformations of the social actors, aiming at the generation of insights, from
social movements and at the identification of opportunities, through the connection
with the needs, desires, and yearnings of consumers.
References
Creswell JW (2014) Investigação Qualitativa e Projeto de Pesquisa: escolhendo entre cinco abor-
dagens. Penso, Porto Alegre
Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (2006) O Planejamento da Pesquisa Qualitativa: teorias e abordagens.
Artmed, Porto Alegre
Flick U (2009) Desenho da Pesquisa Qualitativa. Artmed, Porto Alegre
Gerhardt TE, Silveira DT (Orgs) (2009) Métodos de Pesquisa. Editora da URFGS, Porto Alegre, p
46
Gomes NP (2015) Comportamento de Consumo, Elites Sociais e Moda: contributo para a consoli-
dação disciplinar dos Estudos de tendências. Tese (Doutorado). Programa de Cultura e Comuni-
cação, Faculdade de Letras. Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, p 66
Guerra IC (2011) Pesquisa Qualitativa e Análise de Conteúdo – sentidos e formas de uso. Principia
Editora, Parede, Cascais (e-book)
Gutberlet J, Pontuschka NN (2010) Pesquisa Qualitativa sobre Consumo: experiências interdisci-
plinares. Olhar de Professor. Ponta Grossa 13(2):217–224
Kawamura Y (2015) Doing research in fashion and dress – an introduction to qualitative methods.
Bloomsbury, London
Lipovetsky G (2010) O Império do Efêmero: a moda e seu destino nas sociedades modernas. Dom
Quixote, Alfragide
Morin E (2015) Introdução ao Pensamento Complexo. Sulina, Porto Alegre, pp 74–75
Pastoreau M (2014) Preto – história de uma cor. Lisboa, Orfeu Negro
Pimenta AC (2013) Resenha: Introdução ao Pensamento Complexo De Edgar Morin. Revista Cien-
tífica da FHO|UNIARARAS 1(2). http://www.uniararas.br/revistacientifica/_documentos/art.4-
001-2013.pdf. Accessed 17 May 2016
Rodrigues SVG (2014) A Importância da Participação dos Consumidores no Processo de Design.
Dissertação (Mestrado). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Design de Equipamento, Faculdade de
Belas-Artes. Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, p 75
Tovar PR (2014) Coolhunting y Tendencias: a la caza de grandes ideas. Starbook Editorial, Madrid
292 S. R. Rech
Ullrich DR et al (2012) Reflexões teóricas sobre confiabilidade e validade m pesquisas qualitativas:

em direção à reflexividade analítica. An Rev Admin PUC-RS 23(1). http://revistaseletronicas.
pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/face/article/viewFile/11329/9676. Accessed 02 May 2016
Vieira FGD (2013) Perspectivas e Limites da Pesquisa Qualitativa na Produção de Conhecimento
em Marketing. Revista de Negócios. Blumenau 18(1):10–24
Vieira EJ, Martins HC, Gonçalves CA (2014) Teoria da complexidade: um estudo em organizações
em diversas perspectivas. Rev. Econ. Gestão 14(36). http://periodicos.pucminas.br/index.php/
economiaegestao/article/view/P.1984-6606.2014v14n36p85/7255. Accessed 02 May 2016
Method to Create Fashion
Collections—From Practice to Teaching
Gabriela Teixeira
Abstract One of the challenges for fashion designers is the development of success-
ful collections. They must be consistent with needs like brand values and innovation.
The experience of working in the garment industry, allied to the practice of teaching
in design institutions, allowed the creation of a Method to Create Fashion Collec-
tions. For its development, we studied different methodologies from design and other
areas with the aim of analyzing and organizing them in specific stages. The method
presented in this study could be used as a tool for professionals, teachers, and students
to encourage a global vision in the planning of collections. Divided into 6 Steps this
Method comprises: Collecting Information—Brand and Market; Choosing Innova-
tion Guidelines; Creating the Consumers Profiles; Inspire to Create; Developing the
Collection—Results and Processes; Analyzing and Improving—Short, Medium and
Long Term. Therefore, it works as an open tool for better application in view of the
needs perceived by the professional of the area, so it can be adapted according to
each case study. Its purpose is to allow a global view of a diversity of parameters so
that they are applied into goods or services.
Keywords Fashion design · Brand values · Market · Consumers profiles · Fashion

collections
1 Introduction
Throughout our lives we are faced with challenges, some of these in the course of our
professional activity. These challenges allow us to analyze experiences to develop
proactive attitudes in the search for solutions. One of these moments occurred when
it was necessary to reflect on how to teach students in an undergraduate degree in
design to plan collections effectively, considering various parameters and current
complexity.
G. Teixeira (B)
Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Centro de Investigação e de Estudos em Belas-Artes, CIEBA, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_22
294 G. Teixeira
There were in mind three different realities to consider. First, a girl or boy with the
dream of wanting to be a famous fashion designer. Second, a young person working
at a fashion industry and living day by day the challenges of making decisions, search
trends, dealing with suppliers, monitoring the production of products, and remaining
tasks. And third, a professional thinking how to show future fashion designers the
complexity of this profession and the daily life of a fashion designer working in
the industry. From these realities emerged two starting questions: How to assist in
the preparation of students of fashion design courses for the professional activity of
designing projects? How to effectively organize collections planning steps and pass
them on to students? The search for answers to these questions led to the elaboration
of the method presented in this chapter.
The method proposed is a tool for professionals, teachers and students that encour-
ages a comprehensive vision in the planning of fashion design collections. This means
that it not going to be a simple or quick method to develop projects. On the order
hand, it tries to stimulate a more complex way of thinking for designers or stu-
dents—which is going to require reading, observation, analysis, debate, creation and
verification. Because the design should be consistent with social, economic, cultural
and environmental issues, brand values, innovation, ethics, quality, durability and
others (Bonsiepe 2011; Kazazian 2005). In today’s complexity it is a challenge to
teach and transmit to students these values that are the basis of the design planning
activity, taking into account that designers need to understand theirs place in society
and acknowledge it as part of the design process.
As a framework for the presentation of the method, a didactic step-by-step was
chosen that aims at an easy application for both students and professionals. Each of
the 6 steps of the method contains the expected objectives, the indication of texts or
theories to read, the suggestion of a set of activities to be carried out and an evaluation
of each step. After the explanation of the method, the conclusions reached with the
elaboration of the study are indicated. It is important to say that this method is
constantly improving.
2 Method to Create Fashion Collections
The Method to Create Fashion Collections was developed based on a practical expe-
rience in clothing industry and also in the teaching for students of undergraduate
courses in fashion design, allied to a theoretical knowledge based on relevant authors
within the area of design and other related.
Aiming to respond to the challenges and issues formulated in the introduction of
this chapter, an analysis of the different approaches proposed by the studied theorists
was carried out. This analysis, together with the practical experience, made it possible
to organize, select and integrate theories and methodologies into a method suitable to
fashion design, which is composed of 6 steps, as described in the following list:
Method to Create Fashion Collections—From Practice to Teaching 295
Method to Create Fashion Collections

Step 1: Collecting Information—Brand and Market
Step 2: Choosing Innovation Guidelines
Step 3: Creating the Consumers Profiles
Step 4: Inspire to Create
Step 5: Developing the Collection—Results and Processes
Step 6: Analysing and Improving—Short, Medium and Long Term.
The steps of the method are intended to effective execution of the steps consid-
ered necessary for the development of a collection for the fashion industry by raising
the awareness of the designer about important issues related to the development of
products and service. It also aims to encourage the designer to form a theoretical
background that contributes to the reflection of their choices by promoting coher-
ence with the brand identity and the new scenarios that emerge (De Moraes 2010),
encompassing so many aspects in a collection is challenging.
But conscientious choices would need to be on the agenda of a professional who
projects goods that will be acquired, used, and discarded by people (Bhamra 2007),
since there is a prior, during and after a product. It is worth mentioning that the method
allows for open adaptations. The steps can be enlarged or reduced in their objectivity,
application and outcome. The professional should carefully consider this change and
the result that they will bring. This reflection should be carried out with the team or
group—the importance of collaborative work is emphasized. For the implementation
of the 6 steps, a minimum of three months are estimated for an effective execution,
for practice with students and for the designers that already work in a company.
To make the steps of method more dynamic, they have the following components:
‘Objectives for Designer | Student’—explain what the stage will provide; ‘Reading
Suggestions’—to quote methodologies and theories that should be deepened; ‘Step
Activities’—suggestion of collection planning exercises; and ‘Step Assessment’—to
draw conclusions about the activities developed. With recurrent use of this method,
certain activities or steps can be skipped, reevaluated or improved. This means that
it is in continuous construction, that it is not linear and that its dynamic will be con-
ditioned by the designer according to the needs of the brand, the market, consumers
profiles and other factors observed.
It should be emphasized that the method is suitable for brands that intend to
develop projects with some innovation or differentiation for the market. Thus, for fast-
fashion brands, adaptations or an effective coordination of the research and creation
teams will be necessary. This is a decision to be made by students or designer(s) of
the brand. We will then explain the steps in the method.
296 G. Teixeira
2.1 Step 1—Collecting Information—Brand and Market
Goals for Designer | Student: The objectives of this stage involve understanding
the brand identity, mission and strategic positioning; research the new scenarios
and analyze which will bring impacts to the brand; work in a team and network to
evaluate or reevaluate creation criteria; understand the region for which the collection
is intended; and realize which brands or competing products.
Reading Suggestions: The design process has similarities with the management
activity. This means that the designer has (or can develop) the ability to manage
design processes and production management. This type of professional has the
option for management responsibility in 3 phases. The first as the ‘Designer as Dif-
ferentiator’ promoting improvements in the product or service, in the production
process and in the packaging—which can bring a financial increase of the company,
the sales value and the value perceived by the customer. The second is the ‘Designer
as a Coordinator’ who seeks to innovate the products or services, coordinates man-
agement processes and interactions and works the possible conflicts in the team. The
“Designer as Transformer” focuses on innovation for the client or user by anticipating
future scenarios and trends (Mozota 2011).
The author De Moraes (2010) designed a tool for gathering information and elab-
oration of concepts that can help the designer to develop better projects. The tool
is titled Metaprojeto. With its tool it is possible to decode the existing scenarios
in order to stimulate the differentiation through the design. The aspects that make
up the Metaprojeto are: (a) Marketing; (b) Productive and Technological; (c) Typo-
logical, Ergonomic and Formal; (d) Socio-environmental; (e) Sociocultural; and (f)
Product-Design System. For this stage of the method, the determining factors are
(a) Marketing—defining the scenario, understanding of the identity, mission and
strategic positioning of the company; and (f) Product-Design System—understand
if there is the participation of the designer in the process of defining the communica-
tion channels (catalog, website, social media, packaging) and distribution channels
(markets to be reached, points of sale, participation in fairs and showrooms).
Sant’Anna (2005) presents in his book in the area of marketing a series of questions
that aim to bring clarification on important points in the development of a project—
this type of questionnaire is called a briefing. It has been formulated for advertising
however, it can also be applied in the conception of design projects. The questions
asked in the briefing allow collecting information about the product, the market, the
competitors and the consumer public. So, it should be done early in the project, be
clear and concise.
Seivewright (2009) and Renfrew and Renfrew (2016) address another important
factor in the development of collections—macro trend research. This type of research
is used by the fashion designer and also in projects in other areas, since there is a
need to understand the new scenarios that will arise and translate them into material
goods (aspect also defended by Mozota and De Moraes). The macro trends are future
scenarios projected as a reflection of current social, cultural, economic and political
conditions. They serve as guidelines to prepare companies for the changes that are
to come, as well as to provide new business opportunities.
It is advised at this moment to deepen the aforementioned theories, by reading
and discussing the texts with the group or team. The designer needs to develop his
sense of criticism in order to understand the old and new behaviors and events, and
thus to reflect and make coherent decisions in the creation of projects. For this it
is important to read about diverse subjects; people watching; attending museums,
theaters, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, squares, fairs; and stimulate creativity with
varied activities and techniques.
Step Activities:
• Choose the brand to develop the collection (student). Select three brands in the
market and present them to the coordinator with the intention of defining which of
these will be more appropriate for the gathering of information. Possible question:
Why not create your own brand and use it as a case study? Because this will involve
more study time and other knowledge relevant from other disciplines.
• Answer questions that aim to perceive the relationship between Company-Product-
Designer-Competition. They were elaborated based on the Metaprojeto (De
Moraes 2010) and the Sant’Anna briefing (2005) and are grouped in Company
and Product; Company and Designer; and Company and Competition.
Questions about Company-Product-Design-Competition Company and

Product
• Describe the types of products developed by the company.
• Do these products meet a special need or do they respond to a consumer
problem? If yes, which one or which ones?
• Identify the identity of the company in the following aspects:
– Be Conservative, Innovative or Vanguard;
– Be Passive or Active;
– Create trend or Follow trend.
• Does the Company have a strategic positioning? If so, what is it?
• What are the points of selling of the product? Own store, multi-company,
website, other?
• Has there been any improvement in the product, process or packaging
recently?
• Considering the life-cycle of the company in the market, it is in which phase
would you position it: introduction, consolidation or reactivation?
• Does the company have mission and established values? If so, what are
these?
298 G. Teixeira
Company and Designer

• Does the designer participate in the decision-making process regarding the
communication and distribution of the product or the collection?
• Is there consistency between the collection that is developed and the way it
is advertised on the points of sale?
Brand and Competition
• What brands and products are the competition?
• Point out the advantages and disadvantages of competitors.
• What improvements could be made to the product, packaging or brand to
differentiate from competition?
• Search Macro trends | Future Scenarios

Understand the scenarios that will arise and which will impact the company or
product. This research should be started at this stage and completed in step 4, since
it requires some reflection about information already accessed and other data should
be collected in the next steps. Some agencies gather trends research, such as WGSN
(www.wgsn.com), Future Concept Lab (www.futureconceptlab.com), The Future
Laboratory (www.thefuturelaboratory.com), among others. The company can also
hire an agency to conduct the research of the scenarios and the scenario can tailor
the information according to the needs of the company.
Step Assessment: Observe and analyse the answers found together with the group
or team of the company. The aim is to understand the points that stand out the most
and if any aspect about the company or product needs better definition or coherence.
The information you collect must be stored in a folder, notebook, or online file. Does
the company have well defined values, mission and positioning or do they need to
be better elaborated? Does the product that the company develops bring some kind
of innovation? The answer to this second question will be the basis for the next step,
which aims to define the innovations for the company.
2.2 Step 2—Choosing Innovation Guidelines
Goals for Designer | Student: As objectives for stage 2, we intend to generate

information about the possible paths for innovation in design; research examples of
companies that innovate; expand the criteria that should guide projects in the area of
design; and select the driving force for innovation in creating the collection.
Reading Suggestions: In the various social media are observed subjects that are
usually on the agenda, among which are innovation and sustainability. So how can
the designer apply innovation and environmental sustainability to product creation?
The designer and theorist Bonsiepe (2011) argues that project management should be
based on criteria that involve human, technological, environmental, social, cultural

and economic aspects—depending on the type of project to be developed. It criticizes
the fact that today the designer does not respond effectively to solve the problems
observed in society, remaining mostly in purely aesthetic issues. In the book “Design,
Cultura e Sociedade”, among the different themes presented, the author proposes the
use of driving forces for innovation—which serve as possible ways for the designer
to design innovative projects. These driving forces can be based on Technology,
User, Form, Invention, Symbolic Value, Tradition, Mechanical Engineering, Ecology,
Branding, Trends, Art, or Criticism.
In the book “Design for Environmental Sustainability” Manzini and Vezzoli
(2008) argue that the designer can guide the creation of products by environmental
criteria. Thus, they present three possible scenarios for sustainability: the sufficiency
scenario—with cultural innovation; the efficiency scenario—with technical innova-
tion; and the effectiveness scenario—by combining technical and cultural innova-
tions. They also explain the Life Cycle Design tool, which is composed of the phases
of pre-production, production, distribution, use and disposal. This tool aims to verify
and minimize the environmental impacts in the development of projects. Its appli-
cation can be done in whole or in only one or more phases, so that the designer can
efficiently manage all the necessary specifications for each phase.
The Metaprojeto of De Moraes (2010), mentioned in step 1, presents as one of the
factors that compose this tool the Socio-environmental aspect. This aspect aims to
reflect on the raw materials used in the production of a product—that is, to perceive
its degree of toxicity, whether they are biodegradable or compatible with each other,
besides analysing the inputs and outputs of resources and energy in the productive
process and its environmental impacts. The author also suggests that the designer
reflect on the creation of new lifestyles that are more sustainable when developing a
project.
Step Activities:
• Look for other companies that use driving forces for innovation in the development
of products or services. These examples can serve as inspiration for what kind of
innovation the group or designer wants to bring to the company. When selecting
the driving force, it is important to do so considering the information about the
market in which the company is inserted.
• Describe how this innovation can be implemented in the development of the col-
lection. One suggestion is to use the brainstorming technique or mental map to
generate ideas.
• Look for environmentally sustainable fashion companies and see what measures
they take to develop their products. What raw materials do they use in production?
Are they toxic or biodegradable? Do they encourage the reuse or recycling of the
products they sell?
• Reflect on which scenarios for sustainability and which phases of the Life Cycle
Design tool can be applied to the development of the collection.
300 G. Teixeira
Step Assessment: Analyse what ideas have come up for company innovation. What
was the biggest challenge of the step: researching companies that innovate, propos-
ing a path to innovation, or defining issues related to environmental sustainability?
Discuss with group or team a way to address these challenges. In the next steps of
the method it will be possible to deepen the chosen innovation, since the consumer’s
profile, the theme of the collection and the production processes to be used will be
studied in more detail.
2.3 Step 3—Creating the Consumers Profiles
Goals for Designer | Student: The objectives of this stage are to purpose reflections
on the challenges of researching consumer groups; raise awareness of the need to
establish consumers profiles; research cultural, economic, demographic data of the
target region of the company; and develop a semantic panel for the selected consumers
profiles.
Reading Suggestions: This is a stage that can generate controversy due to the changes
and extensions that have been occurring in the understanding of the classifications
of target audience and consumer groups, such as the definitions presented by the
theorists Frings (2012), Morace (2012, 2018), among others. It is considered valid in
this method to approach the question of creating consumers profiles for the company,
because design projects are aimed at people. However, it is reinforced that this profile
will vary according to the country, the region and even the city to which the brand
directs its production. Thus, the designer needs to understand the specific character-
istics according to the cultural, geographic, economic and demographic aspects of
each target market.
Seivewright (2009) in the book “Pesquisa e Design” points out that brands can
establish a muse or customer profile for the development of a product (or collec-
tion). Defining aspects such as age range, habits, experiences, profession, lifestyle
and financial income. It also suggests that when defending consumers profiles it is
important to conduct market research.
Morace (2012) defends in the book “Consumo Autoral” that currently exists the
consumer author. This is more and more demanding and seeks innovation in a design
that combines creativity, art, spiritual elements and technological aspects. In this way,
the designer must design products that respond to varied needs—comfort, humanistic
and cultural load, advances in science—so that these goods are stimulating and
durable. At a recent research, the author argued that a company should choose not only
one, but many different consumers profiles because today there are a segmentation
dynamism at market (Morace 2018).
Sources that present the most recent studies on consumer groups are the bureaus
of trend research already mentioned in step 1.
Step Activities:
• Define the consumers profiles for the company. Describe elements such as age
group, habits, lifestyle, values, professions, financial income, places they frequent
and other relevant points.
• Create a semantic panel with inspirational images of the people who make up the
group as well as the places and objects that relate to the idealized profiles. This
panel will serve as a reference for product development.
• Perform a cultural, economic and demographic research of the main regions that
the brand sells its products. For the student, one can do the research of a region (city
or capital of the country) that the brand has as a market, so that the information is
more easily collected.
• Conduct interviews with consumers that are part of the consumers profiles.
Step Assessment: The information collected on the consumers profiles needs to be
analysed in conjunction with the driving force of innovation selected in the previous
step. At this moment it is possible to deepen some elements on the innovation to be
implemented in the collection. Observe the coherence between consumer needs and
expectations according to the cultural, geographic and demographic data collected.
This information will serve as elements for the development of the collection’s prod-
ucts. But first we must define the theme of inspiration for collection, subject of the
next stage.
2.4 Step 4—Inspire to Create
Goals for Designer | Student: The objectives of step 4 are define the theme of
inspiration for the creation of the collection; elaborate a semantic panel; assemble
the color chart; define raw materials to be used in the collection.
Reading Suggestions: The designer and author De Moraes (2010), in the Metapro-
jeto tool, identifies the Sociocultural factor as a means of achieving a differential
within the homogeneous and globalized production, by the conception of products
that value the characteristics inherent to a culture or region. Examples are local
handicrafts and raw materials, popular traditions, landscape, people, shapes, colors,
among many others. The purpose is to know the richness of the local repertoire so
that it serves as reference in the conception of creative and stimulating goods. The
author also presents the Technological-Productive aspect. In this, one observes the
material characteristics of the product, its composition and the productive processes
applied. What reinforces the designer’s need for reflection in terms of materials and
processes composing the product, besides the aesthetic and functional issues and
estésico factors (sensibility, emotional, sentimental).
For Seivewright (2009) the selection of colors is one of the primary points in the
creation of the collection, since it also delimits the spirit and the season. Color is
302 G. Teixeira
often the first element perceived by a person and is associated with his/her affective
memory, in addition to having different meanings according to culture. Thus, colors
have a great importance for translating personality, taste, feelings and social status
(Fraser and Banks 2004).
We know the importance of color to create fashion products. But let’s now reflect
on the placement of Seivewright (2009)—the delimitation of color by season, recall-
ing the concepts already presented as the author of Morace (2012) and the criteria of
sustainability of Manzini and Vezzoli (2008). It is suggested that color is more than
a trend element of a season. That can be used in a way to value the product, to be a
reference to the theme of the collection and have a relationship with the consumers
profiles.
Step Activities:
• Point out possible inspirational themes to create the collection. Select the one that
can bring a differentiation to the profiles of the selected consumers.
• Study the chosen inspiration theme. Collect information, search for images and
videos, photograph various elements, visit places that have a relationship with the
theme, interview people, visit museums, buy objects or related materials, observe
the colors and shapes that stood out.
• Assemble a semantic panel on the theme, with the best elements collected.
• Define which colors will be used in the collection and assemble a board with a
number between four and eight colors—dividing them into major and minor ones.
The panel should be organized in white background and contain the name of each
selected color.
• Define the raw materials that will be used in the collection based on the theme and
the colors chosen. For the students: search for fabrics, supplies and other elements
that can be used to make the products. It is suggested to visit specific stores (and
if possible, factories) to perceive the raw materials by touch and visually. For the
designer of a brand: research and contact suppliers of fabrics and fittings to know
materials and launches, attend trade shows and other events in the industry. It is
possible to develop unique fabrics or fittings for the brand, but this will require
more investment.
Step Assessment: Notice if there is a coherence between theme, colors and materials
chosen. Correlate the type of innovation selected to the theme, the raw materials and
the productive technology. Thus, the question is: Does the brand have the technology
to process the selected fabrics and supplies? Remember that these elements will imply
in the final cost of the product. The consumer profile is also associated with the quality
of the product and its cost. For designers working in companies, pay attention to the
time required to request fabrics and fittings for assembly of a prototype, approval of
the material and request to the supplier (considering the time of delivery of the same
for production). By achieving the objectives of this step is possible to proceed to the
creation of the products of the collection.
2.5 Step 5—Developing the Collection—Results

and Processes
Goals for Designer | Student: The objectives expected in this step are define how
many pieces will make up the collection; generate alternatives to products; select the
best alternatives for production of the collection; prepare the technical file; produce
the prototypes; approve the parts for production; generate cut order for production.
Reading Suggestions: In the research that included creating a tool to analyze the
environmental impacts of the clothing industry (Teixeira 2012), are present some
of the phases that make up the production processes of a company in the area.
Among these phases are creation, production of prototype, cutting, sewing, stamping,
among many others. Thus, the designer needs beyond the theoretical and critical
background to understand the complexity of the day to day operation of the industry to
make choices in a coherent and conscious way. Especially because many companies
outsource their production to other cities, countries or continents. The activities of
this stage are intended to address some of the procedures required for the creation
and production process.
The Design Thinking method (Ambrose and Harris 2009) was elaborated so that
the designer learns from each stage, develops creativity and realizes the feasibility
of projects. It consists of the phases: Define, Research, Ideate, Prototype, Select,
Implement and Learn. In the ‘Ideate’ phase, the research carried out (scenarios/macro
trends, consumer profile), reticulation, budget and originality (intended innovation)
should be considered. In the ‘Prototype’ phase, the objective is to select the possible
solutions for design, verify its technical viability, understand operation of physical
object and visualize the handling of the design concept.
Step Activities:
• For the accomplishment of the activities of this stage it is important to reflect
on several aspects together: chosen innovation, requirements of the profile of the
consumer, differentiation for the market, relation with the selected theme and
technological capacity of the brand.
• Define which shapes and types of products will be created (trousers, skirts, blouses,
dresses, shirts, shorts, bikinis, handbags, swimwear, shoes, bags, among others)
and the quantity that will compose the collection.
• Generate alternatives for the types of parts to be produced. It is suggested to
generate two to three alternatives per part model to be produced.
• Select the alternatives that best meet the defined criteria.
• Elaborate the technical file of the product that will be prototyped. The model
data sheet may vary from company to company. It should contain information on
raw materials, technical drawing with product measures, production processes,
material costs, process costs, and other data relative to the prototype.
• Produce the prototype of each approved alternative. The purpose is to check the
finish, the suitability of the fabric(s) and/or the material(s), and the modeling.
Ideally, the brand has one model to prove prototyped parts. If modifications are
304 G. Teixeira
required in the prototype, the ideal is to carry out a maximum of one or two more
attempts.
• After the prototype is approved for production, you must create the document for
the cut order—which will describe the quantity and colors that a part will be made.
Example: 300 model X women’s pants will be produced, in sizes 34–44, in blue,
black and gray.
• Compose the catalogue of the developed collection. Select the products and com-
pose the looks, choose the photographic models and define the layout. The chosen
layout and location for the photos should be related to the theme collection.
Step Assessment: The student or designer must follow the production process of the
prototype. All changes made to the prototype must be informed to the development
team and documented in a technical sheet. Should be noted that a well-made prototype
and a detailed technical sheet will ensure an efficient execution in the production line
of the approved product, avoiding wasted material, time and unnecessary financial
expenses.
2.6 Step 6—Analysing and Improving—Short, Medium

and Long Term
Goals for Designer | Students: Among the objectives of step 6, we intend to analyse
the whole process of development of the collection by applying the proposed method
to perceive the positive and negative aspects; seek feedback from consumers; analyse
the information and define improvements for the next projects in short, medium e
long therm.
Reading Suggestions: In the Design Thinking method (Ambrose and Harris 2009)
the last phase of a project is Learn. The intent is to identify what worked well or
what needs to improve according to the information collected with the consumer
about the proposed design solution and also according what was learned during the
design process. This feedback provides critical analysis and allows for enhancement
of future projects.
Step Activities:
• Analyse with each group or team each of the steps of the method—in terms of
activities performed, difficulties and learning, what could not be done and why,
and positive points that stand out;
• Conduct a consumer survey to verify the degree of satisfaction with the products
created and the company. To make the collection of information more effective,
online surveys can be developed, interviews conducted and discounts or promo-
tions offered to clients who are willing to contribute their opinion;
• Discuss the results of the process analysis and feedback from the consumer to
establish the guidelines of the next projects to be developed;
• With the new application of the method, it is suggested to deepen theories, to

maintain a continuous research on the scenarios, to look for new ways to innovate
and to broaden the study of the consumer profiles that the brand intends to achieve.
Step Assessment: At this stage it is desired that the designer | student has achieved a
degree of criticism for the project developed and a broader view over new possibilities
for creation in the area of design. What goals are set for improvement for the brand
| company that can be established in the short, medium and long term?
3 Conclusions
The development of this method aims to contribute for the student | designer to under-
stand the steps needed to develop collections for fashion industry. Design methods
must be in constant mutation, as challenges arise everyday and will have impact in
the necessary procedures. With constant improvement it is possible for the designer
to search for proper means so projects are more coherent with the requirements of
the several consumer profiles, meeting untapped needs. In order to propose solutions
with different innovations it is decisive to have a analytical, critical, curious, creative
and collaborative attitude.
The topics discussed were considered fundamental to the design project for fash-
ion industry, although they don’t exhaust the full range of possibilities. There is
opportunity for continuous research in the area. The exchange and dialog on this and
other matters involving design projects are important for the consolidation of our
activity.
References
Ambrose G, Harris P (2009) Design thinking. AVA Book, Lausanne

Bhamra T (2007) Design for sustainability: a practical approach. G. P. Limited, Hampshire
Bonsiepe G (2011) Design, Cultura e Sociedade. Blucher, São Paulo
De Moraes D (2010) Metaprojeto: o design do design. Blucher, São Paulo
Fraser T, Banks A (2004) The complete guide of color. Ilex Press, London
Frings G (2012) Moda: do conceito ao consumidor. Bookman, Porto Alegre
Kazazian T (2005) In: Kazazian T (ed) Haverá a Idade das Coisas Leves: design e desenvolvimento
sustentável. Senac São Paulo, São Paulo
Manzini E, Vezzoli C (2008) Design for environmental sustainability. Springer, London
Morace F (2012) Consumo Autoral: as gerações como empresas criativas. Estação das Letras e
Cores, São Paulo
Morace F (2018) Consumo Autoral: os novos núcleos geracionais. Estação das Letras e Cores, São
Paulo
Mozota B (2011) Gestão do design: usando o design para construir valor de marca e inovação
corporativa. Estação das Letras e Cores, São Paulo
Renfrew E, Renfrew C (2016) Developing a fashion collection. Bloomsbury, London
Sant’Anna A (2005) Propaganda: teoria, técnica e prática. Pioneira Thompson Learning, São Paulo
306 G. Teixeira
Seivewright S (2009) Pesquisa e Design. Bookman, Porto Alegre

Teixeira G (2012) Desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta para a análise do impacto ambiental dos
processos de produção de uma indústria de vestuário de médio porte. Universidade Federal de Per-
nambuco. Retrieved from: https://repositorio.ufpe.br/bitstream/123456789/11461/1/Mestrado%
20Design%20-%20Gabriela%20Lyra%20Teixeira.pdf
Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery Workshops:
An Action Model in Design Teaching
Ana Helena Grácio, Miguel Aboim and Cátia Rijo
Abstract Design teaching, as design thinking involves a heuristic methodology of

creative imagination and functionalism that seeks to address unique circumstances
with factual and appropriate formulations. In the learning process, design thinking
cultivates the necessary cultivation of memory through experiences and instructional
encounters that yield behavioral and functional impact. In a workshop model, effec-
tive design involves the simulation of the assemblage of useful and advanced media
content and other instructional technology that leads to the optimal attainment of
learning and noticeable behavioral impact. With Nisa quartz inlaid pottery research
project in mind, the design approach can be implemented in the precise understanding
of the historical and socio-economic circumstances prevailing in the project locality,
and the impetus for change that solicits project appraisal. The grand approach has
to be adapted to the prevailing local conditions while also recognizing that the way
forward for the community has to be a difficult path that leads to better outcomes.
Keywords Nisa quartz inlaid pottery · Workshop · Design · Collaborative

process · Design teaching
1 Introduction
From an ethnographic and anthropological perspective, the preservation of cultural

traditions can be achieved when the cultures make economic sense to the community
and when the community sustains an element of pride in its traditional culture, which
is cherished as part of the identity of the people. Design can, therefore, be invoked
A. H. Grácio (B) · C. Rijo

ESELx—Lisbon School of Education, Lisbon Polytechnic, Lisbon, Portugal
C. Rijo
A. H. Grácio · M. Aboim · C. Rijo
CIAUD—Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_23
308 A. H. Grácio et al.
to yield to the task of repackaging the crafts form to correspond with contempo-
rary trends and futuristic trends while preserving elements attuned to the traditional
production.
The risk of extinction of Nisa quartz inlaid pottery culture is witnessed because
fewer people are willing to venture into the art, and only three potters and their wives
remain in the trade. The deduction from these basic facts is that cultures becomes
extinct when its popularity wanes due to changing sociological circumstances. There-
fore, an appropriate stimulus package in a workshop model can help bring in new
enthusiasm and cultural prestige by crowing and rewarding the participants.
Pottery integrates man daily life from immemorial times, since the capacity of
clay, being firstly moldable and easily able to assume a final shape for which it was
imagined, offers an extraordinary utilitarian capacity, as represents a dazzle for those
who take actions in this process, during its creation, use and appropriation.
The technique of quartz inlaid pottery consists in the incrustation of quartz in the
clay in order to make it more resilient and increase its porosity, providing greater resis-
tance to different temperatures and higher cooling capacity, particularly in water stor-
age. In Portugal this technique was frankly rooted in national territory and throughout
the Portuguese Diaspora (as in Macau and Cape Verde), particularly in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, mainly due to the fame and consumption of Estremoz1
water vases throughout Europe, particularly in the major royal houses and the papal
court.
Today, quartz inlaid pottery is closely linked to Nisa village, where the technique
was developed in a very particular mode, especially since the second half of the twen-
tieth century, assuming motifs treated with a detail similar to the filigree. However,
the emerging of industrialization as disturbed several craft expressions, since crafts
as historically been accommodated to a constant and repetitive manufacturing, saw
its foundations shaken by the contraction in demand, devaluation of their products
or their transformation into collection object, e.g. devoid of the use value (Branzi
1999).
Quartz inlaid pottery remains nowadays in Portugal, Nisa, a small village in the
countryside, near the Spanish border. Its main distinguishing feature is the task
performed by “pedradeiras”, women involved, that when inlaying small white quartz
stones in clay, draw motives based on flora, fauna and local mystical symbology.
Today only three potters and their respective women, with ages from 65 to 73 years,
remain active. The lack of new persons interested in learning or develop this tech-
nique, confirms the extinction risk of this ancient material culture, what reinforces
the need for an urgent effort of research and knowledge preservation.
The starting point of this study is based on the knowledge of history and its
various appropriations that over time have traced the path of what is now known
as quartz inlaid pottery. Considering the turning point now recognized, in its social,
and the derived UNESCO Convention recommendation for its urgent inventory for
1 Estremoz is a Portuguese city in Évora District in Alto Alentejo region, in Portugal, is the seat
of a municipality with 14,318 inhabitants. Its white marble deposits are internationally known as
Estremoz Marble.
Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery Workshops: An Action Model … 309
safeguarding this cultural heritage, there is a vital need to develop not only a careful
inventory of the parts in production, but also understand and provide knowledge that
could project the quartz inlaid pottery and its specific features and techniques to new
contexts in contemporaneity.
Assuming that this form of craft could be a real contribution to the discipline of
design, it seems that this legacy still suffers from a careful construction and theoretical
reflection to enrich the knowledge about the heritage itself and for its social and
cultural reality able to revert for a more sustainable design reflection and practice.
Through interaction and cooperation in areas, such as design and craft, that sometimes
seems so close, but at the same time so distant, it was intended to achieve and
implement in design disciplinary field, new models for understanding the practice of
the craft know-how, assuming the challenge of evading to extreme distances—where
there is no room for dialogue—or unequivocal—where no differences are assumed—
between both areas. The quartz inlaid pieces have some technical gains but also some
weaknesses. Meaning, it as a great capacity to resist to different temperatures, and
an exceptional ability to cool water, even in very hot environments (i.e. temperatures
reaching 40 °C), as are those who can be found in the interior of Alentejo region
during the summer season. However, quartz inlaid pottery is not traditionally fired at
very high temperatures (maximum 700 °C) which results in low resistant pieces to
heavier touches or crashes. New techniques have been studied and tested in order to
overcome these limitations, and thus give rise to new opportunities for this cultural
heritage.
Although knowledge of this heritage is at risk of extinction, we believe it is pos-
sible—by the use of participatory methodologies within the community, craftsmen
and design students—to find new opportunities for the future of quartz inlaid pottery,
by using collaborative and cooperative tools.
In design, the basis of a critical design theory or hypothesis is that whatever
ephemeral or grounded artifacts that could be elicited in the program, there have
to be an agreement that no grounds for fundamentalism would suffice. Under the
consideration of total quality management approach, the collaboration between the
consenting entities has to make an explicit commitment to the project objective. In
this manner, a singularity of objective that is comprehensive and framed to the opera-
tional environment of the enterprise allows collaborating parties to take roles. Events,
inputs, mechanism and outcomes of a design process should assume a compact enter-
prise model (Frow et al. 2015). Depending on the levels of complexity within the
project, and the degree of uncertainties and indeterminate variables, a complete the-
ory should be coined that spells in great detail pertinent concerns and variable for
the parties and for the intended product. The program should be deployed on the
paradigm of an evolutionary agile mechanism that advances while also learning new
directions and possible frontiers of adaptation and survival in deriving the outcome.
Nisa workshops concept involves the collaborative engagement between local
artisans, designers, and students to facilitate an ethnographic engagement so as to
bring about greater participation in the rich artistic cultural heritage of the community
in designing several kinds of art forms with a sustainable mark on the environment
while also creating source of employment to the artists. Each section of the teams
would have to yield some forms of experience and knowledge that are shared with
the rest of the teams and eventually promoting an extended engagement whose aim
is the continuity of the culture of communal art. While such art may serve aesthetic
purposes, the fact that it has got ideas useful for the future of the community regarding
green development, it is worth supporting and promoting. Moreover, it should be
developed so that scientific tools and concepts are incorporated to improve the quality
of the art forms for a market bursting with innovative tastes and preferences.
The design of Nisa quartz inlaid pottery workshops on the field, should enable
the analysis of the traditional methods so that it can be infused with more trendy
and futuristic elements found in the contemporary best practices in pottery, aiming
to reach a viable and suitable methodology in design teaching capable to preserve
and promote Nisa quartz inlaid pottery.
2 Perspectives and Interactions Between Crafts and Design
From a design outlook, The Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery Project has traditionally
involved the participation of women, since “pedradeiras” use small white quartz
stones into the clay to draw images found in the local flora and fauna to yield
political mystic symbolism in their pottery. The risk of extinction of this culture
is witnessed because fewer people are willing to venture into the art and only three
potters and their wives remain in the trade. The deduction from these basic facts is
that cultures become extinct when its popularity wanes due to changing sociological
circumstances. Therefore, an appropriate stimulus package in the workshop model
can help bring in new enthusiasm and cultural prestige by crowing and rewarding
the participants.
Furthermore, creating greater stimulus in the art can be achieved by adding new
trendy methods so that there is a higher value in the products and hence making the
product win in the market. Inferior quality products are doomed to stagnation and
failure in the market. The design of the workshop should enable the analysis of the
traditional methods so that it can be infused with more trendy and futuristic elements
found in the contemporary best practices in pottery.
To adequately safeguard the memory of the cultural heritage in The Nisa Quartz
Inlaid Pottery Project, much more than mere preservation of the production needs
to be done. The team needs to be facilitated on marketing, elements of social
entrepreneurship that corroborate popular participation of the community and means
of livelihoods. The curriculum design, therefore, has to incorporate elements of the
social and cultural history of the community and the change impetus that has led to
fewer and fewer people taking up the art. If the dwindling numbers are attributed
to social or cultural changes, then useful proposals can be advanced to invigorate
change in a new direction. However, if the difference is attributed to economic cir-
cumstances, suitable recommendations should also account for better production and
better marketing to revamp the value in the market and hence newly improved atten-
tion from the community in the art. Participatory and collaborative methodology
unleashes the full potential and synergy of creative possibilities among the differ-
ent teams brought to the seminar because, in the interaction, new learning and new
methods can be cultivated among the community stewards.
Due to the triumph of the scientific revolution in design, it was thus an obvious
step for designers to try to integrate scientific methods into the design process so that
they could be accepted as severe associates in the sphere of the productive industry.
It is definitely a creative process, even in as much as scientific and technological
tools are deployed in such a fruitful venture. Nevertheless, the design does not take
place in space, with an entirely free selection all kinds of material resources, and
designers are limited in their scope of the creative process (Chamberlain et al. 2012).
Each design object is the outcome of a unique development process influenced by
extensive arrays of artistic conditions and procedures. Socio-economic, technologi-
cal, and cultural developments, in particular, along with the historical milieu and the
environment of production expertise, yields just as important a role as ergonomic
and the environmental demands, economic and artistic-experimental aspirations just
like the underlying political interests. Dealing with design, therefore, always entails
reflecting on the circumstances under which it originated and theorizing the effects
on the productivity of the artistic process.
As the world grapples with developmental challenges and an ecologically con-
strained process of production and consumption, design thinking has to be drawn into
the spheres of planning and simulation of societal development. From a sociological
perspective, development projects that seek to yield progress in people’s lives have
to embrace sustainability and the necessity to scale up traditional processes in light
of scientific and technological innovations that lead to higher productivity while not
damaging the sociological and ecological dynamics. A possible convergence can be
attained in the simulation of resource planning and the human capital endowment of
the community such that optimality is given priority over other competing priorities.
The workshop model presents a plenary session where stakeholders share ideas on
the possible project outfits and components attuned to the higher value to the society.
The model also allows for the facilitation of expert knowledge through facilitators
who make a presentation to the entire group in the forms a lecture session. All such
instructional encounters should be furnished with the right kind of media and content
attuned to the curriculum objectives.
While the discipline of design may only conjure the notion of material production,
it invariably also has a great deal to do with critical communicative functions. The
technical performance of instructional mediation in the workshop model also has
related social functions to produce operational outcomes. The conciliatory influence
of the instructor when facilitating the workshop is to cultivate new states of cogni-
tion while delineating those, which are deemed repugnant, and urging participants
to recognize and eliminate them in their private discourses. The design methodol-
ogy relies entirely on abstraction and to some extent on empirical intuition to yield
solutions in critical milestone expectations. In this regard, design methodology starts
with the description of the initial state of the learning and behavior threshold and
simulating the instructional encounter through a suitable curriculum design to pre-
dictable outcomes of the process. Moreover, since curriculum contents may conform
to different performance conditions, the initial entry and inventory conditions have
to be adequately determined to facilitate sound learning encounters attuned to the
cultural precepts of the learners.
2.1 Fundamental Concepts
Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery Workshop Project involved the collaborative engagement
between local artisans, designers, and students to facilitate an ethnographic engage-
ment so as to bring about greater participation in the rich artistic cultural heritage of
the community in designing several kinds of art forms with a sustainable mark on the
environment while also creating source of employment to the artists. Each section
of the teams would have to yield some forms of experience and knowledge that are
shared with the rest of the teams and eventually promoting an extended engagement
whose aim is the continuity of the culture of communal art. While such art may serve
aesthetic purposes, the fact that it has got ideas useful for the future of the commu-
nity regarding green development, it is worth supporting and promoting. Moreover, it
should be developed so that scientific tools and concepts are incorporated to improve
the quality of the art forms for a market bursting with innovative tastes and pref-
erences. Moreover, the project has to make clear its objectives and principles so
that participants have a clear understanding of their roles and expectations in the
encounters.
Learning art can be modeled in the form of participation, in which all the three
teams work in turns to produce material art while also promoting a new sensibility
of aesthetic value for the broader community and therefore soliciting popularity and
massive participation. Alternatively, formal learning can be interchangeably initiated
with practical sessions in which the local artisans showcase their methodology and
designers can bring in expertise to either improve the local production mechanism
or overhaul processes that are redundant and possibly unproductive. A progressive
engagement thus would yield optimal quality and optimal value in the final products
thus leading to better market performance and profits to the community. Moreover,
designers can have a far better chance to analyze the process in the artwork and
incubate production procedures that would be far better and far marketable from
their wealth of technical expertise. Blending all these optional approaches into the
workshop model would produce a far more sustainable and productive ethnographical
value to the community regarding the esteem of their culture and traditions.
Craftsmen and designers should produce prototypes of the expected outcomes and
test them on various considerations depending on the eventual use and form of the
product or artifact. Multi-stakeholder approach suffices on this basis because each
section has their areas of competencies and experience which is relevant to a com-
pletely versatile and monumental product. A multi-component and multi-implement
approach would suffice because of the intricate connections that occur between vari-
able stakeholders. In the model, teamwork involves attention, satisfaction, confi-
dence, and relevance. At the psychological level, the team should invent approaches
to deal with anxiety or complexity that hampers motivation and innovation (Cui and
Jiang 2016). Attaining preliminary wins in the project liberates the members to get
bold with the project. It also boosts the intrinsic motivation of the team. Visual stimu-
lation using models can be deployed frequently because they foster visual intelligence
and enrich brainstorming to tackle any challenges.
3 Conclusions
In conclusion, needs matching from the onset of the project throughout should abridge
the necessity to satisfy the essential attributes of the artifact being produced. The agile
project paradigm approach combined with a mechanistic and scientific erudition to
yield authentic materials and design components that eventually meet the needs is
an essential consideration. A holistic theory should be simplistic and utilitarian but
based on the engineering elements and requirements of the project.
The workshop model as an instrument able to contribute for knowledge safe-
guarding and as an innovative approach, seems a viable and suitable methodology to
preserve and promote Nisa Quartz Inlaid Pottery. The suitability of the method lies
in its capacity to solicit the widespread participation of various sections of each team
involved, where experts and students gather for promotion of an art form. Further-
more, as a cultural artifact, the art form needs to be preserved, and design innovation
can only be integrated to the extent that sustainability and cultural integrity of the art
is not entirely compromised. Culture represents a modality of interaction and inter-
relationships. Therefore, the essential aspect of the workshop model is that it allows
for the extension of the interrelationships between local artisans with designers and
students so that far greater productive potentialities can be promoted in the long term.
The producers should have a global consumer outlook in mind because, under the
new globalization, aided by e-commerce, the channels of commodity supply chains
traverse the entire planet.
From a post-industrial era perspective, the concept of design with a strong social
consciousness seems to be an idea whose time has come, and ignoring it or doing
nothing is likely to be perilous for the contemporary designer, especially given the
knowledge economy and information society we live in today. In this regard, design-
ers have an obligation to identify and understand the various existing collaborative
process associated with social design. In particular, designers need to embrace the
platforms of action research and organizational transformation. In addition, it is
imperative for the designers embrace the methodic approaches of co-creation, par-
ticipatory design, and social innovation in their design processes.
References
Branzi A (1999) Introduzione al design italiano: una modernità incompleta. Baldini & Castoldi,
Milano
Chamberlain P, Bonsiepe G, Cross N, Keller I, Frens J, Buchanan R, Meroni A, Krippendorff K,
Stappers PJ, Jonas W, Schneider B (2012) Design research now: essays and selected projects.
Walter de Gruyter
Cui Z, Jiang H (2016) Design, analysis, and simulation of a planar serial–parallel mechanism for a
compliant robotic fish with variable stiffness. Adv Mech Eng 8(8):1687814016660927
Frow P, Nenonen S, Payne A, Storbacka K (2015) Managing co-creation design: a strategic approach
to innovation. Br J Manag 26(3):463–483
Computational Design: From Algorithms
to Digital Production for Traditional
Manufacture Sectors
Annalisa Di Roma and Alessandra Scarcelli
Abstract The paper aims at demonstrate the adaptive value of the digital crafts,
regarding design and realization methods. In order to achieve some outcomes from
a practical approach, some experiments are described. The discussion focuses on
the relationship between the parametric tools supporting the design process (devoted
to textile design and colour theory) and the aesthetical and technical outcomes.
The typical way in which the craftsman “makes”—based on the informal transfer of
models to production—shares the adaptive and repeatable approach of the parametric
design. Therefore, through the specifications of the materials, the techniques and the
realization tools, the seamless process is achieved.
Keywords Parametric tools · Design process · Textile design · Colour theory ·

Parametric design
1 Introduction
Parallel to the history of the industrial product, developed through the definition of
principles of useful form, serial production, ergonomics, etc., the industrialization
of the production processes and the evolution of the tools for the realization, in
the aftermath of the second industrial revolution, have played a crucial role also in
the fields of the artistic industry. Evidence of this is the cultural debate of the late
nineteenth century, centred on the relationship that art and technique establish in
relation to the theories that pertain to the form, colour, methods and techniques of
production. The development of the technical-creative tools and of the prototyping
and digital production systems creates in the computerized logic a new relation
A. Di Roma (B) · A. Scarcelli

Politecnico Di Bari, Bari, Italy
A. Scarcelli

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_24
316 A. Di Roma and A. Scarcelli
between project theory and production and reproduction practices (Di Roma 2008):
the technique no longer resides exclusively in the finished object, but in its conception
pre-formal. In fact, the management of form and colour in the ancient art industry
did not assume mediation between the design phase and the realization phase; the
author of the conformation of the product often identified himself with those who
technically carried out its production. The division into phases, already within the
development of the serial processes of realization of the artistic industry, has made
it necessary to elaborate geometric models to support the transmissibility of the idea
to the different material performers.
Digital modellers, who in the last twenty years have made possible the so-called
digital revolution as a question related to the representation and communication of
the project, through its virtual restitution, today assume a central role in the prefig-
uration process of the artifact, as demonstrate technical-formal control tools able to
synthetically manage all the main phases of conception and prototyping, providing
key decision-making for the optimization of the form and its realization process. The
geometric definition of shape and colour values, together with the implementations
of parametric software and the generative logic of some cad and raster applica-
tions, favour the development of new formal expressions; the ideation process thus
becomes «un vero e proprio sistema di informazioni: informazione culturale del
prodotto, informazione sul suo uso, informazione linguistica e informazione visiva»
(Branzi, 1984, p. 117).
2 Problem
The translation of the ideal form into a technical material form within the artistic
industry has always been expressed through the use of tools able to realize the
conceptual model and make the craftsman’s gesture repeatable in the series of objects
to be reproduced, adapting from time to time the ideal model to the contextual needs
of specific sizing or functionality (Di Roma 2016).
At the base of the informal process of interaction between ideation and production
was the mathematical model that managed the proportion between the parts, the
variation of the rays and the continuity of tangency of the curves, the symmetry
groups of the plane. It is no coincidence that in the field of ornamental art (Carboni
2001, p. 79) the different historical civilizations have expressed the language on the
basis of their own mathematical code.
On the instrumental level the question of technical reproducibility is character-
ized by the use of shapes, models, seals (of repertoire or designed ad hoc by the
same architect of the work) necessary for the transfer of the “form”; or from those
mechanical aids (such as the lathe, the drill and the wheels of the potters) useful
Computational Design: From Algorithms to Digital Production … 317
for the mass production process (Benjamin 1966, p. 20). This mingling between the
possession of the mathematical model and the knowledge of how to produce is at
the basis of the freedom of artistic will (Riegl 1893; Focillon 1939; Panofsky 1961)
and expresses itself through the extreme flexibility of the production methods of the
artistic industry.
In reference to the aesthetic intention of the artisan-artist, Hauser states that “the
technical solution is itself part or variant of the visual aesthetic solution” (Hauser
1955, p. 95). Therefore, the instrumental technical evolution of contemporaneity,
in the digital field, favours a new relationship between art and technique, between
formal ideation and realization, re-enacting those processes of limited craft series,
interrupted in their millennial tradition by industry (Branzi 2008, pp. 10–11), within
the so-called 2.0 craft.
3 Methodology
3.1 Parametric Design Digital Craft
The generative modelling, thanks to the contribution of coding, has given great devel-
opment to the theme of the new design concept and to the same digital craftsmanship.
This new modelling process has the characteristic of approaching computer program-
ming, but with an easy approach thanks to visual components. The system allows to
implement the normal operations of generation, transformation and even substantial
evolution of the models through reversible processes, preserving the memory of the
original geometries.
Algorithms allow designers to overcome the limitations of ‘traditional’ software
and achieve a much higher level of complexity and control (Fig. 1).
In the algorithmic modelling the user has the possibility to create three-
dimensional objects through the description of the system of relations at the base
of any complex geometry. This description takes place through the development
of a node diagram (visual algorithm) according to an associative logic, within spe-
cific editors that operate in parallel with the modelling software. Therefore what is
manipulated is not the object, but its construction process and its data.
The algorithmic modelling tools allow the generation and control of complex
shapes at any scale: from architecture to design. The parametric design systems
are dynamic modifiable in real time, through the variation of the parameters defined
during the construction of the diagram: this leads to immediate advantages in relation
to formal exploration, control and rationalization of the shape (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1 Parametric design: Delaunay triangulation, generated by the Voronoi algorithm
3.2 Color Parametric Design
In the design process of an artefact, the role of color has always been ambiguous
(Batchelor 2001), both for the complexity of a very elaborate theory,1 and for the
instrumental difficulty in identifying and accurately reporting the selected colors. In
traditional production processes (Scarcelli 2016), following the development of the
dyes chemical industry, the artisan chooses the color variations of his product from
a range of dyes (or already colored semi-finished products) within a commercial
catalog; even the designer has the same restrictions: he must choose based on a
predefined range, influenced by the laws of the market, which condition those of
taste (color matching), or vice versa.2
1 For a deeper understanding of the various theories of color, applied to the world of design, a
comparison with the pioneering texts of Itten (1982) and Albers (1971) is fundamental, in which
the critical apparatus is always accompanied by graphic experiments.
2 «Il controllo qualitativo del colore è uno dei problemi centrali della cultura ambientale moderna.
Prima ancora che della forma o della funzione di un oggetto, noi ne percepiamo l’identità cromat-
ica, a tal punto che l’insieme dei colori che ci circondano costituisce uno specifico livello d’uso
dell’ambiente stesso. All’interno di questa problematica, il colore deve essere oggi inteso come
oggetto di una ricerca progettuale autonoma; fino ad ora il colore è stato l’ultimo attributo del
prodotto industriale: il designer, dopo averne progettato la forma e la funzione, sceglie il colore
Fig. 2 Some outcomes obtained using computational design applied to textile laser cutting pro-
duction
It is not possible to identify and quantify existing colors. From the dawn of time,
in order to classify colors, artists, physicists or chemists have introduced very het-
erogeneous systems: in the principles and in the shapes, plane or three-dimensional,
more different, for example the Itten hue circle or the Munsell tree.
Nowadays, the choice of a color system over another depends essentially on the
scope of application and transformation processes that attribute perceptual qualities
to the material: dyeing of the material through dyes (plastic fibers and textiles) or
surface deposition of pigments by paints or inks (printing and painting processes).
The adoption of computerized drawing systems has multiplied the management
and control tools of the project, also from the chromatic point of view: each dedicated
software has a color selector.
This tool associates each color with a numerical code, which identifies it and
makes it unique and universally distinguishable, within its own coding system. In
come ultimo segno da collocare su di una struttura che possiede già tutte le qualità fondamentali.»
(Andrea Branzi (1984), La Casa Calda, pp. 102–103).
Fig. 3 Parametrization for the color according to RGB and HLs system
fact, the different systems adopt different languages, so the same color is associated
with several codes: the HLS system has a triad of specific numbers, in the same way
the RGB system and the Lab space; the CMYK attributes four values to each color;
the Html hexadecimal system adopts an alphanumeric code instead (Fig. 3).
The combinatorial possibilities associated with the various systems can return
16,000 colors (and even more). Absolutely many more than the human eye is able
to distinguish.
The coding of a tint through a numerical code distinguishes the parametric char-
acter of the chromatic variation: by changing a single number it is possible to modify
the superficial spectral quality of the artifact in its virtual definition. This process,
now consolidated in the design practice of design, especially in the graphic area,
undergoes continuous updates, due to the implementation of mathematical codes
within the digital development environments.
Similar to the definition systems of shapes and patterns, susceptible to changes
based on algorithms that control their geometries, color can also be managed digi-
tally, by writing parametric codes that link each individual color value to a specific
point/pixel of the physical/graphic space. In particular, using the parametric pattern-
ing tool, included among the cad application tools such as Grasshopper, it is possible
to interpolate a predefined image with a geometric grid, so as to associate each RGB
color value of the map with the corresponding point-position in the grid. The image,
ultimately, is discretized in points with numerical values, and then translated into a
vectorial geometry.
Another tool allows this association between the polygons of a reticular mesh—
organic or geometric—with selected colors, with the possibility of parametrically
varying the tonal, luminosity or saturation values. In this way both continuous and dis-
crete results are possible, resulting in a raster graphic, no longer vector. This approach
presents interesting developments concerning the transition operations between the
different colors, which can occur by gradient, giving rise to organic matrices, or
by contrast, with respect to discontinuous geometries. The parametric application

adopted for the transitions is not only linear, but presents articulated solutions linked
to the complexity of the mathematical codes used.
The size of the capability of color parametric systems in digital design processes
can be found in the results of Digital Art: if the artistic culture abandons its work
tools to test the opportunities of new IT tools, it is the sign of a change not only
instrumental, but specially linguistic.
4 Results
This section shows the results of some experiments aimed at the implementation of
parametric information systems for the development of the decorative pattern and for
the development of the colour gradient. In particular, the path has been focused on
the understanding and innovation of artistic craft processes, mediating the scope of
unique artifacts (or limited series) with the scope of large-scale industrial production.
In particular, with reference to the theme of the material and the conformation
processes of the manufactured product, the interest in traditional production has
been focused, reaching the integration of enabling technologies towards the artisanal
productivity of type 2.0, through the use of 3D printing aimed at making moulds
(excavation, embossing, graphic impression, etc.).
The experimentation theme was addressed to the aesthetic characterization of the
surfaces made in ceramics, textile and leather; the methodology adopted has marked
the process in five phases of planning and realization.
The approach adopted aimed at defining the expressive and communicative poten-
tiality of a three-dimensional decoration through graphic-visual, tactile and chromatic
considerations, in relation to the triad consisting of material, tools and production
process. The graphic theme of “gradient” has been elaborated on the base of a para-
metric 3d model.
In the first phase a visual graphic composition is developed, responding to precise
principles of perceptive nature such as “rarefaction and thickening”, “direction”,
“order” (Fig. 4).
The original compositional principle is thus implemented on a running sur-
face, through module iteration operations, by reflection, rotation or transition
(Figs. 5 and 6).
The third phase concerns the association of colour values of tonal scale and con-
trast to the graphic-visual composition, and the subsequent transposition onto the
material support (Figs. 7 and 8).
The procedural implementation of tools takes place in the last two phases: the
graphic composition is a 3d model for the production of files useful for the real-
ization of negative—positive moulds, using three—dimensional printing processes
Fig. 4 The original compositional principle is thus implemented on a running surface, through
module iteration operations, by reflection, rotation or transition
with filament deposition in PLA. The moulds thus obtained will be used to define
the surface quality of the physical panel, experimenting “mould” procedures on rigid
supports (Fig. 9).
5 Conclusions
The parametric design combined with the production of models through print out-
put and electronically controlled processing represents a phase of evolution of the
contemporary art industry linked to digital outcomes (Oxman 2007). The vector and
bitmap software applications through the generative logic offer new operative tools
and possibility to elaborate innovative formal languages, coherent with the math-
ematical models that support them through the algorithms. In accordance with the
Fig. 5 Implementation of the graphic design on a tridimensional surface using a parametric model.
The tiles are produced using FD 3d print system
Fig. 6 The original compositional principle is thus implemented on a running surface, through
module iteration operations, by reflection, rotation or transition starting from a graphic design and
translating it in a textile weaved surfaces
Fig. 7 The original compositional is overlapped with a color graphic schema
Fig. 8 Cast tool for the embossy realized using a fdm 3d printing machine and PLA
Kunstwollen by Riegl, the instrumental technical equipment supports the will of art
and configures new operating methods in which the designer, the computer technician
and the machine operator share the artistic process of material transformation. This
essential process of evolution starts from the adoption of 3d modelling software for
design, digitizing, plotting and cutting components. The considerable development
had also adopted new materials, among which the polymer taken over since the 60s
as innovative materials for all the components for accessories, and a whole range
of technical fabrics and synthetic specially developed. Until you get to the present,
where the introduction of 3D printing is marking a real “new industrial revolution”,
including in the Fashion Sector (Fig. 10).
Fig. 9 From the graphic composition to the 3D modelling—to the 3D printed mould for the embossy
of the tissue
Among the many techniques used today in the industry of fashion design, laser
cutting techniques are having a grate development and application. Laser processing
and 3D printing are, in fact, contributing not only to redefine the aesthetic canons
of the formal production in that area, but also to bring innovation to a new level of
complexity.
Generative modelling, thanks to the contribution of coding, has given great devel-
opment to the theme of the new concept of design and the same digital craftsmanship.
This new modelling process has the character of computer programming, but with
an easy-to-use approach through visual components.
Fig. 10 The present picture shows the different effects of the embossy produced on different
surfaces: cotton, felt, polyester, leather
References
Albers J (1971) Interaction of color. Yale University Press, New Haven

Batchelor D (2001) Cromofobia. Storia della paura del colore, Bruno Mondadori, Milano
Benjamin W (1966) L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproduzione tecnica. Einaudi, Torino
Branzi A (1984) La casa calda. Esperienze del Nuovo Design Italiano. Idea Books, Milano
Branzi A (2008) Introduzione al Design Italiano, una modernità incompleta. Baldini e Castoldi,
Milano
Carboni M (2001) L’ornamentale: tra arte e decorazione. Jaca Book, Milano
Di Roma A (2008) La produzione in serie dell’ornato architettonico: dall’industria artistica ellenis-
tica alla prototipazione con processi cad–cam. Aracne, Roma
Di Roma A (2016) La cultura materiale tra tradizione e innovazione. In: Di Roma A, Scarcelli A,
Minenna V (eds) Cultura materiale e Design. Favia, Bari, pp 11–30
Focillon H (1939) Vie de forms. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris
Hauser A (1955) Storia sociale dell’arte, vol III. Einaudi, Torino

Itten J (1982) Arte del colore. Il Saggiatore, Milano
Oxman N (2007) Digital craft: fabrication based design in the age of digital production. In: Workshop
proceedings for international conference on ubiquitous computing, Innsbruck, Austria, pp 534–
538
Panofsky E (1961) La prospettiva come forma simbolica. Feltrinelli, Milano
Riegl A (1893) Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik. G. Siemens, Berlin
Scarcelli A (2016) Il colore materiale del progetto. In: Di Roma A, Scarcelli A, Minenna V (eds)
Cultura materiale e Design. Favia, Bari, pp 31–44
From Interior Design Imaginary
to Jewellery Concept
Mónica Romãozinho
Abstract In this project, we had started with the experimentation around housing
typologies inspired by nature, by its asymmetric but at the same time modular shapes
and its capacity to metamorphose. The purpose was not the construction itself but the
transposition of this process to jewellery practice would imply the materialization of
these spatial concepts. We had explored the movement of undulating surfaces, the
relation between shadow and light, scale variations, the opposition between empty
and full spaces, chromatic or texture contrast. A jewel can convey different appro-
priations and emotions such as a habitat, poetic and intangible space regardless of
the economic value of its constructive solutions. Jewellery can be an extension of
our selves just like interior design and that’s the reason why we produce unique
pieces or limited series. This article focuses on the methodology and results of our
research underlying the creation of a contemporary jewellery line, focusing its main
principles: spatiality, mutability and versatility. Sketches and cardboard models were
intersected with 3D software and 3D printing without forgetting traditional jewellery
skills. Another complementary approach was the assemblage technique applied to
the most recent pieces.
Keywords Interior design · Jewellery · Versatility · Mutability · Reuse
1 The Meaning and Functions of Jewellery in Everyday

Life
Jewellery is much more than an industrial product and the same happens with interior
design. Jewel is a complex object. It is obviously permeable to fashion and trends
along history, but it can establish a true connection with our character helping us
to communicate our own individuality, working as an asymmetric detail in the way
M. Romãozinho (B)
CIAUD, Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Sá Nogueira, 1349-063
Lisbon, Portugal
IPCB, Castelo Branco, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_25
330 M. Romãozinho
we dress that denies the standardization of fashion. On the other hand, jewellery
doesn’t have to answer to a utilitarian purpose, although it should be ergonomic
in our point of view: “Through the centuries, jewellery has developed a variety of
different functions, being able to adorn and also bear symbolic meaning.” (Passos
2019a). Chanel soon understood that jewellery was much more than a communication
of a social status: “The purpose of the jewel is not to make a woman seem rich but
to adorn her. It is not the same thing.” (Morini 2000).
Nowadays, researchers such as Ana Passos are mostly interested about the anthro-
pological meanings of jewellery especially those related to affection and memory.
The sentimental jewellery is the main field of this researcher who takes a customer’s
sentimental jewellery and reworks it into something new that can be worn every day
(Passos 2019b). The theme is pertinent, and she refers the global success of Pandora,
the Danish brand created in 1982 because of its marketing strategy based on the
sharing of life stories through the use of jewellery that mark significant life events
(Passos 2019b). This area probably results from the feeling of being lost because of
the diversity of products that market offers nowadays. Sentimental jewellery is born
from an eclectic attitude not from a pastiche creation. The same happened along
history of decorative arts if we look to the 19th century. I think looking back to the
past and rework that same past with a critical attitude can be an answer if, looking
to our pieces, we recognise the differences between old and new; at the same time,
we must question that same past just like avant-garde artists did it in the beginning
of the twenty century not in an aleatory way. We can feel disoriented with the excess
of jewellery and accessories trends but that doesn’t mean that bringing the past is
the answer, something which is happening nowadays with some furniture design, for
example. Maybe bringing some part of it is an efficient way to connect with collective
imaginary and make people feel there is a continuity between past and present but
in an eclectic process. We don’t do sentimental jewellery, but we must understand
that History knowledge is a part of everything we make and it’s impossible for us not
to recall important references that belong to architecture, design and art fields. We
always avoid any explicit transposition of this universe or even miniaturisation. It can
consist in small details or even in a methodology. We try to communicate a specific
message and awake emotions just like in architecture or interior design projects.
2 Genesis of the Project
A jewellery piece can constitute itself as a platform for our individuality, a function
that approaches itself precisely to a house, a room, an intimate space. The 1930s, for
example, were marked by “the CIAM (Congrès internationals d’Architecture Mod-
erne) for Architecture, UAM also aspired to a “truly social art suitable for progress
and able to integrate present-day industrial forms and technologies struggling against
classicism and tradition” (Cappellieri 2010a). Raymond Templier’s, for instance, fol-
lowed the principles of the International style, reflecting a functional purity, mechan-
ical geometry, rigorous volumetry and also an alternation of volumes and voids, mass
From Interior Design Imaginary to Jewellery Concept 331
and lightness (Cappellieri 2010a). Cappellieri tell us precisely that first Templier’s
and then Jean Després’ jewelers recall the rarefied abstraction of Le Corbusier’s
Ville Savoye or Mies Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion.”* (Cappellieri 2010a).
In this project, it is clear the important role of architecture and interior design for
the development of a concept. Sabine Pagan is a contemporary jeweler who stud-
ied cross-disciplinary concepts between contemporary architectural and jewellery
practice, considering Peter Zumthor’s work Therme Vals as a case study for under-
standing the significance of sensorial experience on human beings and its relevance
to memories, so important in jewellery field. She refers the obvious contrast between
scales and connection with human body: “On one hand, the architectural space is
designed to shelter the human body and enables specific actions such as working
and sleeping to take place within it. On the other hand, in the context of jewellery,
the human body is used as a platform to showcase attributes in accordance to social,
cultural and historical contexts.” (Pagan 2011a). For Pagan “whilst the human body
differentiates one practice from the other, it also appears to bring them closer together,
for the body does not only reference a physical entity but also relates to the frame
of mind. Together architecture and jewellery contribute to the ‘Self’ and its human
characteristics such as emotions and our capacity for memory” (Pagan 2011b). The
aim of her research is to examine the value of a phenomenological approach in archi-
tecture and understand how such methodology might be applied within the context
of contemporary jewellery (Pagan 2011c).
Pagan’s jewellery project is related to a concrete study case while the present
research project consists of the design of the jewellery collection “Possible but
improbable spaces” that is strongly related to our own architecture and interior design
drawings envisioning new concepts for a more human and sustainable society, which
is part of a post-doctorate in Design developed within the CIAUD (Lisbon School
of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa).
It started with the experimentation around space, its principles, its geometry and
crosses with the Architecture and the Interior Design at the conceptual and method-
ological level. Our initial incursion focused on the design of organic architectures
inspired by nature, with asymmetrical and irregular contours resulting from tensions
between colours, materials and transparencies. The main compositional principles
that approximate these designs of so-called organic architecture, because the essen-
tial organisation arises from the internal needs and external conditions, in which each
architect tries to connect their own volumetric and geometry of space projected to
the topography of the land itself. What intrigues us is to draw inhabited spaces as
opposed to cells inhabiting anonymously, seeking to explore a strong sense of iden-
tity that we have tried to transpose to the scale of jewellery. We rethought the territory
through the design of fluid, experimental, irregular spaces, wrapped in organic mem-
branes that adapt to the morphology of the terrain (Fig. 1). There is space and time to
ramble and contemplate nature. We standardised some components, namely interior
volumes, coverings or furniture that also arises from the geometry of these spaces
yet evoking the sense of intimacy. Carpets model spaces, in the image of “tatamis”.
The translation from architecture and interior design drawings or cardboard mod-
els to jewellery hand-scale pieces was taken over considering fundamentals such as
332 M. Romãozinho
Fig. 1 Example of experimental drawings that were in the genesis of the jewellery research project:
Utopia #VI-11. 2015. Mónica Romãozinho
irregular and oblique contour shapes, repetition and modularity, opposition between
transparencies and opacities that relate to exterior and interior, the unfolding of the
interior into volumes, the border between public and private, sense of movement
or rhythm, the contrast between full and empty, the contrast of colours or textures,
determinant factors as shadow and light. Essentially, we intend to create an open
project, which means to explore a transversal speech to all the pieces of distinct lines
within the same collection.
3 Architecture and Art as Main Influences: Between

Eclecticism and Avangarde
This possible connection can be feed by our knowledges, references and practice in
architecture and interior design. One of the master inspiring architecture masters is
Carlo Scarpa (1906–1978), because of his relation with the history of architecture
and arts, because he could find beauty in particular details invisible to other eyes and
mostly because when he started working on a new project he never repeated himself,
searching at the same time for an “uncompromising argument for utopian vision, for
a kind of architecture that is committed to art and culture only – even if this should go
against reality or against those in power” (Noever 2003). This is the way we want to
work when we are creating a piece of jewellery. The public can consider this jewellery
collection as a contemporary work, but its essence is completely eclectic. On the other
hand, architecture and art are references for everything we do because they are not so
ephemeral as fashion and even my fashion references are much closer of avant-garde
designers like Rei Kawakubo, Yoshi Yamamoto and specially Issey Miyake who first
opened doors to post-modernist interpretation, playing with barriers between Orient
and Ocident, fashion and anti-fashion, modern and anti-modern (Kayamura 2003a).
They don’t produce simply clothes but poetry just like Japanese architecture which
was also a great reference for Scarpa.
Crane considered that any artistic movement can be regarded as avant-garde when
“its approach to aesthetic content of its artworks follows the following criteria: rede-
fines the artistic conventions, uses new tools and new artistic techniques, redefines
the nature of art object and belongs to the palette of objects that we can consider as
an art work.” (Kayamura 2003b). This definition can be crossed with Cappellieri’s
perspectives for the future defined in her book which is related to the “Avant-Craft”
tendency.
Nowadays, it is indeed possible to distinguish various trends inside jewellery field
as a result of different researches and methodologies. In this perspective of paradigm
change, Alba Cappellieri exposes five possible scenarios for the future: Marvellous
manufacture, Everyday Beauty, Avant Craft previously referred, Precious Technol-
ogy and Collective Creativity. Marvellous manufacture highlights jewellery strictly
made by hand with precious materials, what we recognize as high jewellery (Cappel-
lieri 2016a). The second scenario represents the ability of jewellery to communicate
beauty, harmony, emotion and all areas can converge here such as craftsmanship,
architecture, fashion, design. It’s a ready-to-wear jewellery, more accessible, that
we can use according to our mood or clothes. This attitude results in multiple and
expressive languages and in different meaning of preciousness as well (Cappel-
lieri 2016b). Avant-Craft is close to the so-called author’s jewellery, resulting from
independent and experimental research, disconnected from the logic of production,
communication and distribution, by crossing heterogeneous languages, materials and
techniques (Cappellieri 2016b). Precious technology involves new production pro-
cesses and materials usually distant to this field as titanium or carbon for instance.
Several researchers explore the incorporation of new technologies especially useful
as answers for people with disabilities, difficulties felt by older people manipulating
pieces, and we have got the example of biotechnology as an answer to a more sustain-
able jewellery that can be made by the manipulation of fibers adaptable to different
environments. The last scenario is centered in creative, production, distribution and
communication processes.
Our approach is mostly born from the intersection between Avant-Craft and Tech-
nology. We carry an artistic work intersecting technology and traditional skills, con-
sidering its ergonomic connection with the body and pursuing its sense of identity
as a platform of communication of ourselves. We recognize the role of art in the
historical evolution of jewellery design. In the 1930s and 1940s, jewellery oscillated
between experimental jewels of bijoutiers-artistes, and “haute” traditional jewels
334 M. Romãozinho
particulary in French context but, it is evident the increasing connection between art
and jewellery exemplified by the 1946 MOMA exhibition in New York (Cappellieri
2010b) and we must remember Elsa Schiaparelli, for instance, who involved artists
in jewellery field such as Alexandre Calder, Christian Bérard, Salvador Dali, Jean
Cocteau mainly related to Dadaism and surrealism currents. Their innovation was
determinant but the problem was that some of their works resulted from the miniatur-
ization of details or compositions retrieved from their art experiments. Mario Pinton,
founder of the School of Padua and an expert about gold would assume precisely that
“he was not interested unlike many artists such as Dalí, Fontana, Man Ray and Max
Ernst, in the miniaturization of an artistic expression already encoded in painting or
in sculpture” (Cappellieri 2010c). Our work is inscribed in the avant craft perspec-
tive, much closer to art, architecture and interior design, less permeable to changes
than fashion design and we produce limited editions although our design process
allows mass production.
4 Creative Process: About Changeability, Versatility

and Colour
However, we felt these first experiments were incomplete. If we wanted to rethink

the connection between jewellery and users, its positioning and relation with the
body, maybe we had to start looking at jewellery as a set of dynamic objects, even
mutable, just as a spatial solution does not necessarily have to be imposed on the
public. We were not only worried about answering to the traditional functions but
about responding to different occasions, states of humour or even events through
minimal but versatile pieces.
The same assumptions were explored along design history. For instance, we must
remember the originality of the “Pass-partout” necklace from Van Cleef that con-
sisted in a “serpent chain” made of yellow gold, whose clips could be autonomous and
applied to hats or clothing” (Cappellieri 2010d). In the same decade, we can recall the
Gabriele Chanel’s only collection, presented at the 1932 Bijoux de Diamants exhi-
bition (London, 1932) composed by transformable pieces inspired by stars, planets
and comets before her collaboration with Fulco Santo Stefano della Cerda, Duke of
Verdura. Chanel worked in partnership with Iribe, this time producing strictly pre-
cious, articulated and transformable pieces (Cappellieri 2010e). Pieces such as the
open necklace in the shape of a comet are not only transformable allowing several
functions (necklace, brooch, a hairdresser) but also asymmetric, consisting simulta-
neously in an open structure in order to create a new relation with the body without
losing simplicity. As Chanel declared: “My (jewels) are flexible and detachable […]
You can take apart the jewelry and use it to match a hat or fur. In this way, the set
of jewelry is no longer an immutable object. Life transforms it and bends it to its
needs” (Doulton 2019). The same philosophy was a reference and inspiration for
the Chanel’s 1.5 collection of camellia-themed high jewels presented at Paris Haute
Couture 2019 (Doulton 2019).
We explored the possibility of mutation by designing a necklace that results from
reusing a PVC cylindrical object that symbolises the idea of an organic habitat always
changing like the organisms of nature (Fig. 2) without any submission to an ortho-
graphic system. The pre-existing object was the starting point, our pre-existence, just
as the understanding of the terrain, of the “genius loci” is the lever for an architectural
project. At the same time, these projects are not simply wearable artefacts but spatial
structures as well, that we can contemplate, rotate and (re)discover according to each
new observation angle.
The necklace focused in the present article unfolds in two main solutions, through
the insertion of a sliding horizontal plank (the floor of this structure) inside the cylin-
der or through the movement of the cylinder to a new position (behind our neck) and
the simultaneous combination between a ramp and the copper module present in both
solutions. We enjoyed playing with these objects, manipulating minimal elements
resulting from varied production processes and crossing them in the same geomet-
rical composition as if it were an assemblage. At last, our approach is connected
to contemporary authors such as Giampaolo Babetto (1947) contrary to a product
massification, however interested about abstraction, modularity and economy in his
whole design concept that is born from a “cartesian precision” and a “passionate
research on the material”: “All his creations come from the idea that the jewel is a
work of art, based on the study of geometric forms, modular construction and texture”
(Cappellieri 2016c). He introduces movement in the geometry, putting the accent on
the relationship between inside and outside, full and empty (Cappellieri 2016c).
We chose to explore some of these strategies, combining them with changeability
in the design of a brooch (Fig. 3), a piece that can play a more interactive relation with
shirts, coats or capes, assuming a functional role. With this brooch that can assume a
more neutral or contrasting character, we wanted to recall de idea of a house viewed
Fig. 2 Collection “Possible but improbable spaces”. Line “Abstract spaces”. Mutable necklace
(single piece). PVC (reuse), PLA and copper. Mónica Romãozinho
336 M. Romãozinho
Fig. 3 Collection “Possible but improbable spaces”. Line “Abstract spaces”. Mutable brooch (lim-
ited edition). PLA and copper. 2018. Mónica Romãozinho
in parallel perspective defined by successive plans and spaces that are not complete
revealed. This translucent shelter receives not only a coloured “wall” (Blanc Gris
or turquoise), but also a horizontal line sequence (a “brise soleil”) separating the
interior from the exterior and giving rhythm to the whole composition and, at last, a
shape in copper. Line is considered as a matter of fact as a fundamental component
in the same way that Aleksander Rodchenko (1891–1958), a constructivist designer,
stated in his work: “Both in painting as in any construction in general, line is the first
and the last thing” (Rodchenko 1979).
The ring was developed from a detail of other piece of this line, a brooch. We’ve
tested several solutions around the idea of articulating a shell with an interior volume
that could be easily replaced: in the first one, the blade of copper is attached to the
PLA volume by a rail, in another solution, the thin metallic surface was also folded
in its end engages in a cut made in the second piece. The present solution was the
most functional and intuitive (Fig. 4).
An example of this is the prototypes developed in the field of earring typologies
(Fig. 5). As in Architecture and Interior Design, we started from the volumetric and
the relationship with the place and a complete project is supposed to reach the scale
of the door handle, answering to constructive problem. In this typology of earrings,
we explored asymmetric PLA modules that present recessed parts and holes where
we can fit copper forms containing the ear pins. We can exchange their bases for
identical shapes with distinct colours.
Although market is offering solutions of asymmetric earrings even in the so-called
high jewellery, such as the sets of chandelier earrings with inverted designs created
by De Grisogono (Liu 2017), for The Tubetto collection we can conclude changeable
solutions an unexplored point of view. At last, we wanted to play not only with organic
Fig. 4 Collection “Possible but improbable spaces”. Line “Abstract spaces”. Mutable ring. 2019.
Mónica Romãozinho
Fig. 5 Collection “Possible but improbable spaces”. Line “Abstract spaces”. Mutable earrings.
2019. Mónica Romãozinho
338 M. Romãozinho
geometries but at the same time with strong colour contrasts although in a limited
range maybe due to our experience in interior design field: “Like other elements of
interior design, colour communicates, carrying messages about design intent from the
designer to the user. (…) As in any kind of communication, too many simultaneous
messages can be confusing. A multiplicity of colours produces the same effect as a
number of voices talking at the same time. The voices may not be discordant, but
continuous chatter is fatiguing in the long run” (Abercrombie 1990). We have played
with five main colours: “Blank Gris”, “Transparent”, “Turquoise”, “Traffic Blue”
and “Signal Black”. As I said before, history of design gives us inspiring objects,
costumes and spaces and the Art Deco style is one of the most inspiring examples
because it represents a moment of changes, breaking with Art Nouveau ornament and
announcing at the same time its end, promoting geometrical composition schemes
and colour range inspired by abstract movements such as Cubism and De Stijl: “The
vibrant colours of Art Deco were influenced by the Ballets Russes directed by Sergei
Diaghilev and Leon Bakst, whose fabrics and sets represented a source of inspiration
for every artistic sphere.” (Cappellieri 2010f).
The sketches are always present and the same happened with bristol models,
three-dimensional modelling and 3D printing, in order to find solutions and test
fittings, density and quality levels, minimum section bearable in the perforated zones,
minimizing the expense of PLA (biodegradable polymer termed polylactic acid), a
biodegradable material that is obtained from plant starch such as corn, which has
a low environmental impact. The advantage of materials such as plastic or resin
also derives from their extreme lightness as it allows you to rotate the pieces causing
different effects. In the case of the changeable earrings, we chose to weld a silver post
to the copper blade, but the pin of the brooch would be inserted into a recess made in
the back of the same piece in a manner like other earrings previously developed. 3D
printing has opened the door to all these possibilities, but its colour palette is limited,
and the quality of the filaments is also variable from colour to colour which makes
printing unpredictable. We also must think about the matter of filament recycling.
There are machines that convert plastic into the filament used in 3D printers, but they
are still much expensive. The solution found is, first at all, to control the first minutes
of each impression because the 3D printer process starts with the contours of the
object and sometimes, we detect initial problems with recesses. We give priority to
solutions that work by fitting, minimizing the use of bonding, incorporating some
wastes in our own creations safeguarding all possible residues of metals such as
copper that can be melted, re-entering the production cycle. Copper was the second
material chosen for its high melting point but mostly because of its reddish colour,
due to the mutations that it undergoes over time and oxidation, gaining unpredictable
tones. The cut of copper forms is manual using the goldsmith’s saw, followed by a
brushed finish.
5 Conclusions
The exploration of new concepts, materials and creative processes allowed us to

achieve a collection that is reaching a different public with a taste for contemporary
jewellery but without economical possibilities of “consuming” “haute” jewellery. We
have explored principles such as the versatility, the mutability that provide a manual
experience of transformation, exploring a geometrical language, irregular forms,
opting for subtraction instead of excess, banning any use of ornament, searching
for simplicity and elegance. But above all we must underline the idea of conveying
a critical narrative of how our cities’ architecture and interiors evolve. They are
limited series pieces so that whoever uses them feels that they communicate their
individuality such as a house, although they don’t play a functional role. In this
sense, we cannot fail to evoke the words of Gijs Bakker, one of the major exponents
in the context of contemporary jewellery: “I like jewellery because it is absolutely
superfluous. I like jewellery because it is never a priori functional. I like jewellery
because like clothes, it is closest to our body and says something about the wearer.
A painting is hung on the wall and can be ignored. A piece of jewellery is worn and
creates an impression” (Cappellieri 2010g).
References
Abercrombie S (1990) A philosophy of interior design. Westview Press, Boulder, p 113

Cappellieri A (2010a) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Europe and the United States. Skira Editore S.p.A, Italy, p 34
Cappellieri A (2010b) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2010c) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2010d) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2010e) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2010f) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2010g) Twentieth-century jewellery: from Art Nouveau to contemporary design in
Cappellieri A (2016a) Brilliant! I futuri del gioiello italiano. In: XXI Esposizione Internazionale
della Triennale di Milano. Corraini Edizioni, Mantova, p 33
Cappellieri A (2016b) Brilliant! I futuri del gioiello italiano. In: XXI Esposizione Internazionale
Cappellieri A (2016c) Brilliant! I futuri del gioiello italiano. In: XXI Esposizione Internazionale
Doulton M (2019) Chanel 1.5: one camellia five ways to wear it. The Jewellery Editor. Retrieved
from: http://www.thejewelleryeditor.com/jewellery/article/chanel-15-one-camellia-many-ways-
wear-it-diamond-jewels-2019/. Accessed 30 Jan 2019
Kayamura Y (2003a) La révolution japonaise dans la mode parisienne. In: XXIème CIELE: mode
in Japan. 5 continents editions, Milan, p 47
340 M. Romãozinho
Kayamura Y (2003b) La révolution japonaise dans la mode parisienne. In: XXIème CIELE: mode
in Japan. 5 continents editions, Milan, p 48
Liu M (2017) Jewelry, matching just isn’t cool any more. The New York Times, pp 1–5. Retrieved
from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/fashion/jewelry-assymetrical-earrings.html
Morini E (2000) Storia della moda XVIII-XX secolo. Skira, Milan, p 182
Noever P (2003) The other architect. On the sublime of architect. In: Carlo Scarpa: the craft of
architecture. Mak Studies, Vienna, p 10
Pagan S (2011a) Contemporary jewellery: a phenomenological approach to making informed by
architecture. In: ACUADS conference 2011: creativity: brain–mind–body: a view into the future
of Australian Art and Design Schools. Retrieved from: http://acuads.com.au/conference/article/
contemporary-jewellery-a-phenomenological-approach-to-making-informed-by-architecture/.
Accessed 21–23 Sept 2011
Pagan S (2011b) Contemporary jewellery: a phenomenological approach to making informed by
architecture. In: ACUADS conference 2011: creativity: brain–mind–body: a view into the future of
Australian Art and Design Schools, p 1. Retrieved from: http://acuads.com.au/conference/article/
Pagan S (2011c) Contemporary jewellery: a phenomenological approach to making informed by
architecture. In: ACUADS conference 2011: creativity: brain–mind–body: a view into the future of
Australian Art and Design Schools, p 3. Retrieved from: http://acuads.com.au/conference/article/
Passos A (2019a) Jewellery: from material to affection. J Jewel Res 2:2
Passos A (2019b) Jewellery: from material to affection. J Jewel Res 2:4
Rodchenko A (1979) Line. Alexander Rodchenko. Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, p 12
Furniture as a Piece of Design
and as a Piece of Decorative Arts
Graça Pedroso
Abstract Most of the time, when it comes to furniture developed until the early 20th
century, furniture is referred to as a piece of Decorative Arts. However, when furniture
is produced industrially it is already considered an object of Design. This division
between furniture as a Decorative Art or as a work of Design is little discussed,
although some manuals on history of design already cover periods prior to industrial
production, putting that furniture and the one that is considered Design together in
the same definition. A piece of furniture is constituted by several components that
are organized in a system. That system can be analyzed on several domains, such as
constructive, formal, functional, socio cultural, economic, semantic and symbolic.
In one or more of these domains we can find a decorative art, but not in the piece
of furniture as a whole. This study results from the observation of different pieces
of furniture from different periods. Each piece of furniture is studied in its different
domains allowing an intrinsic synthesis. Using this method of studying the piece of
furniture we intend to question if furniture should be seen as a Decorative Art object
or as a Design object.
Keywords Furniture · Decorative art · Design · Domain · System
1 Portuguese Case Studies
Written works about furniture are usually directed to a historical perspective directed
to artistic styles, which are mainly ways for a creative expression that, at each his-
torical moment, reflects the collective liking and the way of living of a society. This
kind of study is very useful in order to establish a correct knowledge of the different
eras and consequently to the understanding of the relationship between furniture
and other arts. But when it comes to the understanding of the singularity of a piece
G. Pedroso (B)
Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco - Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas, Campus da
Talagueira, Avenida do Empresário, 6000 Castelo Branco, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_26
342 G. Pedroso
of furniture, this kind of study is inadequate. Valuable in order to find tendencies

and common characteristics between pieces of furniture, it is not effective for the
understanding of that which remains exclusive of each piece of furniture.
Present chapter is focused on the Victorian period and on the following ones,
though a few pieces of furniture from other periods are presented in order to clarify
some contents.
Subsequent to the exhibitions of Paris, in 1819 and 1834, the Exhibition of Art
and Industry of all Nations at the Crystal Palace of London, in 1851, presented
pieces of furniture made exclusively for the event. They used good materials and
they were perfectly made but, as the main idea was to attract the public, they were
over-decorated and its big dimensions stayed away from the essential notions of scale
and proportion. Luxury was achieved through the use of a great diversity of profusely
ornamented materials.
For a long time, this kind of furniture became the Victorian Style negative image.
At the time Industrial Age had reached its apogee, less creative furniture had emerged.
Revivalisms of different historic styles and poorly achieved imitations were usual.
Even so, some little innovations appeared concerning to the seat furniture, such as the
creation of new typologies. This furniture corresponds to an ever changing society,
whose objects acquired an excessive ornamentation never seen before. It was the
answer for a new increasing consumption medium class.
According to David Raizman “Never before were the decorative and industrial
arts made the focus of such widespread attention, crossing boundaries of class and
presenting a kind of visual excitement that stirred the popular imagination” (Raizman
2003). Within this revivalist liking, the Neo-gothic Style became more and more
relevant. In 1835, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin published “Gothic Furniture
in the style of the Fifteenth Centrury”, in which he created a new interpretation of
this style, quite different from that of his contemporaries. He was interested in the
integrity of form, structure and construction, ignoring the exterior aesthetics, as the
excess of ornament (Pugin 1835).
In furniture, ornament represents a certain liking and the culture of an era, but
other domains are also relevant for the understanding of a piece of furniture in its
whole. For such an approach a different methodology is needed. A methodology
that must point to the piece of furniture, analyzing its whole as an organized system
composed of several domains and allowing an interpretation of furniture through
different points of view. Not only the functional, the formal, the decorative and the
constructive points of view, but also those related to symbolic, semantic, social,
cultural and economic contents. As Lucy Smith said (2004), a piece of furniture is
the answer to a certain need, obtained from an intention, built by an assertive choice
of materials and construction processes, identifiable but that identifies itself, and that
is suitable for a certain society, or for anyone of its sectors.
As an approach upon this method, let’s observe a chair. As many authors’ opinion,
chairs are the most representative kind of furniture of an era. Back in 1953, George
Nelson said: “every truly idea – every innovation in design, every new application of
materials, every technical invention of furniture – seems to find its most expression in
a chair” (Fiell and Fiell 2002). History is plenty of examples in which the power and
Furniture as a Piece of Design … 343
the social relevance of the user were reflected in furniture. The chair is probably the
kind of furniture that shows this the best, because in chairs this is obtained not only
by the use of rich materials but also, and most of all, by the height of the backrest
(Fig. 1).
The furniture collection of the Museu de Artes Decorativas da Fundação Ricardo
do Espírito Santo Silva, in Lisbon, includes a chair called “cadeira de vestir”, which
means a chair to be dressed. It is representative of the mid eighteen century, the
Rocaille period, which, in Portugal, took place during D. José kingdom. This name,
“cadeira de vestir”, became from the fact that, in solemn occasions, an unattached
textile cap, made in velvet or brocade (gold-cloth), bordered with gallons and fringes,
was placed over the seat and the backrest.
Its structure is made of carved walnut, partially gilded with gold sheet. Both
cushion and backrest are removable and upholstered with damask embroidered with
gold thread. The backrest is fixed by wooden latches pinched to the stiles. These
Fig. 1 Chair to be dressed.

Museu Escola de Artes
Decorativas da Fundação
Ricardo do Espírito Santo
Silva (Freire et al. 2001)
344 G. Pedroso
are surmounted by pinnacles made in a molded bronze or brass league. Joints are
mortise and tenon and in many cases they are reinforced with pegs. It has a shellac
and beeswax finishing. The carving of the armrests prolongs over the seat rail, in
order to hide the joints, which reveals the constructive refinement. Legs are cabriole
legs and have ball-and-claw feet, quite common in Portuguese furniture from the
18th century. Stiles, front legs and stretchers are structural components. Backrest
and seat are functional components. The armrests are both structural and functional
components.
Ornament is carved in curves and volutes drawing asymmetrical and sinuous veg-
etal motifs. At the middle of the front seat rail, it has the Rocaille style characteristic
reversed seashell. As usual in Portuguese furniture till the 19th century, the author
and the workshop are unknown (Fig. 2).
As shown by the existence of ball-and-claw feet in the front and in the rear,
this chair is made to be placed in a central space; this means it is a chair of great
refinement, to be used by someone with high social status. Although made at a time
Fig. 2 Armchair (set of four

seats). Museu Nacional da
Ajuda Inv. 2400
the woodworks were highly appreciated, this chair still denotes the given appreciate
to the rich textiles, used in order to improve and promote the piece of furniture.
This chair was handmade and the one who create it must have been the one who
build it. During many centuries there was a tradition concerning to the legacy of
knowledge: from father to son, based on an almost familiar based work, and from
master to apprentice, based on the small workshop.
Far from its ancient functionality, in our days, this chair is seen like a fine example
of Portuguese Decorative Arts within the Rocaille style. Anyhow, it remains an
answer to a certain need, obtained from an intention, built by an assertive choice of
materials and construction processes, identifiable but that identifies itself, and that
is suitable for a certain society or for anyone of its sectors; just like in the day it has
been produced. This means it remains an object of design, despite the fact that it is
seen as a decorative arts object, in nowadays.
Observing another chair we might see that any change in any of the domains that,
in a whole, constitute the totality of furniture, might result in changes within all the
others. As Lucie-Smith said: “L’un des attraits de l’histoire du mobilier, réside dans
le fait que ses perspectives sont en continuelle mutation” (2004).1
This chair is part of a set of four throne chairs from the second half of the 19th
century, made by Elysio Santos & Cª Lda, from Lisbon (Silva 1912). In nowadays this
chair is part of Palácio Nacional da Ajuda collection, as it belonged the Portuguese
Crown who lived there. Just like last one, it was used in protocol occasions, but this
one is a revival one, made in the D. José style Rocaille.
The chair is made of gilded carved walnut. Cushion and backrest are removable
and are made of red silk velvet. The backrest upholstery is connected to the stiles by
unmovable metallic latches. Joints are mortise and tenon and in many cases they are
reinforced with pegs. Just like we’ve seen in last chair, armrests’ carving prolongs
over the seat rail, hiding the joints, revealing the same constructive refinement. The
structural and functional performances are also the same. Legs are cabriole with feet
winding inside, resting on flat bottoms.
Ornamentation is composed by flowers, volutes, symmetric flowers and the
reversed seashell at the middle of the front seat rail. The crest rail is topped with
the Portuguese royal family blazon. Side seat rails are undulated and have flowers
and leaves at the middle.
This chair might be considered as a revivalism of those that belonged the ensemble
of majestic chairs used during the festivities of the inauguration of the equestrian
statue of king D. José at Lisboa in Praça do Comércio, in 1775 (Pinto 1952, Fig. 209);
although those have been made in Brazilian tulipwood and with other measures,
principally because the backrest is higher. In the case of these chairs, the nobleness
of the wood and height of the backrest accorded to the status of those who did make
use of them. In the second half of the 19th century Brazilian tulipwood became to be
scarce, so in order to achieve an identical nobleness, the nut wood has been entirely
gilded. In Portugal, the fact of being gilded means we are in presence of a religious
1 “One of the attractions of the history of furniture, lies in the fact that its perspectives are constantly
changing”.
346 G. Pedroso
Fig. 3 Elysio Santos & Cª Lda. Great Modern Cabinet-maker—Electricity-Powered Furniture

Factory (Silva 1912)
cult object or a luxury object, and the presence of the royal blazon assures they were
used by the royal family or the body of courtiers (Fig. 3).
The set of throne chairs from the second half of the 19th century described above
was made in the beginning of the use of industrial processes in Portuguese furniture.
At that time the recourse to machine work is punctual and is simultaneous to the one
of the artisan. Being revivalist pieces of furniture, they have inherited the ornamental
vocabulary of Portuguese Rocaille and therefore no creative process has been needed.
After the introduction of the machine in the furniture production process, the one
who created the piece is not necessarily the same who produced it. These chairs were
made at Elysio Santos & Cª Lda woodwork shop, where the use of electricity was
already a reality for one hundred workers. They usually produced replicas of pieces
of furniture from the past. In the middle of the 19th century, these chairs have had a
determinate functionality, hence they are design objects but, in our days, they are not
used and so, they are considered decorative arts objects representative of that time.
Concerning this matter, it will be interesting to pay attention to an illustration for
the cover page for the catalogue of the Great Exhibition, 1851, London, published
in The Journal of Design. According to Raizman (2003), in this illustration we may
see an allegorical figure of Peace, in front of a globe, flanked by a designer and
a craftsman. The first one is a man with a long hair, dressed in a tunic, holding
the drawing of a calyx, surrounded by books or folders with drawings. The second
appears holding the calyx on hand. Surrounding him, we may see tools and a few
Fig. 4 Drum topped table.

José Aniceto Raposo. Museu
Escola de Artes Decorativas
da Fundação Ricardo do
Espírito Santo Silva (Freire
et al. 2002)
made products. This illustration hints the necessity of cooperation between designer
and artisan, showing that between them there was a difference that had never been
noticed before. This way, the designer is the one who creates but does not produce
and the craftsman is the one who produces but does not create (Fig. 4).
The Museu Escola de Artes Decorativas da Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo
Silva, already mentioned above, within its collection, has a Neoclassical Portuguese
drum topped table from the end of 18th century made in D. Maria I style. In this
case, its creator was the same who produced it. It is a multi-purpose table. It is used,
not only to place and store objects, but also to write, to read and to play cards. It
is made in hawthorn wood and it has turnery work. Marquetry and inlay are made
in Brazilian rosewood and natural European boxwood, tinged green. Nowadays, the
table top is lined with green velvet. Its drawers have circular handles made in brass
league. Its four legs are curved and join to the central leg by rabbet joint assemblies.
At the top of this central leg there is a mechanism that allows the rotation of the table
top. All other joints are dovetail assemblies.
The legs are structural components. The drawers and the table top are functional
components.
On the lower face of the drawers’ box we may see, for twice, the author initials:
JAR, and in its interior, after removing one of the drawers, there is a label: “Joze
Aniceeto Raposo a fez ao Loureto em Lisboa”.2 Next to it, it is also possible to see the
inscription RPC 48, which means that the table’s provenience is from the Collection
of The House of the Crown – Royal Palace of Cintra (Fig. 5).
2 “Joze Aniceeto Raposo has made this table, Loureto, Lisbon”. (José Aniceto Raposo, a well-known
Portuguese master-carver was one of the few Portuguese masters that signed his work).
348 G. Pedroso
Fig. 5 Inside detail of the drum topped table. The stamp and the label of José Aniceto Raposo
might be seen. Museu Escola de Artes Decorativas da Fundação Ricar-do do Espírito Santo Silva
(Freire et al. 2002)
Its ornamentation with flowers and pearled borders, and the crosslines made with
a contrasting wood are characteristics of the neoclassical style.
Although with his apprentices’ cooperation, José Aniceto Raposo is simultane-
ously the creator and the producer of this piece of furniture (Fig. 6).
Even though this table is now part of a museum collection and as so considered a
decorative art object, in 18th century it was an answer to certain functional needs that
remain in nowadays. It is a timeless piece of furniture because since its production
it would be in use. So it is an object of design, although seen as an art decorative
object due to its ornamentation.
The articulated chairs, whose structure is quite simple, usually composed by few
components and simple but efficient joints and mechanisms, are used since ancient
Fig. 6 On the left: Articulated chair. Museu Escola de Artes Decorativas da Fundação Ricardo
do Espírito Santo Silva (Freire et al. 2001). On the right: Articulated chairs. Author: Álvaro Siza
Vieira. Producer: SPS Sucrs. 1956 (Santos 2003)
times by Egyptians, Etruscans, Romans, or others, and they remained till today.
This kind of chairs remembers an itinerant life: they are easy for transport; they are
suitable for small space storage; they are equipments used for short time, being used
only when it is needed. But they are not able to confer status. They are pieces of
timeless design; its efficacy had remained for centuries, everywhere, independently
from the materials and tools used, the workmanship, the workshop or the factory.
If ornamented they are considered decorative arts objects, if not, they are design
objects.
Created in 1903, the Société dés Artistes/Décorateurs had promoted annually an
exposition, the Salon D’Automne. At the time, this initiative intended to frame the
Decorative Arts within Art in general. This society was embodied by many artists
whose ambition was to retrieve the dignity of decorative arts, lost in revivalisms
and excess of ornament. In their opinion, decorative arts would be renovated, and
furniture shouldn’t be an assortment of luxury objects but a useful set of equipment
instead.
In 1971, Tony Selmersheim concludes that in the beginning of the 20th century
“L’art décoratif etait dans le marasme” (2005).3
Since 1911, the presidents of the three main French cultural associations bound to
decorative arts: Union centrale des Arts décoratifs, Société des artistes décorateurs
and Société d’encouragement à l’art et à l’industrie, wished the realization of an
exposition dedicated to modern decorative arts. This exposition would take place
in 1925. The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne
would present two alternatives to the exhibitors: Luxury furniture and simple furni-
ture industrially made using new materials and without any ornamentation. The last
one would be presented by a recently created organization, l’Esprit Nouveau, inside a
pavilion with the same name. The interest of Le Corbusier in this organization and his
contribution for this event has been relevant. In his opinion, modern decorative arts
should present unornamented pieces for which the use of the machine was of great
value: “La machine, phénomène moderne, opère dans le monde une réformation de
l’esprit”.4 “Pourtant, intact, le facteur humain demeure, la machine étant conçu par
l’homme, pour de besoins humains” (Le Corbusier 1996).5
Pieces of furniture are included in the class of objects Le Corbusier classified
as “objects d’usage”, “destinés à faciliter les taches ingrates de la vie quotidienne”
(1996).6 They concretize the answer to the necessity that motivates the creative act,
which considers all intentions involved and uses pre acquired knowledge, in order
to obtain the object. By its turn, the object institutes itself as a prolongation of man
and influences him. Sena da Silva explains this relation: “… os objetos começam por
ser ‘resposta para uma necessidade’ e acabam por determinar um ‘modo de viver’”
(Gulbenkian 2009),7 and as so we may add that there is a way of use for them.
3 “Decorative art was in the doldrums”.

4 “The machine, a modern phenomenon, operates in the world a reformation of the mind”.
5 “Yet, intact, the human factor remains, the machine being designed by man, for human needs”.
6 “Objects of use intended to facilitate the unpleasant tasks of everyday life”.
7 “At first objects are answers to a necessity, thereafter they define a way of living”.
350 G. Pedroso
In 1978, another Portuguese designer of the second half of 20th century, Cruz de
Carvalho, said: “nas peças que têm como finalidade contribuir para a realização de
funções fisiológicas como a cama para dormir, os assentos para repousar, as mesas
para comer, ou para o desempenho de certas tarefas como é o caso das secretárias
de escritório e das carteiras de escola, o móvel torna-se como que no prolongamento
do corpo ao ponto de constituir com ele um todo único…” (Carvalho 1978).8
Merely utilitarian furniture, whose functionality concerns to equipments for civil-
ian use, efficient and economic, made in new materials and with new technology,
had determinated “une grande incertitude au niveau des styles” (Lucie-Smith 2004)
(Fig. 7).9
This is the context in which Cruz de Carvalho e José Espinho have conceived
unornamented pieces of furniture designed for part of the Portuguese middle 20th
century societies’ liking.
One of the best-known chairs by Cruz de Carvalho is called “Simples” and has
been produced by Interforma during the end of the sixties.10 This chair has a single
functional component comprising seat and backrest, made by a veneer laminating
process that uses a split mould with adhesive cured at room temperature, upholstered
with foam coated with napa leather. The structure is made in solid wood and joints
are made by mortise and tenon joints and dowel joints. These are carried out by a
Fig. 7 “Simples” chair and secretary. Author: Cruz de Carvalho. Producer Interforma. End of
sixties (Anúncio publicitário Interforma 1971)
8 “In the case of pieces of furniture that have as purpose to contribute to the accomplishment of
physiological functions like the bed to sleep, the seats to rest, the tables to eat, or to the performance
of certain tasks like the office desks and the school desks, the furniture becomes an extension of the
human body to the point of constituting with it a single whole…”.
9 “A great incertitude about styles”.
10 Interforma was a Portuguese furniture factory.
driller with multiple heads with a 32 mm distance between them. Dowels are inserted
into the joint with glue and hammered into place.
As seen above, this chair has a set of structural components and a single functional
component.
An specimen of this chair was present at the 1.ª Exposição de Design Português
and, at the time, was profusely divulged in magazines such as Casa & Decoração,
both in advertisements and integrated in different interior spaces. There were two
options for wood: beech or mahogany, and other two for upholstery: napa leather
or textile. There is a variant for this chair that includes armrests; simply obtained
prolonging the legs above the seat and applying the armrests on its tops. All other
components remain the same in order to keep costs low. Besides these choices in
appearance, the “Simples” chair has constituted itself in the origin of many others
that used similar components.
In advertisements this chair appeared next to a writing table convertible into a
secretary by the addition of boxes of drawers. Its structure could include one or two
boxes simply placed over a transversal inferior stretcher and attached to the legs only
by screws. There were two sizes for these boxes and within them there were various
boxes with different compositions of drawers. This way, this writing table fitted itself
to user needs; using few different components and so keeping the costs low (Fig. 8).
During the first half of the sixties, José Espinho has designed for Olaio various
versions for resting chairs, each of them with many variants.11 The “Maple modelo
Sol” is one of them. It distinguishes itself from the rest of these models mainly
because it has armrests and because it has a high backrest. The height of seat plan,
Fig. 8 “Modelo Sol”

armchair. Author: José
Espinho. Midle sixties.
Producer: Móveis Olaio.
Photo courtesy of Maria José
Espinho
11 Olaio was a Portuguese furniture factory.

352 G. Pedroso
its deepness and the height of backrest, as well as the angles of inclination between
both, and regarding the soil, are suitable for comfortable rest. This chair was clearly
thought for resting.
Its lineament did consist of two structural flanks composed by rear leg, front leg,
side seat rail and armrest. Both flanks there were connected to seat and backrest,
which were functional and structural components. Special hardware was used in
these joints.
Flanks’ components were made of wood. Mortise and tenon joints were used.
Seat and backrest incorporated slabs of wood products and foam enclosed by napa
leather.
The target market was the middle class, in great part newcomer from villages to
main Portuguese towns in the beginning of the second half of 20th century. It was a
growing social sector which had new necessities and different claims and, so, needed
innovative functional solutions. These pieces of furniture answered these demands,
allowing a significant reduction in productive costs, mainly achieved not only by
the rationalization of their frame lineament and of components, but also by a formal
simplification. In addition, the use of new materials and constructive techniques was
a great contribute. As told before most part of these pieces of furniture components
were used in the production of many other models and that also contributed to keep
low costs.
Seat and backrest with bigger thickness, compared with all the other models,
transmit the user the feeling of a more sophisticated seat. In this chair, the backrest
height, rather than a symbolic reason associated with power or social relevance,
has not only an ergonomic reason, because it allows the rest of the cervical region,
but also a semantic reason, because it appeals to rest. In these cases, the opinion
of Clement Meadmore in his book “The Modern Chair” can be evoked. Writing
about the “Poltrona Mole”, a Sérgio Rodrigues design he told about the existence
of communication between the piece of furniture and the user: “Surprisingly rare in
modern language is the way in which the chair promises comfort. […] Despite many
modern chairs being, in fact, quite comfortable, few of them give a visual value to
this characteristic” (Borges 2007) (Fig. 9).
Concerning to visual value, Indo-Portuguese furniture from the 17th century,
might help us see the relevance of semantics in furniture. Indo-Portuguese decorative
grammar presents visually not only the production region’s culture, but also the
culture of the one who ordered the piece of furniture. Only by themselves, these
objects represent the Portuguese Diaspora. Without this ornamental grammar the
communication between the object and humans would be impossible.
The 17th century Indo-Portuguese portable fall-front cabinet from Mongol India
we may see in Lisbon at the Museu Escola de Artes Decorativas da Fundação Ricardo
do Espírito Santo Silva, is a small piece of furniture for writing and containing (Ferrão
1990). As small that might be transported easily, it was useful because it stored jewels,
documents, relics and other precious goods the user intended to keep save. This kind
of cabinet is one of many pieces of furniture for writing that existed in 17th century.
They were the most luxurious pieces of furniture at that time and were essential
for those who travelled. In nowadays they lost this functional utility and they are
Fig. 9 Indo-Portuguese
cabinet. Museu Escola de
Artes Decorativas da
Fundação Ricardo do
Espírito Santo Silva (Freire
et al. 2002)
admired principally for their decorative wealth and their historical information. This
one, coming from Mongol India, reflects the intellectual curiosity of Grand Mongols,
especially those of Ackbar (1556-1605) and their descendents; who, by their cultural
policy, have assured a space for hosting and harmonization of cultures and even
religions (Freire et al. 2002).
Its dense and colored ornamentation expounds Persian Art naturalism. Unlike
in other areas of India, where human figure representation was not allowed, in this
cabinet’s ornamentation it is possible to see human figures dressed with Mongol
vestments; drawn with front view bodies and side view heads. The main symbolism
is exposed in its top face, where elephants, symbols of wealth and force, are ridden
in the Indian way by two men. At the center there is a tree of life, symbol of fertility.
Surrounding we may see small birds and two peacocks, symbols of immortality.
Marquetry and inlay works are made in East India satinwood, rosewood, natural and
tinged green ivory and brass wires. The small metallic pins that pin these materials
to the teak structure also have an ornamental effect.
Far from its ancient functionality, in nowadays this decorative object reveals the
History of an era at a certain place of the globe and evidences the cultural encounter
between Occidental and Oriental cultures and, this way, it remains a design object
with a current functionality (Fig. 10).
During the decade eighty of 20th century, following the post-modern movement
created by Etorre Sottsass, the Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira conceived sev-
eral pieces of furniture that might be integrated in it. The 1989 “Sandman chair”
is an example. It is made in wood and wood products, gloss polychrome painted,
where brilliant colors stand out. In this chair, ornament is a way of expression and
meaning that overpasses its function. Rui Afonso Santos describes it as a “spectacu-
lar” chair “in which the multidiscipline emphasis resorts to graphic design (with the
appropriation and transfiguration of the famous Sandman Port logo, a graphic image
belonging to our collective memory)” (Santos 2003). The formal intention over-
passes the needed rationality that functionality and construction impose, standing
354 G. Pedroso
Fig. 10 “Sandeman” chair.

Author: Tomás Taveira.
Produced in 1989 (Santos
2003)
out the sculptural and communicational value of the piece, diluting “the boundaries
traditionally established between equipment, painting, sculpture and advertising”.
As Fusco had said, chairs deny its own nature, offering themselves as bright demon-
strative plastic valued aesthetic objects (Fusco 2005). In these cases furniture doesn’t
use ornament as decorative element, but as an aesthetical element that, just like in
any other media, intends to communicate cultural values of society.
This chapter intends to demonstrate the relevance of historical design stud-ies in
which might be detected causes evoked by society, whose importance has resulted
in specificity in furniture production, thought as preservation of collective memory

and, or, as an answer to society and market’s needs.
This work’s fundamental intention is to demonstrate the importance of an under-
standing of the piece of furniture as a system, which means an organized ensemble
of physical and immaterial elements identifiable by different modes of observation.
Each one of these domains have different analyze perspectives and different own
objectives, consummated in the specific domains by means of which the piece of
furniture might be considered. Their synthesis consists on the totality of Furniture
as a discipline.
Thought this way, ornament is part of certain domains of furniture, and it is
fundamental for its understanding; however, it does not characterize Furniture in
its totality. This means that furniture, especially ancient furniture, does not might
be considered as a decorative art, forgetting all other domains than form. All other
domains are essential for the understanding of furniture as design objects.
2 Conclusions
What was said above takes us to the conclusion that a systematic classification for
furniture is fundamental, whatever its production period is. A piece of furniture must
be seen through different domains. One of these domains includes ornament, which is
the result of a determinate aesthetical preference from a certain moment in History,
and which offers us essential information in order to date the piece of furniture.
Nevertheless, other domains, such as the functional domain, the constructive domain,
the form domain, the semantic domain, the symbolic domain and the cultural domain,
are necessary for the understanding of the piece of furniture as a whole. Moreover,
many of these domains are related with the creative act and the needs of the consumers
and they consist in a referential for those concerned with furniture, such as those who
create and produce it, or researchers and historians. Furniture understood in its whole,
should not be seen as a decorative art object from a certain period. Decorative contents
consist on one only domain of the object, in other words, of the piece of furniture.
References
Anúncio publicitário Interforma (1971) Arquitectura – Planeamento – Design – Artes Plásticas 120
Borges A (2007) Sérgio Rodrigues. Viana & Mosley, Rio de Janeiro
Carvalho JC (1978) O design e a indústria de mobiliário: intervenção do designer Cruz de Carvalho
na Movelnor Braga 1977. Casa & Decoração 40:44–47
Corbusier L (1996) L’Art Décoratif d’aujourd’hui. Flammarion, Paris
Ferrão B (1990) Mobiliário português. Lello & Irmão, Porto
Fiell C, Fiell P (2002) Chairs. Tashen, Köln
Freire FC, Pedroso G, Henriques RP (2001) Mobiliário: Móveis de Assento e de Repouso. Fundação
Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, Lisboa
356 G. Pedroso
Freire FC, Pedroso G, Henriques RP (2002) Mobiliário: Móveis de conter, pousar e de aparato.
Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, Lisboa
Gulbenkian FC (ed) (2009) Sena da Silva. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa
Fusco R (2005) Historia del diseño. Santa & Cole Publicaciones, Barcelona
Silva CA (1912) Grande Marcenaria Moderna – Fábrica de móveis movida a electricidade. Occi-
dente: Revista Ilustrada de Portugal e do Estrangeiro 1211:181–182
Lucie-Smith E (2004) Histoire du mobilier. Thames & Hudson, Paris
Pinto AC (1952) Cadeiras Portuguesas. Augusto Cardoso Pinto & F. F. da Silva Nascimento. Fig 209,
Lisboa
Pugin AW (1835) Gothic Furniture in the style of the Fifteenth Century. Ackermann & Co., London
Raizman D (2003) History of modern design. Laurence King Publishing, Londres, London
Santos RA (2003) Cadeiras Portuguesas Contemporâneas. Asa editores, Porto
Direcção Geral do Património Cultural (2019) Ficha de inventário Palácio Nacional da Ajuda: 2392.
Available via MatrizNet Cited 14 May 2019 http://www.matriznet.dgpc.pt/MatrizNet/Objectos/
ObjectosConsultar.aspx?IdReg=992131&EntSep=3#gotoPosition. Cited 14 May 2019
Selmersheim T (2005) La dissolution de L’Art dans Tout et le « marasme » des arts décoratifs.
In: Rossella Froissart Pezone. L’art dans tout: Les arts décoratifs en France et l’utopie d’un Art
nouveau. CNRS Éditions, Paris. Accessed via Open editions books 24 Apr 2019. http://books.
openedition.org/editionscnrs/8431
Further Reading
1ª Exposição de design português 1971, Lisboa

Canti T (1999) O móvel no Brasil: origens, evolução e características. Editora Agir & Fundação
Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, Lisboa
Nunes G (2012) O mobiliário português de produção em série do terceiro quartel do século XX
(1951-1974). Faculdade de Arquitectura de Lisboa, Lisboa
Pedroso G (2013) José Espinho: a diversidade no fazer. Uzina books, Lisboa
Pedroso G (2017a) José Espinho: o homem na sua época. In: José Espinho: Vida e obra. Calei-
doscópio, Lisboa
Pedroso G (2017b) Neorrústico, moderno e estética industrial. In: José Espinho: Vida e obra.
Caleidoscópio, Lisboa
Pedroso G (2017c) José Espinho, o percurso e a visão nos móveis Olaio. In: Móveis Olaio 1886–
1998. Câmara Municipal de Loures, Loures
Design(ers) Beyond Industrial. From
Dissociation to Reassociation Through
Craft
Paulo Colaço and Demétrio Matos
Abstract Towards the end of last millennium, cultural and technological develop-
ment allowed humanity to severely alter the way we live, the objects of everyday
life and how they were made and used. The advent of industrial production made
it possible, for it contributed the rise of the Design professional, responsible for
the ideation and project of products, filling the recently created gap between intent
and machine production. For decades the seeds of post-industrial design have been
identified by researchers, their bloom is now shown evident by growing number of
people that try to avoid industrial goods. This has made the non-industrial market to
become multimillionaire, attracting an increasing number of people to make prod-
ucts. Craftsmanship holds the roots of cultural variation and carries a long tradition of
using sustainable materials and processes, values with increasing acknowledgement
by the market. Recent events will be reviewed, which show that the present state of
affairs combines both increasing market opportunities and communicational abili-
ties for designers to develop products for non-industrial means of production. This
study concludes that within this perspective, designers and craftspeople collabora-
tions have an option to successfully develop sustainable products, while contributing
for a more thoughtful and sustainable world.
Keywords Design · Post-industrial design · Craft · Human development
P. Colaço (B)
ESD-IPCA, Barcelos, Portugal
D. Matos
ID + ESD-IPCA, Barcelos, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_27
358 P. Colaço and D. Matos
1 The Rise and Promotion of Industrial Design
Modernity is characterized by a shift in the perspective about the relation between

man and the world, which allowed a great scientific and technologic development
(Casini 1979), originating a radical change in the way objects were made by the mid-
dle of the eighteenth century. It was a systemic radical change happening at a fast pace
and induced radical changes in social and economic structures of society. Although
previous technology wasn’t completely eliminated, by the middle of the nineteenth
century machines technology was developed to such degree that had become the
main element of most of the technological systems of materials transformation, as
well as energy and transportation that it required and produced (Paulinyi 1986). Also
creative work within the production of goods was transformed, industrial production
divided the ideation of products from its fabrication (Giedion 1948).
It was in this context that design as an activity emerged, filling the gap between
commercial intent and fabrication, developing and applying an industrial style,
imposed by the adoption of machines technology. This industrial style is based on
standardization of materials and processes, the resulting novelties were presented in
World’s Fairs (Bürdek 2005). A significative change industrial production brought
to the creative process was abstract notation mediation, design—the finished work of
the designer—is a set of specifications translated into a language, which will then be
interpreted by those responsible for materializing them into an object. So the respon-
sibility for the quality of the finished object lays, in great degree, in this process
of interpreting specifications and the ability to fulfill the requirements (Pye 1968).
This is one of the reasons why there was such effort in developing new materials and
automated production techniques. Today the use of standard homogeneous materials,
technologies like injection molding and digital modelling and fabrication, reduces
the need and eliminates almost entirely the influence of the worker in the quality of
the finished product.
In opposition to the industrial perspective, the Arts & Crafts movement arose in
the middle of nineteenth century, aiming to reunite design with production, which
would lead to social renewal of the arts and their aesthetics. Later in the nineteenth
century another movement emerged, Art Nouveau, led by Henry van de Velde, trying
to imprint in the objects the artistic sense of live. Workmanship was valued in an
elitist and individualist way (Bürdek 2005).
In the beginning of twentieth century Hermann Muthesius was in charge of
bringing Arts & Crafts’ values into techniques of proto-industrial design in Ger-
man arts, crafts and trade schools (Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschulen). The
goal was to train the new generation of craftsmen and other workmen to German
SME (Mittelstand), so they could serve the modern economy, aiming to develop
design and production of goods and improve German’s competitive position in
international markets. In 1907 Deutscher Werkbud was created, uniting a diverse
Design(ers) Beyond Industrial. From Dissociation … 359
group of artists, craftsmen, architects, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and govern-

ment officials, using artistic intervention to improve German production. The ten-
sion between artistic individualism supported by Henry van de Velde and indus-
trial types supported by Muthesius was evident in 1914, with the latter imposing
his view. For most of the twentieth century, this opposition “was at the core of a
modernist teleology in which, supposedly, standardization and an accompanying
tendency toward machined abstraction were the inevitable results of the progress
of industrial culture” (Maciuika 2011, pp. 99).
After WWI the influent Staatliche Bauhaus Weimar was created, direct by Wal-
ter Gropius, where art and technique should come together, focusing on creating
accessible products with high functionality, which meant combining work and social
well-being. The two decades it lasted were not enough to allow its cultural influence
to go beyond the elites, but the pedagogical influence was great, many teachers and
students had important roles in American and European institutions, spreading the
principles of Bauhaus. After WWII, also in Germany, Hoschule fur Gestaltung Ulm
was created, a school in which the direction and part of the teachers had studied in
Bauhaus. Ulm was a technical humanist school where they tried to conciliate the
practical, aesthetical and pedagogical aspirations of the time. Lasted fifteen years
but also had great influence, creating a significant part of repertoire of the design
(Bürdek 2005).
The evolution of industrial design, based on industrial technology and society,
matured to the Modern Movement, to which design should be rationalistic, reduc-
tionistic and mechanistic, free from subjective speculation (Cross 1981).
2 The Tendency Towards Dissociation
In the first decades of the twentieth century the ability to create value within com-
mercial organizations by adopting an holistic perspective, a strategic mindset and a
project approach—what we know now as design—became evident (Bürdek 2005).
This ability was also perceived outside the industrialized western world and, in
1957, Indian government requested Eames couple recommendations for a training
program that could contribute to the development of their small and medium enter-
prises (SME), mostly working with low or very low technology. The result was
a report—the India Report—which encourages the analysis of what Indian people
felt was important to them and recommended an institute of design, research and
service to be founded, which could provide advanced training. This report con-
tributed to the establishment of National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, in
1961 (NID 2015).
After WWII the industrialized western countries ensured a development model
for non-industrialized countries focusing in infrastructure and industrial enterprises,
financed by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (Margolin
2015). In the early 1970s the International Centre for Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID), now World Design Organization (WDO), asked United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) a plan to implement national design

policies in peripheral countries, which was developed by Gui Bonsiepe (Bonsiepe
1973), former student and teacher at Ulm. In this document industrial design was
clearly defined as a mechanism for the development of underdeveloped countries,
nevertheless ignoring the capitalist nature of the activity (Alpay Er 2015). In an inter-
view in 2015, Gui Bonsiepe states the historical context in which the document was
created was very different, there were many significant changes since then, but the
basic content—reduce the dependency and increase the autonomy—still maintains
the same relevance that it had before (Patrocínio and Nunes 2015).
Design as a development tool has had many interpretations, some advocated solu-
tions based on low technology and intensive labor, as Victor Papanek in his book
Design for the real world (1972), which was very influential (Margolin 2015). Later
Papanek recognized it was a paternalist perspective, common at the time (Alpay Er
2015). From a 1979 conference organized by NID resulted Ahmedabad Declara-
tion on Industrial Design for Development, which emphasized the role of industry
in the development process, the pertinence of design methodology for this process,
and traditional abilities and native materials in alliance with science and technology
(Margolin 2015).
In the following decade the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
increased the concept of development, considering not only economic development,
but also human development. In 1987 the World Commission of Environment and
Development (WCED), known as the Brundtland Commission, release a report—Our
common future (WCED 1987)—in which the concept of sustainable development was
introduced. The idea was to shift from large scale industrial projects to mitigating
the condition of the more disadvantaged, with emphasis on environmental issues.
In 1995 the World Commission on Culture and Development (WCCD) prepared a
report—Our creative diversity (WCCD 1996)—in which is stated that the ultimate
goal of development is the physical, mental and social well-being of every human,
also addressing cultural heritage, the maintenance of cultural plurality and global
ethics. In 2000 the United Nations (UN) presented eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDG), aiming at reducing poverty and increasing quality of life by 2015,
by then only three of them were met (Margolin 2015). They were later increased to
the actual seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), addressing economic
growth, social needs and environmental protection (UN, n.d.).
Comparing the humanist evolution of these declarations with international trade
policy, the contradictions at macro level are numerous (Margolin 2015).
3 The Tendency Towards Reassociation
At the consumer, or micro level, changes are already in place, as the number of
people influenced by sustainability is increasing, also rising is the number of people
willing to pay more for brands committed to positive social and environmental impact
(Nielsen 2015).
A still pertinent answer to sustainability was the proposal of post-industrial design

(Cross 1981), which presented a new vision in three domains:
• Products: should be long-lived, repairable, customized;
• Process: should be externalized, inclusive, extensive;
• Designer: should be collaborative, anonymous, participatory.
Post-industrial design resulted from the adaptation of the sane, humane, ecological
(SHE) perspective, presented by James Robertson in 1978: The sane alternative. In
the 2008 preface of 1983 revised version, the author states that, in the thirty years
since the original version, humanity moved towards collapse. Also alerts to the fact
that the attention given to global warming and carbon emissions, although deserved,
distracts us from other problems humanity faces, as food and agriculture; travel,
transport and trade; prevailing structures of work and employment, and patterns of
production, consumption, and distribution; waste production and disposal among
others (Robertson 2008).
These are concerns shared by increasing number of people interested in rein-
venting their lives, which is one of the factors contributing for society to improve,
along with the development of information and communication technology (Manzini
2015). Ezio Manzini tells us this is possible because everyone has the ability to
design—diffuse design, but not everyone dedicates the effort needed to become a
trained professional—expert design. The author goes on presenting a definition of
design’s role in this process: “Design for social innovation is everything that expert
design can do to activate, sustain, and orient processes of social change toward sus-
tainability.” (Manzini 2015, p. 62).
Distributed systems are those in which sociotechnical context promote production
closer to consumption, which is now possible because of the convergence between
networked systems and creative communities. Distributed systems, along with social
innovation, are the main pillars of Manzini’s small, local, open, connected scenario—
“SLOC scenario proposes a possible future, though it is a future that requires many
converging efforts if it is to become real” (Manzini 2015, pp. 179). SLOC scenario
proposes a general vision with two main strategies by which small and local activities
may have large-scale impacts:
• Replicating: implies the necessity to experiment, and then consolidate and propa-
gate the best results, by designing a solution locally appropriate;
• Connecting: resulting not only by the accumulation, but by the multiplying effect
of a network connection.
In the context of design for social innovation with a post-industrial mindset,
designers may contribute to society by applying their expertise in finding solutions
that promote sustainability. The collaborative dimension of this process is key to
achieve solutions with which people identify themselves and find valuable, based
on shared visions associating well-being and sustainability. Designers can also bring
their expertise to show how they may be achieved, therefore promoting the motivation
needed to act upon such visions (Cross 1981; Manzini 2015, 2016).
4 Design + Craft: An Option to Consider
While in underdeveloped countries the promotion of crafts may represent the impos-
sibility of reaching development (Bonsiepe 1973), in matured markets of industrial-
ized countries is quite different. A report KPMG prepared for Crafts Council (UK)
states that “craft skills and knowledge have a strong economic impact and significant
potential to drive further growth and innovation in other sectors” (KPMG 2016, p. 3).
Craft has had its share of attention increasing (Jakob and Thomas 2017), has been
used to imply quality and authenticity in products of all kinds (Cavalli 2017), and
became a market with relevant commercial impact (Luckman 2015). Recent events
like London Craft Week,1 Homo Faber,2 Revelation,3 Collect4 and Doppia Firma5
promote it by showing actual examples of curated creative practices, like traditional
craftsmanship, art-like activities and design and craft collaborations.
In order to assess excellence in craftsmanship, Alberto Cavalli (2017) gathered a
list of terms used to described it: authenticity, competence, craftsmanship, creativity,
innovation, interpretation, originality, talent, territory, tradition and training . Here
we find individual human sensibility, creativity and skill, combined with local and
traditional values. Craftsmanship entails both the abstract conceptualization as in
design, as well as technical skill and material knowledge. Does so in a dialectic man-
ner, as theory and practice are mutually influenced in the creative process, creating
“human world directly out of the raw substance of nature itself. It entails transfor-
mation of our direct sensuous experience of nature into a world of culture” (Risatti
2007, pp. 170).
These are features that contribute to create objects with ability to fulfil
human drives with emotional engagement, products that can have a meaning-
ful and positive impact in the world, what David Rose calls enchanted objects
(Rose 2015). Although the value recognized by people in objects by engag-
ing emotionally in their meaning is something personal and, therefore, differ-
ent in each individual, this a process in which design can intervene with spe-
cific skills—frame creation or sense making—the ability to generate alterna-
tive visions that influence people’s perception and eventually motivates action
(Dorst 2015; Manzini 2015; Norman and Verganti 2014).
A side-by-side view of the fundamental features of industrial and artisanal pro-
duction (Fig. 1) helps to assess, by means of a scheme, the characteristics of any
object, in which the narrative of the object may be based, in terms of its contribution
to design, craft and the consumer/market. This will be made by answering the fol-
lowing questions: how is the product made? By which means? With which mindset?
With what objective? What type of system is being supported?
1 https://www.londoncraftweek.com/.
2 https://www.homofaberevent.com/.
3 https://www.revelations-grandpalais.com/en/.
4 https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/collect/.
5 http://www.doppiafirma.com/.
Fig. 1 Side-by-side view of fundamental features of Industrial and Artisanal production, with
examples of objects’ placement. Source Authors (2019)
In industrial production the quality of products is predetermined, materials are

developed so machines may work them as needed, in the most efficient way, so they
are uniform and mass-produced, resulting in obsolescence and waste. Example of this
fully industrialized production are the screw and plastic bottles: made by machines in
large series, with industrial material in order to meet predetermined standards (from
shape and size to mechanical performance), as cheap as possible.
Artisanal production, on the other hand, always involves some degree of risk in
the production, as the quality of the result is constantly dependent on judgment,
dexterity and care, so the degree of risk depends on the mastery of the artisan (Pye
1968). Craftspeople have a remarkable sensitivity with regard to material and its pos-
sibilities, always trying to take advantage on the natural features it presents (Cavalli
2017), and they have pride in work well done (Sennett 2008). Artisanal products are
made one at the time, so adjusting to individual needs is easy, and the result is always
a one-of-a-kind object that people will tend to cherish (Risatti 2007; Rose 2015). An
example could be a weaved basket, made of unprocessed natural fibers, worked by
hand for a particular purpose. Most of the products in our daily life (clothes, furniture,
accessories, etc.) will fall somewhere between these antipodes, with characteristics
from one and the other end. To assess the variety we may encounter, ceramics are a
good example:
• In factory-made ceramics the quality of the resulting object is mostly certain,
material is formulated to ensure it, produced in the more efficient way, the use
of molds make all products equal, also allows for the productions of virtually
unlimited quantity, so the price will tend to be low, promoting the obsolescence;
• In wood-fired ceramics made in traditional way, in which the artisan collects and
prepares the material, throws the piece on the wheel and then fires it by burning
wood, the degree of risk for the quality of the result is high, great knowledge,
attention, mastery and pride in material preparation and work are required, the
resulting piece will be unique, therefore who acquires it most likely recognizes
and values the aesthetics and cultural meaning of the object.
New generation of creative people embrace a career in crafts by choice, while pre-
vious generations usually became acquainted with their craft as result of economic
considerations and availability of apprenticeships, in this perspective craftsmanship
and modern technology are understood as complementary (Moritsch 2018). Tech-
nology makes it now easy for someone to apprentice in any trade, thanks to online
content, although mastery still takes a long time to achieve and learning directly from
experts or masters is still very important. Tools and materials may found and ordered
online, just as people’s work may sold online, also cross-disciplinary activity is now
more likely to happen (Adamson 2015). So the evolution in communications and
production technology allows the conditions for small-scale fabrication to be pos-
sible (Anderson 2012), designers applying their problem-solving and sense-making
abilities can contribute to society’s resilience by collaborating with local artisans,
within a global perspective, what Manzini calls place-making (Manzini 2015).
The way crafts are considered depends on the objectives of those who analyze it,
some of the most common approaches presented by Bonsiepe (2011) are:
• Conservative: aims to protect craftspeople from external influences, usually seen
in anthropologists trying to keep external influences out;
• Aesthetic: crafts are seen as repository of popular art, sometimes used to collect
traditional patterns as basis for design projects;
• Productive: craftspeople are seen as cheap skilled labor, often these initiatives are
presented as if it were helping craftspeople, when in deed it perpetuates dependency
relations;
• Cultural: crafts are seen as repository of popular culture, often implying the impos-
sibility of evolution;
• Paternalist: sees craftspeople as assistance programs’ clients and acts as mediator
between craftspeople and retail;
• Innovative: strives for the autonomy of craftspeople, the evolution of their work
and the development of their businesses, in this case direct participation is required.
This essay advocates a collaborative creative process between designers and
craftspeople, characterized by parity among members, in which the activities are
framed within a plan to achieve shared expectations of a better future. It would
therefore be included within Bonsiepe’s innovative approach, we believe it encom-
passes a few important aspects to consider in collaborative processes, such as the
ability and availability to learn, share and recognize other types of knowledge, as
well as the recognition of co-authorship (Azua 2017; Borges 2011).
5 Conclusions
Traditionally, creative people would find inspiration in cultural, scientific and tech-
nological novelties, but the end of the millennium created a disturbing situation, in
which almost everyone (artists, artisans and designers included) are disconnected
from the vanguard of contemporary culture—advanced physics theory and applied
technology such as Artificial Intelligence—not by incompetence, but by ignorance,
so we feel free to find interest and fun where we can. According to Peter Dormer
this is the reason behind crafts’ success in the twentieth century (Dormer 1995).
“The question is how can designers change the world. Design cannot. Design-
ers can change the world” (Frog 2013). These words by Harmut Esslinger are still
relevant, despite the fact that most designers don’t deal directly with the vanguard
of technology, as their strategic and frame creation competences are suited to foster
new visions of a better world, and the way people “see” the world—our cognitive
models—which determines the way people interact with it, maintaining or changing
it, in one way or another (Burke 1985). Craft can contribute significantly to a wider
range of possibilities within the design realm as it presents opportunities for designers
to engage in design for social innovation, through collaborations with craftspeople
(Manzini 2015).
Design researchers are unanimous in taking the increase of actionable knowledge
within the discipline as the objective of research, which may allow for other pro-
fessionals to act upon the new knowledge, addressing the challenges they encounter
(Branco 2014). The contributions this essay on design and crafts collaboration makes
are:
• For design: new knowledge for discipline’s culture, by combining designer’s way
thinking and acting with other creative activity based on practical knowledge;
• For crafts: holistic approach to object ideation and project, focusing on traditional
culture and technologies;
• For society: fostering placemaking, contribution to the development and resilience
of local economies and culture, availability of objects that promote an emotional
relation with its owners.
The authors expect this essay may help designers who want to embrace the creation
of meaningful products within a sustainable mindset. The focus on design and craft
collaboration is presented here as a viable option within this perspective, which
requires practical application for further development, which in turn emphasizes the
need for the creation of clear plans and visions of a future that may motivate others
to take action.
References
Adamson G (2015) Essay by Glenn Adamson. In: Openshaw J (ed) Postdigital artisans—craftsman-
ship with a new aesthetics in fashion, art, design and architecture. Frame Publishers, Amsterdam,
pp 286–288
Alpay Er H (2015) Padrões de desenvolvimento do design industrial no Terceiro Mundo: um mod-
elo conceitual para países recém-industrualizados. In: Patrocínio G, Nunes JM (eds) Design &
Desenvolvimento - 40 anos depois. Blucher, São Paulo, pp 29–54
Anderson C (2012) Makers—the new industrial revolution. The Crown Publishing Group, New
York
Azua M (2017) Modelos colaborativos Artesanía/Diseño. In: 7o encontro bid enseñanza
y diseño: territorio_diseño. Madrid. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/pq1N_g-6E7Y?list=
PLjddHonD1FrjvyBAwMurJY9v7ya6Ki1v9
Bonsiepe G (1973) Development through design. Viena
Bonsiepe G (2011) Design, cultura e sociedade. Blucher, São Paulo
Borges A (2011) Design + Artesanato - o caminho brasileiro. Editora Terceiro Nome, São Paulo
Branco V (2014) Design e investigação em design: alguma reflexões. In: Vilar ET (ed) Design et al.
- dez perspectivas contemporâneas. D. Quixotepp, Lisboa, pp 169–185
Bürdek B (2005) Design: the history, theory and practice of product design. Birkhäuser, Basel
Burke J (1985) The legacy of science. In: Burke J, Bergman J, Asimov I (eds) The impact of science
on society. NASA, Hampton, pp 3–30. Retrieved from https://history.nasa.gov/sp482.pdf
Casini P (1979) As filosofias da natureza. Editorial Presença, Lisboa
Cavalli A (2017) The master’s touch—essential elements of artisanal excellence. Marsilio Editori,
Venice
Cross N (1981) The coming of post-industrial design. Des Stud 2(1):3–7
Dormer P (1995) Os significados de design moderno a caminho do séc. XXI. Centro Português de
Design, Lisboa
Dorst K (2015) Frame innovation, create new thinking by design. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Frog (2013) Hartmut Esslinger—advice for designers. Retrieved 13 Dec 2017, from https://vimeo.
com/59679411
Giedion S (1948) Mechanization takes command: a contribution to anonymous history. Oxford
University Press, New York
Jakob D, Thomas NJ (2017) Firing up craft capital: the renaissance of craft and craft policy in the
United Kingdom. Int J Cultural Policy 23(4):495–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2015.
1068765
KPMG (2016) Innovation through craft: Opportunities for growth—a report for the Crafts Council,
(July). Retrieved from http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/content/files/KPMG_CC_Innovation_
Report.pdf
Luckman S (2015) Craft and the creative economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Maciuika JV (2011) The Globalization of the Deutscher Werkbund—Design reform, industrial
policy, and German foreign policy, 1907–1914. In: Adamson G, Riello G, Teasley S (eds) Global
design history, 1st edn. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 98–106
Manzini E (2015) Design, when everybody designs. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Manzini E (2016) Design culture and dialogic design. Des Issues 32(1):52–59
Margolin V (2015) Design para o desenvolvimento: mapeamento do contexto. In: Patrocínio G,
Nunes JM (eds) Design & Desenvolvimento - 40 anos depois. Blucher, São Paulo, pp 13–28
Moritsch HS (ed) (2018) Craft-based design—on practical knowldge and manual creativity. Niggli
Verlag, Salenstein
NID (2015) History & background. Retrieved 29 April 2019, from http://www.nid.edu/institute/
history-background.html
Nielsen (2015) The sustainability imperative—new insights in consumer expectations. Retrieved
20 Jan 2019, from https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/the-sustainability-
imperative.html
Norman DA, Verganti R (2014) Incremental and radical innovation: design research vs technology
and meaning change. Design Issues 30(1):78–96. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00250
Patrocínio G, Nunes JM (2015) 40 anos depois - entrevista com Gui Bonsiepe. In: Patrocínio G,
Nunes JM (eds) Design & Desenvolvimento - 40 anos depois. Blucher, São Paulo, pp 75–82
Paulinyi A (1986) Revolution and technology. In: Porter R, Teich M (eds) Revolution in history.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 261–289
Pye D (1968) The nature and art of workmanship. Bloomsbury Academic, New York
Risatti H (2007) A theory of craft—function and aesthetic expression. The University of North
Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
Robertson J (2008) The sane alternative—a choice of futures, 2nd edn. Retrieved from http://www.
jamesrobertson.com/books.htm#sane
Rose D (2015) Essay by David Rose. In: Openshaw J (ed) Postdigital artisans—craftsmanship with
a new aesthetics in fashion, art, design and architecture. Frame Publishers, Amsterdam, pp 60–63
Sennett R (2008) The craftsman. Penguin Books, London
UN (n.d.) Sustainable development goals. Retrieved 29 April 2019, from https://www.un.org/
sustainabledevelopment/
WCCD (1996) Our creative diversity. Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development.
Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000105586
WCED (1987) Report of the world commission on environment and development: our common
future. New York. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/
5987our-common-future.pdf
Portuguese Modernism
from Arquitectura Magazine (1927–1988).
Three Cases of Interior Design
in the 1950s
Liliana Neves and Fátima Pombo
Abstract This text intends to contribute to Portuguese Interior Design History based
upon the documental study of Arquitectura Magazine (1927–1988). This Magazine
was, at the time, in Portugal, a way to spread the work and knowledge developed
in architecture and interior design, which, despite controversies in social, cultural
and political matters, managed to remain outside the dictatorial ideology. The focus
of this article is to discuss the decade of 1950s which represents for Portuguese
Architecture, namely regarding Interiors, a period of searching for a Portuguese
Modernism in critical dialogue with the achievements abroad. The principles of
International Style, the influent writings of Le Corbusier and others, international
exhibitions (as the 8th Triennial in Milan under the theme The House), numerous
architectural projects were presented and discussed in Arquitectura. Throughout the
interpretation of the 2nd and 3rd series focused in de decade of the 1950s and the
analysis of three paradigmatic case studies it is aimed to illustrate the evolution of the
architectural interest to design single-family houses interiors as a privileged realm
of defining the contours of a modern Portuguese domesticity.
Keywords Interior design · Arquitectura magazine · Domestic interiors · 1950s
1 Introduction
The 2nd and 3rd series of the Arquitectura Magazine is the documentary base of this
research that aims to demonstrate the 1950s as the turning point for the expression
of a Modern Movement in Portugal.
Iniciativas Culturais Arte e Técnica (ICAT), the owners of Arquitectura during
the study period considered in this text and the authors that contributed and organized
L. Neves (B)
Polytechnic of Castelo Branco, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
F. Pombo
University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_28
370 L. Neves and F. Pombo
the several issues of the magazine were the key for the development of Portuguese
criticism about the modern thinking. Initially in the 2nd series with Keil do Ama-
ral, belonging to the 2nd generation of modern architects, the International Style
principals were the inspiration. Then with Nuno Portas in the 3rd series, and follow-
ing generation of architects the critical thinking was more framed in the Portuguese
reality itself.
This text presents three projects that showcase the evolution of the Modern Move-
ment in Portugal, with special attention to domestic spaces. The case studies concern
the projects of: (1) House in Vila Nova de Gaia designed by architects Cassiano
Barbosa and Arménio Losa in 1948 and published in the magazine in the 2nd series,
no. 44 September 1952; (2) Group of Houses in Matosinhos designed by architect
Álvaro Siza Vieira in 1954 and published in the magazine in the 3rd series, no. 68
July 1960 and (3) Ofir House designed by architect Fernando Távora in 1957 and
published in the magazine in the 3rd series, no. 59 July 1957.
From the point of view of the domestic space, it is noticeable that the projects of the
early 1950s were very much influenced by rationalism and functionality. However,
through the run of time, the potential needs of the inhabitant to use and transform
the space according to his/her exigencies were highly considered in the project, and
therefore domesticity gained relevance and the house became the home space to
shelter daily life.
2 Arquitectura Magazine (1927–1988)1
In the 20th Century, in the Portuguese panorama, there were several magazines2 about
architecture but Arquitectura Magazine always performed a special role. Authors as
Oliveira & Furtado (2009), Ferreira (2001) and Correia (2015) researching specif-
ically about the Arquitectura Magazine stressed that, despite being irregular in its
publications, it was the one active during a longer time period (1927–1988) resisting
to the censorship of dictatorial politics.
As it can be seen in Fig. 1, Arquitectura Magazine was published between 1927
and 1988 for a total of 61 years. The 1st series of the magazine begins in 1927 and
publishes 43 issues until 1939, coinciding with the Second World War. Between 1939
and 1945 Architect Francisco Costas (the owner and Editor of that time) launched
only one issue per year in February in order to keep the name active. These issues
(43–49 of the 1st series) were generally very small and with little content depicting
almost only the own project of Francisco Costa.
1 Some articles do not have the indication of the authorship therefore it is used the complete title
as reference.
2 During the 20th Century, in Portugal, were published several magazine related with architec-
ture and in turn also with interior design, like Construção Moderna (1900–1919), Annuario
(1905–1910), Arquitectura Portugueza (1908–1958), Arquitectura (1927–1988), Arquitectos
(1938–1942), Binário (1958–1977), Atrium (1959–1960), A Propriedade (1970–1975) and Jornal
Arquitectos (1981–).
Portuguese Modernism from Arquitectura Magazine (1927–1988) … 371
Fig. 1 Arquitectura Magazine: analysis of consistency of publication, ownership and director.

Source Authors
In February of 1946 the 2nd series begins with a new numbering, but still under
the ownership of Francisco Costa. In 1948 the magazine was acquired by ICAT and,
according to Ana Tostões (1997), when Keil do Amaral began to collaborate with
the publishing group, as early as 1947, it was when the magazine performed best.
The 2nd series was published until January/February of 1957, no. 57/58. The no.
59 was the beginning of the 3rd series in July 1957 and although the ownership of
the magazine remained with ICAT, this was a milestone in the change of direction
and type of publication, since it was led by a new group of architects who “sought a
reflection on the Portuguese reality informed about the Modern Movement and revis-
ing the International Style” adapting it to the Portuguese reality (Neves and Pombo
2018, p. 7). On April 1974, the magazine was acquired by the Editora Publicações
Nova Idades SARL and published no. 129, 130 and 131.
The magazine returns in February/March 1979, with no. 132, the first one from
the 4th series and on ownership of Editora Casa Viva with José Lamas as director.
Over the years the financial problems increased and in September/October 1984
it was published the last issue (no. 153) of this series.
In 1985, Lamas continues to see potential in Arquitectura and buying it becomes
its owner and decides to start the 5th series with a new face, numbering and name.
The Arquitectura Portuguesa was born and published the issues 1–12, closing in
1988.
Analysing Arquitectura magazine from the point of view of its coordination, it
is noticed that between 1927 and 1948 Francisco Costa was not only the owner, but
also the editor and director. In March 21, 1948, it was the first publication on the
ownership of ICAT and, although Francisco Costa maintained his position as editor
until no. 23/24 (May/June 1948), it is in this issue that appears for the first-time
other authors associated with the organization of an issue, in this case Vitor Palla,
Bento D’Almeida and Manuel Barreira. In no. 25 João Simões becomes editor and
Francisco Costa remains its director until June/July 1949 (no. 31), Alberto Pessoa
succeed until the end of the 2nd series (Fig. 2).
It is also noticeable that from the moment that the magazine is on the ownership
of ICAT, the change of editor generally translates a change of director and of people
responsible for the organization of the issues to publish.
Regarding the temporal span analysed in this text (1948–1960), the “Editorial” no.
14 of the 2nd series, April 1947, announces that the magazine “now has an advisory
body composed of architects of merit and an active intervention in the organization
of the magazine” (1947, p. 4). The no. 19 (January 1948) starts with a new graphic
Fig. 2 Analysis of the magazine Arquitectura after the ICAT ownership until 1960: evaluation of
the envolved names in the organization of the issues, editor, director. Source Authors
image in the cover, however, the indication of ownership by ICAT only appears
explicitly in no. 21, March 1948.
In the “Editorial” of publication no. 19 became explicit the magazine’s concerns
in divulging modern Portuguese architecture, in integrating other arts and stimulating
the debate by publishing more international projects.
This interest will be notable for the various news regarding CIAM activities and
the publication of the translated Athens Charter. From this moment on it was also
clear the approach to the architects of Porto, with “more courage to fight against
certain prejudices and, above all, with better comprehension about the architectonic
solution of our time” (Fernandes 1948, pp. 5–6).
The I National Congress of Architecture in 1948 and later the first Architecture
Exhibition held by ODAM3 in June 1951 were remarkable moments that converged
to reinforce the unity of the Portuguese architects in defence of modern architecture
inspired by the International Style (Correia 2015, p. 53).
3 Portuguese Modernism Throughout Arquitectura

Magazine
3.1 International Style Influence in Portugal
“Ecos e Comentários” [Echoes and Comments], no. 19 January 1948 is the first
publication of contents referring to conferences and exhibitions that are influential in
the propagation of modern international thought - International Style. The first section
of this article presents the last CIAM Congress held in Bridgewater and due to the
importance of that conference for the development of modern architecture, the readers
were informed that it will be published “already in the next issue, […]of the famous
«Athens Charter», a historical document where were launched the foundations of
the Modern Urbanism” (“Ecos e Comentários”, January 1948, p. 23).
Following this comment, the Athens Charter was published in Arquitectura
between no. 20 and no. 32 (Feb. 1948 and Aug./Sep. 1949), in a total of 11 chap-
ters, a crucial sign that the International Style became an influence for the modern
architecture in Portugal.
In the above-mentioned article of “Ecos e Comentários” it is also found ref-
erences of the evolution of architecture in Brazil through magazines Architecture
d’Aujourd’hui and Forum as well as of Le Corbusier with the goal to awake the
interest of Portuguese architects for such development in architecture.
In March 1948, at no. 21, it is found an unsigned 3 pages article dedicated to the
8th Triennial of Milan, where the latest news about architecture and about the fair
3 ODAM—Organization of Modern Architects. It was a group of Architects from Oporto, Portugal,
active between 1947 and 1952 with the purpose of disseminating modern architecture.
Fig. 3 “8ª Trienal de Milão” [8th Triennial of Milan], housing as main theme, images from show-
rooms. In Arquitectura, 2nd series, no. 21, March 1948, pp. 12 and 13
were reported, highlighting the theme of housing as the main point for debate and
for showroom.
Figure 3 depicts the way to create spaces according to the principles of Interna-
tional Style. As it is read:
The set of this Triennial was resolutely presented under the sign of rationalism and func-
tionalism. All the luxury and all the decoration itself has been eliminated. The 8th Triennial
included a section of domestic art studied by great artists who did not disdain to make good
drawings for varied objects of daily use from the radio to the cutlery (“8ª Trienal de Milão”,
March 1948, p. 13)
Almost one year after the I National Congress of Architecture,4 i.e. in Feb/March
1949 in Arquitectura no. 29 were published the conclusions and intentions of the
congress, becoming explicit the architects’ purpose to follow the Athens Charter
contextualized in the Portuguese context:
Let the study of the urban planning and construction problems consider objectively the
principles expressed in the “Athens Charter” […] never forgetting that its application must
be done in close contact with national realities.” (“I Congresso Nacional de Arquitectura”,
February/March 1949, p. 6)
Already in the same issue (no. 29), Formosinho Sanches writes a letter to the
readers informing about the exhibition of Brazilian Contemporary Architecture tak-
ing place in Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon in 1948. He also reminds that the
students of architecture should look at it as an “evolution” of the International style
framed in the Portuguese reality, “solving our problem of Modern Architecture”
(Sanches 1949, p. 17). In no. 28 (pp. 4–5), January 1949, Victor Palla, made already
a reference to the Brazilian Architecture and its capacities to return to tradition and
vernacular language.
4 The I National Congress of Architecture, took place May 28 and June 4 of 1948 in Lisbon. It
was a historical moment for the debate and critical thinking about Portuguese Architecture and the
problem of Portuguese dwelling. The several theses presented by the architects tried to approach
the international stage and criticized the standard style imposed by the dictatorial politics.
The 3rd series of the magazine approaches mainly the debate and the critical
thinking of the international style. At the same time international authors as Carlo
Scarpa, Bruno Zevi, Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and their projects became
relevant to the construction of the debate in Portugal.
For example, Portas before commenting Carlo Scarpa’s project transcribes an
excerpt of the text of Bruno Zevi in which he announces the awarding of the presti-
gious Italian architecture prize ‘Olivetti’ to Scarpa. Portas’ commentary on Scarpa’s
project refers not only to the structure and architectural space, but also to the dynamic,
intentional, and dramatic form of its interior (Portas 1957, p. 26). This commented
project reinforces the new editorial orientation ahead from the rationalism and func-
tionalism of the International Style.
3.2 The Modernist Generation in Portugal
Table 1 showcases 4 generations of architects in Portugal. The 2nd generation is the

one that initiates the ICAT and begins a more evident demand by an approximation
of Portugal to the international movement. The 3rd generation seeks a collective
architecture more conscious of its roots and organic approach. The 4th generation,
seeks to defend a historical continuity and a “cultural unity”.
Thus, it can be said that the turning point in the search for a Portuguese modernism
happens from the 3rd series of Arquitectura.
Table 1 The generation of modern architects in Portugal: most important authors that have seen
their work on Arquitectura Magazine between the 2nd and 3rd series
Arquitectura 1st series 2nd series 3rd series
series
generation 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Born in decade 1890 1910 1920 1930
Architects Carlos Ramos Keil do Amaral Nuno Teotónio Nuno Portas
(1897–1969) (1910–1975) Pereira (n. 1934)
Cristino da Silva Viana de Lima (1922–2016) Siza Vieira
(1896–1976) (1913–1991) Fernando (n. 1933)
Pardal Monteiro Januário Távora
(1897–1957) Godinho (1923–2005)
Jorge Segurado (1910–1990) Manuel Taínha
(1898–1990) Arménio Losa (1922–2012)
Cotinelli Telmo (1908–1988)
(1897–1948)
Rogério de
Azevedo
(1898–1983)
Source Authors based upon Tostões (2015), Correia (2015)
According to Correia (2015, p. 26) in the 1st series of the Magazine, the Modern
style was completely absent, privileging the regional style opposing to the modern
style. The 2nd series integrate several projects that try to resemble a modern style,
initially very marked by the monumentality of the Estado Novo5 expressed mainly in
public works. The 3rd series of the magazine begins to be written “for the search of
alternative models to the «International Style», and for the attempt to overcome the
strictly functional dimensions of the architecture of the Modern Movement” (p. 65).
It can be stated that the moment of transition between the Modern Movement and
the Portuguese Modern Movement is demonstrated in Arquitectura no. 57/586 where
it is read in the article Uma pousada na Nazaré that «form follows function» is today
a memory of the past” (January/February 1957, p. 19).
In no. 66, November/December of 1959, Nuno Portas writes that the new gen-
eration of the Modern Movement in Portugal was fundamental for the creation of a
critical thought in the collective of architects in Portugal (1959, p. 13).
3.3 Three Case Studies of Portuguese Domestic Space

in the 1950s
The case studies that are interpreted in this study demonstrate the transformation
of the Modern Movement in Portugal. The fact that these projects are single-family
houses allows a better illustration of the challenge of designing interior spaces. The
1950s were a turning point from the imposed language and the taste of the Portuguese
dictatorial State. Initially when the pioneering projects of modern language emerged
in Portugal it is clear the influence of the “International Style”, the functionalism
of Le Corbusier, the Athens Charter and the CIAM meetings. However, over the
time the recognition of Portuguese regional heritage and the criticism of modernist
functionalism contributed to the awareness of Portuguese vernacular language and
to the direction towards a more organic conception of domestic interiors.
The three chosen projects are representative of such transformation: (1) House in
Vila Nova de Gaia from 1948 by architects Cassiano Barbosa and Arménio Losa;
(2) Group of houses in Matosinhos from 1954 by architect Álvaro Siza Vieria; and
(3) Ofir House from 1957 by architect Fernando Távora.
5 “Estado Novo” was a dictatorial political regime also known as “Salazarismo” (1933–1974).
6 No. 57/58 of Arquitectura, in January/February 1957, was a double number issue that mark the end
of 2nd series and the beginning of the 3rd series and already organized by architects knowledgeable
and critical of the international style and focused on the exhibition of a modernism based on the
Portuguese roots. The organizing authors was Carlos Duarte, Frederico Sant’Ana, José Daniel Santa
Rita and Nikias Skapinakis.
3.3.1 House in Vila Nova de Gaia by Architects Cassiano Barbosa

and Arménio Losa (1948)
This project is part of 3 houses designed for the same client António Oliveira Neves.
The house in Vila Nova de Gaia is his official residence. This project was designed
during the period that the architects Cassiano Barbosa and Arménio Losa try to
promote and to disclose the modern architecture, going against the Estado Novo
ideology (Neves and Pombo 2018). The project is from 1947, the house was built in
1948 and just appeared in Arquitectura in February/March 1952, 2nd series, no. 44.
In the article “Moradia em Vila Nova de Gaia” the project is presented as “one of
those architectural work that clearly reflects the free performance of the architects,
understood by a client of the type that can be considered ideal, not only he is a mod-
ern architecture lover, but he also surrendered to the architects in total confidence”
(September 1952, p. 3).
The house has two mainly volumes (in a “L” shape) with a total of 3 floor levels,
as it is possible to see in Fig. 4.
The architects were very strategic about the drawing because of the terrain sloping
(Fig. 5). The access to the terrain and into the house is made from the highest quota.
The 3rd floor (the one with the highest quota) is not the principal but is the one
that gives access to the 2nd floor, the main floor. On the 3rd floor there are the
main bedrooms and a small office; on the 2nd floor there is the service wing with
kitchen, both bedroom and bathroom for the servant, sewing room and the living
space (composed by a dining room, guest bedroom and bathroom and a formal
living room connected with the balcony); on the 1st floor there is a laundry (it is a
room at the back part of the stairs) and the main living room (it is a multi-task room,
just as the modern taste encourages) connected with the outdoor.
This house became known because of the architects’ expertise in adapting the
tradition with modern elements. Figures 4 and 5 show that tradition is present mainly
because of the type of roofing and of the confined definition for space use (Ramos
2004, p. 501). For the interior, the architects were more into following the modern
principles on International Style. For example, Fig. 6 demonstrates that the interior
space is clearly a modern house plan, where the vertical circulations (stairs) have
a big impact in the design. Here the architects elevate the organic drawing, just
Fig. 4 “Moradia em Vila Nova de Gaia”, 3 floor levels in “L” shape. In Arquitectura, 2nd series,
no. 44, 1952. Figures from the magazines, p. 4
Fig. 5 “Moradia em Vila Nova de Gaia”, southwest elevation. In Arquitectura, 2nd series, no. 44,
1952. Figures from the magazines, p. 3
possible with the use of concrete and finished the walls with a collaboration of an
artist (Augusto Tavares) for the creation of a mural painting.
In summary, in this project architects achieved the design by using materials as
concrete (in the stairs, in the exterior flooring with concrete tiles), metal banister,
false ceilings, big door and window connecting the interior and exterior. The twist
of modernism to a more organic, flexible and dynamic perspective about dwelling
will appear some years later, namely in the following projects.
3.3.2 Group of Houses in Matosinhos (1954) by Architect Alváro Siza

Vieira
The project of the “Group of Houses in Matosinhos” belongs to the architect Álvaro
Siza Vieira and was designed in 1954. As it is possible to observe in Fig. 7 it is
composed by 4 houses all different from the exterior and interior, inserted in the
suburban context (Tostões 2015, p. 466).
The project just became complete in 1957 and it’s only presented in Arquitectura,
3rd series, no. 68, July 1960 by Nuno Portas, along with two other works from the
same architect, an attempt to regain a historical “cultural unity”.
In Nuno Portas’ commentary accompanying the article, he praises the architect’s
ability to synthesize architecture and the plastic arts as a way of giving meaning to
space (Portas 1960, pp. 13–14). Siza adds color and integrating a sculptural form in
Fig. 6 “Moradia em Vila Nova de Gaia”, interior stair with mural painting. In Arquitectura, 2nd
series, no. 44, 1952. Figures from the magazines, p. 5
the space, something that had been abandoned by modern language, which assumed
the space bare and without ornaments. These experiences are visible in Fig. 8 that
exposes the use of a small wall to divide sections, the kind of kitchen’s chimneys
and by the type and colour of the chosen material for the walls.
Nuno Portas also talks about the connections between the various materials and,
to a certain extent, on the influences that the architect sought from Casabella and
the Architectural Review, on the one hand the “revivalist taste” and on the other the
“brutalist” experiences, that the architect had in “seeking his own expression” before
modern architecture (Portas 1960, p. 17).
According to Ana Tostões, the interior spaces “are conceived with a silent fluid-
ity, forming double-height spaces, with different points of view, accentuated by the
wooden stairs completely loose in the space and that makes the connection between
floors”, where the environments win a “greater value” through the many details that
the architect did not leave to chance (2015, p. 467).
In summary, the Modern taste is visible in the exterior through the design of the
elevations and the composition between the different type and shapes of the windows
Fig. 7 “Grupo de Moradias em Matosinhos”. In Arquitectura, 3rd series, no. 68, 1960. Figures
from the magazine, p. 14
and roofing. The interior, however, offers a flow between spaces proposing a plasticity
to respond to functions and uses of daily living.
3.3.3 Ofir House (1957) by Architect Fernando Távora
This is a project of a vacation house designed by architect Fernando Távora in Ofir,

Esposende, in 1957 for Dr. Ribeiro Silva. This project appears in Arquitectura, 3rd
series, no. 59 in July 1957. The article is composed by a descriptive memory written
by Távora and by a comment by Hestnes Ferreira. Hestnes explains the architect’s
ability to reconcile traditional building systems and technical progress, either with
the use of a wooden roof or an exposed concrete beam, stone wall panels whitewashed
walls with large windows, it is an explicit desire to integrate traditional culture into
modern culture. Responding to the current problems of architecture with awareness
about Portuguese reality (Távora and Ferreira 1957, p. 13).
Fig. 8 Kitchen of one of the houses. Source Lucília Monteiro
Távora describes his project as being “a compound of many factors”, “of the factors
considered, some, […] are not within the scope of the Architect’s responsibilities,
others belong to the field of the Architect’s training, as well as to his own personality”
(1957, p. 12), where each space is the reflection of a certain real use—its program,
its meaning, the people to whom it was destined (Trigueiros 1992).
As it can be seen in Fig. 9, the project displays a tripartite plan, differentiating the
service area, the bedrooms and the common rooms.
The central living-room is presented to us clearly as an influence of the Modern
Movement (Neves and Pombo 2018), but it is the plasticity that the architect gives to
the materials and furnishings that brings us back to his more organicist, functionalist,
neo-empiricist, cubist and even influences of the spontaneous architectures that he
knew in Portugal (Tostões 2015).
Figure 10 shows the central living room inviting to a joyful and comfortable use. It
is to note that the architect paid more attention to the details of the central-living room,
kitchen and dining area. In addition to detailing all the furniture, he also detailed all
the window frames and doors, and defined the most appropriate materials for each
element based on the area of Cávado where the house is placed. Távora privileged
the use of oak in natural tone, the granite and the apparent concrete. Wall panels that
do not go up to the ceiling allow light to penetrate freely the spaces and the fireplace
is a sculptural element, to be seen both inside and outside. The architect also stressed
the connection of the interior with the exterior mainly in the central-living room.
In summary, this project is known for its vernacular tone within the modern
language, emphasized for example by the choice of materials and the connection
Fig. 9 Ofir House (1957). Floor Plan. In Arquitectura, 3rd series, no. 59, 1957. Figures from the
magazine, p. 12
Fig. 10 Central-living room in Ofir house. Source Trigueiros 1992

between interior and exterior through the strategic window and door placement.
Features like the specific design of furniture, flexible to adapt to different uses in the
same room or the flow between spaces, accentuate the openness to modern life and
modern dwelling.
4 Conclusions
Arquitectura magazine was one of the most prominent in the debate of the Modern
Movement in Portugal, especially from the end of the 2nd series until the end of the
3rd series, and its authors and editors were the protagonists of what was best produced
in Portugal. The 3rd series of Arquitectura marks the beginning of a critical editorial
program for the study of contemporary Portuguese architecture.
The three projects of single-family houses voice during the 1950s the evolution of
the design understanding for home interiors’ quality and character in order to allow
domestic life to unfold.
With Cassino Barbosa and Arménio Losa (project from 1948) the intention was
to instil the Modern Movement to a house project that was supposed to be traditional.
Siza Vieira project (1954) was critical to the construction in series of the same model
once he drew four different houses for different families. The project reveals features
aligned with the modernism and others representing Portuguese tradition. Fernando
Távora project (1957), inset in the spirit of genius loci, is the culmination of the
organic and vernacular interpretation balanced with an interior a modern frame to
accommodate people and their needs at home.
The 1950s’ studies acknowledge the translation in architecture of the Modernist
ideology changes contributing as well to a deeper under-standing of its impact in the
Portuguese architecture, namely regarding the domestic interior space.
References
Correia N (2015) Crítica e debate arquitectónico na 3a série da revista “Arquitectura”—Portugal,

1957/1974. Doctoral thesis in architecture theory and history. Presented to Universitat Politécnica
of Catalunya
Ecos e Comentários (1948) In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 19, p 23
Editorial (1947) In: Arquitectura 2nd series, vol 14, p 4
Editorial (1948) In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 19, p 4
Fernandes I (1948) Porto - Intercâmbio profissional. In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 19, p 5
Ferreira P (2001) Teoria da Arquitectura em Portugal, 1935–1945: Debates, Convergências e Dis-
sidências com o Regime Político. Master thesis in art theory. Presented to Fine Arts Faculty of
University of Lisbon
I Congresso Nacional de Arquitectura: Conclusões e votos (1949) In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol
29, pp 2–7
Moradia em Vila Nova de Gaia (1952) In Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 44, pp 2–5
Neves L, Pombo F (2018) Interiores domésticos dos anos 50 em Portugal: a construção do fluxo
espacial segundo a Revista Arquitectura. Convergências - Revista de Investigação e Ensino Das
Artes XI(21). Retrieved from http://convergencias.esart.ipcb.pt/?p=article&id=288
Oliveira Â, Furtado G (2009) Revistas Portuguesas de Arquitectura: Evolução nos últimos dois
decénios (1988–2008) e revisão dos seus antecedentes. RESDOMUS
Palla V (1949) Lugar da tradição. In Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 28, pp 4–5
Portas N (1957) Carlo Scarpa. In: Arquitectura, 3rd series, vol 59, p 23
Portas N (1959) A responsabilidade de uma novíssima geração no movimento moderno em Portugal.
In: Arquitectura, 3rd series, vol 66, p 13
Portas N (1960) 3 Obras de Alvaro Siza Vieira. I – Grupo de moradias em Matosinhos. In: Arqui-
tectura, 3rd series, vol 68, pp 12–22
Ramos R (2004) A Casa Unifamiliar Burguesa na Arquitectura Portuguesa: mudança e continuidade
no espaço doméstico na primeira metade do século XX. Doctoral thesis in architecture. Presented
to Architecture Faculty of University of Oporto
Sanches F (1949) Carta aos Leitores. In: Arquitectura 2nd series, vol 29, p 17
Távora F, Ferreira H (1957). Casa de Ofir. In: Arquitectura, 3rd series, vol 59, pp 11–13
Tostões A (1997) Os verdes anos na arquitectura portuguesa dos anos 50. FAUP Publicações, Porto
Tostões A (2015) A Idade Maior. Cultura e tecnologia na arquitectura moderna Portuguesa. FAUP
Publicações, Porto
Trigueiros L (1992) Casa de Férias em Ofir - Fernando Távora 1957–1958. Editorial Blau, Lisboa
Uma pousada na Nazaré (1957) In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 57/58, pp 19–21
8ª Trienal de Milão (1948) In: Arquitectura, 2nd series, vol 21, pp 11–13
Challenges to Automotive Interior
Design: The Future Is Much More Than
Technology—It’s About People!
Susana C. F. Fernandes
Abstract Contemporary life is bred of complexity. Technological advancements

have revolutionized the automotive sector in general, and driving in particular, to the
point where the market has become confusing. When we approach “Interior Auto-
motive Design”, it must be borne in mind that design is intended to create pleasant,
meaningful and relevant experiences for its users. Today, people discuss level 5 dis-
ruptive technology, commonly sharing utopian and dystopian visions about the future
of the automobile. This chapter presents a user-centred analysis that assesses driving
as a pleasurable activity. Creating personalized and exclusive driving experiences
in the same vehicle for a variety of use cases is one of the future challenges of the
automotive industry. In this chapter, we review the literature on the main difficul-
ties and expectations of usability of the car interior by many drivers, with a special
focus on the display interfaces. We reflect on opportunities for improvement and
future developments in the interior of automobiles. Such developments go beyond
the expected benefits of new technologies, which in some cases should be considered
with caution.
Keywords Automotive interior design · Technological complexity · Display

interfaces · Usability · Customization challenges · Driving pleasure · User
expectations
S. C. F. Fernandes (B)
Polytechnic Institute of Maia – IPMAIA, Maia, Portugal
LAETA – Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics, Maia, Portugal
N2i – Research Nucleus of the Polytechnic Institute of Maia, Maia, Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5_29
386 S. C. F. Fernandes
1 The Future of the Car Is Much More Than

Technology—It Is About People!
The car of the future must show significant changes in its form and function, when
compared to the contemporary car. Although several “commentators” have described
the future in terms of the autonomous car, this represents merely a part of the
changes that may be coming (Viereckl et al. 2016). The car of the future is already
taking different forms, and some trends can be seen, although it is unlikely we
will achieve their full fruition on public streets and conventional roads in the next
10 or 20 years, or even longer. Nonetheless, sufficient innovations may emerge,
before this step, to transform the car. New levels of connectivity between vehicles
are expected, allowing new services inside and outside the car, and new types of
cars, many of which dedicated to specific uses (shared transport, collective passen-
ger transport, taxis, etc.). The culture of the car, including conventional wisdom
about vehicles and the concepts of “possession” and “driving”, is likely to change.
The idea of what a contemporary car consists in is perhaps already being radically
rethought (Viereckl et al. 2016).
Man has always “dreamed” of aspects for the improvement of mobility. An exam-
ple of this may be the 1956 advertisement from the magazine Boy’s Life (Fig. 1),
which displays the image of a family in an autonomous car playing dominoes and
a boy making a paper airplane. The same image was presented in the 1957 adver-
tisement of the futuristic family, developed by America’s Electric Light & Power
Companies, and which, later on, would show a striking resemblance with the family
in the episode “Magic Highway, USA”, airing on May 14th of 1958, on Disney-
land TV. The (now iconic) image is synonymous with automated driving and shows
how the “roads will become safe—through electricity!”. The text that accompanies
the image in the magazine translates the prediction of Isaac Asimov, and says the
following:
«ELECTRICITY MAY BE THE DRIVER. One day your car may speed along an electric
super-highway, its speed and steering automatically controlled by electronic devices embed-
ded in the road. Highways will be made safe - by electricity! No traffic jam… no collisions…
no driver fatigue.»
Illustration, in the form of an advertisement (1957), on the one hand, satirizes

the American road and, on the other, characterizes the history of automobility. This
illustration intends to contrast with the reality of driving the first cars, which was
a true adventure, due to terrible roads, which, at the time, were nothing more than
“bumpy terrain”. Furthermore, at the time, there was also a shortage of fuel supplies,
spare parts, useful maps and road signals, which rapidly became a matter of everyday
life (Kimmel 2015). Although this illustration has no technological similarities with
the current prototypes of autonomous cars (of which Fig. 2. is an example), the
concept of the interior design reveals the same concern for the satisfaction of users’
recreational needs during the trip (Anderson et al. 2016).
Given the various factors that affect the current automotive industry and the many
new competitors that seek a share in the market—not to mention the vast advertising,
Challenges to Automotive Interior Design … 387
Fig. 1 Illustration of the autonomous car by H. Miller. Cover image of the 1957 advertisement for
“America’s Independent Electric Light & Power Companies”. Source image RAND Corporation.
Detailed version of the panorama—Magazine vol. 40, Nr. 5, 30. January 1956, p. 8
which obfuscates what is actually real—there are real opportunities and risks in this
industry (Baker et al. 2016). As the revenues and profits change from hardware to
software, from products to services, from the industry 3.0 to the new industry 4.0,
some brands may be successful while others may not.
Connected cars may become more fun, more efficient and safer than traditional
cars, and will free drivers from driving so they can focus on other activities while
on their way to work, or on other types of trips. However, this begs the question: at
what cost may original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of the automotive industry
actually manufacture a connected car? This is a difficult question to answer. The
psychical form that the future car will take remains uncertain, much like the exact
nature of the “connected and autonomous packages” that the manufacturers are likely
to sell embedded in the vehicles (Bontrager 2018; Baker et al. 2016).
According to Ahlemann and Gerling in “The autonomous frontier” (Ahlemann
and Gerling 2016), the totally autonomous vehicle is unlikely to be available to
consumers for, at least, another decade. At the moment, there are several criticisms
of emerging technology—particularly artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning,
Fig. 2 Autonomous Nissan IDS concept car. Image rights: copyright by the Author
the human-machine interface (HMI), the infrastructure elements underlying the car—
and the various resources necessary to achieve a greater level of maturity. At what
point are these technologies, currently? Will they achieve such an advanced state that
they will become standard resources, even in the least costly vehicle?
At the moment, the technological cost involved in the production of autonomous
vehicles is large and, naturally, the manufacturers do not disclose their costs, nor do
they estimate prices for the expectable car of the future (Baker et al. 2016; Kimmel
2015).
Thus, this constraint of autonomous cars (among many others identified—
Table 1), (Bontrager 2018; Yang and Coughlin 2014; Wood et al. 2012) in the near
future, will push a large percentage of consumers of the automotive industry to
continue to acquire the conventional car (although it may be supported by numerous
technologies for the driver—from level 1 to level 4—Table 2). Out of so many emerg-
ing technologies, which are the most advantageous to be incorporated into vehicles?
And why? It is important for the automotive industry to enlighten consumers.
Table 1 Main advantages and disadvantages of the levels 5 car

Advantages (if technologies are duly Disadvantages (in the present)
developed – future)
1. Safety—In 2015, 94% of accidents in the 1. Cost—Just one of the most expensive
USA were due to human error. Computer components of the hardware puzzle: Waymo
controlled vehicles may reduce this number Lidar Systems, costs $8000, having
previously cost $75,000
2. Time saving—The connection between 2. Privacy and data protection—Concerns
vehicles (V2V) will allow the calculation of over unauthorized use of information, access
more efficient and less congested transit routes to personal data from the computer of the car,
among others. Absolute control over routes
and destinations, which may compromise the
user’s privacy
3. Pursuit of free parking spaces—The 3. Unemployment and unawareness of
connection between the vehicle and the driving tasks—Theoretically it may eliminate
infrastructure (V2I) may determine free jobs in the transport sector (for example: taxis,
parking spaces, facilitating the routes carriers). Some individuals may fail to learn
the rules of the road and the conventional
driving of the car
4. Mobility for individuals unable to 4. Possible malfunction and
drive—This may include elderly individuals adaptability—If other technology
who live in communities dependent on cars, malfunctions, such as traffic signals, the
individuals with motor disabilities or other vehicle interprets that they do not exist, which
types of disabilities may cause accidents. For example, if there is a
problem on the road (a natural or human
event) will the autonomous car be able to
interpret signals and unknown events?
5. Traffic events are the responsibility of the 5. Lack of legislation—There is a need to
vehicle and not necessarily of the adjust traffic legislation to integrate
passengers—This is an advantage for the autonomous vehicles. This is perhaps the
users but not exactly for the manufacturers or greatest challenge that the governors of future
political and legislative authorities societies will have to face
Model adapted from the source: https://medium.com/swlh/the-race-to-fully-autonomous-cars-
8212ff73aad
1.1 Interrupting the Future: What to Do to the Pleasure

of Driving?
A vast number of car users express concerns regarding the (announced) speed of
technological change, which includes advancements in the connectivity of vehicles,
intelligent technology and differentiated motorizing systems (Hirsh et al. 2016; Rich-
tel and Dougherty 2015).
Table 2 Automation levels (SAE)

Levels of Automation Who does what, when
Level 0 The human driver does all the driving.
Level 1 An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the vehicle can
sometimes assist the human driver with either steering or
braking/accelerating, but not both simultaneously.
Level 2 An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the vehicle can itself
actually control both steering and braking/accelerating simultaneously
under some circumstances. The human driver must continue to pay full
attention (“monitor the driving environment”) at all times and perform
the rest of the driving task.
Level 3 An Automated Driving System (ADS) on the vehicle can itself
perform all aspects of the driving task under some circumstances. In
those circumstances, the human driver must be ready to take back
control at any time when the ADS requests the human driver to do so.
In all other circumstances, the human driver performs the driving task.
Level 4 An Automated Driving System (ADS) on the vehicle can itself
perform all driving tasks and monitor the driving
environment—essentially, do all the driving—in certain circumstances.
The human need not pay attention in those circumstances.
Level 5 An Automated Driving System (ADS) on the vehicle can do all the
driving in all circumstances. The human occupants are just passengers
and need never be involved in driving.
Source https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety
Moreover, the experience1 of driving is appreciated by a high number of car users.

It is difficult to describe the attraction of driving a vehicle, but human beings seem
to appreciate their dominance over the machine and the “speed” factor. Some people
enjoy “aggressive driving”, others appreciate “smoother driving”, others like the
exterior design, the luxury of the interior design and the feeling of “power behind
the wheel”, the freedom of movement, of defining at what pace they intend to enjoy
the views and the “passage of distance over time”. Some describe driving as a form
of “therapy”, such as driving out of the city, on a less crowded road, listening to
their favorite music. There are many emotional and psychological reasons for which
individuals believe driving to be pleasurable (Chihuri et al. 2016; Haustein and Siren
2014; Helander et al. 2013).
In Business Insider magazine, Yarow (2009) wrote: «Guess What? People Like
to Drive, Even If It’s Irrational».
The majority of the American and English population (for example) “loves” to
drive, even when the cost of trips are higher (when compared to other means of
transport) and have several mobility alternatives that allow them to avoid long queues
1 It is believed that a higher percentage of drivers like to drive (and feel control over the car) instead
of being driven/transported. In this context, it is worth noting that the adult population, in general, if
they were given a choice, would choose a conventional car rather than an autonomous car (Barkenbus
2018).
Fig. 3 Ford Mustang Sheby GT355, 2016: exterior design. Image rights. Image rights: copyright
by the Author
in everyday traffic (Express Jornal 2018; Yarow 2009). In these two countries alone,
for example, each family has at least two cars, per household. In the English case,
the number of families with two cars actually exceeds the number of families with
two children by almost two million—5.1 million compared to 3.2 million (Express
Jornal 2018).
Many car brands are oriented towards the profile of the driver who experiences the
“pleasure of driving”, as is the example of the prestigious “Ford” brand, “Mustang”
model. This brand has conducted successive updates of the GT version, over the
years (versions from: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018), without detracting from
the essence of the manual driving model. Therefore, from the point of view of both
exterior design (Fig. 3) and interior design (Fig. 4), there is a concern to maintain
the identity of the product. Thus, the “iconic” manual gearbox remains, while the
dashboard and central console exhibit small nuances and necessary technological
updates (common to other brands in the segment).
Thus, there is to be expected a cohabitation between different technological levels
of cars for several years, which will have obvious implications in terms of their interior
design.
1.2 Trends: The Display Interfaces and Usage Expectations
Ahlemann and Gerling (2016) state that «currently, even the most intelligent cars are
very “dumb”, at least when it comes to recognizing the differences between people».
These authors argue that intelligent cars are programmed to do the same things for
every person – whether they like it or not. For example, they lock the doors, even if
one does not want them to be locked; the car does not start unless the driver fastens
the seatbelt; they direct the driver (with the GPS) through routes that may not make
sense for drivers with local knowledge. They also argue that the automotive industry
has created “wonders”, but that they are “inflexible wonders”, since the intelligent
Fig. 4 Ford Mustang Sheby GT355, 2016: interior design. Image rights: copyright by the Author
car behaves in the same manner «whether it be a young person or a grandmother

behind the wheel».
Currently, there is a trend in the automotive sector towards incorporating a high
number of devices, applications and features, of a nature often considered complex
by the user (see examples in Fig. 5).
Therefore, not only will the informative display interfaces, such the Dashboard
and Central Console: Radio, GPS, Telephone, Audio, (among others), incorporate
Fig. 5 Different car interfaces (displays: of the dashboard and central console) with interactions
considered to be complex by the user. Image rights: https://medium.com/@autoustwo/the-near-
future-of-incar-hmi-5b34a76fc7a
Fig. 6 User expectations

regarding the design of the
interfaces within the car. Learning
Image rights: copyright by
Satisfaction
the Author Efficiency
User
Error Tolerance Memorable
more information, requiring more mental effort and memory, but they may also
distract the driver when used (Soares et al. 2014; Wege and Trent 2013; Prem et al.
2011; Gelau and Schindhelm 2010; Pickering et al 2007).
If we consider the differences in the cognitive and perceptual skills between the
young and the elderly, which have implications on the tasks within the car, it is
expected that older drivers will experience greater difficulties with technological
tasks (Caruso et al. 2016; Kim et al. 2012; James 2012).
Indeed, this scenario will increase cognitive requirements, particularly due to the
way the devices need to be executed (Montes et al. 2016; Kim et al. 2012), because:
(i) they demand an excessive amount of steps in order to conclude; (ii) the steps
to reach a certain option are different each time, forcing the drivers to search in
their system and; (iii) each solution requires a different action from the driver (for
example, adjust the temperature of the interior environment that is controlled by a
sliding-type controller, while redirection requires single touches).
The future connectivity between vehicles (V2V) and between vehicles and infras-
tructures (V2I), of technologically advanced cars, will tend to increase (even more)
the complexity of the devices, due to the vast amount of information that will be
included, or will be available, for the drivers and passengers of the car. Therefore, it
is understood that the design of interfaces, with informative display (as a generalized
trend of the automotive industry), for the control of parameters within and outside
the vehicle, needs further research. The design of the interfaces with drivers should,
thus, be easily understood, and the tasks memorized quickly, as a consequence of
the everyday experience of the user (Fig. 6).
1.3 Complexity of Features and Resources
Currently, it has been found that some drivers do not use all features available to
them in their vehicles and, in some cases, there is even a lack of knowledge on how
to perform certain tasks or how to access certain information, such as adjustments
and configurations (for example: elevate/lower or recline a seat (Karali et al. 2017);
consult or mark a mileage log on the dashboard; configure the radio, clock, GPS,
Cruise Control, among other situations) (Vink and Lips 2017; Karali et al. 2017;
Waller et al. 2015; Rahiman and Zafariq 2013).
If we consider and characterize, for example, a state of the art luxury car, with
a differentiated hybrid engine and various driving modes, with adaptive autopilot,
driver fatigue alert, traffic lane control, parking assistance that parks on its own,
programmable seats and rear view mirrors, blind spot alerts, GPS, collision sensors,
voice commands, pedestrian presence sensors, automatic road lighting, and with a
panel full of buttons with various innovative features, the following question can be
asked: Would we be able to identify all these features inside the car? Would we know
how to use all of them intuitively?
This obviously results in the need to consult the vehicle manuals in order to
understand certain parameters of use, configuration and even for the interpretation
of the possible symbols presented on the dashboard – as an informative display
(Andreev 2018; AAA 2017).
In 2015, the US National Security Council and a group of researchers special-
ized in vehicle safety from the University of Iowa created the website MyCar-
DoesWhat.org, as a national campaign to help educate drivers about new vehicle
safety technologies, designed to help prevent collisions. These technologies range
from increasing the stability and control of cars to the systems of information for
issuing warnings about collision threats, for subsequent automatic intervention and,
thus, avoid or reduce the severity of possible collisions.
The organization MyCarDoesWhat.org has a large number of publications with
summarized explanations of various features and technologies present in contem-
porary cars, as well as in some future developments, with the purpose of clarifying
questions and reducing the unknowns among users/consumers. The name chosen
for this organization—«My car does what?»—in the form of a question, is very
elucidative of the problem here identified.
The new generations of vehicles are incorporating countless useful technology
to suppress many shortcomings of car driving, but without it being explained, or
reflected in the necessary usability of the many driver profiles (Eby et al. 2018).
The quantification and technological selection of the inside of cars (currently in
commercialization) do not always seem to determine a rigorous, selective and well-
founded choice, based on expectations and patterns of use, particularly among the
elderly population, and more value-focused assessments for future generations of
vehicles (Eby et al. 2016, 2018).
At the same time, a large number of drivers are unaware of how to select a car
model that is technologically equipped and adjusted to their driving and usability
needs (Stockburger 2018; Eby et al. 2016), thus, there is a proliferation of various
applications and consulting services to help select vehicles (Caranddriver.com 2018;
Carsguide.com 2018; Vincent 2016). On the other hand, the automotive industry
only highlights and divulges new features and technological developments, without
the final consumer being informed about the reason for that choice or the respective
inclusion in the various models (Heineke et al. 2017; Mohr et al. 2016).
1.4 Conclusions: Future Challenges for the Car – Inclusive

Design and Customization
The future of partially automated vehicles and fully automated vehicles “is closer
than ever” (MyCarDoesWhat.org 2018; TheHartford.com 2013), although there are
still many constraints and questions (economic, legal, of technological feasibility and
reliability, consumer/user acceptance, uncertainties about the sector—market and its
segments, volatility of social and cultural patterns, costs, environmental issues, safety,
maintenance, among others) that will inevitably delay the announced advancements
(Viereckl et al. 2016). It is currently important for the designer to analyze this problem
in order to point out future solutions for the car and, in particular, for its interior.
Autonomous vehicles may become particularly useful for people with special
needs and for elderly drivers. The latter, who are not classified as population groups
with “special needs”, nonetheless, belong to an important (growing) segment of the
world population, whose specificities and characteristics justify segmented research,
given that the aging process is related to an increase of illnesses and mutations that
produce adverse effects on the physical and cognitive condition in general and, in
particular, on the ability to drive vehicles (Quach et al. 2017; Tonetto and Desmet
2016; Karali et al. 2016, 2017). In addition to the adverse effects of the illnesses
themselves, which may induce physical limitations analogous to physical limitations
due to disabilities in younger groups, there also needs to be consideration of the
possible effects of the medication taken to control health problems (Fernandes et al.
2017; Karali et al. 2017). Some types of medication may hinder the ability to drive. If,
on the one hand, this argument validates the potential interest of level 5 technology,
on the other hand, it cannot be denied that the design process and the conception of
this type of vehicles must go beyond the incorporated technology. For example, the
design of autonomous vehicles must consider the physical changes that result from
the aging of this potential group of users, such as, firstly, the access to the vehicle
– the process of entering and exiting. The car may become an extension of the home
itself, from which comfort is expected.
Simultaneously, with regard to the mobility of the individual car by special needs
drivers and the elderly, in particular, several questions demand answers. Govern-
ments, regulatory agencies, car manufacturers, healthcare providers, families and
society in general must be interested in obtaining answers related to the issues of
mobility, inclusive car design, safety, comfort, autonomy, promotion of social inclu-
sion and active aging (AAA 2017; ACEA 2017; Kaas et al. 2015; Nitsch et al. 2014).
The answers to these questions must be based on solid scientific research. Some
data is already becoming available, through searches about “aging and driving”, but
several questions remain unanswered and without specific solutions in terms of the
interior design of the car (Fernandes et al. 2017; Karali et al. 2017).
For vehicles with technological levels between 1 and 4, there needs to be a rigorous
assessment of the technology to be incorporated. Consequently, it is imperative to
introduce changes to vehicles and incorporate technologically advanced assistance
systems, but easy to use for the driver (for example, to compensate for age-related
shortcomings) (Trübswetter and Bengler 2013).
Generally speaking, the physical interfaces of cars, that is, all the instruments the
driver needs to be able to drive a car, tend to incorporate systems that provide increas-
ingly sophisticated and complex information to the driver, in some cases, possibly
requiring a learning process (Reagan and Bliss 2013). Notwithstanding the useful-
ness of more information, the complex interfaces demand greater attention from the
driver in order to handle them, which may negatively affect the attention required
for the task of driving. Thus, there should be consideration of the psychology and
physiology of the diversity of users in the design process, as well as the possibil-
ity of personalization/customization for the benefit of the usability of the vehicle
interfaces, to make the systems more effective, efficient and satisfactory. Lastly, the
simplification and uniformization of some patterns of use should also be considered.
It is also important to improve the design of the main physical interfaces with
the driver, namely the aspects that are considered critical for the driver (Trübswetter
and Bengler 2013). For example, among the elderly: the position of the front seat is
the main obstacle to entering and exiting the vehicle; the peripheral view and rear
view are limited, mainly, by the rear and windshield pillars of the vehicle; other
constraints are related to construction aspects in terms of the space of the passenger
compartment, the driving assistance system, among others (Nitsch et al. 2014).
Despite the significant evolution and improvements of cars, in general, the interior
design can still improve in terms of: the support and guideway of the front seats
(Karali et al., 2016, 2017); the instruments and elements of command (Weinberg and
Müller 2011); night, peripheral and rear views as well as “blind spots” (Häne et al.
2017; Chun et al. 2013; Brown et al. 2010); entering and exiting the vehicle (Shippen
and May 2016); systems to support safe driving (UMTRI 2015; Reimer 2014; de
Winter et al. 2014; Strand et al. 2011); emergency braking system (Blower 2014; Wu
et al. 2013; Warner et al. 2010); navigation system and the parking assistance system
(Douissembekov et al. 2014; Rush et al. 2014; Tachibana 2011), among many others.
It is unquestionable that the improved performance and the autonomy of driving
may be achieved through the design. The redesigning of handles, knobs and buttons is
important to facilitate their handling, namely by people with physical shortcomings
(e.g. arthritis). Other characteristics of the design of the car, such as: the lower limits
of the doors; lumbar supports; rearview mirrors; adjustable seats; steering wheel;
and the redesign and repositioning of panels and intelligent communication devices,
may be particularly useful for drivers (Fernandes et al., 2017; Karali et al. 2017).
Some problems have already been identified (for example: among elderly drivers),
such as the difficulty in rotating one’s neck and upper body, difficulty in looking to
the side and to the rear, thus the interfaces with drivers may incorporate devices to
support safe maneuvering. These issues lack in-depth studies for a correct assessment
of the problems faced by elderly drivers, which (in many cases) are common to other
groups of drivers (Fernandes et al. 2017; Karali et al. 2017).
The vehicle control devices are those that convey information about the function-
ing cycle of the engine and aid the control and immobilization of the vehicle. These
devices are important in that they increase the driver’s sensory abilities. For exam-
ple, by providing visual and sound information, it is possible to control numerous
aspects of driving, such as the night vision systems, rearview mirrors, reversing and
side view cameras, collision warning sensors and “adaptive cruise control” systems,
which adjust the acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle and regulate the distance to
other vehicles.
The driving assistance devices provide traffic and navigation information. In turn,
the information/communication devices for drivers aid communication and support
comfort.
The human body form and posture suffer changes during the aging process
(Karthaus and Falkenstein 2016). These changes are pointed out as the main causes of
constraints associated with entering and exiting vehicles, the difficulties in accessing
the driver’s seat caused by loss of lower limb capacity, as well as some weaknesses
in muscles, joints, the spine and neck, with these constraints being analogous to
physical changes following other causes and pathologies.
Thus, it is not surprising that there are a number of adaptations to cars improvised
by the drivers/users themselves, as well as an emerging market growth for the sale of
components and accessories to adapt cars so as to increase the standards of comfort.
Therefore, it is justified to design a driver’s seat adjusted to these limitations, with
the ability to traverse, rotate, as well as laterally and vertically regulate. Furthermore,
the position of the seatbelt, steering wheel and airbags should be adapted to the
weight, height and stature of the person occupying the seat. These measures may,
in the event of collision, reduce the severity of injuries in individuals (Karali et al.
2017; OECD/ITF 2014; Sixsmith 2013).
The interior design of the vehicle (dashboard and user interface devices) should
also take into account the changes in vision that occur over time, particularly the
loss of sensitivity to contrast, thus the contrast between display elements should
be maximized. The displays (digital or analog indicators) should exhibit a different
brightness level from the display background. It should also provide appropriate illu-
mination of the information in order to avoid reflectivity. The introduction of digital
screens in vehicles (as a general trend in the sector) should allow the adjustment of
information display properties, according to the needs of each driver, which, in the
case of the elderly, should display the information in a larger and simplified format
(Beck et al. 2017; Pschenitza and Unger 2015). The sound systems that convey infor-
mation regarding navigation, communication, and information devices should also
be easily adjustable to the driver’s hearing condition (Kang and Momtaz 2018).
Some studies emphasize the application of advanced driver-assistance systems
(ADAS) as an important contribution for solving certain types of limitations (Trüb-
swetter and Bengler 2013), when paired with an inclusive design (Paris et al. 2014;
Trübswetter and Bengler 2013; Goddard and Nicolle 2012). The expected benefits
of the new technologies should, however, be considered with great caution. New
technologies must be assessed over time, under conditions as close as possible to the
real conditions of use, and with groups that represent potential users.
The sustainable vehicles of the future, with new technologies, should include
friendly interfaces, adjusted to the different users, which minimize the factors poten-
tiating accidents and facilitate mobility (Study 2015; Mehler et al. 2014; Neumann
et al. 2010; Bernsen and Dybkjaer 2009; Malanowski et al. 2008).
The future generation of cars should be conceived under the premise of more
inclusive, interactive and safe mobility, which would answer to the specificities and
limitations of the population (for example; seniors, individuals with physical, motor
disabilities, etc.) and, simultaneously, be useful for other groups of users (Fernandes
et al. 2017; Goddard and Nicolle 2012).
The possibility to customize or personalize a vehicle according to the profile,
needs and personal taste of its user is a current added challenge of the future of the
car.
References
AAA (2017) Smart features for older drivers. SeniorDrivingAAA.com

ACEA—European Automobile Manufacturers Association (2017) Economic and market report.
EU Automotive Industry, Quater 3 2017, December
Ahlemann D, Gerling W (2016) The autonomous frontier. Strategy, pp. 54–60. https://www.
strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/Connected-car-report-2016.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2018
Anderson J, Kalra N, Stanley K, Sorensen P, Samaras C, Oluwatola O (2016) Autonomous vehicle
technology: a guide for policymakers. RAND Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8398-2
Andreev N (2018). Car dashboard warning lights explained. Cars have an array of dashboard warning
lights to let drivers know when something’s wrong. But do you know what they mean? [Web log
post]. Confused.com. https://www.confused.com/on-the-road/maintenance/dashboard-warning-
lights-explained. Accessed 20 July 2018
Baker EH, Crusius D, Fischer M, Gerling W, Gnanaserakan K, Kerstan H, Kuhnert F, Kusber J, Mohs
J, Schulte M Seyfferth J (2016) Connected car report 2016: opportunities, risk, and turmoil on the
road to autonomous vehicles. Strategy. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/Connected-
car-report-2016.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2018
Barkenbus J (2018) People aren’t ready for self-driving cars [web log post]. Elijah Nouvelage—
Reuters. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/01/autonomous-vehicles-consumer-
backlash/549650/. Accessed 8 May 2018
Beck D, Lee M, Park W (2017) A comparative evaluation of in-vehicle side view displays lay-
outs in critical lane changing situation. Ergonomics 60(12):1682–1691. https://doi.org/10.1080/
00140139.2017.1343958
Bernsen NO, Dybkjaer L (2009) Exploring natural interaction in the car. Philippine Sociol Rev
54(5). https://doi.org/10.3860/psr.v54i0.938
Blower D (2014) Assessment of the effectiveness of advanced collision avoidance technologies.
Report No. UMTRI-2014-3. University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann
Arbor, MI. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/102534. Accessed 8 May 2018
Bontrager B (2018) The race to fully autonomous cars [web log post]. The startup. https://medium.
com/swlh/the-race-to-fully-autonomous-cars-8212ff73aad. Accessed 8 May 2018
Brown T, He Y, Roe C, Schnell T. (2010). Is more better?—Night vision enhancement system’s
pedestrian warning system modes and older drivers. Ann Assoc Adv Autom Med 54:343–350.
PMID: 21050616, PMCID: PMC3242535
Caranddriver.com (2018) What’s the right new vehicle for me? https://www.caranddriver.com/
features/whats-the-right-new-vehicle-for-me. Accessed 8 May 2018
Carsguide.com (2018). What car should I buy? https://www.carsguide.com.au/simple-search.

Accessed 28 Dec 2018
Caruso G, Camere S, Bordegoni M (2016) System based on abstract prototyping and motion capture
to support car interior design. Comput-Aided Des Appl 13(2):228–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/
16864360.2015.1084194
Chihuri S, Mielenz TJ, DiMaggio CJ, Betz ME, DiGuiseppi C, Jones VC, Li G (2016) Driving
cessation and health outcomes in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 64(2):332–341. https://doi.org/
10.1111/jgs.13931
Chun J, Lee I, Park G, Seo J, Choi S, Han SH (2013) Efficacy of haptic blind spot warnings applied
through a steering wheel or seatbelt. Transp Res Part F: Traffic Psychol Behav 21:213–241.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2013.09.014
de Winter JCF, Happee R, Martens MH, Stanton NA (2014) Effects of adaptive cruise control
and highly automated driving on workload and situation awareness: a review of the empirical
evidence. Transp Res Part F: Traffic Psychol Behav 27(Part B):196–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.trf.2014.06.016
Douissembekov E, Gabaude C, Rogé J, Navarro J, Michael GA (2014) Parking and manoeuvring
among older drivers: a survey investigating special needs and difficulties. Transp Res Part F:
Traffic Psychol Behav 26(Part A):238–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2014.07.011
Eby DW, Molnar LJ, Kostyniuk LP, St.Louis RM, Zanier N (2017) Characteristics of informal
caregivers who provide transportation assistance to older adults. PLoS ONE 12(9):e0184085.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184085
Eby DW, Molnar LJ, Zakrajsek JS, Ryan LH, Zanier N, Louis RMS, Strogatz D (2018) Prevalence,
attitudes, and knowledge of in-vehicle technologies and vehicle adaptations among older drivers.
Accid Anal Prev 113:54–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2018.01.022
Eby DW, Molnar LJ, Zhang L, St. Louis RM, Zanier N, Ko Styniuk LP, Stanciu S (2016). Use,
perceptions, and benefits of automotive technologies among aging drivers. Injury Epidemiology
3(28):1–20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-016-0093-4
Express Jornal (2018) Does your household have two cars? Two-car homes SOAR and this is
why. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/912000/two-cars-household-soar-LV-insurance-
competition-holiday-commuting-family-trip. Accessed 20 Sept 2018
Fernandes SCF, Esteves JL, Simoes R (2017) Characteristics and human factors of older drivers:
improvement opportunities in automotive interior design. Int J Veh Des 74(3):167–203. https://
doi.org/10.1504/IJVD.2017.086418
Gelau C, Schindhelm R (2010) Enhancing the occlusion technique as an assessment tool for driver
visual distraction. IET Intel Transp Syst 4(4):346–355. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-its.2009.0115
Goddard N, Nicolle CA (2012) What is good design in the eyes of older users? Designing inclusive
systems: designing inclusion for real-world applications. Springer, London, pp 175–184. ISBN
9781447128663
Häne C, Heng L, Lee GH, Fraundorfer F, Furgale P, Sattler T, Pollefeys M (2017) 3D visual per-
ception for self-driving cars using a multi-camera system: calibration, mapping, localization, and
obstacle detection. Image Vis Comput 68:14–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imavis.2017.07.003
Haustein S, Siren A (2014) Seniors’ unmet mobility needs—how important is a driving licence? J
Transp Geigrraphy 41:45–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.08.001
Helander MG, Khalid HM, Lim TY, Peng H, Yang X (2013) Emotional needs of car buyers and
emotional intent of car designers. Theor Issues Ergonomics Sci 14(5):455–474. https://doi.org/
10.1080/1463922X.2012.656152
Heineke K, Möller T, Padhi A, Tschiesner A (2017) How mobility players can compete as the
automotive revolution accelerates. In: McKinsey & Company McKinsey, automotive & assem-
bly insights. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/how-
mobility-players-can-compete-as-the-automotive-revolution-accelerates. Accessed 8 May 2018
Hirsh E, Jullens J, Wilk R, Singh A. (2016) 2016 Auto industry trends, automakers and suppliers
can no longer sit out the industry’s transformation. Strategy. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/
media/file/2016-Auto-Trends.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2018
James T (2012) Vehicle technology and the older driver. E&T—Engineering and Tech-
nology Magazine. http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2012/10/car-design-for-all-ages.cfm?origin=
EtOtherStories. Accessed 20 July 2018
Kaas H, Tschiesner A, Wee D, Kässer M (2015) How carmakers can compete for the connected
consumer. In: McKinsey & Company, automotive & assembly insights. https://www.mckinsey.
com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/how-carmakers-can-compete-for-the-
connected-consumer. Accessed 8 May 2018
Kang MW, Momtaz SU (2018) Assessment of driver compliance on roadside safety signs with
auditory warning sounds generated from pavement surface—a driving simulator study. J Traffic
Transp Eng (English Edition) 5(1):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2017.09.001
Karthaus M, Falkenstein M (2016) Functional changes and driving performance in older drivers:
assessment and interventions. Geriatrics 1(2):12. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics1020012
Karali S, Gyi DE, Mansfield NJ (2016) Driving a better driving experience: a questionnaire survey of
older compared with younger drivers. Ergonomics 60(4):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.
2016.1182648
Karali S, Mansfield NJ, Gyi DE (2017) An approach to vehicle design: in-depth audit to understand
the needs of older drivers. Appl Ergonomics 58:461–470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.
07.017
Kim S, Hong JH, Li KA, Forlizzi J, Dey AK (2012) Route guidance modality for elder driver
navigation. In: lecture notes in computer science (including subseries lecture notes in artificial
intelligence and lecture notes in bioinformatics), vol 7319 LNCS, pp 179–196. https://doi.org/
10.1007/978-3-642-31205-2_12
Kimmel S (2015) Driving innovation: a recap of the 2015 transportation research board annual meet-
ing and connected-autonomated vehicle technology [web log post]. IEEE USA Insight. https://
insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/driving-innovation-a-recap-of-the-2015-transportation-research-
board-annual-meeting-and-connected-autonomated-vehicle-technology/. Accessed 8 May 2018
Malanowski N, Ozcivelek R, Cabrera M (2008) Active ageing and independent living services:
the role of information and communication technology. Eur Commun 39. http://www.vditz.de/
fileadmin/media/publications/pdf/Active_Ageing.pdf. Accessed 20 July 20
Mehler B, Reimer B, Lavallière M, Dobres J, Coughlin JF (2014) Evaluating technologies relevant
to the enhancement of driver safety. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Washington, DC
Mohr D, Kaas H, Gao P, Wee D, Möller T (2016) Automotive revolution—perspective towards 2030:
How the convergence of disruptive technology-driven trends could transform the auto industry.
In: McKinsey & Company, advanced industries. https://www.mckinsey.com/. Accessed 8 May
2018
Montes SA, Introzzi IM, Ledesma RD, López SS (2016) Atención selectiva y propensión al error
en la conducción: estudio mediante una tarea de búsqueda visual conjunta. Avances en Psicología
Latinoamericana 34(2):195–203. https://doi.org/10.12804/apl34.2.2016.01
Neumann I, Cocron P, Franke T, Krems JF (2010) Electric vehicles as a solution for green driving
in the future? A field study examining the user acceptance of electric vehicles. In Krems JF,
Petzoldt T, Henning (Hrsg). Proceedings of the European conference on human interface design
for intelligent transport systems, Berlim, Germany, April 29–30, Humanist Publications, Lyon,
pp S445–S453
Nitsch M, Lambacher, O. & Howe, J (2014) Cars for elderly drivers. mopact, mobilising the potential
of active ageing in Europe. Braunschweiger Gerontological Series, 2. https://doi.org/10.15491/
JKH297182
OECD/ITF—International Transport Forum (2014) Road safety annual report 2014. https://
doi.org/10.1787/23124571. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/transport/road-safety-annual-report-
2014_irtad-2014-en. Accessed 10 Sep 2015
Paris J-C, Bellet T, Cour M, Marin-Lamellet C, Deleurence P, Moreau F, Boverie S, Andre J-M,
Claverie B (2014) Driving assistances for senior drivers: a human centered design approach. In:
Paper No. 18291. Transport research arena—5th conference, April 2014, France
Pickering, CA, Burnham KJ, Richardson MJ (2007) A review of automotive human machine inter-
face technologies and techniques to reduce driver distraction. In 2nd IET international confer-
ence on system safety, 22–24 Oct 2007, London, UK, pp 223–228. https://doi.org/10.1049/cp:
20070468
Prem B, Arora K, Manager P, Hmi A, Verma M, Biz A, Manager D (2011) Designing Next-
generation automotive center consoles. In: EE times design. http://eetimes.com/design. Accessed
8 May 2018
Pschenitza M, Unger T (2015) Field of vision of modern cars—a study to improve the eval-
uation of car geometries based on real world accident scenarios documented in the ADAC
Accident research. Berichte der Bundesanstalt fuer Strassenwesen. Unterreihe Fahrzeugtech-
nik 102:14. http://bast.opus.hbz-nrw.de/volltexte/2015/1348/pdf/F102_ESAR_komplett_CD.
pdf%5Cn, https://trid.trb.org/view/1359582. Accessed 8 May 2018
Quach A, Levine ME, Tanaka T, Lu AT, Chen BH, Ferrucci L, Ritz B, Bandinelli S, Neuhouser
ML, Beasley JM, Snetselaar L, Wallace RB, Tsao PS, Absher D, Assimes TL, Stewart JD,
Li Y, Hou L, Baccarelli AA, Whitsel EA, Horvath S (2017) Epigenetic clock analysis of diet,
exercise, education, and lifestyle factors. Aging (Albany NY) 9(2):419–446. https://doi.org/10.
18632/aging.101168
Rahiman W, Zafariq Z (2013) An overview of development GPS navigation for autonomous car. In:
8th IEEE conference on industrial electronics and applications (ICIEA), 2013. IEEE Publisher,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1109/iciea.2013.6566533
Rakotonirainy A, Steinhardt D (2009) In-vehicle technology functional requirements for older
drivers. In: Schmidt A, Dey A, Seder T, Kern O (eds) Proceedings of the first international
conference on automotive user interfaces and interactive vehicular applications, automotive UI
2009, 21–22 Sept 2009, Essen, Germany, pp 27–33
Reagan IJ, Bliss JP (2013) Perceived mental workload, trust, and acceptance resulting from exposure
to advisory and incentive based intelligent speed adaptation systems. Transp Res Part F 21:14–29.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2013.07.005
Reimer B (2014) Driver assistance systems and the transition to automated vehicles: a path to
increase older adult safety and mobility? Public Policy Aging Rep 24:27–31. https://doi.org/10.
1093/ppar/prt006
Richtel M, Dougherty C (2015) What we learned designing a car user experience [web log post]. The
New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/technology/personaltech/google-says-
its-not-the-driverless-cars-fault-its-other-drivers.html. Accessed 8 May 2018
Rusch ML, Schall MC Jr, Lee JD, Dason JD, Rizzo M (2014) Augmented reality cues to assist older
drivers with gap estimation for left-turns. Accid Anal Prev 71:210–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.aap.2014.05.020
Shippen J, May B (2016) Constitutive kinematic modes and shapes during vehicle ingress/egress.
Appl Ergonomics 56:127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.03.017
Sixsmith A (2013) Technology and the challenge of aging. In: Sixsmith A, Gutman G (eds) Tech-
nologies for active aging. international perspectives on aging, vol 9. Springer, Boston, MA. https://
doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8348-0_2
Soares F, Simões P, Simoes R (2014). Automotive central console interface design. In: Proceedings
of the 5th international conference on applied human factors and ergonomics, 19–23 July 2014,
Kraków, Poland, pp 2047–2058. ISBN 9781495121036
Stockburger J (2018) Top 25 new cars for senior drivers [web log post]. Consumerreposrts.org.
https://www.consumerreports.org/elderly-driving/top-25-new-cars-for-senior-drivers/. Accessed
8 May 2018
Strand N, Nilsson J, Karlsson ICM, Nilsson L (2011) Interaction with and use of driver assistance
systems: a study of end-user experiences. In: Proceedings of the 18th ITS world congress. ITS
America, Washington, DC
Study AL (2015) Keeping older adults driving safely: A research synthesis of advanced in-vehicle
technologies. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. https://www.
aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/SeniorsAndTechnologyReport.pdf. Accessed 8 May 2018
Tachibana H (2011) The development of a parking support system considering driving charac-
teristics. In: Proceedings of the SAE 2011 world congress and exhibition. SAE International,
Warrendale, PA
TheHartford.com (2013) Top technologies for mature drivers: consumer insights. http://www.
thehartford.com/mature-market-excellence/consumer-technology-insights. Accessed 8 May
2018
Tonetto LM, Desmet PMA (2016) Why we love or hate our cars: a qualitative approach to the
development of a quantitative user experience survey. Appl Ergonomics 56:68–74. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.03.008
Trübswetter N, Bengler K (2013) Why should I use ADAS? Advanced driver assistance systems
and the elderly: knowledge, experience, and usage barriers. In: Proceedings of the seventh inter-
national driving symposium on human factors in driver assessment, training, and vehicle design.
University of Iowa, Ames, IA
UMTRI—University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (2015) Curve-speed warning
systems. University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI. http://www.
umtri.umich.edu/our-focus/curve-speed-warning-systems. Accessed 8 May 2018
Viereckl R, Ahlemann D, Koster A, Hirsh E, Kuhnert E, Mohs J, Fischer M, Gerling W,
Gnanasekaran K, Kusber J, Stephan J (2016). Connected car report 2016: opportunities, risk,
and turmoil on the road to autonomous vehicles. Strategy. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/
reports/connected-car-2016-study. Accessed 8 May 2018
Vincent JM (2016) What kind of car do you need? [web log post]. Cars US News, Car Rank-
ings & Advice. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-to-choose-the-right-car-for-you#need.
Accessed 8 May 2018
Vink P, Lips D (2017) Sensitivity of the human back and buttocks: the missing link in comfort seat
design. Appl Ergonomics 58:287–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.07.004
Waller S, Bradley M, Hosking I, Clarkeson PJ (2015) Making the case for inclusive design. Appl
Ergonomics 46(Part B):297–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.012
Warner HW, Özkan T, Lajunen (2010) Drivers’ propensity to have different types of intelligent speed
adaptation installed in their cars. Transp Res Part F 13(3):206–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.
2010.04.005
Wege CA, Trent WV (2013) Distraction and inattention prevention by combining behaviour-based
safety with advanced driver assistance systems. IET Digital Library, pp 215–237. https://doi.org/
10.1049/pbsp009e_ch11
Weinberg G, Müller C (2011) Multimodal input in the car, today and tomorrow. IEEE Multimedia
18(1):98–103. https://doi.org/10.1109/MMUL.2011.14
Wood SP, Chang J, Healy T, Wood J (2012) The potential regulatory challenges of increasingly
autonomous motor vehicles. Santa Clara Law Rev 52(4):1423–1502. ISSN 0146-0315
Wu J, Subramanian R, Craig M, Starnes M, Longthorne A (2013) The effect of earlier or automatic
collision notification on traffic mortality by survival analysis. Traffic Injury Prevent 14:50–57.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2013.799279
Yang J, Coughlin JF (2014) In-vehicle technology for self-driving cars: Advantages and challenges
for aging drivers. Int J Autom Techn 15(2):333−340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-014-0034-6
Yarow J (2009) Guess what? People like to drive, even if it’s irrational [web log post]. Bus Insider.
http://www.businessinsider.com/guess-what-people-like-to-drive-2009-9. Accessed 8 May 2018
Conclusions
The chapters present in this book a broad scope where Designers assume leading roles
in Design and non-design contexts. In this context, design schools play a crucial role
and can play a leading role in design education.
Adapting to new curriculum contexts presupposes changes but not only changes
in the structure and content of educational programs because the model behind these
programs and the didactic approaches to transfer them require applied research.
The disciplinary and design-focused curriculum should focus on peer collabo-
ration, paving the way for multidisciplinary perspectives and changing a landscape
dominated by purely personal and disciplinary arguments.
The issues of interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity are unavoidable both in
practices and in information technology support systems.
Geographic referencing systems and augmented reality are intelligent and interac-
tive systems that allow users to interact with space through technological interfaces.
They will enable the individualization of spatial experiences, and foster new modali-
ties of practices in space, recreating symbolic representations generating new identity
and memory proposals.
The communication of experiences is central in the design communication project,
even in the non-formal communication process in the transmission of commercial
brand perception and where the stakeholders have an active relational component.
The study of new markets is a guarantee that the trademark structure can be adapted
and the strategies created in the Design project, allow the brands to present stronger
identities.
The intersection of systemic practices, concepts, and technologies allows the
Designer a tactical adaptation to contemporary needs. We can conclude that new
technologies, technically and conceptually, offer the designer new avenues, saving
him time and facilitating many of the daily tasks, becoming indispensable in many
phases of the work.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32415-5
404 Conclusions
However, should not overlook the tangible experiences of reflection through

design, as the Design experience can provide attentive attention and add reflective
value while also playing a critical role within the creative process of Design.
This mediated capacity for reflection is capable of creating adaptive structures
and evolutionary relationships as a way of creating creative challenges, interests, and
bridges in speculative scenarios of man and nature. The “tangible” reflection per-
formed by sketches of solutions via drawing or physical reflection systems allows for
a tangibility in the graphic reasoning that accompanies the search for new solutions.
To propose new solutions with different innovations, is crucial to have an analyt-
ical, critical, curious, creative, and collaborative attitude. Designers should identify
and understand the various existing collaborative processes associated with Design
in its multiple strands.
In summary, the Project and the disciplinary knowledge of Design is a living rhi-
zome, with multiple relationships, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, but “orga-
nized” according to the project. The forms of information organization raise aware-
ness about the focus of the project, providing conceptual and practical framework
for the embodiment of the Design Project practices.

Perspective On Design Research

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Perspective On Design Research

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Perspective On Design Research

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Springer Series in Design and Innovation 1

Keywords: Product and System Innovation; Product design; Interior design;

How to submit proposals

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16270

ISSN 2661-8184 ISSN 2661-8192 (electronic)

Castelo Branco, Portugal Daniel Raposo

Design Education, Research and Society

A City’s Cultural Heritage Communication Through Design . . . . . . . . . 115

Drawing and Image in Design

Fashion Design, Interior and Product Design

Trends Management: The Qualitative Approach as a Methodology . . . . 283

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 3

Keywords Design education · Y-shaped designer · Design leadership ·

1 In Reality Design Is not that Important Anymore …

During a recent talk at the Design-In-Tech 2019 conference, interaction designer

2 Towards a New MA Curriculum in Design

Fig. 1 Developing a new MA curriculum in Design (Eckert 2018)

the increasing number of non-designers applying to our MA programme in design.

3 Y-Shaped-Designers and Connective Competences

As discussed in section two of this chapter. Our preliminary research on design

Fig. 2 T-Shaped model

In the post-Bolognese landscape of educational programmes, this model often

Fig. 4 Y-Shaped designers graduating from BA and MA programmes (Eckert 2017a)

4 Didactical Changes—Best Practices

4.1 Collective Learning and Conversation Training

As discussed in this chapter before, our former MA curriculum in design would

Table 2 Didactical implications pre- and post-curriculum (Eckert 2018)

4.2 Re-Briefing the Brief And Scaffolding

5 Conclusions—Taking the Lead by Unlearning Design

as evidence that changing the perspective from a disciplinary and design-focused

Suzana Dias and Ana Baptista

Abstract Nowadays, factors such as the accelerated cultural dematerialization, the

Keywords Designer’s role · Socially responsible design · Participatory design ·

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 17

2 Aiming for Socially Responsible Design

Communication ceased to be perceived as an exclusive domain of the Government

3 Rethinking the Role of the Designer

4 Impact on Design Education

psychologists, therapists and other professionals in order to explore the intersec-

Keywords Professional design practice · Reflective writing · Design education ·

Having an experience is not enough to learn. We experience many more things

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 27

2 The Capacity to Adapt to Change

Back then I didn’t know, but my University introduce me to my (future) partners.

3 Develop New Forms of Intervention in Society

4 Are We Going Together?

only for the entrepreneurial adventure but also to know—by experience—what to

important to explain why structuralism and its expansion in post-structuralism was

Swiss linguist Ferdinand Saussure theorized about the concept of Structuralism,

9 Three Ideas from the Secretary General of the UN

completely—teachers, courses, etc.—every 10 or 20 years, and must provide the

Downs S (2011) The graphic communication handbook. Routledge, Oxfordshire

Hermes de Andrade Júnior and Tamar Prouse de Andrade

Keywords Transdisciplinarity · Transdisciplinary coaching · Transdisciplinary

Education in the twenty-first century receives increasingly globalized influences,

H. de Andrade Júnior (B)

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 39

2 The (Trans) Disciplinary Thinking

2.1 Following the Design Thinking Process