On the Complexity of the Design-Artifact-User System

Maier, J.R.A. and Fadel, G.M., 2003, “On the Complexity of the Design-Artifact-User System,” Proceedings of ICED 03, Stockholm, Sweden. August 19-21, 2003. Paper no. 1366.

Abstract

The science of engineering design has often been studied with the same scientific tools as other domain of interest in engineering, such as mechanics and thermodynamics. However, design presents a host of issues not present in other engineering domains, issues such as human creativity and decision-making, uncertainty, changing market conditions, and synthesis. Taken together, these and many more issues are evidence of the complex nature of design in general. This paper addresses this inherent complexity in design by applying concepts and tools from the relatively new science of complexity. The designer-artifact-user system is defined as the complex system of interest, and then this system is analyzed using ideas from complexity science. A number of unsolved issues in design, including several important trade-offs, are understood as parallel issues that have not yet been solved for any complex system. Further, several important insights into design are also gained from complexity science, including the idea of “designing on the edge of chaos,” pursuing sub-optimal “satisficing” solutions, and strategies for matching time-scales within the designer-artifact-user system. Finally several open areas of future research into applying complexity science to design science are identified, including the development of methodological, as well as computational tools.

Key words: Design, design theory, complexity, complexity science

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