The Routledge Companion to Design Research offers a comprehensive examination of design research, celebrating the plurality of design research and the wide range of conceptual, methodological, technological and theoretical approaches evident in contemporary design research. This volume comprises 39 original and high quality design research chapters from contributors around the world, with offerings from the vast array of disciplines in and around modern design praxis, including areas such as industrial and product design, visual communication, interaction design, fashion design, service design, engineering and architecture. The Routledge Companion to Design Research is divided into five distinct parts with chapters that examine the nature and process of design research, the purpose of design research, and how one might embark on design research. They also explore how leading design researchers conduct their design research through formulating and asking questions in novel ways, and the creative methods and tools they use to collect and analyse data. The Routledge Companion to Design Research also includes a number of case studies that illustrate how one might best communicate and disseminate design research through contributions that offer techniques for writing and publicising research. The Routledge Companion to Design Research will have wide appeal to researchers and educators in design and design-related disciplines such as engineering, business, marketing, and computing, and will make an invaluable contribution to state-of-the-art design research at postgraduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral levels and teaching across a wide range of different disciplines.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Paul A. Rodgers and Joyce Yee PART I: WHAT IS DESIGN RESEARCH? The Nature and Process of Design Research; The Purpose of Design Research; Research Approaches Introduction 1. The Sometimes Uncomfortable Marriages of Design and Research Ranulph Glanville 2. A Cybernetic Model of Design Research: Towards a Trans-Domain of Knowing Wolfgang Jonas 3. The Structuring of Design Knowledge Andy Dong, Karl Maton and Lucila Carvalho 4. Inclusive Design Research and Design's Moral Foundation Jude Chua Soo Meng 5. Interdisciplinary Design Research: Mapping the flow of knowledge around a Medidisciplinary Sea Graham Pullin 6. Exploring Research Space in Fashion: The fluidity of knowledge between designers, individuals and society Harah Chon 7. Seeking to Build Graphic Theory from Graphic Design Research Robert Harland Part II: HOW DO WE EMBARK ON DESIGN RESEARCH? Formulating Research Questions; Conducting a Literature Search and Review; Developing a Research Plan Introduction 8. Re-articulating Prevailing Notions of Design: About designing in the absence of sight and other alternative design realities Ann Heylighen and Greg Nijs 9. Conducting design research in and for a complex world Daniela Sangiorgi and Kakee Scott 10. What Is a Research Question in Design? Meredith Davis 11. Towards the formulation of a research question: guidance through the glass bead game of research design Rachael Luck 12. Navigating the methodological mire: practical epistemology in design research Ben Matthews and Margot Brereton 13. The role of prototypes and frameworks for structuring explorations by research through design P.J. Stappers, F. Sleeswijk Visser and A.I. Keller 14. The Role of Experimental Studies in Design Research Philip Cash and Steve Culley 15. Researching the Future by Design Martyn Evans 16. A Photograph Is Evidence Of Nothing But Itself Craig Bremner and Mark Roxburgh PART III: HOW DO WE CONDUCT DESIGN RESEARCH? Asking Questions; Data Collection Methods; Analysing Information; Ethical Issues Introduction 17. Four Cultures of Analysis in Design Research Ilpo Koskinen 18. Hacktivism as design research method Otto von Busch 19. Creative Designerly Mapping: Using scenario thinking and co-design to inform a hybrid approach to design research Kaye Shumack 20. Drawing Out: How designers analyse written texts in visual ways Zoë Sadokierski and Kate Sweetapple 21. Prototypes and Prototyping in Design Research Stephan Wensveen and Ben Matthews 22. The Visual Thinking Method: Tools and Approaches for Rapidly Decoding Design Research Data Simon Bolton 23. An Interpretation Design Pattern Language Margaret Woodward 24. Action Research Approach in Design Research Beatrice Villari 25. Studying Design Cognition in the Real World Using the ‘In Vivo’ Methodology Bo T. Christensen and Linden J. Ball PART IV: HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE DESIGN RESEARCH? Writing Techniques; Writing for Your Audience; Publicising Your Research Introduction 26. Interdisciplinary Design Research: Questions, Conditions, and Interventions Shannon McMullen, Lisa Banu, and Robin Adams 27. Depiction As Theory And Writing By Practice: The Design Process Of A Written Thesis Mark Roxburgh 28. The Book as Site: Alternative Modes of Representing and Documenting Architecture Marian Macken 29. Communicating design research: improving the design of environments for people with dementia Richard Fleming and Fiona Kelly 30. Making meaning happen between us and them: strategies for bridging gaps in understanding between researchers who possess design knowledge and those working in disciplines outside design Michael R. Gibson and Keith Owens 31. Meaningful Play: How Playcentric Research Methods Are Contributing To New Understanding And Opportunities For Design Aaron Scott PART V: EXAMPLES OF DESIGN RESEARCH? How We Embark on Design Research; How We Conduct Design Research; How We Communicate Design Research Introduction 32. Examples of design research & their implications for design & designing Alison McKay 33. A mixed-methods approach to interior and architectural design history research Kathryn L. Burton and Elaine L. Pedersen 34 .Research on History of Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Approach That Uses Films to Investigate the Discourse of Spaces Cecilia Mouat 35. Drifting Walls: Learning from a hybrid design practice Ruth Morrow 36. Designing Mobile Diaries: Negotiating practice-led design research in a professional design setting Penny Hagen and Toni Robertson 37. Probing and filming with strategic results: International design research to validate, explore and develop a new product-service concept Geke van Dijk and Bas Raijmakers 38. Streetstarters: catalysing social cohesion at street level Emiel Rijshouwer, Dries De Roeck, Nik Baerten and Pieter Lesage 39. The 100-Mile Suit Project Kelly Cobb Editors’ End Piece