Synthesizing Opposites: Technical Rationality And Pragmatism In Design

HCI and design research literature commonly assert a distinction and even opposition between Rationalist and Pragmatist epistemologies (e. g. Schon 1983/ 87, Winograd & Flores 1986, Suchman 1987). In this literature, design processes are often characterized using a pragmatist perspective. Design theorists, often relying on Dewey (1933) typically focus on the design process, including the " why" and the " how" of design (e. g., Schon 1983, Cross 2011, Nelson & Stolterman 2012, etc.). However, many design practitioners appear to follow a Technical Rationality perspective while actually designing: they are bound to deliver outcomes in limited time, and they seek to optimize their limited resources and techniques. Despite this seemingly opposite nature of Rationalism and Pragmatism, many design practitioners and researchers have converted from one to another paradigm during their careerse. g., Bruce Archer (1979), Christopher Alexander (1977), John Chris Jones (1992). However, to our knowledge, there is little to no literature on how designers synthesize both paradigms within a single project, reinforcing the apparent divide between them. In this work, we critically engage with a design research process, entitled Designing Tools for Reflection, to show that the integration between these two epistemic stances can be coherent and support design. Drawing on our analysis of the design project case study, we identify and discuss about two different and possible manners of this integration, side-by-side and serial epistemic integrations.