Certainty

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CERTAINTY

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she knew with absolute certainty that they were dead.

there is a bewildering lack of certainty and clarity in the law.

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All texts highlighted with the “ “, are notes while reading from the following books. There’s no special sequence for each page.

Dorst, Kees. Understanding Design. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, Inc, 2006. Print.

Lawson, Bryan. How Designer think. London : The Architectural Press, 198o. 33. Print.

Koberg, Don and Bagnall, Jim. “The revised all new universal traveler.” Los Altos, California: Crisp Publications, Inc, 1974. Print.

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Good designers know how to tackle design problems in very suc-cessful ways. The bad news is that they are not usually able to explain to others what they do, why they do it, and how. The complicated and creative nature of design means that most design knowl-edge is implicit-and is no-toriously hard to bring out into the open.

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Indeed, many features of design problems may never be fully uncovered and made explicit. Design problems are often full of uncertainties both about the objectives and their relative priorities.

Explicit:stated clearly and in de-tail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt : the speaker’s intentions were not made explicit.

something in such a way : let me be explicit.

-senting sexual activity in a graphic fashion :

explicit photos showing poses and acts.nounthe closing words of a text, manuscript, early printed book, or chanted liturgical text. Compare with incipit .

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Designers do not aim to deal with questions of what is, how and why, but rather with what might be, could be and should be. While scientists may help us to understand the present and predict the future, designers may be seen to prescribe and to create the future, and thus their process deserves not just ethical but also moral scrutiny.

Predict;

happen in the future or will be a consequence of something : it is too early to predict a result | [with clause ] he predicts that the trend will continue | [as adj. ] ( predicted) the predicted growth is 47 percent.

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Rarely in design does one know or not know the terminal point but rather on has some in-formation about it; it is a matter of degree. In some kinds of de-sign one knows exactly where one will end up, in others one has very little idea.

Information:1 facts provided or learned about something or someone : a vital piece of information. See note at knowledge .

charge lodged with a court or magistrate by a prosecutor without the aid of a grand jury : the tenant may lay an

information against his landlord.2 what is conveyed or represented by a par-ticular arrangement or sequence of things : genetically transmitted information.

processed, stored, or transmitted by a com-puter.

-cal quantity expressing the probability of oc-

currence of a particular sequence of symbols, impulses, etc., as con-trasted with that of alternative sequences.

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Denys Lasdun (1965) tell us that “our job is to give the client… not what he wants but what he never even dreamed he wanted.”

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Part of the art of dealing with wicked problems is in the act of not knowing too early which type of solution to apply. - Rittel and Webber, Dilemma in a Gen-eral Theory of Planning.

Solution:1 a means of solving a problem or dealing with a di!cult situation : there are no easy solu-tions to !nancial and marital problems.

puzzle : the solution to this month’s crossword.2 a liquid mixture in

which the minor com-

uniformly distributed within the major com-

of being dissolved in a solvent.

3 archaic the action of separating or breaking down; dissolution : the solution of British su-premacy in South Africa.

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The anxiety of not know-ing if you can succeed will be easily replaced by a simple time-task schedule and by getting started.

Schedule:1 a plan for carrying out a process or procedure, giving lists of intended events and times : we have drawn up an engi-neering schedule.

one’s day-to-day plans or timetable : take a mo-ment out of your busy

schedule.-

tion on airline schedules.-

dix to a formal docu-ment or statute, esp. as a list, table, or inventory.

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pletion and relating to the various classes into which taxable income is divided.

a particular time : the release of the single is scheduled for April.

to do something : [ trans. ] he is scheduled to be released from prison this spring.

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The moves in this game are those actions or de-cisions that each party takes on his own and then presents to the other: !rst the client’s decision to appoint the designer and present him with a more or less vaguely de!ned brief: next the designer;s in-terpretation of that in

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terms of tentative de-sign or a more detailed statement of require-ments; then the client’s response to that-chang-es to it, or more clearly expressed desires, then a more detailed design-er. and so on, until both parties are satis!ed or commission is aban-doned.

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Inventions are but new ways for combining old bits and pieces.

Combine:unite; merge : the band combines a variety of musical in"uences | combine the "our with the margarine and salt | [intrans.] high tides and winds combined to bring chaos to the East Coast.

unite to form a com-

pound : oxygen and hydrogen do not combine at room temperatures.

a common purpose : groups of teachers com-bined to tackle a variety of problems.

-ously : combine shopping and sightseeing.

See note at join .nouna group of people or companies acting to-gether for a commercial purpose : a powerful industrial combine.

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The outstanding struc-tural engineering de-sign Ted Happold said: ’ I really have, perhaps, one real talent-that is that I don’t mind at all living in a area of total uncertainty.

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This strategy can be rec-ognized in all design pro-cessions- in many design problems, the generation of possible solutions and their gradual improve-ment is the only way for-ward. That’s design.

Improvement:an example or instance of improving or being improved : an improve-ment in East–West relations.

-ing or being improved : there’s still room for improvement.

something better or is better than something else : home improve-ments | it’s an improve-ment on the last cake I made.

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Design thus involves a period of exploration in which problem and solu-tion are evolving and are very unstable, until they are (temporarily) !xed by an emergent idea which identi!es a problem-solu-tion pairing.

Emergent:1 in the process of com-ing into being or be-coming prominent : the emergent democracies of eastern Europe.

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of complex causes and not analyzable simply as

a plant that is taller than the surrounding vegeta-tion, esp. a tall tree in a forest.

a water plant with leaves and "owers that appear above the water surface.2 arising and existing only as a phenomenon

of independent parts working together, and not predictable on the basis of their proper-ties : one such emergent property is the ability, already described, of an established ecosystem to repel an invading species.

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Design can be seen as a reasoning process, run-ning from problem to solution. But there is no unique road that con-nects the design problem with the design solution-design problems can be solved in many ways. this doesn’t made design ir-rational, though: there is

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Nevertheless, In nine out of ten cases a new design is a creative combination of concepts that has ex-isted before. It is already dif!cult to create anything novel in this sense, let alone making something that is completely new to the world.

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Logic in design, but de-sign problems are so am-biguous that logic can be applied in many different ways. Therefore, design problems are often called ‘undetermined.’

1 reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of valid-ity : experience is a better guide to this than deduc-tive logic | he explains his move with simple logic | the logic of the argument is faulty.

or codi#cation of the principles of proof and inference : Aristotelian logic.

symbolic and math-ematical techniques to determine the forms of valid deductive argu-ment.

justi#able by reason : there’s no logic in tell-ing her not to hit people when that’s what you’re doing.

action or line of reason-ing suggested or made necessary by : if the logic of capital is allowed to determine events.

2 a system or set of principles underlying the arrangements of ele-ments in a computer or electronic device so as to perform a speci#ed task.

-lectively.

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A design problem is a situation of tension, of unattained aims and un-resolved con"ict. This tension is the force that initiates and drives de-sign. At the end of prob-lem is resolved, it dis-appears from the mind of the designer. This is very much like any form of problem solving.

Initiate:

he proposes to initiate discussions on planning procedures.

a secret or obscure so-ciety or group, typically with a ritual : she had been formally initiated into the sorority.

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The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein has stated that: ’ we are aiming at…complete clarity. But this simply means that the philosophical problems should completely disap-pear. The real discovery is the one that make me capable of stopping phi-losophy when I want to.

Clarity:the quality of being clear, in particular

-ence and intelligibility : for the sake of clarity, each of these strategies is dealt with separately.

-ing easy to see or hear; sharpness of image or sound : the clarity of the

picture.

certain or de#nite : it was clarity of purpose that he needed.

-parency or purity : the crystal clarity of water.

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Is it dif!cult to plan a de-sign project. You never know how hard it will be gather the necessary in-formation, or how much time it will take for good ideas to surface, and you never know how of-ten you will have to ‘it-erate’: to go back to an earlier stage of the de-

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Plan:1 a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something : the UN peace plan.

for the regular payment of contributions to-ward a pension, savings account, or insurance policy : a personal pen-sion plan.

-tion or decision about what one is going to do : I have no plans to retire.3 a detailed diagram, drawing, or program, in particular

of a town or district : a street plan.

made by projection on

sign project and plan design. Notwithstanding all these uncertainties, you still need a plan, otherwise the whole de-sign process spins out of control.

a horizontal plane, esp. one showing the layout of a building or one "oor of a building. Compare

how something will be arranged : look at the seating plan.

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1 decide on and arrange

in advance.

preparations for an anticipated event or time : we have to plan for the future.2 design or make a

they were planning a garden.

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A design plan must be dynamic. As the uncer-tainties about the course of the project gradually diminish, you constantly need to adjust the plan-ing accordingly.

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Design is such a diverse profession that it be-comes very much like life. You use everything you have to solve a de-sign problem: all your knowledge and personal experiences, your crea-tivity, and your powers of thought. It engulfs you completely.

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From the outside, design is a strange profession-the creation of novel things by means of an in-credibly messy process that is hard to control and dif!cult to rely on.

Messy:1 untidy or dirty : his messy hair.

-ing mess or untidiness : stripping wallpaper can be a messy job.

-fused and di!cult to deal with : a messy divorce.

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This makes you real-ize that design is a very risky profession. As a designer, you work on a complete design prob-lem, possibly for months on end, without really knowing for sure that you will succeed in cre-ating a satisfying solu-tion.

Sure:

con#dent in what one thinks or knows; hav-ing no doubt that one is right : I’m sure I’ve seen that dress before | she had to check her diary to be sure of the day of the week.

certain prospect or

con#dent anticipation of : Ripken can be sure of a place in the Hall of Fame.

certain to do something : it’s sure to rain before morning.

: what is sure is that learning is a complex business.

relied on or trusted : her neck was red—a sure sign of agitation.

the

drawings impress by their sure sense of rhythm.

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When you start on the long road towards be-coming a designer, you already have developed opinions about what good design is and what kind of designs you want to create. These opinions are super!-cial and are often based on a gut reaction to the

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shape of a design you like, without hav-ing any idea of the thoughts and consid-erations that led to it:’ I want to make some-thing like that!’

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The design students who have what psychol-ogists call a ‘low toler-ance for uncertainty’, tend to concentrate on their !rst solution and improve on it, instead of going through the uncer-tainty associated with a complete phase of idea generation.

Complete:1 having all the neces-sary or appropriate parts

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or degree; total verb [ trans. ]1 #nish making or doing

whole or perfect

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