Performing design: Taking the stage and acting a role
“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.” –Mae West
Designers use many different techniques and methods, but they are all eventually performed. Whether it’s a workshop, pitch, interview or even a report, we take on a role and play it. Design is a performance, and I want to talk about different approaches to performing design.
Our community talks a lot about the kinds of artifacts or methods that designers use to engage people, but we seem strangely silent on the ways that a designer performs with these artifacts and methods. This is a shame, because looking at design as a performance lets us start to build a repertoire of designerly actions. It helps us make choices about ‘what to do next’ when faced with design challenges.
In this short presentation I’ll discuss three distinct kinds of design performance I’ve noticed and how they’re useful in different design situations:
- pragmatic performances are useful when problems are clearly defined, and the goal is to reduce the ambiguity of a situation
- critical performances are useful when problems are fuzzy and ill defined, and the goal is to shine a light on the situation
- enterprising performances are useful when the problem you’re facing is wicked, and the goal is to engage people around taming it
This presentation will be useful for designers who want to extend the ways they think about and practice design.