Design Anthropology: A Distinct Style of Knowing
Ton Otto, Rachel Charlotte Smith
Abstract
This chapter argues that design anthropology is coming of age as a separate (sub)discipline with its own concepts, methods, research practices, and practitioners, in short its own distinct style and practice of knowledge production. Design is a pervasive aspect of modern society with a large number of practitioners and a great range of subfields, such as industrial design, architecture, systems design, human-computer interaction design, service design, and strategic design and innovation. Design is a pervasive aspect of modern society with a large number of practitioners and a great range of subfields, such as industrial design, architecture, systems design, human-computer interaction design, service design, and strategic design and innovation. As the field of human-computer interaction design has expanded its scope beyond workplace studies and system development, the turn to values and experiences has occurred more generally within the field of human-computer interaction. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.