A diagram I drew modeled after a simpler illustration in the excellent book: “Design Management” by Brigitte Borja de Mozota, originally designed by David Walker (Cooper et al., 1995, p.27).
[The diagram]…“roots the design profession in the handicrafts and its key areas of expertise: perception, imagination, visualization, geometry, knowledge of materials, sense of touch, and sense of detail.”
Further quoting Borja de Mozota, p.9:
1) The roots of the tree represent the immersion of design in different handicraft techniques and its insertion into the creative community. It assures the transfer of this knowledge to the firm, and distributes this expertise within the firm by a process of cross-fertilization.
2) The trunk of the tree represents the specific areas of handicraft expertise, including calligraphy, pottery, jewelry, drawing, modeling, and simulation. It represents the permanence of design expertise in its material form.
3) The branches of the tree represent different design disciplines’ valorization of the different areas of expertise.
Makes a lot of sense. For me, a big metaphysical analogy came from my reading of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, by Robert M. Pirsig. The combined perspectives can help place ‘Design’ into the larger perspective of functional disciplines, spanning 2 dimensions: Classic (technical, scientific, objective) and Romantic (artistic, experiential, subjective).
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
In the leaves, why is packaging listed twice?
Ha, thanks for that!
I just noticed the original diagram didn’t have an additional element to replace that with, so I added ‘illustration’ since it fits.
Wow!
Love the “design tree”.
My mind races as I look at all the relationships at work in design.
The “tree” gives order to all of the skills and disciplines…but not a rigid order that shuts down interaction.
Keep creating…it freaks people out,
Mike