Act I is the Introduction, also known as the exposition. Here we are introduced to the “normal world.” Now, the normal world may exist in a far future on an interstellar starship, or it may be set in a suburban ranch house with a swing set in the back yard, but the audience will give us great latitude as we establish the definition of “normal.” In this act, we learn the rules that govern this world, and something about the characters that inhabit it. In the Hegelian dialectic, this is the “thesis.” Act II is the Conflict. This conflict is introduced through an “inciting incident,” an act that disrupts the normal world outlined in act I. The tension introduced during this incident grows throughout the second act. In the Hegelian dialectic, the second act is the “antithesis.” Act III is the Resolution. The conflict is resolved, and the world and the characters in it are revealed to have been changed. In the Hegelian dialectic, the third act is the “synthesis.”

Design is also a way of thinking, learning, and engaging with the world. .d-undefined, .lh-undefined { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) !important; }1See-ming LeeReasoning through design is a mode of knowledge production that is neither primarily deductive nor inductive, but rather abductive and speculative. Where deduction reasons from the general to the specific and induction reasons from the specific to the general, abduction suggests the best prediction given incomplete observations.52 Professor of urban planning, philosopher, and scholar of organizational learning Donald Schön put it this way: “Designers put things together and bring new things into being, dealing in the process with many variables and constraints, some initially known and some discovered through designing. Almost always, designers’ moves have consequences other than those intended for them. Designers juggle variables, reconcile conflicting values, and maneuver around constraints—a process where, although some design products may be superior to others, there are no unique right answers.”53 Design is thus also speculative: it is about envisioning, as well as manipulating, the future.54 Designers imagine images, objects, buildings, and systems that do not yet exist. We propose, predict, and advocate for (or, in certain kinds of design, warn against) visions of the future

imeter wave scanners is now being used to develop AI in nearly every domain.d-undefined, .lh-undefined { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) !important; }1Dev Dhawan. From my standpoint, I worry that the current path of AI development will reproduce systems that erase those of us on the margins, whether intentionally or not, through the mundane and relentless repetition of reductive norms structured by the matrix of domination .d-undefined, .lh-undefined { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) !important; }1Muhammad Khurram(a concept we’ll return to later), in a thousand daily interactions with AI systems that, increasingly, weave the very fabric of our lives..d-undefined, .lh-undefined { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) !important; }11 My concerns about how the design of AI reproduces structural inequality extend more broadly to all areas of design, and these concerns are shared by a growing community.

first decide what input, output, and state exist in your design, independent of how those are manifested in a user interface. This is a fundamentally larger question about the information and behavior that your application will have. You should really design these before you ever worry about the user interface for a design, as your user interface is completely dependent on your decisions about what an application stores and can do.

You don’t make a prototype in the hopes that you’ll turn it into the final implemented solution. You make it to acquire knowledge, and then discard it, using that knowledge to make another better prototype.

We often write two versions of a question and ask half of the survey sample one version of the question and the other half the second version. Thus, we say we have two forms of the questionnaire. Respondents are assigned randomly to receive either form, so we can assume that the two groups of respondents are essentially identical. On questions where two versions are used, significant differences in the answers between the two forms tell us that the difference is a result of the way we worded the two versions.

Create a short list of main comparison criteria before you start. You can always add more criteria if it makes sense. This will keep your research guided.Remember to add the product you’re designing to the analysis to see how your product compares to the competition.Know when to stop. Start with 3–5 main competitors. Once you uncover the information you need in order to inform your design decisions, it’s time to stop.Don’t simply copy the designs you find in your research. The competitors may not be using best practices. Instead, be inspired by the solutions found in your research and adapt the solutions to fit your brand, product, and users.Be tool agnostic. Choose the tool that helps you present your findings based on the information you are documenting and sharing.Know when to perform a “comparative analysis.” Study solutions from products that are not direct competitors. For example, if you are designing a solution that includes a calendar scheduling feature, explore the best calendar scheduling solutions, regardless of the vertical.

Maintaining emotional distance from ideas. If you’re too attached with an idea, you might not see or accept a better one that you or someone else discovers.Seeking critique. No one has enough perspective or knowledge to know everything good and bad about design on their own. Seeking the perspective of others on an idea helps complete this picture.

Other paradigms might be easier, since they involve giving up less power, working less with affected communities, and therefore taking less time. But that just means designing something that may be less effective, sustainable, and successful.

Bricolage uses appropriation, but goes beyond it, assembling novelty through recombination. Like appropriation, it is not an explicit process, but a kind of activity that humans engage in that can arrive at new designs.

if you spend all your time in point-scoring environments, you will become used to life being about scoring points. And you will begin to adopt that approach and begin to adopt those values without even realizing it

the number of point systems that surround me, the popularity of point systems as a way for me to track, modify, and judge my behavior, and for others to do the same to me, has just exploded.