(In)tangib/es: Sociocultural references in the design process milieu.

This thesis broadly engages with the design process and design education, focusing particularly on sociocultural and (in)tangible references that are communicated verbally, visually, and textually within the design environment. With the aim of defining these references and subsequently understanding contextualised sociocultural environments, ethnographically oriented methods and an interdisciplinary theoretical model are developed and applied to two field studies. This research combines design with cultural anthropology, social psychology, and social cognition to gain a more holistic viewpoint on design processes. Each empirical field study uses the same research approach, methodology, theoretical framework, and data analysis and presentation methods. The methods include observational techniques, questionnaires to gather personal information, and informal interviews to track the design process. Videotape recordings are used to document in-studio activity, and still photography captures visual communication along with the sociocultural context of participants. The studies are longitudinal, lasting six and seven weeks, and follow university-level industrial design students and their instructors from the onset of a design brief to project completion. The first study takes place in Scotland in the United Kingdom, where students design an airline meal tray. The second takes place in Western Canada and involves the design of sports eyewear. This research defines and describes sociocultural factors as identified through references. Sociocultural references include the individual, personal, and social-cultural information embedded in an individual’s personal makeup, referred to here as sociocultural capital. Understanding how, when, and why this sociocultural capital is used during the creation of an artefact is a primary focus of this work. Design decisions concerning artefact form, aesthetics, materials, manufacturing, user experience, and more are made by considering project stakeholders (e.g., instructors, clients, users). References that directly relate to the design brief and established design stages are termed tangible, while those that are abstract and more distant from the immediate task are termed intangible. Sociocultural references can be both tangible and intangible but specifically relate to the sociocultural capital of the individuals making them. Patterns, themes, and categories relating to the design process, individual designers, and educational contexts—including studio and design culture—are revealed through these references. This research presents three central contributions: • A theoretical model called the design process milieu, which provides a holistic framework for understanding design scenarios, including inside-local, inside-universal, outside-local, and outside-universal environments, along with a systematic methodology and analytical approach. • A definition and detailed description of (in)tangible references, including when and why they are used during the design process. • In-depth descriptions of two design environments, particularly in terms of studio culture and broader design culture. The research argues that references offer valuable insights into the sociocultural context of design scenarios. Furthermore, it contends that all elements discussed during the design process are meaningful and can influence artefact development. As a result, this work has important implications for understanding how sociocultural contexts shape design students, educators, and practitioners; what types of sociocultural capital designers use; and, to a lesser extent, how, when, and why they employ it. The findings lead to recommendations for design education, design practice, and design research more broadly.