Cognitive Point of View in Recursive Design

The concept of scale is shared between systems science and design and, as a foundational element for systemic design theory and practice, provides a way to connect and share units of analysis between disciplines. To better connect these disciplines and begin a more rigorous, shared investigation of scale and hierarchy, I will illuminate the need and potential of a more explicit use of scale in problem formulation, theory and methods discussion, and design education. By discussing one well-known case study of sustainable design, I demonstrate how the designers’ process can be deconstructed using scale as an organizing concept. I then apply this analytical technique to the mundane example of a cup of coffee, to demonstrate some of the important generalizable properties of multiscale thinking in design. The most notable of these is the notion of cognitive point of view, which is grounded in second-order cybernetics and operates as a construct useful for understanding the dynamics between designer, design process, and designed object. Finally, the article argues that the concepts and topics found here should be taught explicitly to design students in practical ways, and researched formally as a subfield within the systemic design community as a method for recursive design

尺度的概念在系统科学和设计之间是共通的，并且作为系统设计理论与实践的一个基本要素，它提供了一种在不同学科之间连接和共享分析单位的方法。为了更好地连接这些学科，并对尺度和层级展开更严谨、共通的研究，我将阐明在问题阐述、理论和方法讨论以及设计教育中更明确地运用尺度的必要性和潜力。通过讨论一个著名的可持续设计案例研究，我展示了如何将尺度作为一个组织概念来解构设计师的设计过程。然后，我将这种分析技术应用于一杯咖啡这个常见的例子，以展示设计中多尺度思维的一些重要的可推广特性。其中最值得注意的是认知视角的概念，它基于二阶控制论，是一种有助于理解设计师、设计过程和设计对象之间动态关系的构想。最后，文章提出，这里所涉及的概念和主题应该以实用的方式明确地传授给设计专业的学生，并作为系统设计领域内的一个子领域进行正式研究，作为一种递归设计的方法。