1st Edition

The Design Student's Journey understanding How Designers Think

By Bryan Lawson Copyright 2019
    330 Pages 99 Color & 73 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    330 Pages 99 Color & 73 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    330 Pages 99 Color & 73 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Being a professional designer is one of the most intellectually rewarding careers. Learning to become a designer can be tremendous fun but it can also be frustrating and at times painful. What you have to do to become a designer is not often clearly laid out and can seem mysterious. Over the past 50 years or so we have discovered a great deal about how designers think. This book relies upon that knowledge but presents it in a way specifically intended to help the student and perhaps the teacher. Bryan Lawson’s classic book How Designers Think has been in print since 1980 and has gone through four editions to keep it up to date. This book can be seen as a companion volume for the design student.

    1. Design as a set of skills you can learn.  2. Getting going (actually you’ve already started).  3. From vernacular design to design by drawing.  4. Drawing in design.  5. Design schools.  6. Starting to design.  7. What’s the problem?  8. The components of design thinking.  9. Managing the design process.  10. What designers know.  11. The design tutorial.  12. The crit or design jury or review.  13. Design conversations.  14. Design concepts and schemata.  15. Guiding principles.  16. Recognising situations, gambits and affordances.  17. Having more than one idea.  18. Parallel lines of thought.  19. Some expert tricks of the trade.  20. More on conversations with media.  21. Getting into a design project.  22. The structure of design problems (1).  23. The structure of design problems (2).  24. Navigating your design problem.  25. How are you getting on?  26. Moving on.  Index.

    Biography

    Bryan Lawson studied at the Oxford School of Architecture followed by a Master's and Doctorate in psychology. He has studied the relationship between people, place, and wellbeing. He has also extensively studied the nature of the creative design process. His book How Designers Think was published in 1980 and is still in print, reaching its fourth edition.

    Bryan was Head of School and Dean of the Faculty of Architectural Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He is now Professor Emeritus and has held professorial posts at universities in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

    "The understanding of how designers think and work has grown substantially in recent years. Based on this knowledge, and addressed to students, this book is very welcome. Structured around the process of learning to design, it provides clarity on developing the cognitive and practical skills of designing. It is an approach that should be more evident in all design schools."

    Professor Nigel Cross, The Open University; author of Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work