Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Design and Research
Chapter 3. Research Essentials
Chapter 4. Qualitative Research
Chapter 5. Quantitative Research
Chapter 6. Visual Research
Chapter 7. Applied Research
Chapter 8. Research and Design
Chapter 9: Conclusion
Gjoko Muratovski
Stanford University, USA
Gjoko Muratovski is an award-winning designer, researcher and
innovation consultant working with a wide range of universities,
Fortune 500 companies, NGO’s, and various governments from around
the world. Throughout his career, he has held numerous leadership
and high-profile appointments at various academic and professional
institutions. He holds a PhD in Design Research and Corporate
Communication Strategies.
Currently, Muratovski is working with the Institute for Innovation
in Developing Economies at Stanford University (USA) on the
introduction of design-led innovation strategies in Africa and
South Asia. In addition to this, he has numerous other academic
affiliations such as inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at Frank Lloyd
Wright’s Fallingwater Institute (USA), Visiting Professor at the
Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), Visiting Professor at the
University of Zagreb (Croatia), Guest Professor at Tongji
University (China), Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University
of Technology (Australia), and Research Investigator with the
University of Delhi (India) and Harvard University (USA).
His other appointments include Scientific Expert for the Ministry
of Education, University and Research (Italy), Business Consultant
for the Ministry of Economy and Industry (Israel), High-End Foreign
Expert with the State Administration (China) and Advisor to the
White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Program
(USA).
Over the years, he worked with organizations ranging from the US
Federal Government, Australian State Governments, NASA, World
Health Organization, UNESCO, and Greenpeace to Johnson & Johnson,
P&G, Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles,
Amazon, and Facebook. Currently, he is working with the
International Space Station (ISS) on matters related to
commercializing space research, and with the World Design
Organization (WDO) and IBM Design (USA) on defining the future of
design education.
For his contributions to the field of design, he was elected as the
Fellow of the Designers Institute (New Zealand) and Fellow of the
Design Research Society (UK). Muratovski is an invited member of
the Forbes Councils (USA), Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit
(USA), and the Oxford Digital Leaders Network (UK).
Between 2016 and 2021, Muratovski also served as the inaugural
Endowed Chair and Director of The Myron E. Ullman, Jr. School of
Design and he led the school through a transformative period of
change. Originally founded in 1869, the Ullman School of Design at
the University of Cincinnati is the oldest university-based design
school in the USA.
Authors website:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gjokomuratovski/
Today, designers design services, processes and organizations;
craft skills no longer suffice. We need to discover, define and
solve problems based upon evidence. We need to demonstrate the
validity of our claims. We need Design Research, but as special
kind of research, with methods appropriate to the applied,
constructive nature of design. We need a book on research for
designers that can educate students and be a reference for
professionals. And here it is: Gjoko Muratovski′s masterful book
for 21st century designers.
*Don Norman*
The nature of my work, as a practising Industrial Designer for many
years has made it unavoidable for me to consider large
questions—design is no longer a thought system for creating a
product but has become a method of contemplating existence. Today,
as designers, we are exploring a new vision; a vision that seeks to
apply creativity to challenges of our age, namely digital
technology and information. The designer of today is involved with
designing experiences, not just looks and appearances. New ideas
will be meaningful only if we can coordinate physical, sensual and
cultural forces. Gjoko Muratovski offers a structure to free the
spirit of designers’ way of experimentation. Research for Designers
gives the reader a pair of wings to transcend limitation and do
original work.
*Suresh Sethi*
‘Doing by design′ will be advanced significantly by Gjoko
Muratovski’s book Research for Designers. The book clearly explains
how effective cross-disciplinary discovery and delivery of
strategic solutions to complex problems needs to begin with
targeted and credible research of the problem area, the ecosystem,
the context, and the stakeholders involved. While the book provides
a great overview for designers that are interested in learning
about research methods and how to use them, the application of this
book goes further. Research for Designers is also useful to
strategists and decision-makers as it can expand their
problem-solving toolkit to incorporate design research and practice
in the pursuit of new, original and better outcomes. This is an
excellent resource for both students and developing design
practitioners.
*Jane Treadwell*
Inspiring and engaging. Muratovski gives us a visionary preview on
the future of design. He argues that design is transforming from
‘problem-solving’ to ‘problem-finding’—something every company,
from startups to multinationals, needs in today’s hyper-connected
and fast-changing world. Muratovski provides the context and,
more importantly, the implications of the rise of design as a
powerful competitive advantage. If you want to know more about
the role of design in the past, present and where design is headed,
start here
*David R. Butler*
Enlightened decisions. Breakthrough innovation. Insightful
insights. Great outcomes begin with in-depth design research.
Thankfully, Gjoko Muratovski has written the definitive compendium
that not only covers ‘how’ to best conduct design research but
‘why’ it is such a vital ingredient to success. Although intended
for design students, I believe Muratovski’s manual offers a far
broader appeal. Strategists, business leaders, policy makers,
anyone who wants to enhance and advance their research proficiency
to achieve a better outcome should read this book. I know I’ll be
sharing copies with my colleagues.
*Maureen Thurston*
Design is a field with a relatively a short history. Design
Research has even a shorter one. Regardless of that, since John
Chris Jones’s Design Methods there have been quite a few books on
design methods that follow changes in the fundamental nature, scale
and complexity of design problems. However, the existing books in
the field mainly deal with design methods and tools for different
stages of the design process. It is hard to find a serious method
book for design research, despite the rapid emergence of doctoral
programs in design, design research journals and design research
conferences. In this regard, Research for Designers is a welcome
contribution to the world of design academia as it discusses
methods for carrying out systematic design research. Furthermore,
this book allows the reader to choose methods for design research
according to different types of design problems and not only for
the different stages of the design process. In this respect,
Research for Designers will be useful not only to postgraduate
students and academics engaged in serious design research, but also
to practicing designers dealing with large-scale, complex and
cross-disciplinary design problems.
*Kun-Pyo Lee*
Design’s importance in social, cultural and economic terms has
never been greater. So it’s a surprise that the design research
community has waited so long for an authoritative and comprehensive
handbook on research methods which further our understanding and
knowledge of the process of designing. Research for Designers fills
this gap in the literature. There’s no doubt it will become a
seminal reference for those seeking to undertake research in the
field.
*Seymour Roworth-Stokes*
Research for Designers explores design research based on a panorama
of the evolution of design. It is a useful book for designers,
educators and researchers. It is also a meaningful book, as it
opens the window for enriching and improving the rationalities
between design and a possible better world. While facing a new era
of design activism, a new culture of knowledge creation should be
involved as part of the agenda. Gjoko Muratovski’s work makes a
concrete step forward.
*Yongqi Lou*
Flexible production technology and new business models enable
companies to make almost anything. The unintended consequences
include consumers confused by too many choices and managers not
knowing what to make. Design offers new ways for executives to
understand and fulfil people’s needs and aspirations; however, the
informality of design knowledge prevents design operating at the
speed and scale that is needed. Research for Designers is a major
contribution to giving structure to design knowledge. This book
will help companies succeed by helping people have better
lives.
*Patrick Whitney*
Gjoko Muratovski’s Research for Designers provides a structured
approach to introducing design students and new researchers to
design research. Designers embarking on research have often found
it to be challenging to find books that are able to provide them
with the necessary advice and guidance for success. This book helps
to overcome this challenge by taking the reader through the
research process from defining the research problem through to the
literature review on to data collection and analysis. With such
practical and useful chapters this book should prove to be
essential reading in design schools across the world.
*Tracy Bhamra*
With Research for Designers, Gjoko Muratovski has put together a
highly valuable resource for designers who want to better
understand how to do design research. Designers, but also those who
teach designers, will find these resources extraordinary
useful.
*Erik Stolterman*
A brilliantly written and wonderfully comprehensive book on the
wide array of research methods available that can, ultimately, help
us design a better world. As companies, organizations and even
governments turn to designers to solve a wide range of problems, a
more evidence-based approach to design will certainly be in
design’s future. This book is an invaluable contribution to that
effort. Appropriate for students and professional designers alike,
Gjoko Muratovski’s Research for Designers should be required
reading for anyone creating anything!
*Dan Formosa*
In Research for Designers, Gjoko Muratovski provides a
comprehensive and insightful guidance to designers on how to find
answers to well articulated design related questions, in a
methodical and systematic way. This is a much more complex
undertaking than it might seem, given the increasing inter- and
trans-disciplinarity of most design-related questions and the
growing need for designers to master many highly varying research
methods and methodologies.
Given that the design field have suffered a lack of well grounded
literature on research methods and research methodology this book
is a welcome contribution and fills a gap for everyone that aims to
approach the field in a methodologically proper way. This book is
an excellent contribution to the knowing of ‘how’ to do design
research - a knowledge critical not only for researchers but for
everyone operating in the design field.
For most practitioners, understanding how to do design research is
about understanding the risks they run when they do not use these
approaches in their daily work of solving problems. Many of these
risks relate to the inability by others to repeat the process done
by an individual designer. This is something that frequently limits
the speed by which design firms can grow. Also, this limits the
speed at which knowledge can be disseminated through the field and
the speed at which new knowledge can be generated. As design
becomes ever more important in business endeavours of all kinds,
with all manner of artefacts created and put to use, the need for a
highly professional and methodologically sound approach to design
becomes increasingly critical. With Research for Designers, Gjoko
Muratovski makes a long awaited contribution to the
professionalization of the design field.
*Göran Roos*
Organisations of all types need to navigate through an increasingly
complex, fast moving world in order to survive and thrive.
Research-led, design-based problem solving has the potential to
help organisations understand complexity by asking the right
questions that lead to finding effective strategies and solutions
to complex problems. The need for conducting rigorous
knowledge-based inquiry is a central theme of this very timely and
relevant book by Gjoko Muratovski. Research for Designers is
an extremely valuable ′how to′ book that arms designers with
practical knowledge on how to conduct and communicate research in
order to create even greater value from the work that they
currently do.
*Swee Mak*
Research for Designers is a concise, pragmatic and well-written
book. The smart use of graphics throughout the volume affords the
reader clear comprehension of complex material.
*Lily Diaz-Kommonen*
Research for Designers is a highly valuable book for anyone who
engages with the design process, regardless of whether they are
designers, engineers or business developers. This book introduces
research with a strong practical focus and it lays down the
foundations for developing an entire R&D process, even for
large-scale, long-term projects - which makes it incredibly useful
to both design and business leaders.
*Kalevi Ekman*
As new hybrid industries that transcend disciplinary boundaries
continue to emerge the need for a future design workforce, that is
still not yet understood, is becoming increasingly evident. That is
why we need a book like Research for Designers that explains
designers how to navigate their way across disciplines, teaches
them how to integrate research with practice, and empowers them to
take on leadership roles in this new world.
*Anita Kocsis*
Designers aiming to change the world are always in pursuit of new
approaches that can help them realize their potential, even if they
are already strongly motivated creative people. This search is a
driving force that leads them to become deeper thinkers, and this
is also what drives them to learn new things. So far, they had to
do with basic research in order to understand complex problems,
namely looking within the field of design itself, while this book
shows them how to find knowledge that lies outside the field.
Research for Designers presents a wider understanding of design
research concerning ‘Design Thinking’, ‘Cross-disciplinary Design
Research’, and ‘Challenges of Cross-disciplinary Practice’.
Wonderfully written, each well-structured chapter of the book
encourages designers to develop their own knowledge from the ground
up. Gjoko Muratovski gives the power of ‘Research Revolution’ to
all potential design thinkers. Enterprising designers can certainly
improve their competencies using the methods presented in the
chapters of his book.
*Yukari Nagai*
Gjoko Muratovski makes an excellent case for how Design Research
can help move design practice and education to the next level.
Society has a growing need for comprehensive Design Thinking and
his book, Research for Designers, makes the subject easy to
understand for novices and also serves as an excellent reference
and inspiration for experts.
*Søren Petersen*
Just as all institutions and disciplines must, from time to time,
be revolutionized in order to survive and thrive, all revolutions
must eventually be institutionalized and disciplined. In Research
for Designers Gjoko Muratovski makes a contribution that will help
institutionalize and expand the current design revolution. As the
first textbook for conducting design-related research, this
discipline-enhancing, accessible, step-by-step guide can help
institutes of design everywhere fulfil the promise of this
important, new and expanding field.
Muratovski’s clear, methodical coverage of the major approaches to
research provides the succinct introduction and on-going practical
resource that every undergraduate, graduate, or practicing designer
might need to begin contributing, themselves, to the next stage of
the field’s development. Armed with the lessons contained in this
practical guide, they will not only make further contributions to
the marketing bonanza and paradigm shift in corporate leadership
already underway, they will help move design from problem finding
to problem predicting and also, it seems, teach us much about what
it means to be human in a world of ever accelerating technological
change.
Follow the path outlined by this book and join the revolution - or
be left behind!
*Branden Thornhill-Miller*
Research for Designers works well to illuminate for Master′s and
Doctoral level students how and why important shifts in design are
taking place around the world from ′product creation′ to ′process
creation′ and from ′a field of practice ′ to a ′field of thinking
and research′. In course development and lecturing on design at
universities such as Stanford, St. Petersburg Polytechnic, Borås,
Aalto and Tongji, I have until now been searching for this kind of
good new books. One down.
*Antti Ainamo*
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