Legibility of Design in Collaborative Computational Practices

Abstract

Abstract. The paper reports key instances from our field observations involving computational design practices to understand the process of generating and assessing alternative design options. Following an ethnographic approach, we investigate the nature of interactions within the team, which we conceptualize as a distributed cognitive system. We have observed a persistent effort –mostly driven by team leaders- to make the design idea -and design process in general- more legible and transparent for individuals within the team as well as others including clients and consultants. Through situated observations of collaborative computational practices, we investigate how design ideas are represented and externalized in a distributed cognitive system with the intention of achieving a legible schema to guide the design process. We report our interpretations concerning the concept of legibility and its various dimensions which predominantly relate to the need to clarify and justify the core design drivers and approaches in form-finding.

Keywords: Legibility, Distributed Cognition, Design Collaboration.