Overlooking the visual

It is widely acknowledged in literature on design theory and confirmed as part of the research project ‘Cognitive abilities and the art of design’ that in order to design, not only is it necessary to be visually aware, but also that visual thinking is an important part of the design process. But do we know why? One of the findings of the research project is that what visual awareness or visual thinking entails is far from clear. How these concepts relate to each other and to similar notions such as visual literacy, the visual language or visual skill, visualisation or imaging remains ambiguous. What is clear is that whenever ’the visual’ is referred to in design theory, what is being invoked in one way or another is a mode of thinking closely associated with creativity, subjectivity and intuition. A metaphysical concept, this is deeply problematic educationally. How students might be taught any skills associated with the visual, or indeed, whether or not it is possible to teach anything visual is debatable. The thesis of this paper is that difficulties surrounding the concept are philosophical, rather than psychological or cognitive. After introducing the main concerns of pragmatism, the paper considers various interconnected and related interpretations of the visual. It outlines problems these interpretations cause in the design studio and explores the philosophical foundations of the concept. To clarify its role in design, the paper offers an alternative analysis of the visual from a pragmatic perspective. Shifting paradigms to dispense with the need to rely on the notion of different modes of thinking, provides a basis not only to give a definition of visual skill which has a clear educational rationale, but also to make explicit the role of visual skill in the design process and to throw light on the apparently elusive connection between design theory and practice. The overall ambition of this research is to make it easier to teach and develop artistic sensibility in design. This paper is based on a conference paper presented at the ECLAS (European Conference of Landscape Architecture Schools) conference in Berlin in September 1999. It emerges from the research project ’Cognitive abilities and the art of design’ funded by the Leverhulme Trust, an investigation of the philosophy and practice of design education within landscape architecture. This involved interviewing eminent practitioners and educators in landscape architecture, both in the United States and Europe, analysis of questionnaires undertaken by students of landscape architecture and drawings undertaken by children and students from a range of disciplines. It draws on several years’ experience teaching landscape design studios at undergraduate and postgraduate level. (A book developing this research is to be published shortly by Routledge.)