A View of Design Theory and Methodology From the Standpoint of Design Freedom

Abstract While significant progress has been made in design theory and methodology research, no unifying theories have resulted. This paper proposes a preliminary definition of design freedom and uses it as a frame of reference for relating various design theories and methods. This exercise produces two main findings: first, that design freedom is a central concept to most design theories, and second that few design methods deal explicitly with design freedom. A design process model that explicitly includes design freedom is proposed as a unifying framework for design theory and methodology.