Readings 6

The Reflective Practitioner:
How Professionals Think in Action
Donald Schon

Knowledge in academia vs. Professional practice
Universities are institutions committed to a particular view of knowledge

Professional knowledge=application of scientific theory & technique to the problem
Technical Rationality
Positivism: achievements of science & tech applied to the well being of mankind
1. Empirical Science is the only source of positive knowledge
2. Cleanse men’s minds of pseudo knowledge: mysticism
3. Extending scientific knowledge to human society in politics & morality

Positivist observed, hypothesized, experimented, recorded and confirmed natural phenomenon

Positivism solved the puzzle of practical knowledge

Professional practice is problem solving
Problem setting defines the decision to be made
Problem setting is a process on naming things to attend, and framing the context to attend to them
Reflecting in action is “learning to adjust when you’re out there”
Studying wining habits and repeating then every time you perform
Pitchers, jazz musicians

Practitioners Reflection-in-Action
Criticize initial understanding of phenomenon
Construct new description of it
Test new description with experiment
Construct new way of seeing problem

Reflecting in action is research
Not dependant on categories of establishment theory and technique, but constructs new theory of a unique case
Not bound by Technical Rationality

Uncertainty can be a sign of weakness

Semiotics: A Primer for Designers
Challis Hodge

Semiotics allows us to understand relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them

Semiotics is the study of signs, representation
Saussure is considered the founder of linguistics and semiotics
Semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for
Syntactics (Syntax): The Formal or structural relations between signs
Pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters

Text is an assemblage of signs: word, image, sound and gesture
Language is the system vs. Speech the instance

Our work has no meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it
Factors are constantly changing as we create them
Understanding the factors gives us control over the success of work

Reality depends on the intentions we put in our work, and also the interpretations of people experiencing it
Meaning is actively created
Becoming aware of these systems and rules and learning to master them is the true power of visual communication and design