Abstract

Design lacks a direct language for discussing meaning as it is experienced and constructed by receivers, and it lacks operational methods for measuring meaning and relating it to the design decisions that determine the spatial and temporal composition of communications. Thus, at the heart of the design process itself is a lacuna. This paper describes a theoretical approach to bridge the gap by examining how users construct meaning. The proposed cognitive process model is based on the processes of perception, thought, and memory: species wide competencies that underlie the manifold social and cultural code systems of communicative forms. A method is derived to make inferences about that user constructed meaning on the basis of observable outcomes. The research protocol provides a robust, repeatable, in situ method that can be used in different communications situations for exploring highly varied communication questions, and for extending empirically substantiated theory. The research method can support the development of a larger analytic base for communication design. The research provides methods in which communication outcomes can be clearly demonstrated, with the potential for replacing survey and focus group analysis in those situations where they are dubious or ambiguous with a tool that is simpler to use, more direct in its measures, easier to interpret, and which can be unobtrusively embedded into pre-existing communications. The theory and research demonstrate that it is possible to use empirical methods in non-positivist ways to creatively explore subtle and meaningful ideas about communication and design. The results of such explorations can be used to create new ways of designing communications.

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Sep 5th, 12:00 AM

Information and cognitive process: a communication theory for design

Design lacks a direct language for discussing meaning as it is experienced and constructed by receivers, and it lacks operational methods for measuring meaning and relating it to the design decisions that determine the spatial and temporal composition of communications. Thus, at the heart of the design process itself is a lacuna. This paper describes a theoretical approach to bridge the gap by examining how users construct meaning. The proposed cognitive process model is based on the processes of perception, thought, and memory: species wide competencies that underlie the manifold social and cultural code systems of communicative forms. A method is derived to make inferences about that user constructed meaning on the basis of observable outcomes. The research protocol provides a robust, repeatable, in situ method that can be used in different communications situations for exploring highly varied communication questions, and for extending empirically substantiated theory. The research method can support the development of a larger analytic base for communication design. The research provides methods in which communication outcomes can be clearly demonstrated, with the potential for replacing survey and focus group analysis in those situations where they are dubious or ambiguous with a tool that is simpler to use, more direct in its measures, easier to interpret, and which can be unobtrusively embedded into pre-existing communications. The theory and research demonstrate that it is possible to use empirical methods in non-positivist ways to creatively explore subtle and meaningful ideas about communication and design. The results of such explorations can be used to create new ways of designing communications.

 

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