Conclusion - Beyond normal design thinking: reflections on the evolution of a paradigm and ideas for the new incommensurable

Ely, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8718-0010 (2023) Conclusion - Beyond normal design thinking: reflections on the evolution of a paradigm and ideas for the new incommensurable. In: Research Handbook on Design Thinking. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 294-314. ISBN 9781802203127

Preview

Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (903kB) | Preview

Abstract

Drawing upon the work of Thomas Kuhn and the notion of paradigms and normal science, this chapter takes a closer look at the emergence of Design Thinking (DT) across its diverse community. Here, the DT paradigm is conceptualised as a disciplinary matrix of symbolic representations, metaphysics and models, values and exemplars, identifying the controversies around its origins and its continued development. Design Thinking has become normalised into both everyday practice and research and across its business-oriented and scholarly communities. In this chapter, we argue for more sociologically oriented inquiries which map the controversies, relations and modalities within a paradigm-sharing design community whilst resisting the binary distinctions between scholarly and practice-based inquiry. With a Kuhnian lens, how paradigms are borne from design communities can help us understand future trajectories, for there are signs that a post-Design Thinking period is on the horizon.