Design Research at Design Academy Eindhoven

1. Knowledge is an integral part of design. Doing research to gather knowledge – of materials, processes, people, history, aesthetics, and more – supports design activities and contributes to a thriving design culture. We call this research for design.
2. Design research is a different type of research within the field of design. Design research at Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) is research through design.
3. At DAE, design research takes place within all the departments, both bachelor and masters, as well as the readerships.
4. The various departments and readerships at DAE develop design research as a collaborative practice, working together with industry, knowledge institutes and societal partners.
5. The practice of design research at DAE is embedded in a variety of practices within the contexts of both arts and crafts and the academic, as well as in wider social, economic, cultural, technological and ecological contexts.
6. Design research at DAE can be valuable within all practices and contexts, not least by posing questions, and repositioning and reframing design itself.

Design research = anchoring in knowledge.

1. Design research at DAE is a practice of thinking-through-making.
2. At DAE, thinking includes collecting, documenting, mapping, analysing, reflecting, translating and concluding. Thinking also allows for the synthesising of data into visualisations and the sharing of insights across boundaries. Furthermore, thinking helps create new opportunities for design, make space for alternative perspectives, create new meanings and dialogues, and explore new futures.

Design research = anchoring + capturing knowledge.

1. At DAE, making includes crafting objects, organising activities, telling stories, and designing systems and experiences. All of these can be vessels to express knowledge through more than just words alone.

Design research = anchoring + capturing + creating knowledge.

1. DAE takes a multimedia approach to design research and its dissemination. Manifestations of design research at DAE include objects, services, events, spaces, drawings, films, texts, maps, styles, identities, scenarios and more.
2. The results of design research at DAE are disseminated through different media and platforms such as publications, interactions and conferences. These media and platforms are not just vehicles for sharing research results, they are an integral part of design research. Making an exhibition or staging a debate also produces knowledge.

Design research = anchoring + capturing + creating + disseminating knowledge.

1. DAE considers thinking-through-making a practice in which the material and the discursive are interrelated, and alternate in rapid iterations.
2. Thinking-through-making, research-through-design at DAE creates knowledge.
3. DAE creates knowledge.