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The Designer's Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design

ISBN: 978-0-470-60173-0

December 2011

336 pages

Description
The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research

An essential introduction to applying research for busy architects and designers

The competitive design market and the need to create enduring value place high demands on architects and designers to expand their knowledge base to be able to digest and utilize multiple sources of information. Expected by their clients to be well versed on all aspects of a project, time-constrained architects and designers need quick responses in the face of daily challenges. As a result, these professionals must—more than ever—rely on, and apply, readily accessible information culled from sound research to gain a competitive advantage.

The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research serves as an introductory guide on the general concepts and processes that define “good” research. Organized logically with the practical tools necessary to obtain research for all facets of the designer’s workflow, this book offers:

  • Material written in an accessible format specifically for practitioners
  • Reliable content by experienced authors—a noted environmental psychologist and an interior design educator who is also a practitioner and writer
  • Tools for planning, executing, and utilizing research presented in an easy-to-follow format along with case studies, sources, and applications

Written for all practices and people concerned with the built environment, from architects and interior designers to facility managers, landscape architects, and urban planners, this book serves as an invaluable starting point for gathering and implementing research effectively.

About the Author
Sally Augustin, PhD, is a practicing environmental psychologist as well as the editor of Research Design Connections. She has worked with major organizations to integrate important psychological considerations into the design of places and products and has presented her work at international psychology and design-related conferences. A graduate of Wellesley College, Northwestern University (MBA), and Claremont Graduate University (PhD), Augustin is also regularly invited to speak at schools and research institutions and on National Public Radio programs. She is the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley). Learn more about using environmental psychology at Sally’s Web sites, www.placecoach.com (for residential applications) and www.researchdesignconnections.com.

 

Cindy Coleman is a partner in the Chicago-based design firm Frankel + Coleman with Neil Frankel. A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in interior architecture with more than 20 years in the design industry, Ms. Coleman has a diverse range of experiences in interior architecture from project designer for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and ISD Incorporated in Chicago to industrial designer (developing, sourcing manufacturers for, and marketing her own company, Align Incorporated). She is an assistant professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects department and a contributing editor to both Interior Design magazine and The Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architect (CCAIA) journal Chicago Architect. Ms. Coleman was executive editor of Perspective magazine, published by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). McGraw-Hill published Her first book, The Interior Design Handbook of Professional Practice, in 2001.