Reymen, I.M.M.J., Hammer, D.K. (2000) “Design method supporting regular reflection on design situations”, Third International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering, April 18-21, 2000, Delft, The Netherlands, in Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering, ed. Horvath et al., Delft University Press, Delft, The Netherlands, pp. 325-338. DESIGN METHOD SUPPORTING REGULAR REFLECTION ON DESIGN SITUATIONS I.M.M.J. Reymen Stan Ackermans Institute Eindhoven University of Technology The Netherlands D.K. Hammer Faculty of Mathematics and Computing Science Eindhoven University of Technology The Netherlands ABSTRACT This paper describes a domain-independent design method developed to support designers during the whole design process. The goal of the design method is to make designers more aware of the design situation at important points of the design process. A design situation at a certain moment in time is defined as the state of the product being designed, the state of the design process, and the state of the design context. The design method supports the creation of a description of the design situation at the beginning and at the end of important design sessions. A design session is defined as a period of time during which designers are working, for example, from 9 to 12 o’clock. The design philosophy that underlies the design method is also described. In this philosophy, the design process is seen as a sequence of state transitions. KEYWORDS Design philosophy, design session, description of a design situation, design context, state transition. 1. INTRODUCTION Designers in practice are often not aware of the design process and of the design context they are working in. This is one of the observations made during the case studies (Reymen, 1998) we conducted as part of this research. Designers are usually only focused on (part of) the product they have to design. However, the design process and the design context also influence the product being designed. The product, the design process, and the design context at a certain moment are closely linked to each other. Their states determine the design situation. Awareness of the design situation at certain moments during the design process can be important for four reasons. - First, making a design situation explicit creates a more profound base for decisions. - Second, the design situation influences the next action to be taken in the design process. Being aware of the situation can be of strategic importance. - Third, to improve the current design process, it is important to relate it with the state of the product being designed and with the design context at that moment. - Finally, awareness of the design process is also important to learn from the current process and to improve design skills for future design processes. Designers can become aware of design situations by reflecting on these situations. These reflections must not interrupt the creative processes. Therefore, it would not be desirable to be constantly aware of the complete design situation. Neither would it be useful to reflect only at the beginning or at the end of the complete design process. Reflecting regularly about the design situation, at important points of the design process, seems useful. This is also concluded in (Dorst, 1997). Dorst observes that a designer is inside a design process (thrown into a