Erik Stolterman is Professor of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington, as well as a professor at the Institute of Design at Umeå University, Sweden, where he originates.
A prolific scholar of design theory and philosophy, he has co-authored 5 books and more than 150 academic publications with a focus on the design of digital and interactive systems.
His work has been immensely useful to mine. In his writings, I find the words I need to articulate my ideas. He writes, among other things, on the relationships between people and products, on the value and ideals of various design research approaches, and on the synergy of design research and design practice. I spoke with him about the basics: How does he know what he knows? And what can designers learn from philosophy?
Books
• Back to the Rough Ground by Joseph Dunne — https://link.amazon/B0e6lnkAP
• The Design Way by Harold G. Nelson and Erik Stolterman — https://link.amazon/B0gDTu6Wf
• The Examined Life by Robert Nozick — https://link.amazon/B0eaEwBxI
• The Idea of History by R. G. Collingwood — https://link.amazon/B03V45Adx
• The Nature and Aesthetics of Design by David Pye — https://link.amazon/B04MG8mRZ
• The Systems Approach by C. West Churchman — https://link.amazon/B0diMz7we
• Things That Keep Us Busy: The Elements of Interaction by Lars-Erik Janlert and Erik Stolterman — https://link.amazon/B0coaT1Zc
• Thoughtful Interaction Design by Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman — https://link.amazon/B0i2pVg1d
Design thinkers
• Donald Schön — https://news.mit.edu/1997/schon
• Harold G. Nelson — https://www.haroldgnelson.com/about
• Klaus Krippendorff — https://www.asc.upenn.edu/research/centers/collections/history-field/oral-history-klaus-krippendorff-1932-2022
• Nigel Cross — https://profiles.open.ac.uk/Nigel-Cross
Chapters
00:00 Who is Erik Stolterman?
01:43 Design philosophy as a career
06:46 Research methods
09:54 Design competences
14:49 Theory’s value proposition for professionals
21:50 Transferring knowledge from scholarship to practice
24:51 Standing out in academia
30:04 Books
36:04 A warning on Design Thinking
39:33 Next steps
41:17 What else does Erik Stolterman do?
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https://stoltermanbergqvist.com | https://transground.blogspot.com
