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Research for Designers
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Research for Designers
A Guide to Methods and Practice

Third Edition


December 2024 | 400 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Design is everywhere: it influences how we live, what we wear, how we communicate, what we buy, and how we behave.  In order for designers to design for the real world and define strategies, rather than just implement them, they need to learn how to understand and solve complex, intricate, and often unexpected problems. Research for Designers is a guide to this new, evidence-based creative process.

Taking a step-by-step approach through the basics of research, and highlighting the importance of data, the third edition of Research for Designers includes: 

- A new chapter on discourse and narrative methods 
- New coverage of coding and thematic analysis
- An augmented section on research ethics, with a decolonising research approach 
- Even more real-world cases 
- New suggested further reading and exercises at the end of each chapter.

Incorporating interviews with design experts from across the globe, Research for Designers is an essential guide for anyone doing research in Design Studies or looking to develop their design research skills.

 
1 Introduction
 
2 Change by design
 
3 Design as practice, research and thinking
 
4 Research essentials
 
5 Ethnographic research
 
6 Qualitative research
 
7 Quantitative research
 
8 User experience (UX) research
 
9 Visual research
 
10 Applied research
 
11 Presenting your research
 
12 Conclusion

A deep understandingof context is the foundation for designing effective and sustainable ways to tackle the large, interrelated problems we face today. It takes more than one type of research to fully explore these complex design challenges,and Research for Designers answers that need.

Bruce Mau
CEO, Massive Change Network

This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of how people and communities can use advanced design research to solve emergent, complex, and multi-dimensional social problems.

Fethi Mansouri
UNESCO Chairholder, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice

Today, designers design services, processes and organizations; craft skills no longer suffice. We need to discover, define and solve problems based upon evidence. We need to demonstrate the validity of our claims. We need design research, but as a special kind of research, with methods appropriate to the applied, constructive nature of design. We need a book on research for designers that can educate students and be a reference for professionals. And here it is: Gjoko Muratovski’s masterful book for 21st century designers.

Don Norman
Director of the Design Lab, University of California, San Diego and former Vice President: Advanced Technology at Apple

Design can be a powerful tool for social, economic, and cultural change. It can serve as a guide to grow economic and industrial success, along with breaking down long-term social norms and cultural barriers. This book provides a great learning reference on the basics of research.

It is well written, easy to understand, and provides guidance on research methodology which can be very valuable to all researchers, and not only those specifically in the design profession. Along with a well-organized approach to research, Muratovski also encourages crossdisciplinary partnerships and highlights the importance of data. Both of these are essential to learning, analysing, and developing design solutions which can contribute to improvements in quality of life

David Kusuma
President-Elect 2019-2021, World Design Organization and Vice President: Global R&D at Tupperware Brands Corporation

Design’s importance in social, cultural and economic terms has never been greater. So, it’s a surprise that the design research community has waited so long for an authoritative and comprehensive handbook on research methods which further our understanding and knowledge of the process of designing. Research for Designers fills this gap in the literature. There’s no doubt it will become a seminal reference for those seeking to undertake research in the field.

Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Chair at the Design Research Society and Dean of the School of Art and Humanities at Coventry University

Gjoko Muratovski has written the definitive compendium that not only covers ‘how’ to best conduct design research but ‘why’ it is such a vital ingredient to success. Although intended for design students, I believe Muratovski’s manual offers a far broader appeal. Strategists, business leaders, policy makers, anyone who wants to enhance and advance their research proficiency to achieve a better outcome should read this book. I know I’ll be sharing copies with my colleagues.

Maureen Thurston
Corporate Strategy Executive and Principal: Design Leverage at Deloitte (Australia)

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