Mapping Design Methods: a reflection on design histories for contemporary design practices

This article outlines a direction for a research endeavour bringing together design research and design historical research from a perspective of contemporary design methods. There is a need to probe and question the histories and geographies of design’s methods, to explore how they could contribute to expanding conceptual foundations and develop new ways of designing. We are proposing a programmatic framework that brings design methods to the attention of design history, and to historicity of design in design practices, by sketching a map, a geography in time, to move toward a deeper understanding of the evolution of methods linked to the specific cultures and contexts from which they emerge. It is a starting point for a wider research project, an example bringing design historical and design methodological research agendas closer to each other. Starting from interviews with Italian designers we highlight the need for a deeper and continued investigation into design histories of design methods.