Design Prototypes: A Knowledge Representation Schema for Design

Although there are designers who claim design is a mysterious activity not amenable to scientific examination, research into design continues Although there are publications by designers on how to design dating back to Roman times, notably by Vitruvius, the nineteenthcentury design thinkers actually began work on articulating design as a process (Durand 1802). However, it was not until the 1960s that major research programs were initiated. These programs were originally founded on the systems view and used concepts from operations research (Jones and Thornley 1963). More recently, information-processing models founded on AI concepts have provided an impetus for renewed research into design in its various aspects (Simon 1969; Coyne et al. 1990). Many foundational ideas in AI are proving to be useful in developing formal models of design as an activity.