Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

This paper discusses the role of interpretation in innovative design and proposes an approach to provid- ing computer support for interpretation in design. According to situated cognition theory, most of a designer's knowledge is normally tacit. Situated interpretation is the process of explicating something that is tacitly understood, within its larger context. The centrality of interpretation to non-routine design is demonstrated by: a review of the design methodology of Alexander, Rittel, and Schon; a protocol analysis of a lunar habitat design session; and a summary of Heidegger's philosophy of interpretation. These show that the designer's articulation of tacit knowledge takes place on the basis of an understanding of the design situation, a focus firom a particular perspective, and a shared language. A s knowledge is m a d e explicit through the interpretive processes of design it can be captured for use in computer-based design support systems. A prototype software system is described for representing design situations, interpretive perspectives, and domain terminology to support interpretation by designers.