ABSTRACT
The primary goal of design is to give shape to an artifact—the product of design. This artifact is the result of a complex of activities—the design process. But the artifact is a concrete form that does not (except in very subtle ways) manifest this process of creation. It does not give evidence for the motivations that initiated its design, the stated requirements, the conditions that gave rise to its shape, the struggles and deliberations and negotiations, the trials and reflections, the careful balancing and tradeoffs of various factors, the reasons for its particular features, the reasons against features it does not have, and so on. Such background information can be valuable, even critical, to various people who deal with the artifact: not only its users and servicers, but also its builders, marketers, and so on, as well as other designers who want to build on the ideas. This kind of context in which design takes place is what design rationale is about.
