ABSTRACT
This chapter includes the author’s personal and professional journey, motivation, and goals for writing a book where design and data intersect. Socially-informed research in the design process is defined as the ethical and intentional incorporation of human-centered data gathering and analysis throughout the design process. It is the iterative and systematic practice of gathering, analyzing, and sharing input from people who occupy and engage with the built environments that architects and interior designers create as the designs are created and built. The primary goal of socially-informed design is to build socially sustainable, inclusive, and welcoming environments for people from all walks of life. The author also defines research as it is found in sociology, architecture, and interior design and discusses ways that user experience design (UX) and human-centered design (HCD) can be included in socially-informed research throughout the design process. A sociological approach to the design process requires designers to invoke their sociological imaginations (Mills 1959) – the ability to understand any person’s experience in the built environment by examining their individual story alongside sociohistorical context. The Introduction concludes with a discussion of the types of professionals for whom this book may be useful, as well as an outline of the remaining chapters.
