Introduction

Basic design is another name for foundations in architecture, product design, and seldom, planning education. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that people forget what they know of basic design, and start over by deliberating on what may be the foundations to learning design in an era of ubiquitous information technologies. Design education is training in how to reason. It can focus on the individual learner just as much as on the knowledge and techniques of the profession so that uncertain ways and marginal thoughts, necessary in creative endeavors, are not compromised but nourished and given a good basis. Sensory experience is a crucial function of this training. This perspective on art and design education already resonated with the Pragmatist philosophy in the nineteenth century and reviving a pragmatist take on the senses is relevant when reconsidering reasoning in design and computation today.