3 contiguous experiments on a design historical case

Abstract

This paper contributes to the field of practicebased research and includes insights from research through design, both research perspectives that apply methods and processes from design practice as basis for knowledge generation. The objective of the paper is to introduce a design historical case and demonstrate that it can inform and produce relevant knowledge to practice-based research and research through design. It is the assumption that – by forming the basis for making an epistemic artefact – a design historical case can construct knowledge on how to transform statistics into visualisations. It is also the assumption that the combination of design history and designerly experiments can extend the theoretical scope of practice-based research, which is normally defined by focusing on the present and the future. Three contiguous experiments are demonstrated through dynamic research sketching, a new explanatory tool, with the purpose of showing how, by building on each other, they form a medium for knowledge expansion. Finally the paper reveals visual research methods and tools that should be acknowledged as valuable for knowledge production within the growing field of practicebased research.