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Design as communication in microstrategy: Strategic sensemaking and sensegiving mediated through designed artifacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2013

John Stevens
John Stevens*
Affiliation:
School of Design, Northumbria University, City Campus East, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
*
Requests for reprints to: John Stevens, School of Design, Northumbria University, City Campus East, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom. E-mail: john.stevens@northumbria.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper relates key concepts of strategic cognition in microstrategy to design practice. It considers the potential roles of designers' output in strategic sensemaking and sensegiving. Designed artifacts play well-known roles as communication media; sketches, renderings, models, and prototypes are created to explore and test possibilities and to communicate these options within and outside the design team. This article draws on design and strategy literature to propose that designed artifacts can and do play a role as symbolic communication resources in sensemaking and sensegiving activities that impact strategic decision making and change. Extracts from interviews with three designers serve as illustrative examples. This article is a call for further empirical exploration of such a complex subject.

Keywords

CommunicationDesignSensegivingSensemakingStrategy
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 27 , Issue 2: Studying and Supporting Design Communication , May 2013 , pp. 133 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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