Evaluation, Validation, and Management in Design

This contribution discusses the efficacy of design to realize the aims for which it is employed. Engineering design may be taken as effective in this sense, yet for design thinking as it is emerging in innovative design, social design, nudging, and design for values, this efficacy is not yet established. This contribution surveys the means available for evaluating the designs created by engineering and design thinking methods respectively, and explores how design methods for design thinking can be validated as guarantees for the effectiveness of design. Current work in design research may provide the future means for establishing that design thinking is indeed effective. It is argued that philosophy of technology should be involved in analyzing, understanding, and turning design thinking into a reliable means for realizing its aims. Until then, philosophers should critically monitor whether design thinking realizes the aims for which it is employed.