Coding for Responsiveness On the Genesis of a Coding System to Analyse Designers' Talk

This study explores the ‘designer’s talk’ as a site for the articulation and dissemination of design expertise. The paper discusses the development of a qualitative coding system generated in the course of analysing public presentations delivered by three prominent graphic designers: David Carson, Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister. The coding system is informed by theoretical concepts drawn from a model of expertise developed by Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus. Central to the Dreyfus model is the assumption that expertise is not something that is represented in the mind, but in the way that the world opens up for us. Expertise is manifest in the expert’s ‘responsiveness’ to situations. The paper explores the value of the coding system as a tool for understanding ways in which designers orient themselves in the course of developing and extending their practice.