Linkography ― Unfolding the Design Process

This book presents linkography, a method for the notation and analysis of the designprocess. Developed by Gabriela Goldschmidt in an attempt to clarify designing, linkography documentshow designers think, generate ideas, put them to the test, and combine them into somethingmeaningful. With linkography, Goldschmidt shows that there is a logic to the creative process --that it is not, as is often supposed, pure magic. Linkography draws on design practice, protocolanalysis, and insights from cognitive psychology. Goldschmidt argues that the generation of ideas(and their inspection and adjustment) evolves over a large number of small steps, which she terms design moves. These combine in a network of moves, and the patterns of links inthe networks manifest a "good fit," or congruence, among the ideas. Goldschmidt explainswhat parts of the design process can be observed and measured in a linkograph, describing itsfeatures and notation conventions. The most significant elements in a linkograph arecritical moves, which are particularly rich in links. Goldschmidt presentsstudies that show the importance of critical moves in design thinking; describes cases thatdemonstrate linkography's effectiveness in studying the creative process in design (focusing on thegood fit); and offers thirteen linkographic studies conducted by other researchers that show thepotential of linkography in design thinking research and beyond. Linkography is the firstbook-length treatment of an approach to design thinking that has already proved influential in thefield.

Gabriela Goldschmidt is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.