From Design Optimization to Design Science: An Evolution in Design Thinking

Design optimization evolved in parallel to operations research as a way to codify and support design decisions mathematically. Design thinking emerged as a way to describe a user-centered design process that seeks to unpack the core values behind design decisions. In the modern definition of Design Science—as the field that studies the creation of artifacts and their embedding in our physical, psychological, economic, social, and digital environments—the two original approaches are merging. We offer a perspective on the design optimization evolution that links the engineering, business, computer, behavioural, and public policy sciences, primarily through mathematical modelling while explicitly recognizing its limitations.