Objective Versus Subjective Views of Design 15 Evenappliedobservationtechniquesusedinrecentdesignprocessescommonlysee their subjects as people who use products in general, who tell stories as users, who use a particular product. The needs of human beings, and perhaps especially the vulnerable, the elderly and the socially handicapped, have become increasingly unsatisfied by the unbalanced environment created with mediating information technology. We believe that they should no longer be expected to tolerate the problems that much current design of technology brings (Waterworth et al. 2009a, b). We discuss some of these practical problems in more detail, as well as ways in whichtheycanbeaddressedin PartIIIof the book. The Cartesian mechanistic view underlying much of science has brought an undesirable gap between people and their increasingly technology-mediated envi- ronment. It seems that objectivism reigns supreme especially in science. When designisseenthroughascientificlens,‘designscience’becomesablindacceptance of the objective position. In contrast, our view is that there is no absolute design science or designed products that reveal objective truths about the world. What is prominentandfairdesigninonecultureisoftenpoordesigninanotherculture,even thoughthey maymakeforsuccessfulbusinessin both. Objective Versus Subjective Views of Design Design has often been viewed as a craft, as tacit, unknowable and experiential, and designers are viewed as subjective and not purely rational or objective - but this is mostly by people other than actual design practitioners. This subjective perspective can be summarized in the following points (taken from Lakoff and Johnson 1980, p. 188, summarizedand modified).This is “the myth of subjectivism”: • Designers’ senses and intuitions are their best guides for design activities. They rely on their senses and develop intuitions they must trust. • Designers believe that feelings, aesthetic sensibilities, moral practice, and spir- itual awareness are essential in human life, and are good design resources and practices. • Art, music and poetry and so on put designers in touch with the more important reality of their feelings and intuitions. Designers gain this awareness through imagination rather than reason, rationality and objectivity. • Designersusethelanguageoftheimaginationforexpressingtheuniqueandmost personally significant aspects of their experience. Ordinary explicit language is not suitable for matters of personal understanding. • Designers believe that objectivity can be dangerous, because it misses what is mostimportantandmeaningfultoindividualpeople.Therefore,theybelievethat objectivity can be inhuman, and it is harmful for true ‘human-centred’design. In contrast, people who believe that science is absolute truth that can give a correct,definitive,andgeneralaccountofrealitythroughtheapplicationofscientific