A Commentary on Hancock’s “On the Design of Time”
Document Type
Response or Comment
Publication Date
4-1-2018
Identifier/URL
40820615 (Pure)
Abstract
The author has mixed feelings about Hancock's (2018) approach to time. On the one hand, one might interpret statements such as "We never stop the river of life or collapse design into a singular, frozen state" as a call for designers to focus on the dynamics of human experience. As someone who has a deep appreciation for the circular coupling of perception and action and for the implications for modeling human performance, the author applauds this insight. On the other hand, he worries that Hancock's article tends to Objectify or reify time as a thing that can be experienced in and of itself for as an Object that can be designed. He fears that this tactic may obfuscate, rather than deepen, the appreciation for the circular dynamics of perception-action coupling. Additionally, the author believes that Hancock gives a mischaracterization of design that is inconsistent With contemporary approaches to "experience-centered" design. The author believes that professionals in the design community have long recognized that they are not designing either spatial or temporal objects; rather, they are designing experiences.
Repository Citation
Flach, J. M.
(2018). A Commentary on Hancock’s “On the Design of Time”. Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications, 26 (2), 10-12.
https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/psychology/668
DOI
10.1177/1064804618755346
