The value of design practices in scientific research: 5 paradoxes

(...) Design serves as an educational activity that allows us to learn ways of doing and thinking. With a good synthesis, we could identify these three cores that together cover the whole sphere of design: practice, critique, education (Munari, 2019). These three areas of design are not distinctly separated, but rather overlap, merge, and inform each other. The authors of this article are two – relatively young – researchers and designers, working in the academic field as well as in the one of the prac- tice. Like many other colleagues and peers, they have tried to integrate their professional activities with their commitment in universities. At a certain point, however, this dual role has become unsustainable. Not because of time or logistics, but because it is the very rules of the academy that impose that those who operate in academia cannot fully operate in the one of practice. (...) Through the use of paradox – adopted as a linguistic expedient to contrast opposing situations, identified in our experience as research-designers – this contribution tries to highlight the indispensable complementarity between theoretical and practical research, with the aim of a more effective integration between these two essential aspects of design. (...)