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Seeking design questions: �Finding and Framing

Identifying problems, redefining problems, challenges

Brad Hokanson

University of Minnesota

June 6, 2025

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"The formulation of a problem … is often more essential than its solution…” (Einstein and Infeld, 1938),

We seek designs with depth that advance learning and education.

At the beginning of the digital age of education, instructional designers began by replicating the simplest forms of teaching while straining out the more complex aspects of learning. We now have come to more favorably view these richer and more engaging aspects of the educational process. Solving challenging problems involves investigation, hypotheses, concepts, perceptions, which are all examined and tested, and which provide rich rewards. We seek designs with depth that advance learning and education.

It is a process that seeks questions and finds solutions in a myriad of ways. It seeks the richness of design, with complex and contra dictory solutions. We proceed by finding more questions than those included in a design brief or problem description, and in framing a different understanding of a design challenge.

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As designers, we must “…produce novel, unexpected solutions, tolerate uncertainty, work with incomplete information, apply imagination and constructive forethought to practical problems and use drawings and other modeling media as a means to problem solving” (Cross, 1999).

Getzels, 1981

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Getzels, 1981

1. Identifying and reframing problems

A successful design process is more than a sequence of steps.

Much of this writing focuses on the beginning aspects of the problem solving process, and at its root, the design process.

There is a commonly taught general methodology in the design fields, from architecture to graphic design to learning design. These processes generally pay short shrift to the more complex initial aspects of design such as finding problems and framing the design solution; the focus is on solving problems and the completion of a finished design, and sufficient investigation is bypassed.

Some aspects of the processes of design fields are explicit, well understood and described; they are sometimes built into contractual arrangements with codified steps. However, research has often shown that the design process, taught through strict processes, is one which generally isn’t widely used in practice. A successful design process is more than a sequence of steps. There is a need to move past simplistic and didactic designing through a process which is modified and enriched to match the challenge.

“Many contemporary theories have delineated the preparation stage of the creative process. This has been called problem finding or problem construction; sometimes models specify a sub-stage of problem identification, followed by problem definition.” (Kaufman & Sternberg, 31)

Setting the scope and orientation of a design project is the most important and impactful area of choice in any design. If design work is taken as a repetition of previous ideas, as a formalized process, or as a set solution, then the investigatory capability of design is lost. In design, how one chooses the nature of the problem, adds one’s own unique conceptualization, and addresses the challenge effectively is critical. It’s not the gloss of the final solution, but the foundation of the design process where learning happens and design advancement occurs.

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Getzels, 1981

“At the core of an effective solution is a productive problem. It is this that makes the problem of the problem such an important subject for systematic inquiry.”[Getzels, 1981, 48]

1. Identifying and reframing problems

Getzels describes this beginning as the root of the problem, an initiative toward a resolution: “At the core of an effective solution is a productive problem. It is this that makes the problem of the problem such an important subject for systematic inquiry.” [Getzels, 1981, 48]

At some point, there is a choice to investigate this essential design challenge rather than the assignment as posed. This parallels a shift from an education of remembered answers to a learning experience which develops and finds questions, from distributing information to an investigative, designing process. It is a step forward as “Design practice can be described validly as the coevolution of problem and solution: expert design practices have as much to do with reformulating the problem as with the generation of suitable solutions.” [Dorst, p60.]

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Getzels, 1981

“…expert design practices have as much to do with reformulating the problem as with the generation of suitable solutions.” [Dorst, p60.]

1. Identifying and reframing problems

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Getzels, 1981

“…a crucial dimension of creativity is the disposition of individuals to perceive problems as either discovered or presented.” (Csikszentmihalyi & Getzels, 1977)

1. Identifying and reframing problems

The goal is for learners to be able to develop their own form of each challenge; not only solving a provided problem, but to recognize and develop one. This is consistent with human development as well as described in Csikszentmihalyi & Getzels: “If the discovery of problems is central to the creative process, then a crucial dimension of creativity is the disposition of individuals to perceive problems as either discovered or presented.” (p.48, 1977) [italics added]

As Wertheimer notes, “The function of thinking is not just solving an actual problem but discovering, envisaging, going into deeper questions.” (1959, p. 123). The questions to be raise and resolve in designing educational materials are those deeper questions, and their invention is our challenge.

Most educational research has focused on singular solutions and answers to a given challenge; investigations beyond first answers has been rare and does not lead to innovation and idea development. There is slight investigation on problem posing, or as described by Getzels, the “problem of the problem” (1981, p.39).

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Getzels, 1981

2. Problem Formulation

In the higher challenge levels described by Getzels, the designer is pulled forward for a fuller response: one which deals with a different form of solution, discovering how the problem could be defined…and hence solved.

The nature of a problem can be understood by the depth of description in the project brief; how much of the means of solution is given, and how what is involved in a good solution. The challenge may extend from problem solving to problem finding: there is a range of possible outcomes presented to every designer:

At one end of the continuum there are presented problems, that is, situations where the problem, the method, and the solution are already known, and the problem solver needs only adopt the "correct" procedural steps to arrive at the satisfactory solution. At the other end, there are discovered problems, that is, situations where the problem itself has not yet been formulated but must be identified and the appropriate method for reaching a solution and the nature of the satisfactory solution are unknown.” [Csikzentmihalyi & Getzels, 1971, p47]

In subsequent writing, Getzels (1981) extended this concept and again described various levels of problem solving. In the first level, the challenge is given to the problem solver and is expected to find a focused solution. The novice designer often accepts of this initial design challenge, only addressing that limited challenge:

It seems that the one (the pedant, the technician, the copyist) is content or able only to apply his knowledge, skill, or talent to situations where the problems have already been formulated, while the other (the scholar, the scientist, the artist) is impelled and able to apply his knowledge, skill, or talent to situations in which he himself must find and formulate the problem. [Getzels, 1981, 48]

In the higher level described by Getzels, the designer is pulled forward for a fuller response: one which deals with a different form of solution, discovering how the problem could be defined…and hence solved. Pedagogically, this follows a constructivist direction of encouraging the exploration of invented solutions, one where the work must be in the context of discovered or created problems.

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Getzels, 1981

2. Problem Formulation

“… problem posing is a critical phase of the creative thought process….The crucial step is how the formless situation where there is no problem … is transformed into a situation where a problem — in this case, a creative problem - emerges for solution.” [Getzels, p.38]

Where there is not clear problem present, it becomes a matter of problem finding. This form of discovery becomes a principal goal of the designer, finding the true design challenge, and developing a more clear design brief. Getzels subsequently wrote this summative posing of the design brief as “… problem posing is a critical phase of the creative thought process….The crucial step is how the formless situation where there is no problem … is transformed into a situation where a problem — in this case, a creative problem - emerges for solution.” [Getzels, p.38]

Many contemporary theories have delineated the preparation stage of the creative process. This has been called problem finding or problem construction; sometimes models specify a sub-stage of problem identification, followed by problem definition.

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Getzels, 1981

2. Problem Formulation

We in the field of educational technology have come to realize that learning must go beyond solution challenges of knowns and engage the unknowns as part of the learning process.

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Getzels, 1981

2. Problem Formulation

Broadly, design briefs reveal the functional aspects of a design problem, but not the conceptual and investigative elements of the finished design.

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Getzels, 1981

3. Frames

“The most logical way to approach a paradoxical problem situation is to work backward, as it were: starting from the only "known" in the equation, the desired [end] value, and then adopting or developing a frame that is new to the problem situation. (Dorst, 2013, p.53)

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Getzels, 1981

3. Frames

Design Abduction��Two unknowns leading to a process of creative exploration

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Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres Garcia proposed a reorientation away from the north and to the global south.

Joachim Torres Garcia, 1943

3. Frames

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Site plan, Cambridge Community College

Hokanson/Lunning, 1995

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Site plan, Cambridge Community

College

Hokanson/Lunning, 1995

Cambridge Community College

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Rachel Valenziano, 2021

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Getzels, 1981

3. Frames

“Monet did not depict heroic scenes or idealized landscapes; the celebrated images that covered the walls of the Louvre, preferring instead to depict everyday life” (Kunstmuseum den Hague, 2025).

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Site plan, Cambridge Community

College

Quai_du_Louvre_1867, Claude_Monet

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Site plan, Cambridge Community

College

Hokanson/Lunning, 1995

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Diego Velazquez

Las Meninas, 1656

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Diego Velazquez

Las Meninas, 1656

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Richard Serra, Snake, 1996

The impact of this conceptual shift has been substantial, touching a range of artists, including Picasso and Dali. The modern sculptor Richard Serra describes his own reframing, spurred by viewing Las Meninas: “He was lost, he says, but on his way to reinventing himself as an artist whose work would hinge on the idea of ‘the viewer being the subject of the piece’…. [Serra says:] ‘In my later work, the person who is navigating the space, his or her experience becomes the content. So, the whole subject-object relationship is reversed. The content is you! If you don’t walk into the work and engage with it, there isn’t any content.” (O'Hagan, 2008).

The reframing by Velazquez has changed the way we can view art and shifted Serra’s direction in creating sculpture.

As designers, we seek pragmatic solutions; Dorst holds that frames must be able to lead to realistic solutions; they have to be possible for implementation. They also need to be “inspiring and captivating” pulling out inspiration from the parties involved (Dorst, p.64).

A frame is not a concrete result, a fait accompli, but rather a concept, an idea from which to advance. “Neither practitioner can know, at the moment of reframing, what the solution to the problem will be, nor can he be sure that the new problem will be soluble at all. But the frame he has imposed on the situation is one that lends itself to a method of inquiry in which he has confidence. Within the larger web, individual moves yield phenomena to be understood, problems to be solved, or opportunities to be exploited.” (Schön, p. 131).

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[A frame] must…“never be a ‘recipe’, a set of actions that can be followed more or less thoughtlessly, by anyone, at any moment, and that will lead to good results” (Dorst, p151).

3. Frames

While frames can be simply described, they remain another complexity within the scope of a design challenge. They direct the solution of the problem, the understanding of the challenge, and the results of the work of design. New thinking, new ideas are required for each design activity; the creation of a design frame is situated, unique to the situation. It must…“never be a ‘recipe’, a set of actions that can be followed more or less thoughtlessly, by anyone, at any moment, and that will lead to good results” (Dorst, p151).

And now, we need to turn to our efforts, our application and exploration with frames in our educational efforts; how do we reframe education? How do we reframe learning? What follows is an example of my own class, highlighting some aspects of reframing in use.

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4. Creative Problem Solving:

First, the class was designed to not be ‘learning about creativity’ but about becoming creative.

My primary course over the previous years is called Creative Problem Solving. It has focused on the development of creativity in university students. In format, it is more of a studio class than a lecture class; while some of the work of the class involved traditional means of learning such as presentations on creativity, reading and written exams, the primary focus was on active learning, projects, making, and creating. Studio courses have a long history of what is now called “flipping” the classroom, posing questions and challenges.

However, in contrast to being about creativity, the course sought to actively develop creative capabilities of learners and to explicitly change behavior. This was the first reframing; The class was designed to not be ‘learning about creativity’, but about becoming creative.

The major curricular emphasis of the course was a series of exercises posed to students on a weekly basis. They were challenged to “do something different”; the makeup of the “Differents” increased in complexity over the term.

The initial challenge was simple: to eat something different.

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4. Creative Problem Solving

One element of these challenges was building a habit of reframing into the given assignments.

To begin a recreation of the exercise, make a list of ten things you could eat that you have not eaten before.

One element of these challenges was building a habit of reframing into the given assignments. This encouraged the learners to explore a greater range of responses in their work and built a habit of reframing in their conceptualization.

Conceptually, within the class, students are encouraged to ‘break’ the problem, to figure out alternative ways of solving of the problem. It is finding a new way of viewing the problem, of framing the challenge, a different way of solving a new problem.

Students were encouraged to use different meanings or variations of the word “eat”. Questions help to highlight the challenge: How could you redefine the challenge? What are the possible different ways to solve the problem? If one defines “eat” as the act of consumption as opposed to “something” which changes the substance being eaten.

At the completion of the term, all students were appraised through the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, the most widely used, standardized creativity evaluation method. The scores and raw numbers of answers evaluated in the Torrance Tests illustrate some elements of re-framing.

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4. Creative Problem Solving

Fluency and Originality directly provide active metrics of creativity.

TTCT Pre- Post scores, 2024

Flexibility is the capability to generate different forms of responses, different types and the best venue for understanding a capability for reframing.

Three primary scores are generated for each test, of which two, Fluency and Originality directly provide active metrics of creativity. Fluency is a count of answers directly applicable to the test questions; Originality is a measurement of uncommon answers. On the other hand, Flexibility, which is generally the lowest resulting score of the three main metrics, deals specifically with shifting understanding, and a reframing of initial challenges. Flexibility is the capability to generate different forms of responses, different types and the best venue for understanding a capability for reframing. Flexibility recognizes the ability to redefine problems and to seek extremely divergent answers.

A crucial dimension of creativity is the temperament of individuals to focus on realized problems, a “concern for discovery” which Csikszentmihalyi & Getzels (1970) found to be related to the originality of the students’ solutions. Developing this capability is an important aspect of the class.

In teaching the class, I have come to realize that learning must go beyond known or expected solutions and engage the unknowns as part of the learning process.

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“The deeper the problems found, posed, and ultimately solved, the greater the human achievement … the production of discovered or created problems is often a more significant accomplishment than the production of solutions to presented problems.”

Getzels, 1981

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Seeking design questions: �Finding and Framing

Identifying problems, redefining problems, challenges

Brad Hokanson

University of Minnesota

June 6, 2025

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The Pont de l’Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare (1877) by Claude Monet

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Seeking design questions: �Finding and Framing

Brad Hokanson

University of Minnesota