Towards an integrative approach to researching design expertise

One of four models of expertise usually underpins contemporary design expertise studies – skill acquisition, deliberate practice, reflective practice, or communities of practice. While these studies have extensively mapped many aspects of design expertise, to date they offer only limited insight into the social context of design expertise development. While a useful lens for understanding design expertise, each model only accounts partially for how designers develop their expertise in practice. However, four themes drawn from the wider general expertise literature – experiential knowledge, adaptability, perceptiveness and motivational support – potentially provide a conceptual foundation on which to develop an integrative approach to researching design expertise, one that might coherently unify our existing accounts of designers' expertise development.