I just discovered through the PhD-Design list an online book titled “Design: Creation of artifacts in society” by Karl T. Ulrich. Ulrich is a professor at Wharton School. The book is entirely available online and is licensed under the Creative Commons license. I have just skimmed a couple of chapters, but it seems to me that this book could be of great use in my CEP917: Knowledge Media Design doctoral seminar. There are currently 7 chapters, all available in PDF format. These include: Introduction to Design; Exploration; Users, Experts & Institutions; The Architecture of Artifacts; Aesthetics in Design; Variety; and Problem Solving and Design.

You can access all these chapters here…