Patterns of Change in Design Metaphor: A Case Study

Although design metaphors play an important role in many software projects, their influence on system functionality, project methodology and the interactions among members of the development team is not well understood. This paper seeks insights into these issues by examining the development of a computer program under the influence of a particularly strong design metaphor. properties of computers can effectively be used to explain human thought. The metaphor provides a restricted set of hypotheses about human cognition. By focusing our attention on the significant properties of relatively well understood concepts (the source), metaphors impose an essential structure on the enormous problem spaces found in such target areas as scientific discovery, language development, or, as examined in this paper, design.Keywords Metaphor, software design, user-oriented design. Hesse [9] has examined the use of analogies in science, providing a foundation for understanding design metaphors. She des...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: CHI
• Authors: William A. Stubblefield
• Keywords: CHI 1998, Design Metaphors, Human Computer Interaction, Neutral Analogy, Strong Design Metaphor