About the project

The Public Design Atlas (APDD) is a public, open resource for exploring the disciplines of design, how it is practiced and the knowledge it builds on, always with their original sources.

Created and edited by Adriana Ojeda. For suggestions, corrections or sources: [email protected].

What it includes

• Disciplines: the specialties of design, general (such as service design) or applied to a field (such as legal design), with their own ideas.
• Practice: approaches, processes, methods and artifacts used across several disciplines.
• Foundations: fields of knowledge, such as behavioral economics, with the theories and concepts design takes from them.

Each entry lives in a single place, the field or discipline it belongs to, and connects to the others from there. For example, the peak-end rule belongs to behavioral economics and is used in service design.

Design is the criterion for inclusion: an outside field only comes in if it has a substantial relationship with design theory, research or practice. A few rigorous entries are better than many superficial ones.

Entry types

Each entry shows its type at the top. This is what each one means.

In Disciplines

Discipline

An area of design with its own object of work, craft and community, such as service design or graphic design.

Applied discipline

A discipline defined by the field in which it is applied, such as legal design or design for health.

Specialty

A branch within a discipline, with its own focus, such as haptic design within interaction design.

In Practice

Approach

A general way of approaching design, with its values and way of working, such as human-centered design or co-design.

Process

A way of ordering the phases of a project, such as the Double Diamond or the design sprint.

Method

A technique with concrete steps to research, organize what was learned, ideate or test, such as the in-depth interview or Crazy 8s. If the method produces something, the entry says so.

Artifact

Something that is produced and shared with the team, such as a service blueprint or a design system.

In Foundations

Field

A discipline outside design from which design takes ideas, such as behavioral economics or cognitive psychology.

Theory

A general, tested explanation of why something happens, such as prospect theory.

Model

A simplified representation that breaks something into parts to understand or use it, such as the Fogg Behavior Model.

Concept

A specific idea or effect with its own name, such as anchoring or affordance.

Theories, models and concepts live inside a discipline or a field: the discipline if they were born in design, the field if they come from outside. Specialties always live inside their discipline.

How the entries are made

• Each concept is explained with original words and illustrations.
• Each entry cites its sources and distinguishes the original source, later academic reviews and secondary sources.
• When the origin of a concept is debated or has several antecedents, the entry says so.
• Each entry states how solid the evidence behind it is:
  • Solid evidence. Replicated many times and accepted.
  • Debated evidence. It exists, but its size or its conditions are debated.
  • Single study. It rests on one or a few studies: take it with caution.

License

The atlas’s original texts and illustrations are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, adapt and share them, including for commercial purposes, as long as you credit the Public Design Atlas, by Adriana Ojeda, with a link to the entry.

The cited studies belong to their authors. The atlas only summarizes them and points to them.

The following are excluded from that license and keep their own:

• The typeface Inter Tight, by the authors of the Inter project, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
• The names of brands, products and organizations in the examples belong to their owners and are mentioned only to explain an idea; they imply no relationship or endorsement.
• LEGO® and SERIOUS PLAY® are trademarks of the LEGO Group. The LEGO® Serious Play® entry describes the method for educational purposes; the atlas is not affiliated with or endorsed by the LEGO Group.

Legal notice

Site owner: Adriana Ojeda. Contact: [email protected].

It is a personal, educational, non-profit project: it sells nothing and has no ads or sponsors.

Accuracy of the content and sources

• Educational purpose. The content is an educational summary and a starting point. It does not replace reading the original sources or professional advice, and it should not be the only basis for important decisions.
• How they are written. Each entry is written in original words from the sources it cites and is carefully reviewed. Even so, it may contain errors of interpretation, incomplete data or information that has become outdated; the date of the last review appears at the end of each entry.
• Data and figures. Data, figures and study results belong to the cited sources, which are responsible for them. If a source is corrected, disputed or retracted, the atlas may take time to reflect it.
• No warranty. The site is provided as is, with no guarantee that it is complete, accurate or up to date. To the extent permitted by law, the owner is not liable for any damage that may arise from using the published information.
• Corrections. If you find an error, an inaccurate figure or a miscited source, write to me at [email protected]: I’ll review it and, if needed, correct it.
• Cited works. They are mentioned to identify and discuss them, without reproducing their content; citing them implies no relationship with or endorsement by their authors.
• External links. They are offered for reference; their content is the responsibility of whoever publishes them.

Privacy

• Controller. Adriana Ojeda, owner of the site. For any question about your data: [email protected].
• No cookies and no accounts. The site doesn’t use cookies, has no sign-up and shows no ads. The typeface, the illustrations and the search are served from here.
• Anonymous statistics. To know how many people use the atlas, visits are counted with Cloudflare Web Analytics: pages viewed, country, device type and which site you came from. It uses no cookies or anything stored in your browser and doesn’t track you across sites; your IP address is only used to work out the country and isn’t stored. Basis: the legitimate interest in knowing how the site is used.
• Hosting. The site is hosted on Cloudflare, which, like any hosting service, logs technical data about visits (such as the IP address) so the site works and stays protected. Basis: the legitimate interest in keeping the site secure.
• Who processes the data. Cloudflare, Inc. processes that data on the atlas’s behalf, as a processor. It is a US company certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which allows those transfers.
• What is stored in your browser. “My library” stores in your browser (local storage) the entries you bookmark; Routes remember the entries you choose and the routes you save; and the Map remembers during your visit the scene you opened an entry from. This data is only used for what you ask, never leaves your device and you can delete it from your library or your browser settings.
• If you write to me. I use your email only to reply and don’t share it with anyone. Basis: your consent when you write to me. I keep it while the conversation lasts or until you ask me to delete it.
• Your rights. You can ask to access, correct or delete your data, or object to its use, by writing to [email protected]. If you think they aren’t respected, you can file a complaint with the data protection authority (in Spain, the AEPD).