Anthropology
Studies how people live, think and organize themselves within their culture.
Foundations
What design takes from other fields of knowledge: their theories and concepts.
Fields of knowledge
What design takes from other fields of knowledge.
Behavioral economics
Studies how we really decide, with biases and shortcuts, rather than as the rational model predicts.
Ergonomics and human factors
Studies how people fit with what they use: the body, the mind and how work is organized.
Design studies
Studies design itself: what it is, how designers think and what kind of knowledge they produce.
Futures studies
Explores possible and desirable futures to decide better today, without claiming to predict.
Design history and criticism
Studies how design has changed over time and what objects say about the society that made them.
Human-computer interaction (HCI)
Studies how we use computers and how to design them to fit our abilities.
Services marketing
Studies what makes services distinctive and how they are managed and delivered.
Cognitive psychology
Studies how we perceive, pay attention, remember, reason and decide.
Semiotics
Studies signs: how something comes to mean something else to someone.