Defining an Object of Design by the Means of the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

Despite a decades long efforts no integrating theoretical framework for design research has appeared, and a need for such one still exist. The paper suggests, that it might be beneficial to start by delineating the object of research, because for example distinction between disciplines are based on the difference of their objects. The paper suggests, that the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) might offer a good starting point, and makes an initial effort to define the object of design based on it. The result shows, that the artifact to be designed and used is tangled into a context web of historically and culturally unique relations. The paper hypothesises that the simplest form of this network where the richness of a design situation is preserved, consists of two activities, use and design, that are bound together by the artifact-to-be. The complexity both in breadth (overlapping the area of several disciplines) and in depth (from individual acts to the development of organizations) is in paper seen as a reason why an integrative framework has been slow in emerging. The paper sees also that the result gives support to the existence of a designerly way of knowing, value-laden and related to issues that are local, particular and timely.