Where is the Thinking in
Systems Thinking?
Jodi Forlizzi

Carnegie Mellon University | [e-mail]

Systems thinking has a long history. Its influence on design can be traced back for many decades. However, systems thinking remains almost unknown today among practicing designers and design researchers. Systems thinking is relevant, especially in light of all that is going on in modern society.

When designers work, they commonly create two models in their practice: a model of the current state, describing the situation to be improved, and a model of the idealized future state that a design solution will address. While these models are useful, they can remain high-level abstractions, failing to document a system in detail. Understanding how systems are organized and analyzed and applying this understanding in moving from an abstract model to create a design solution are invaluable skills for designers.

The concept of a system is easy enough to comprehend, but understanding a whole system can be difficult. More often than not, we can grasp only a few parts instead of getting the whole structure. Understanding systems can help any designer, or anyone collaborating with a designer, to understand the context around a problem and how to create an actionable solution.

What is a System?

Systems are identifiable everywhere in nature and the developed world. As a young child, you probably learned about the solar system—a group of planets that rotate around the sun. If you have received medical care recently, you most likely interacted with the healthcare system. A local neighborhood group may be working to save the ecosystem in your community.

The solar system, the healthcare system, the local ecosystem, neighborhoods, church groups, organizations, cities, and societies are all examples of systems.

A system in its most basic defi-
nition is a whole, acting as a unit
of interacting parts. A system has
interrelated elements whose rela-
tionships are both structural and
functional. Structurally, a system
is made up of subsystems that
also contain subsystems them-
selves. Each system also relates to
greater systems in the universe.
Functionally, every part of a sys-
tem depends on other parts of the
system for something. If part of a
system changes, another part of
the system will likely also change
as a result. The emergent proper-
ties of a system are greater than
the parts of the system themselves.
A system maintains a relationship
with everything within itself and
with larger and greater systems.

How Can a Systems Approach be used in the Design Process?

Anyone who engages in the design process—using human power to conceive, plan, and realize products that serve human beings in individual or collective goals [ 1]— engages in a systems approach. Consider the following examples.

A simple use of a system for a
visual design is considered in this

March + April 2011