3 Contiguous Experiments on a Design Historical Case

This paper contributes to the field of practicebased
research and includes insights from research
through design, both research perspectives that
apply methods and processes from design practice
as basis for knowledge generation. The objective
of the paper is to introduce a design historical case
and demonstrate that it can inform and produce
relevant knowledge to practice-based research and
research through design. It is the assumption that –
by forming the basis for making an epistemic
artefact – a design historical case can construct
knowledge on how to transform statistics into
visualisations. It is also the assumption that the
combination of design history and designerly
experiments can extend the theoretical scope of
practice-based research, which is normally defined
by focusing on the present and the future. Three
contiguous experiments are demonstrated through
dynamic research sketching, a new explanatory
tool, with the purpose of showing how, by building
on each other, they form a medium for knowledge
expansion. Finally the paper reveals visual
research methods and tools that should be
acknowledged as valuable for knowledge
production within the growing field of practicebased
research.