Method • This is the way in which one approaches and carries out the work. While the way one works is critical throughout the process and various phases, it is most critically present in both the Conceptual Development and Execution-Production phases. The quality of how these two phases unfold is crucial to the overall success of the project. Of course, the way one presents one’s work, or the way one builds rationale, or the way one develops formal qualities of the piece, is also crucial. However, each of those other phases have process elements that appear foremost within them, whereas method appears foremost in Conceptual Development and Execution-Production.

Innovation • Herein lies the element most often associated with “creativity.” However, creativity considered only as novelty limits the power of “being Creative.” Wendell Berry in his essay Healing writes, “To be creative is only to have health: to keep oneself fully alive in the Creation, to keep the Creation fully alive in oneself, to see the Creation anew, to welcome one’s part in it anew. The most creative works are all strategies of this health.” Yet there is that call upon designers to innovate, which is to invent a new approach, or present a new perspective, previously unconsidered by others before or contemporaneously. This process component is foremost in the Conceptual Development and Formal Development phases.

Craft • It can be considered a moral issue. Craft examines how well a thing is made or comes to be, particularly when it comes to the details of production for products of the associated phases. It is a moral issue as consideration is made for stewardship of resources and tools; as care, attention, and commitment are invested in the thing being made; as the character of both object and object maker are made evident in making. Whereas Method is concerned with a way of doing, Craft is concerned with a way of being. The idea of “integrity of making” may be helpful in trying to understand craft. This is a parallel idea to the “integrity of materials” commonly understood in relation to industrial products. For example, a Formica® countertop that looks like wood could be said to have poor integrity, where as a tile backsplash that looks like, well…tile, is congruent in form and appearance. “Integrity of making” aims to articulate those same ideas considered in an object within the making of that object. Craft appears foremost in Execution-Production and Evaluation-Rationale-Presentation phases.

Appropriateness • This one might be the most difficult on which to get a handle. There are times when it appears that appropriateness can be quantified, for example in eliciting a certain behavior or response in a viewer-reader-user. Yet other times, appropriateness seems to float on a breeze of taste and style. Appropriateness can, however, always be determined in relation to the project brief. Appropriateness ties the solution of a design challenge to stated goals and objectives. Whereas innovation may sometimes be a force pulling away from goals and objectives, appropriateness is a balancing force drawing towards them. Appropriateness may also be considered in relationship to the “audience” for a piece. How well (or clearly, perhaps) does the piece speak to the intended audience? It may also be considered in terms of budget for a project. Is the project within budget? A project over budget may be inappropriate in that fact alone. Other examples abound. Appropriateness manifests foremost in Formal Development and Evaluation-Rationale-Presentation phases.