In this course, we share the idea of "pattern language", which is a language describing practical knowledge in a certain domain of creative practice, and how to create it.
The original idea of pattern languages was proposed by architect Christopher Alexander. The late 1970’s book he wrote with his colleagues contained 253 patterns on practical architectural design. In the context of architecture, the pattern language was developed in order to serve a lingua franca for designing buildings between architects and residents. Alexander anticipated that people could get involved in the designing process of their homes and towns. Ten years after the book was published, Alexander’s idea of pattern languages was adopted in the field of software design.
Since the 2000’s, the fields in which pattern languages are applied have shown even more expansion to cover creative human actions such as education, learning, presentation, collaboration, social innovation, policy making, disaster prevention, life design and even beauty in daily life.
Pattern languages are now used to connect all kinds of people with all kinds of different experiences. The patterns help bring light to the less noticeable parts of a person’s experience, so the person can reconsider the experience to talk about it and share it with others.
In the classes, you will learn the concept and cases of pattern language.