The Cutting Edge & Holy Grail (of design.)

Two very young designers, one of Priority Designs and the other of Facebook, gave an enlightening presentation on two different topics.  Going along with the Polar Opposites theme, one presented on the core of the design process, while the other presented on the forefront of design visualization.  The holy grail, or core, of design is that of proper knowledge of the end user.   More explicitly, the accurate gathering of ethnographic, statistical, and scientific research.  Opposite of this is the cutting edge, which was presented by an interaction designer from Facebook.  He presented the concept of Darwinian design, which is explained as follows.  In the past there was Newtonian design, in which one designed for data.  At the cutting edge, and even presently, Darwinian design is where the data creates the design.  Essentially this is based around high technology and user experience.  The utilzation of data to group and visualize information by designers, is an excellent tool to communicate concepts.