Hermeneutics for Designers

Hermeneutics is a clever framework for understanding the big picture by way of the details. Whether the big picture is a UX project or something as simple as reading a book, Sjors Timmer offers a process to uncover valuable – and sometimes surprising – insights.

To understand the whole of a book it is necessary to grasp its individual words and sentences, but those words and sentences only have meaning within the larger context of the book, hence interpretation must be a matter of constant revision: revising one’s sense of the whole as one grasps the individual parts, and revising one’s sense of the parts as the meaning of the whole emerges. – Paul Kidder – Professor of Philosophy in Gadamer for Architects

The process Paul Kidder identifies in Gadamer for Architects is known as the “hermeneutic circle.” Central to this process is understanding both the bigger picture in relation to the details and the details in relation to the bigger picture. This understanding grows and changes as we continue to come across additional details, whether the big picture is a UX project or something as simple as reading a book.

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