Enablement or restriction? On supporting others in making (sense of things)

In this paper I present and reflect upon a five-year investigation of designing digital tools for designing in the area of architectural space grid structures. I understand design as a novelty and knowledge generating conversational process as described by Pask (see Scott 2001) and Glanville (2000). Furthermore, I regard making design tools as a design task in itself, rendering this paper a reflection on designing for designing. This paper gives a report on observations I made during the toolmaking study, and subsequently contextualizes these observations using second-order cybernetic theory. This reflection focuses on different relationships between observers and systems, on conditions under which observers construct knowledge and on limits of supporting others in this activity.