A proposta comercial como boundary object no processo projetual

Abstract

The present investigation approaches the role of the design services business proposal inside contexts where the design problem is ill-structured, as a possible boundary object that mediates and articulates interests and relationships among actors both inside and outside of the design organization. Methodological procedures involved the elaboration of an analytical model of the business proposal journey throughout the project, based on interviews with specialists, followed by three case studies in which said model was critically applied to analyse processes, translations and artifacts belonging to each situation. Based on the findings of each case study, a discussion has evolved around boundary objects as promoters of opening and closing of perspectives, relationships mediated by the business proposal, cartography of controversies and agency devices, controversy and punctualization as the unexpected in accounts and the design problem in increased complexity settings. These discussions lead to the framing of the design services selling process as a way of coupling with an organization’s resident complexity, enacted through a collective of boundary objects influenced by the vision of a commercial cartographer agent.