A Basis for Constructing and Evaluating Design Concepts

In this paper we argue that design concepts should represent relevant design patterns and implementation (middleware) constructs in a problem domain precisely and concisely. We claim that this follows logically fiom the role that design concepts play in the design process. Subsequently, we show the problems that arise if existing patterns and implementation constructs are not observed when developing design concepts. We focus our argument on concepts for interaction design and on the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing.