Multi-, Inter-, and Trans-disciplinary Collaboration

Distinctions widely discussed in design theory and captured in reference works such as the Design Dictionary (co-edited by Michael Erlhoff and Tim Marshall), used to categorize how design partnerships function differently across the Framework's operational space. Inter-disciplinary collaboration involves team members from different disciplines working with design to synthesize their distinct methods, tools, and perspectives into a shared language and hybrid methodological framework. Trans-disciplinary collaboration is the deepest and most transformative level, often required for wicked problems too complex for any single discipline, seeking to transcend disciplinary boundaries entirely by co-creating a new, shared conceptual framework, often with non-academic participants as equal partners. Multi-disciplinary collaboration describes specialists from different disciplines working alongside each other on a common problem, each operating from their own distinct perspective, in an additive approach where disciplinary boundaries remain intact and design can play the role of system weaver or facilitator.