One important goal of design is for people to know how to use something unfamiliar. There are two design issues involved. The first is to give the product or service shape. The second is to shape the activities that will emerge as social artifacts when people use the product or service. How do designers organize these activities as spaces for people? What are the design challenges? What are the forms of activity? How are they given shape? This paper presents a framework for museum learning involving two complementary aspects of design: physical, functional artifacts and the activities that develop as social artifacts from their use. It then discusses characteristics of the creative process when designing to shape the unknown.
