1966 by Horst Rittel and others at the University of California, Berkeley. The DMG held a conference at MIT in 1968 with a focus on environmental design and planning, and that led to the foundation of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), which held its first conference in 1969. A group interested in design methods and theory in architecture and engineering formed at MIT in the early 1980s, including Donald Schön, who was studying the working practices of architects, engineers and other professionals and developing his theory of reflective practice. In 1984 the National Science Foundation created a Design Theory and Methodology Program to promote methods and process research in engineering design. Meanwhile in Europe, Vladimir Hubka established the Workshop Design-Konstruction (WDK),which led to a series of International Conferences on Engineering Design (ICED) beginning in 1981 and later became the Design Society. Academic research journals in design also began publication. DRS initiated Design Studies in 1979, Design Issues appeared in 1984, and Research in Engineering Design in 1989. Influence on all professional design practice Several pioneers of design methods developed their work in association with industry. The Ulm school established a significant partnership with the German consumer products company Braun through their designer Dieter Rams. J. Christopher Jones began his approach to systematic design as an ergonomist at the electrical engineering company AEI. L. Bruce Archer developed his systematic approach in projects for medical equipment for the UK National Health Service. In the USA, designer Henry Dreyfuss had a profound impact on the practice of industrial design by developing systematic processes and promoting the use of anthropometrics, ergonomics and human factors in design, including through his 1955 book 'Designing for People'. Another successful designer, Jay Doblin, was also influential on the theory and practice of design as a systematic process. Much of current design practice has been influenced and guided by design methods. For example, the influential IDEO consultancy uses design methods extensively in its 'Design Kit' and 'Method Cards'. Increasingly, the intersections of design methods with business and government through the application of design thinking have been championed by numerous consultancies within the design profession. Wide influence has also come through Christopher Alexander's pattern language method, originally developed for architectural and urban design, which has been adopted in software design, interaction design, pedagogical design and other domains. See also Design management Design rationale Design research Design science Design theory