He was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, went on to work for AEI in Manchester, England.

[2] From his early collaboration with engineers, Jones advocated ergonomics and the consideration of user centred issues that were not part of engineering skills and attitudes at the time.

When the results of his ergonomic studies of user behaviour were not utilized by the firm's designers, Jones set about studying and improving the design process so as to incorporate these aspects.

He set out an entirely original philosophy of design—one that questioned the aims, goals and purposes of designing.

He stated that one of the reasons why he focused on Design Methods was Jones also realized that designers needed to move out of focusing on expression and modes of production and begin to address the definition of a problem to be solved.