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Decoding Design Briefs: The Role Of Abstraction Levels In Textual And Visual Stimuli, Sofie Busch, Nikoline Sander Jensen, Mário Barros
Decoding Design Briefs: The Role Of Abstraction Levels In Textual And Visual Stimuli, Sofie Busch, Nikoline Sander Jensen, Mário Barros
Nordes Conference Series
This paper investigates the role of stimuli and respective levels of abstraction in design briefs and the implications for client-designer expectations alignment. This paper examines design briefs in professional settings in two Danish companies, from the perspectives of the client who creates a brief and the external designer who responds to a brief. The method consists in analysing the design briefs and categorising content, type of stimuli and level of abstraction, followed by interviews with the sender and receiver of the brief. According to the findings, the definition of a clear solution space in the design brief occurs when there …
Cultivating Ethics With Professional Designers, Sharon Lindberg, Petter Karlström, Sirkku Männikkö Barbutiu
Cultivating Ethics With Professional Designers, Sharon Lindberg, Petter Karlström, Sirkku Männikkö Barbutiu
Nordes Conference Series
Recent years have seen an increased interest in designers’ ethical responsibility. However, knowledge concerning how ethical practice could be cultivated in real-life settings is still lacking. In order to explore this issue, we formed a team with practitioners at a digital design studio. During 10 months, the team co-designed activities and materials intended to sensitize design practitioners at the studio to ethics. Our findings highlight the importance of presenting ethics in an appealing manner in order to engage designers, and this paper illustrates how we explored this in our project. Moreover, we discuss co-design as a collaborative space for engaging …
Walking Backwards As A Radical Practice For Design, Annika Olofsdotter Bergström, Juliana Restrepo-Giraldo
Walking Backwards As A Radical Practice For Design, Annika Olofsdotter Bergström, Juliana Restrepo-Giraldo
Nordes Conference Series
Walking backwards is proposed as a radical design practice as it creates time/spaces in-between needed to counter dominant narratives focused on effectivity. So-called time-saving technologies, instead of creating possibilities for free, spontaneous, unstructured, embodied time, add more time and space for production and consumption. Walking backwards is explored as a relevant practice to learn to work in-between complexities, certainty, and uncertainty. Even though walking is a widely recognised and explored method within the arts and academia, the practice of walking backwards has not been studied for the purposes proposed in this text. The aim is to problematise the notion of …
Project Proximities: A Meta Review Of How Design Addresses Distance In Complex Collaborations, Rosie Hornbuckle
Project Proximities: A Meta Review Of How Design Addresses Distance In Complex Collaborations, Rosie Hornbuckle
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Complex collaborations involving multiple disciplines and stakeholders are seen as necessary in the pursuit of transformative innovation. Yet these ‘systemic’ science & technology-led projects pose a challenge for knowledge exchange, co-creation and co-operation. Design research teams brought in, often to work on tangible outcomes, are faced with chasms between the understanding of diverse actors. From this problematization of distances in complex collaboration, a new design research practice has emerged: 'translational design practice' (Page & John 2019). This paper builds on this concept through a ‘meta’ level review of the design research approaches in three European publicly-funded consortium projects to address …
How Might Design Contribute To A Circular Economy, Susan Evans, Mia B. Münster
How Might Design Contribute To A Circular Economy, Susan Evans, Mia B. Münster
DRS Biennial Conference Series
80 percent of the environmental impact of products and services is deter- mined in the design phase. Since the designer’s job takes place at the initial phase of any design process, designers are in a unique position to effect change in this area. Designers have knowledge of the supply chains and networks that drive, not only de- sign process, but also those that support the production and implementation of de- signs. It is therefore relevant to discuss how design can play a role in the transition towards Circular Economy. In this vein the research question as set for this conversa- …
Notions Of Designing Inclusively From Practitioner Perspectives, Maxim Lamirande, Katerina Alexiou, Rachael Luck
Notions Of Designing Inclusively From Practitioner Perspectives, Maxim Lamirande, Katerina Alexiou, Rachael Luck
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Even though inclusion is a well-researched subject in design, the numerous ways to describe and understand it are unsettled. The theoretical landscape often leads into paradoxes about how to best practice inclusion in design development processes. Instead, this study probes present-day understandings of designing inclusively from the perspective of practitioners who adopt an inclusive approach in their practice. A review of existing literature helped formulate preliminary notions that guide discussions with practitioners recruited across different domains. Iterative analysis of the data from these interviews reveals some differences between the original theoretical constructs and how they are perceived and used in …
Design Experiments For A Development Organisation In The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, Simone Mello Pereira Uriartt, Sine Celik, Peter Lloyd
Design Experiments For A Development Organisation In The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, Simone Mello Pereira Uriartt, Sine Celik, Peter Lloyd
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In the midst of climate change, and the need to seek more sustainable ways of living, design is increasingly tackling problems at a societal level. This paper reflects on a strategic design project at a Brazilian foundation focused on sustainable development in the Amazon rainforest region. In this study, we asked what contributions design can bring to organisations involved in addressing development issues. The paper describes several experiments and strategies to make it tangible to non-designers how a design-led process unfolds and how design can support the organisation's efforts in delivering value to the communities they serve. The case study …
Doing Research In Design: Inquiry Of The Key Competences Needed To Integrate Research In Design Practice, Sandra Dittenberger, Stefan Moritsch, Agnes Raschauer, Julia Pintsuk-Christof
Doing Research In Design: Inquiry Of The Key Competences Needed To Integrate Research In Design Practice, Sandra Dittenberger, Stefan Moritsch, Agnes Raschauer, Julia Pintsuk-Christof
Learn X Design Conference Series
Over the last decades, design research and design practice have become intertwined in a new way and design study programmes have to react to these changes, providing students with the ability to link their creative practice with scientific research. Design education has to develop solutions for this new demand and support these profound changes of the discipline itself by addressing these issues from the very beginning of design education on, the BA-level. In order to better understand what the problems are when carrying out research in design, this paper aims to contribute to the topic of the integration of research …
Prototyping Scales Of Knitwear Design For Sustainability, Louise Ravnløkke
Prototyping Scales Of Knitwear Design For Sustainability, Louise Ravnløkke
Nordes Conference Series
This paper explores how the physical presence of prototypes substantiates research at various scales of design. Working with sustainable change challenges us to stand in the open and act towards a future that we do not know the full picture of. Here I propose to turn our attention to the traditional design method of prototyping to unfold how to influence various scales of design. The paper begins outlining the scope of the experimental and practice-based research within knitwear design, and discuss prototyping as a means to investigate the role of the designer in an industry in search of sustainable development. …
The Practice Of Design Innovation In The Academic Context: The Project Portfolio By Brunel Design, Giulia Cosco, Vanja Garaj
The Practice Of Design Innovation In The Academic Context: The Project Portfolio By Brunel Design, Giulia Cosco, Vanja Garaj
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Collaborations between academia and industry can be an effective way to build capabilities and generate value in design innovation. Department of Design (Brunel Design) at Brunel University London provides different design innovation support programmes to businesses by involving its students and academic and professional staff. This paper presents a literature review on design innovation and its benefits in collaborations between academia and industry. The final goal is to describe the practice of design innovation by Brunel Design through its programmes and the advantages obtained by the stakeholders involved. Each programme description is supported by a case study and the programme …
A Pilot Study Used To Better Construct A Research Direction To Understand Where Industrial Design Fits Within The 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), Christoph Heinrich Walter Koch, Blair Kuys, Gianni Renda
A Pilot Study Used To Better Construct A Research Direction To Understand Where Industrial Design Fits Within The 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), Christoph Heinrich Walter Koch, Blair Kuys, Gianni Renda
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The industrial design profession is engaging with a new manufacturing revolution — Industry4.0 (I4.0). This new paradigm presents new opportunities and challenges for industrial designers. However, it is still unclear what knowledge industrial designers can contribute to manufacturers in an emerging I4.0 context. This pilot study serves to determine the current state of practice of industrial design, and to discover areas of improvement as well as strengths to build on. Most importantly, this study functions as the first step to better qualify questions for a subsequent online questionnaire survey, in conjunction with findings from literature. A focus group was conducted …
Philosophy At Work: Postphenomenology As A Generative Lens In Design Research And Practice, Sander Van Der Zwan, Maarten Smith, Jelle Bruineberg, Pierre Lévy, Caroline Hummels
Philosophy At Work: Postphenomenology As A Generative Lens In Design Research And Practice, Sander Van Der Zwan, Maarten Smith, Jelle Bruineberg, Pierre Lévy, Caroline Hummels
DRS Biennial Conference Series
We investigate the use of five postphenomenological concepts by bringing them to design practice and using them as a "generative lens" in design research. The use of these concepts in design research creates tension between the general and the particular. In a constructive design research process, we resolve this tension. We follow two complementary lines of inquiry: first, we design a ritual to support a postphenomenological analysis of the workplace. We discuss insights regarding ordering and formulation of the concepts, selecting a technological intermediary and assessing technologies. In the second, we use postphenomenology as a generative lens in designing the …
Virtual And Blended Design Studios, Nicole Lotz, Erik Bohemia, Georgy Holden, Sam Dunne, Joi Roberts
Virtual And Blended Design Studios, Nicole Lotz, Erik Bohemia, Georgy Holden, Sam Dunne, Joi Roberts
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The design studio has been the preferred environment to support creative, social and artefact-centred design education and practice. While corporate design studios become increasingly connected across locations, design education becomes progressively augmented with virtual learning environments.Virtual and blended studios differ from traditional physical environments in significant ways. With designers working at a distance, the people, resources, and objects of design are not physically co-located, which poses particular challenges but also offers some unique benefits.This conversation is going to tackle the question: How can we best support learners in virtual design studios?
Beautiful Nerds: Growing A Rigorous Design Research Dialogue In The Irish Context, Adam De Eyto, Carmel Maher, Mark Hadfield, Maggie Hutchings
Beautiful Nerds: Growing A Rigorous Design Research Dialogue In The Irish Context, Adam De Eyto, Carmel Maher, Mark Hadfield, Maggie Hutchings
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Ireland is a country with a small and emergent design research community. Relative to other countries, the practice of design itself in Ireland is a recent development with the first formal design courses materialising in the mid-1970s. Without historical legacy and sustained coordinated support from design specific state development agencies, the progress of this nascent Irish design sector has been fragmented and unfocused. Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) a yearlong government backed initiative sought to address this lack of coherence in tandem with increasing the visibility and profile of Irish design. This article reflects on the historical context Irish design research …
Systems Oriented Design: The Emergence And Development Of A Designerly Approach To Address Complexity, Birger Sevaldson
Systems Oriented Design: The Emergence And Development Of A Designerly Approach To Address Complexity, Birger Sevaldson
Learn X Design Conference Series
Designers are especially well suited to cope with the complexity of the real world because of three reasons: they are trained to synthesise solutions from complex and fuzzy material and they are good at visualising which is an enormous advantage for thinking in complexity. Finally they are creative people trained to come up with new solutions. There already exists design practices geared towards dealing with complexity. But such practices need to be systematized and developed further. One way of doing this is to develop its relation to other practices of complexity found in systems thinking and systems practices. This paper …
Sketching Design Thinking: Representations Of Design In Education And Practice, Colin M. Gray, Martin A. Siegel
Sketching Design Thinking: Representations Of Design In Education And Practice, Colin M. Gray, Martin A. Siegel
Learn X Design Conference Series
Research on design pedagogy has shown that students progress through a variety of barriers on the path to becoming a successful design practitioner, and that frameworks for explicit reflection can be beneficial to the development of design students. Schön uses the concept of reflection-on-action to describe one form of reflection on design practice, with the eventual goal of improving design processes and judgment. In this study, sketching is used as a form of reflection-on-action in a first semester intensive course in interaction design (IxD). This sketch reflects the student’s current understanding of the “whole game” or holistic view of design …
Collaboration Within Student Design Teams Participating In Architectural Design Competitions, Livanur Erbil, Fehmi Dogan
Collaboration Within Student Design Teams Participating In Architectural Design Competitions, Livanur Erbil, Fehmi Dogan
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper investigates design collaboration with reference to convergent and divergent idea generation processes in architectural design teams entering a design competition. Study of design teams offer a unique opportunity to investigate how creativity is fostered through collaborative work. While views of creativity often relate creativity to individual originality, collaboration requires different designers to work together towards one common design idea and consider as many different ideas as possible. In collaborative design, it would be easier to offer a variety of ideas but equally difficult to establish a consensus on a single idea. To investigate the role of convergent and …
From Concept To Capability: Developing Design Thinking Within A Professional Services Firm, Zaana Howard
From Concept To Capability: Developing Design Thinking Within A Professional Services Firm, Zaana Howard
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Corporate business and management are embracing design thinking for its potential to deliver competitive advantage through helping them be more innovative, differentiate their brands, and bring more customer centric products and services to market (Brown, 2008). As consumers continue to expect more personalisation and customisation from their service providers, the use of design thinking for innovation within organisations is a logical progression. To date however, there is little empirical literature discussing how organisations are setting about integrating design thinking into their culture and innovation practices. This paper is a first step in initiating a scholarly discussion on the integration of …
Wicked Space: Visualizing Caregiving In Finland And India - Systemic Design Thinking In Design Research, Anna Kulonen, Han Pham, David Prendergast
Wicked Space: Visualizing Caregiving In Finland And India - Systemic Design Thinking In Design Research, Anna Kulonen, Han Pham, David Prendergast
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The “Who Cares For The Carers” project examines the experiences of informal caregivers using a comparative approach between India and Finland. The research aims to understand what forms of support networks and communities, whether formal or informal, are emerging and evolving to provide support and nurture well being among the caregivers. What started with a simple research question “how do they cope?” turned into a realization of the existence of the “caregiving experience” involving the caregiver(s), care receiver and community. Through the analysis of our data, the complexity of caregiver coping emerged – a systemic (or wicked) problem whose actionable …
Design Case Studies: Never Let The Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Story!, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Design Case Studies: Never Let The Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Story!, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper argues that the primary advantage of the case study, its ability to reveal insight into ‘real-life’ contemporary phenomena (the here and now) set against critical incidents, happenings or events over time (cause and effect), could be undermined by a lack of methodological rigor and sound empiricism in design research. Often the ‘one off’ is reported as a ‘case’ without the critical insight or analytical discourse necessary to derive sound theory from practice. A systematic audit of design case studies in four of the leading design research journals has been undertaken along with a detailed analysis of the type, …
What Is Design Knowledge?, Ulrik Lie
What Is Design Knowledge?, Ulrik Lie
DRS Biennial Conference Series
How do designers move from believing, or assuming, to knowing in the course of action? In industrial design this move involves using theories under different ontology from different domains, and bridging them is an act that is epistemologically uncertain. The article discusses the nature of design knowledge, starting from a literature study and a model of the minimum knowledge needed for designing. Practising designers need to justify their assumptions in a large number of ways in order to arrive at a solution. If this amalgam of justificatory arguments is to be taken up by researchers in design methodology it poses …