Constructing A Scenario-Driven Model For Contextual Brand Experience: The Case Of Chain Coffee Brands,
2026
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Constructing A Scenario-Driven Model For Contextual Brand Experience: The Case Of Chain Coffee Brands, Yi Jui Hsu, Yu Ting Zeng, Hsien Hui Tang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Brand experience is frequently theorized as a set of fixed domain attributes, yet how consumption context reorganizes the structural priority of these domains remains largely unmeasured. This paper argues that brand experience is a contextually generated design phenomenon that cannot be adequately addressed through static frameworks or single-context evaluation. Focusing on chain coffee brands in Taiwan, we conceptualize dine-in and take-out as distinct behavioral ecologies and apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct comparable experiential hierarchies across both contexts. Our findings reveal divergent experiential logics—dine-in privileging environmental immersion, take-out foregrounding product reliability and service rhythm—and non-obvious sub-criteria priorities only …
Becoming A Coffee Shop Regular: Factors Shaping Regularity In Contemporary Coffee Shops,
2026
Malmö University, Sweden
Becoming A Coffee Shop Regular: Factors Shaping Regularity In Contemporary Coffee Shops, Mia B. Münster, Rebekah Matheny, Kirsten Marie Raahauge
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study explores customers’ motivations to become regulars at contemporary specialty coffee shops and identifies the features that make these places meaningful enough for repeated visits. Drawing on observations and in situ interviews with staff and regular customers in Hong Kong, Copenhagen, and Columbus, the study examines how regular destinations emerge in contemporary café culture. The analysis identifies recurring characteristics of places that individuals consider their regular spots: (1) high-quality offerings, including quality products and professional service; (2) convenient and attractive locations; (3) the resources to accommodate different types of visits; (4) connectedness, or a sense of community and shared …
Neurodesign In Urban Environments: Fmri Insights For Designing Cognitively Supportive Cities,
2026
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China)
Neurodesign In Urban Environments: Fmri Insights For Designing Cognitively Supportive Cities, Saijal Sharma, Tian Cheng, Gerhard Bruyns
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Advances in neuroscience and neuroimaging have created new pathways to interpret how urban environments shape spatial cognition, psychological well-being, mobility, behaviour, and related outcomes across different age groups. This review examines the use of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in urban settings and assesses its contribution to an age-inclusive, longevity-focused environment. It synthesises interdisciplinary research into a concise framework that integrates fMRI-based pattern recognition with stimuli mapping to generate design insights. Within this context, fMRI is positioned as a complementary methodological approach to be used alongside ethnographic, participatory, and experiential methods in generating neuro-informed design knowledge. The review highlights design-relevant …
Narrataive: Using Narrative For Human–Ai Co-Creation In Intelligent Cockpits,
2026
School of Design,Hunan University, Changsha, China;
Research Institute of HNU in Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Narrataive: Using Narrative For Human–Ai Co-Creation In Intelligent Cockpits, Danhua Zhao, Yufei Liu, Yuhao Jiang, Zhongjie Xue
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As intelligent cockpits transition toward experience-centered scenario design, designers must organize increasingly complex relationships among users, behaviors, and system responses. While Generative AI (GenAI) accelerates early-stage exploration, it often struggles to interpret designers’ intentions, resulting in semantic drift and inconsistencies. This study proposes NarratAIve, a structured narrative–driven framework for human–AI co-creation in intelligent cockpit design. The framework encodes users, actions, contexts, and feedback into computable narrative units that serve as clear semantic inputs for cross-modal AI generation. Through two workshops with 24 participants (including graduate students and industry experts), six cockpit concepts were produced, demonstrating how narrative acts as a …
Unwording Design: Demilitarizing The Imaginaries Of Design,
2026
Umeå Institute of Design
Unwording Design: Demilitarizing The Imaginaries Of Design, Xaviera Sánchez De La Barquera Estrada, Sergio Dávila Urrutia
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design’s vocabulary is saturated with metaphors of control (targets, strategies, impacts), revealing a militarized ontology that frames design as domination over problems, contexts, and futures. This paper examines the politics of wording and introduces Unwording Design as a practice of ontological care: dismantling violent grammars that sustain extractive imaginaries and cultivating vocabularies grounded in affection, reciprocity, and relational ethics. Drawing on Haraway’s insight that the thoughts we use to think matter (2016), Butler’s performativity (2006), and Escobar’s ontological design (2018), we argue that transforming language transforms the worlds design brings into being. Unwording shifts from languages of war to languages …
Divergent Thinking To Design A Musical Instrument,
2026
CIAUD, Research Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal & Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, Portugal
Divergent Thinking To Design A Musical Instrument, Ermanno Aparo, Liliana Soares, Rita Almendra
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores how divergent thinking generates creativity and innovative ideas, exploring multiple possibilities and connections. Designing a musical instrument is an opportunity for knowledge and experimentation, combining the need for high performance with aesthetic qualities and, the tradition of handmade production with cutting-edge technologies and materials. Methodologically, the study is exploratory based on qualitative research methods. It comprises academy and the local productive sector, which includes luthiers, musicians, and an audiovisual and film studio. The paper highlights other research projects that demonstrate this team's ability to create connections with design, music, culture, and social issues. The creation of a …
The Environmental Citizen’S Playbook: A Catalogue Of Playful Participation For Environmental Action,
2026
Sooon Studio, Denmark
The Environmental Citizen’S Playbook: A Catalogue Of Playful Participation For Environmental Action, Savannah Vize, Ferran Altarriba Bertran, İdil Gaziulusoy
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Sustainability problems are complex and overwhelming, with terms like eco-anxiety now commonplace. Sustaining engagement therefore requires attention beyond systemic levers towards relational, social, and emotional dimensions. This paper explores play as a participatory tool to foster wellbeing, maintain engagement and reframe environmental action. Play is known to support healthy development, reduce stress, and connect socially as an antidote to fatiguing emotions. Research has additionally explored play’s transformative potential to disrupt existing structures and imaginaries. This study examines how play can be leveraged to support more inclusive and emotionally sustainable engagement with environmental action. Using a participatory research-through-design process (Situated Play …
Co-Creation With Carbon Data: Reframing The Designer’S Role In The Decarbonization Of The Built Environment,
2026
Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands
Co-Creation With Carbon Data: Reframing The Designer’S Role In The Decarbonization Of The Built Environment, Halina Veloso E Zarate, Manuela Triggianese, Jantien Stoter, Maarten Van Ham
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Cross-scale, multidisciplinary design projects such as station area redevelopment are inherently complex, with many stakeholders and vast amounts of data relevant to decision-making. In the Netherlands, these projects face a dual challenge: meeting housing demands while reducing the embodied carbon emissions associated with construction. Early integration of carbon data is essential, yet the abundance and heterogeneity of supporting datasets required for Life-Cycle Assessment beyond the building scale can hinder progress. This paper presents a collaborative workshop method that enables a data-supported design process for informed decision-making. Sessions with station architects, urban designers, railway operators, and carbon specialists co-create a curated …
Strategic Design For Circular Transitions: Co-Defining Servitisation Strategies With A Furniture Company,
2026
Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Strategic Design For Circular Transitions: Co-Defining Servitisation Strategies With A Furniture Company, Mattia Italia, Silvana Migliozzi, Michele Melazzini, Daniela Maurer, Xue Pei
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The furniture industry is currently facing profound environmental and systemic challenges that demand radical transformation. Servitisation, understood as the shift from selling products to delivering value through integrated product–service systems, offers a potential pathway to foster circularity and long-term competitiveness. However, this change requires the adaptation and integration of circularity strategies within the sector. Strategic Design and Transition Design can provide solid theoretical and practical foundations to support this integration. Therefore, this article explores how participatory processes supported by design can assist companies in co-defining circular strategies through servitisation. Using Participatory Action Research within a leading Italian furniture manufacturer, the …
Understanding Sleep Challenges In Shared Dormitories: A Co-Design Inquiry,
2026
Lancaster university, United Kingdom
Understanding Sleep Challenges In Shared Dormitories: A Co-Design Inquiry, Zheng Wang, Adrian Gradinar, Lisa Thomas
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Shared dormitories are the most common living arrangement for Chinese university students and have a crucial impact on their sleep and well-being. Most studies on sleep among this group primarily focus on the physical environment and the individual person, giving far less attention to the interpersonal and social aspects of living in shared dormitories. To address this gap, this paper presents the findings of a co-design workshop with 23 participants which explored their experiences of shared sleeping spaces and involved them in prototyping interventions for improving sleep experience. Findings reveal interpersonal interference as a major factor behind sleep disruption. Even …
A Product-Service System Design Approach For The Frame Innovation Of Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning,
2026
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;
Köln International School of Design, TH Köln, Cologne, Germany
A Product-Service System Design Approach For The Frame Innovation Of Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning, Zhiqian Hu, Yaojia Zhang, Peiyuan Ge, Leijie Ding, Mager Birgit, Li Zhang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Robotaxi services are expanding rapidly, but interior cleanliness, valued by passengers, remains a critical weak link. This study examines embedding the Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning (ARISC) framework in existing operations via a product service system (PSS) architecture without reducing fleet availability. Methodologically, frame innovation is undertaken from companies’ internal processes and governance: first, the study benchmarks DiDi Autonomous Driving, Baidu’s Apollo Go, and SAIC Mobility Robotaxi, and maps existing Robotaxi service systems; second, eleven semi structured interviews with cleaning providers, company staff, and passengers yield 384 records indicating functional needs (air circulation, surface cleaning, waste removal) and value needs …
Darker Affordances: Designing With Values As Vulnerabilities In An Age Of Disinformation,
2026
University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Darker Affordances: Designing With Values As Vulnerabilities In An Age Of Disinformation, Laura Knight
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In an age of pervasive disinformation, values function as conceptual anchors for comprehending complex information. Design-for-values approaches frame values as alignment opportunities. But the same values that enable ethical, resonant communication can be exploited for manipulative and unethical purposes. This paper argues that values in graphic communication design function as 'darker affordances' — relational properties affording both ethical communication and manipulation with equal reliability. Drawing on Master's students' reflections from a project in which they designed paired climate communication — one ethically aligned, one disinformation — it examines how contrastive pedagogy develops ethical literacy around values' dual nature. Analysis reveals …
Co-Designing Culture: A Grounded Theory Of Participatory Practice In Indian Folk Music,
2026
Anahad Foundation, New Delhi, India;
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
Co-Designing Culture: A Grounded Theory Of Participatory Practice In Indian Folk Music, Abhinav Agrawal, Mudit Chaturvedi, Gaurang Agrawal
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Prevailing accounts of co-design remain anchored in Western formal practice. This study repositions Indian folk music as a culturally embedded site of collaborative design. Drawing on Murphy’s anthropology of design and a grounded theory approach, we analysed 1,621 coded segments from interviews with 23 first-generation folk artists across 14 Indian states. We show that musicians function as cultural designers who translate lived experience and shared moral economies into adaptive musical forms through participatory routines: community observation, collective ideation, performance-based prototyping, and iterative calibration through audience feedback. We formalise these dynamics in the Cultural Co-Design Flow model, illuminating how layered semantics, …
Design For Dignified Longevity: Olfactory-Enhanced Vr Meditation For Sustained Mindfulness Practice,
2026
Tongji University
Design For Dignified Longevity: Olfactory-Enhanced Vr Meditation For Sustained Mindfulness Practice, Lei Xia, Xiaomei Li, Dan Li, Ling Fan
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Mindfulness meditation supports psychological wellbeing and stress regulation—factors closely associated with healthy aging and longevity. However, practitioners often struggle to sustain attentional depth over time. While virtual reality (VR) has been explored as a tool for immersive meditation, most systems rely primarily on audiovisual stimuli and overlook olfactory cues despite their strong influence on emotion and environmental perception. This study introduces ScentSync, an olfactory-enhanced VR meditation system integrating AI-generated environments with synchronized scent delivery. A controlled experiment with 54 experienced meditators compared traditional meditation (Non-VR), VR meditation (VR), and olfactory-enhanced VR meditation (VR+Olfactory). Results show that the VR+Olfactory group achieved …
Applying Ai Fine-Tuning And Vr 3d Sketching For Conceptual Design Proposals: A Case Study Of Footwear Design,
2026
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Applying Ai Fine-Tuning And Vr 3d Sketching For Conceptual Design Proposals: A Case Study Of Footwear Design, Hao-Yu Han, Ming-Huang Lin, Yun-Wen Lee
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Vizcom can produce creative 2D images, however, their stylistic appearances remain difficult to control. This study proposes a design pathway based on LoRA fine-tuning technique. First, a fine-tuning model of Nike A.I.R. concept shoes and automotive surface styles were trained. Then, these two different vocabulary elements were combined and generatively tested to explore their feasibility in footwear design. The process included dataset preparation, parameter adjustment, generation testing, and VR 3D modeling. Results showed that this method can effectively generate innovative forms within a given framework, making it particularly suitable for early design exploration. …
Plural Epistemologies In Systemic Design: Bridging Eastern Wisdom And Western Traditions,
2026
Tongji University, China, People's Republic of
Plural Epistemologies In Systemic Design: Bridging Eastern Wisdom And Western Traditions, Yi Song, Lei Zhang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Systemic design is increasingly emerging as a foundational concept in contemporary design research, attracting growing scholarly attention. However, despite converging ambitions toward addressing complexity, the field remains characterized by diverse terminologies, conceptual framings, and methodological vocabularies. This plurality, while intellectually productive, often raises the entry barrier for new researchers and risks duplication of effort due to unclear conceptual boundaries and fragmented knowledge development. To address this challenge, this study traces the historical evolution and theoretical roots of systemic design, clarifying its conceptual scope, key constructs, and stages of theoretical formation. Building on this foundation, it further examines the historical trajectory …
Rethinking Our Relationship With Technology Through The Translation Of A Film Prop: The Case Of Pyle And His Rifle,
2026
Royal College of Art, United Kingdom;
Feng-Chia University, Taiwan
Rethinking Our Relationship With Technology Through The Translation Of A Film Prop: The Case Of Pyle And His Rifle, Nicolas Marechal
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This research is situated at the intersection of design and Science and Technology Studies, focusing on training as a form of mediation which provides a pathway to rethinking our relationship with smart technologies. It draws on a provocation from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), with particular attention to the relationship between Private Pyle and his rifle during the training sequence. The rifle foregrounds the way that technology cannot be reduced to purely material, moral, or constructivist accounts, but is constituted through the mediating role of training. The analysis mobilises translation as a design method, treating the film prop as …
Bringing Characters To Vitality: Enhancing Credibility Of Original Characters In Narrative Works By Making The Oc A Generative Ai Agent,
2026
School of New Media Art and Design, Beihang University
Bringing Characters To Vitality: Enhancing Credibility Of Original Characters In Narrative Works By Making The Oc A Generative Ai Agent, Xiaozhan Liang, Ling Zou, Yong Hu, Siyu Luo
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study examines how generative AI can transform original characters (OCs) into interactive agents that improve character believability in design contexts. We propose a human–AI co-creation workflow that integrates dialogue, image, and context modalities, stabilizing style and behavior through structured prompts and expert feedback. In a mixed-method evaluation with five expert creators and a general audience, the approach increased perceived realism and emotional authenticity, while psychological complexity changed little—indicating the need for longer-horizon design. Dialogue contributed most to credibility, with context reinforcing coherence and images showing limited gains. We distill design principles for cross-modal alignment, style stability, and progressive complexity, …
The Spectral Right To The City: Cartographies Of Care Through Ethnographic Projection,
2026
Technion, Israel
The Spectral Right To The City: Cartographies Of Care Through Ethnographic Projection, Roni Mero, Jonathan Ventura, Eliyahu Keller
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The smart city paradigm operates on data representation, meaning that communities not included in official datasets are not represented and therefore do not exist politically. This condition of systemic exclusion demands an ethical design intervention, mixing cartography, visual communication and graphic design. Our paper presents a dual methodological approach that constitutes a cartography of care. This methodological framework visualises undocumented functional dynamics, providing a data-driven basis for urban planning that reflects the actual, lived usage of the city. First, we introduce ethnographic projection, a participatory design methodology that creates protected representation within existing GIS systems. Second, we present chorematic visualisation, …
Where Regenerative Design Theory Meets Ground: A Case Study Of Xreef On Weizhou Island,
2026
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Where Regenerative Design Theory Meets Ground: A Case Study Of Xreef On Weizhou Island, Chengjun Li, Valentina Rognoli, Fuqing Xu
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As the Anthropocene increasingly undermines natural systems, there is an urgent need for design to move beyond harm reduction toward active ecological restoration. Regenerative Design (RD) has emerged as a promising paradigm to complement sustainable design; however, fragmented knowledge and inconsistent terminology hinder designers’ systematic understanding. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, this study first reviews the philosophical stances and key approaches of RD, then examines its implementation in a coral reef restoration project on Weizhou Island. Reflection on the project revealed three major challenges: limited capacity for interdisciplinary collaboration, insufficient tools for stakeholder engagement, and inadequate dynamic …
