Design Education Leadership As Constellation Practice: Moving Beyond The Heroic Leader,
2026
Heriot-Watt University Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Design Education Leadership As Constellation Practice: Moving Beyond The Heroic Leader, Louise Valentine, Joanna Bletcher
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design education is increasingly engaging with global challenges that extend beyond its traditional scope. This study adopts a constellation perspective to explore leadership as a pluralistic, relational, and interpretive practice suited to navigating complexity. A selective literature review spanning 25 years across design education, leadership, management, and research reveals six key provocations: systemic disruption, institutional constraints, commercial pressures, universalising narratives, dominant Western paradigms, and limited critical engagement. These highlight tensions that shape contemporary leadership discourse. The findings invite reflection on leadership as a capacity-building process, one that encourages abductive reasoning, material inquiry, evidentiary thinking, financial awareness, and ethical reflection through …
More-Than-Human Self-Tracking: An Uncertain Account Of Urine Monitoring, Protein Excess And Ecological Entanglements,
2026
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Sweden
More-Than-Human Self-Tracking: An Uncertain Account Of Urine Monitoring, Protein Excess And Ecological Entanglements, Anton Poikolainen Rosén
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores self-tracking technologies through a more-than-human lens, focusing on the entanglements between protein consumption, urine monitoring, and environmental care. Using autoethnography, I reflect on the practices of measuring protein and nitrogen in urine as a means to interrogate how personal health data intersect with ecological concerns, particularly nitrogen runoff and its contribution to overfertilization of the Baltic Sea. The account highlights tensions between the precision promised by digital health apps and the uncertainty, messiness, and environmental costs of measuring itself. By mapping nitrogen metabolism across bodies, infrastructures, and the environment, the paper identifies potential points of intervention: dietary …
The Studio Model - Creating Space For Continuous Change,
2026
Princeton University, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
The Studio Model - Creating Space For Continuous Change, Kees Dorst
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Problems are not what they used to be. The complexity and scale of today’s challenges require a fundamentally different response from organisations. In this paper we will argue that they effectively need to move from ’problem-solving’ to a design approach. And that they need to move away from a ’one-off’ approach to innovation to creating interventions that move complex system to a better state. This requires a space and infrastructure for continuous innovation. For a model on how to achieve this, we turn to the practices of directors of creative agencies, as they shape environments for ongoing creation. The dynamics …
Co-Designing Equitable Engagement - Home Health Assessment In Healthcare Practice In Scotland,
2026
University of strathclyde, United Kingdom
Co-Designing Equitable Engagement - Home Health Assessment In Healthcare Practice In Scotland, Sonja Oliveira, Laura Maclean, Gráinne Mcgill, Carolina Recart
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper reflects upon the research process of co-designing equitable engagement within the healthcare sector. The research considers approaches to co-design as rooted within researchers sharing decision-making and shifting power not from themselves to participants, but amongst the research team itself. Co-design is mostly discussed as a process of academics and non-academics sharing the research design journey through participatory, inclusive and dialogical methods. This study considers how this process evolves within the research team itself, whereby known research project roles, responsibilities and remit are put to one side allowing difference, conflict and disagreement to be explored using design research methods. …
Mapping The Identity Design Process For Ai Co-Creativity: Interviews With 20 Graphic Designers,
2026
Abadir Academy, Catania, IT
Mapping The Identity Design Process For Ai Co-Creativity: Interviews With 20 Graphic Designers, Melani De Luca, Sebastian Berns
DRS Biennial Conference Series
With the increasing insertion of AI tools in creative work in recent years, concerns about misinterpreting creativity and rendering designers obsolete are growing. Moreover, progress in AI predominantly comes from computer science, often resulting in misconceptions about graphic design. In particular, when it comes to highly specialized practices like identity design, the use of AI often remains too generic and fails to reflect the diversity employed by designers in their practice, propagating the homogenization of trends in graphical artefacts. This paper aims to bridge the discourse and methodological gap between computer science and graphic design by presenting a detailed exploration …
Touchbox: A Research Toolkit Of Haptic Textile Cubes For Experiencing, Evaluating, And Co-Designing Tangible Remote Communication,
2026
DFKI - Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH, Germany
Touchbox: A Research Toolkit Of Haptic Textile Cubes For Experiencing, Evaluating, And Co-Designing Tangible Remote Communication, Hannah Friederike Fischer, Hanns-Peter Horn, Emil Woop
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The novel nature of tangible communication technologies and users’ lack of prior experience pose a significant challenge for engaging stakeholders in participative activities for non-verbal, tangible remote-communication devices. To address this gap, we developed a research toolkit consisting of wirelessly connected textile cubes capable of transmitting haptic signals such as motion, warmth, shape change, heartbeat, vibration and visual cues. This paper examines the potential of the toolkit as a methodological tool for identifying suitable input-output modalities and capturing user perceptions in the early stages of device development. Applied within a recent research project, the toolkit enabled participants to engage with …
Experiencing The More-Than-Human Through Human Augmentation,
2026
Reality Design Lab;University of Oxford
Experiencing The More-Than-Human Through Human Augmentation, Botao 'Amber' Hu, Danlin Huang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The recent more-than-human turn in design calls for attentiveness to nonhuman beings. Yet—as Thomas Nagel's famous "What is it like to be a bat?" thought experiment highlights—human experience is constrained by our own sensorium and an irreducible gap in phenomenal access to nonhuman Umwelten. Grounded in eco-phenomenology and eco-somatics, this paper proposes Experiencing the More-than-Human through Human Augmentation (MtHtHA, or ">HtH+"), a design approach that repurposes human augmentation technologies—typically aimed at enhancing human capabilities for human optimization—to create temporary, embodied, first-person experiences that modulate the human sensorium to approximate nonhuman sensory experiences, cultivating ecological awareness, empathy, and care across …
Reimagining Cultural Heritage: Designing Game Jams As Learning Spaces,
2026
University College Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark;
Aarhus University, Denmark
Reimagining Cultural Heritage: Designing Game Jams As Learning Spaces, Kim Holflod, Eva Eriksson
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Game jams have increasingly been adopted as innovative learning approaches to explore and address complex cultural and societal challenges across formal (e.g., university) and informal (e.g., GLAM) educational contexts. However, there remains a lack of pedagogical models and materials that align learning goals, activities, and assessments constructively for such events. Based on an analysis of four cultural game jams (2024-2025) involving 168 young people (aged 14-32) held in an art museum, this paper proposes a pedagogical design model grounded in systematisation and adaptability as core design principles. The model promotes hybrid and inclusive participation that connects young people, museum professionals, …
Countering Tokenism In E-Participation: Potentials Of Participatory Design In Democratic Policymaking,
2026
Politecnico di Milano
Countering Tokenism In E-Participation: Potentials Of Participatory Design In Democratic Policymaking, Jia Xin Liu, Marzia Mortati, Lucy Kimbell
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The implementation of e-participation platforms in policymaking has removed spatial and temporal barriers to citizen engagement; however, digitalisation also introduces new challenges which undermine democratic values and risk participation outcomes becoming symbolic and superficial. In this paper, we conducted a narrative literature review and examined barriers in e-participation through the framework of narrow and broad sense tokenism. Through a theoretical discussion, we position participatory design (PD) as a steward in addressing tokenistic participation, focusing on PD’s notion of creating carefully designed participation ‘spaces’ and ‘approaches’ that foster more democratic, deliberative, and inclusive forms of digital participation, thereby countering tokenistic tendencies.
Inter-Poly-Creation (Ipc): Unifying Mass Customisation And Co-Creation,
2026
Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Inter-Poly-Creation (Ipc): Unifying Mass Customisation And Co-Creation, Hoi Wah Chan, Christopher J. Parker, Darren J. Southee
DRS Biennial Conference Series
To innovate stakeholder value, designers, business strategists, and marketers rely on shared understanding to co-create value. While co-creation is established in strategic design, practitioners use related terms interchangeably, including co-creation and Mass Customisation (MC). While conflicting terminology enables stakeholder participation, resources and knowledge are fragmented, obstructing a unified practice and limiting shared understanding of value creation. This paper clarifies co-creation and MC terms, explains why practitioners interchange terminology, and examines how stakeholder value and disciplinary perspectives shape their usage. We analysed 828 academic papers across the design, business, and innovation disciplines, focusing on commonly confused lexicons. We reveal that designers, …
Build & Connect: Designing A Constructive, Participatory Physicalization Activity & Toolkit For Community Reflection,
2026
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Build & Connect: Designing A Constructive, Participatory Physicalization Activity & Toolkit For Community Reflection, Jenny Long, Caroline Gausden, Tara Capel, Uta Hinrichs
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores how slow design and care can inform reflective data physicalization practices. Physicalization has been recognized to widen participation in data exploration, but how can it serve communities with varied relationships to power, access, and exclusion? We explored this question through a case study that aimed at supporting a long-term community project through physicalization activities. We found that language around data and representation created barriers to participation, even when demonstrated through established physicalization activities. Centering design processes around participants’ reservations we arrived at Build & Connect, a constructive, participatory physicalization activity and toolkit which, based on the analogy …
Deconstructing The Designer-Genai Interaction In The Design Process: A Framework For Surfacing Micro-Dynamics And Agency,
2026
Design Department, Politecnico di Milano, Italy;Elisava, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (UVic-UCC), Spain
Deconstructing The Designer-Genai Interaction In The Design Process: A Framework For Surfacing Micro-Dynamics And Agency, Fabio Antonio Figoli, Francesca Mattioli, Lucia Rampino
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper presents the Imagery Modes framework for analysing the designer–genAI interaction, complementing established metaphor-based accounts. Developed through Constructivist Grounded Theory and structured using Activity Theory, the framework focuses on the micro-dynamics of a single input–output exchange. It identifies four sequential sub-actions—crafting, processing, generating, and evaluating—that trace the relations between subjects (designer, genAI) and instruments (input, output). Central to the framework is the concept of “output imagery”, defined as the clarity with which the designer envisions the expected output prior to the interaction. Three modes of interaction are identified: Before, During, and After Imagery. The findings highlight the fluid and …
Restorative Retail: A Literature Review On Consumer Well-Being In The Retail Environment,
2026
Hasselt University, Belgium
Restorative Retail: A Literature Review On Consumer Well-Being In The Retail Environment, Katelijn Quartier
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In an era increasingly shaped by consumers’ search for meaningful and emotionally engaging experiences, the concept of restorative retail is emerging as a key paradigm in retail and service design. This semi-systematic literature review synthesizes theoretical and empirical research across marketing, environmental psychology, and architecture to examine how physical retail environments can promote psychological restoration and well-being. Drawing on foundational frameworks—Attention Restoration Theory (ART), biophilia, and servicescape theory—the review identifies central design principles such as nature integration, sensory harmony, and spatial openness that underpin restorative experiences. Although evidence supports the restorative potential of retail environments, empirical validation remains limited, particularly …
Decoding Physicality In Human–Artifact Interaction: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis,
2026
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University
Decoding Physicality In Human–Artifact Interaction: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis, Xiaoshan Wang, Long Liu*
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As interaction design increasingly bridges the digital and physical realms, exemplified by tangible and embodied interaction, a clear understanding of "physicality" is critical. However, the concept remains ambiguous within the interaction between humans and artifacts, lacking a systematic understanding to guide research and practice. This research applies Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis, guided by three etymological meanings of "physical", to conduct a hybrid thematic analysis of literature from interaction, ergonomics, and design. The findings suggest that physicality is understood through a structured framework of five core attributes: material substantiality, perceptibility, two-way interaction, embodied correlation, and affordance. This preliminary framework elucidates the …
Mediating Material Transitions. A Digital Library For Circular Upholstery Material Selection.,
2026
University of Bologna, Italy
Mediating Material Transitions. A Digital Library For Circular Upholstery Material Selection., Ludovica Rosato, Patrizia Bolzan, Laura Succini, Michele Zannoni
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In Made in Italy products, the material dimension represents a distinctive element, capable of expressing both the quality of the product and the heritage of craftsmanship embedded in the territory. In the upholstered furniture sector materials generate significant environmental and supply-chain impacts, making their selection a strategic leverage point for sustainability and circularity. This study investigates how a digital material library can support designers and SMEs in navigating this transition by integrating sustainable innovation with industrial feasibility. Grounded in the Advanced Design framework, the research adopts a four-step methodology to analyse the current supply system, identify circular alternatives, review existing …
Re-Materialising Design: Material Agency And The Reconfiguration Of Creative Practice,
2026
TU Delft, Netherlands, The
Re-Materialising Design: Material Agency And The Reconfiguration Of Creative Practice, Olga Ioannou
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper examines biobased materials as agents of creative and systemic transformation within design practice. Drawing from a university course on circular building product design, several graduation theses, and two research projects -one focused on food waste valorisation and another on load-bearing mycelium composites- it investigates how engagement with biobased, regenerative materials reconfigures the designer’s role across the value chain, from sourcing to post-use reintegration. By situating material experimentation within ecological and socio-technical transitions, the paper argues that biobased materials enable a re-materialisation of design knowledge, where making becomes a mode of inquiry into interdependencies between nature, technology, and culture. …
Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies,
2026
Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy
Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies, Michela Musto, Marzia Micelisopo
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, …
Entangled Archives: Uncovering New Connections In Digital Interfaces,
2026
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism and Design of the University of São Paulo FAUUSP, Brazil
Entangled Archives: Uncovering New Connections In Digital Interfaces, Renata Perim Lopes, Giselle Beiguelman
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This article presents a study examining digital collections in order to map resources available on digital platforms that influence user behavior and participation. By analyzing the collections’ interfaces, it identifies how artificial intelligence resources can relate different cultural objects within those spaces, working with different layers of information. These resources provide ways to overcome barriers between systems and the assumptions of their original cataloging, leading us to conceptualize digital objects as potential entangled objects. From this perspective, the article discusses the dual role of digital collections—as knowledge repositories and as mediation systems—while exploring viable alternatives for constituting collections within specific …
Age-Ready Suburbia: Designing Distributed Care And Housing Transitions For Longevity,
2026
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America
Age-Ready Suburbia: Designing Distributed Care And Housing Transitions For Longevity, Kaicheng Zhuang, Minghao Du
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This thesis reimagines the aging U.S. suburb as a site of transition, where single-family housing can evolve into distributed care infrastructure supporting longevity and community well-being. Through onsite research in Sacramento and collaboration with local care providers, the project develops a scalable framework for retrofitting suburban homes into neighborhood-based care hubs connected by shared food, mobility, and caregiver networks. Integrating architectural transformation, service design, and participatory co-design methods, it proposes a systemic approach that bridges individual housing adaptation with urban-scale resilience. Rather than pursuing technological “smartness,” the model advances a human-centered LongevityTech vision,where design mediates between housing, health, and social …
Everything Is An Instrument: Making Data Instruments As Critical Pedagogy,
2026
RMIT University, Australia
Everything Is An Instrument: Making Data Instruments As Critical Pedagogy, Rusaila Bazlamit, Michael Dunbar, Chris Speed
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper critically examines how contemporary data design logics reframe everyday objects and services as active instruments of measurement and knowledge production. Through a pedagogical experiment in [place name withheld] Square, we explore how student-designed data instruments capture ambiguous, affective, and more-than-human aspects of experience that conventional instrumentation obscures. Drawing on Barad’s agential realism and Lupi’s Data Humanism, our iterative approach reveals that artifacts co-constitute what becomes knowable, making visible the entanglement of bodies, materials, and environments in data production. As students encountered material resistance, breakdown, and multispecies interaction, they developed “instrumental consciousness,” recognising artifact agency and their own complicity …
