In Kinship With Harakeke Phormium Tenax: How One Plant And Its Materials Facilitate Transitional Knowledge Through Inter-Indigenous And Inter-Cultural Exchange.,
2026
Toi Rauwhārangi (College of Creative Arts), Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa (Massey University)
In Kinship With Harakeke Phormium Tenax: How One Plant And Its Materials Facilitate Transitional Knowledge Through Inter-Indigenous And Inter-Cultural Exchange., Angela Kilford, Sonya Withers, Faith Kane, Huhana Smith
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Abstract: This paper considers how one plant, harakeke (phormium tenax), native to Aotearoa New Zealand embodies the natural attributes to mitigate climate change and support transition to more sustainable and equitable material futures. Through interaction and collaboration, harakeke demonstrates how circular and regenerative textile design systems are manifested. In the interest of learning from harakeke the authors, working from multiple perspectives, position the plant as tohunga (knowledge expert) and themselves as tauira (learners) to share and reflect upon their engagements with the plant and its fibre. From harakeke we learn about familial relationships to whenua (land) and to each other, …
Designing Hope: Civil Society, Empathy And Peace, Or Avoiding World War Iii,
2026
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Designing Hope: Civil Society, Empathy And Peace, Or Avoiding World War Iii, Philip Ely, Ilpo Koskinen, Shelley Mcnulty, Brian Dixon
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In the face of widespread global conflict, this paper explores emergent work on empathic design for peace. We draw on award-winning theory and practice within peace studies and previous work on empathic design to develop a theoretical framework for the practical application of design methods, and illustrate this framework by showing how an analysis of a novel—in this paper, Milkman by Anna Burns (2018)—can lead to a multi-scalar approach to civil society-led peacebuilding which can inform future public sector and policy design work. We view this as a form of ‘literary design fiction’—that can harness the positional difference of conflict …
Hacking As A Queering Design Practice. Insights From A Visual Analysis Of Product Hacking Scenes In Movies.,
2026
Elisava, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (UVic-UCC), Spain
Hacking As A Queering Design Practice. Insights From A Visual Analysis Of Product Hacking Scenes In Movies., Julia Carrasco Parodi, Massimo Menichinelli, Guim Espelt Estopà
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This article examines hacking, understood as the alteration of an object’s function, as a queer and feminist design practice that disrupts normative relations between bodies and things. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s concept of the feminist snap as a moment of rupture and reconfiguration, we define hacking as an embodied act of refusal that reconfigures everyday things. Through "Función Rota", an audiovisual research project that gathers product hacking scenes in movies, we identify hacking as a form of both critique and speculation: it reveals the normative logics embedded in things, while opening up the possibility of re-prototyping from below. Through feminist …
Metatrain：A Metacognitive Framework–Based Gamified Executive Function Training For Children With Adhd,
2026
ZheJiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Metatrain：A Metacognitive Framework–Based Gamified Executive Function Training For Children With Adhd, Ningfeng Tang, Yang Yin, Haoran Wei, Beijia Hu, Chunlei Chai, Xiyuan Zhang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Nowadays, parents and educators are paying more attention to the intervention of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD typically exhibit deficits in executive functions (EF), and metacognition is crucial for enhancing these functions. However, existing interventions mostly focus on specific training of EF and lack effective strategies to promote overall improvement through higher-level metacognitive processes. Therefore, this study integrates the metacognitive theoretical framework into EF training and designs a gamified intervention program for children with ADHD. Subsequently, we conducted an experiment with 16 children with ADHD and analyzed the changes in their EF levels before and …
Public Participation Infrastructuring For Sustainability Transitions,
2026
Department of Design, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
Public Participation Infrastructuring For Sustainability Transitions, Maria Andrea Valladares, Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Martina Maria Keitsch
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Public participation plays a central role in sustainability transitions and addressing complex environmental challenges. However, governments face multiple challenges in enabling meaningful public participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. Such processes tend to be constrained by legal frameworks, institutional rigidity, fragmented infrastructures, and limited capacity to facilitate multi-stakeholder dynamics. Drawing on insights from literature on transition governance and public participation, this article explores how public participation systems and infrastructures can be shifted towards what is needed in the context of transitions. The concept of infrastructuring is proposed as an analytical and design-orienting tool. Infrastructuring, here understood as an ongoing process of building …
Within The Dialogue Box: Exploring Designer Activities And Linguistic Features In Collaboration With Textual Genai,
2026
School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China
Within The Dialogue Box: Exploring Designer Activities And Linguistic Features In Collaboration With Textual Genai, Yulu Song, Ying Hu, Zihan Zhou, Wentao Deng, Xing Du, Yiming Bai
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Language functions as both a core element and the cognitive framework that supports the entire design process. However, the deep integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) is shifting the creative process from self- or human-to-human dialogue to human-AI conversation, requiring a careful examination of this emerging form of collaborative language. This study conducted an experiment on designer-AI collaboration. The goal was to explore the relationship between their collaborative activities, linguistic features, and co-creativity. By carefully coding activities and using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method, we identified conversational features linked to different levels of creativity. These findings not …
Visualisation For Citizen Participation: Data Practices In The Copenhagen Climate Citizens' Assembly,
2026
Aalborg University, Denmark
Visualisation For Citizen Participation: Data Practices In The Copenhagen Climate Citizens' Assembly, Daniele Dell'orto, Amalia De Götzen, Mathieu Jacomy
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The recent popularisation of data and their visualisation has offered new opportunities for spaces of citizen participation around contested issues, such as climate assemblies. The potential of data visualisation in opening and supporting discussions has been widely recognised, but so has the risk it carries of naturalising certain perspectives and delegitimising others. Still, the roles played by data visualisation in the specific context of climate assemblies remain unaddressed. This paper investigates those roles through field observation and desk research around a case study, the Københavnernes Klimaborgerting. The study explores which data were visualised, how, by who and why. What emerges …
The Transformative Nature Of Food And The Transition Of Traditional Desserts Into Industrial Products: A Case Study Through A Transformational Design Lens,
2026
İstanbul Ticaret University, Turkiye
The Transformative Nature Of Food And The Transition Of Traditional Desserts Into Industrial Products: A Case Study Through A Transformational Design Lens, Burcu Torum
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper examines the transformation of traditional Turkish desserts into contemporary industrial food products through the framework of transformational design. Grounded in the premise that food functions not only as a biological necessity but also as a carrier of cultural memory, identity, and social meaning, the study explores how traditional foods can be reinterpreted within modern production systems, consumption patterns, and sustainability expectations. Drawing on student projects from a food design course in an industrial design department during the 2024–2025 academic year, the research analyzes how desserts are redesigned according to industrial constraints and contemporary lifestyles. Using thematic analysis, findings …
Exploring Current Understandings Of ‘Design Systems’: Toward A Conceptual Framework,
2026
LEGO Group, Denmark
Exploring Current Understandings Of ‘Design Systems’: Toward A Conceptual Framework, Margrethe Nielsen, Peter Vistisen, Nanna Inie, Michael Mose Biskjaer
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design systems are foundational in the design of user experience (UX) across platforms and products. Although design systems have become pervasive in design practice, the term remains ambiguous due to multiple definitions and conceptualizations. The lack of a shared definition can lead to misunderstandings and ill-aligned uses of design systems in practice, vulnerable to the same issues of parallel activities and inconsistencies that design systems are meant to prevent. This paper reviews the concept from the term’s origin in design theory and into its current practice and proposes a new frame of reference for researchers and practitioners, focusing on improved …
Crafting Semiotic Riddles: Materiality And Interpretive Play In Speculative Design,
2026
Kolding School of Design, Denmark
Crafting Semiotic Riddles: Materiality And Interpretive Play In Speculative Design, Jess Uhre Rahbek, Sofie Kinch
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper repositions speculative design artefacts as semiotic riddles, where materiality operates not merely as a carrier of speculation but as a vehicle for play. Drawing on Peircean semiotics and narrative theory, we extend Auger’s notion of the ‘perceptual bridge’ to show how speculative artefacts invite audiences into riddle-solving, assembling ‘fabula’ worlds from incomplete ‘syuzhet’ clues. Methodologically, we propose that speculative design can be understood as the crafting of riddles: designing with ambiguity, incompleteness, and interpretive openness. Through three design projects, we illustrate distinct ways in which designers structure the clues of semiotic riddles, whether singular artefacts, fragmented constellations or …
Pen-Palling Systems Change: A Collaborative Approach To Growing Individual Agency In Light Of Global Polycrises,
2026
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Pen-Palling Systems Change: A Collaborative Approach To Growing Individual Agency In Light Of Global Polycrises, Donna Maione, Mathilda Tham
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In a world of increasing complexity, designers working in transitional spaces face blockages imposed by the dominant, locked-in capitalist mindset. Frustrated by the impediments in the systems we try to change, we were prompted to go deeper into the conditions for our change agency, as researchers focused on sustainability and long-term straddlers of industry and academia. As we asked how we can navigate being change agents within complex systems, we turned to becoming systems change pen pals, following the steps of a metadesign tool, which takes us from the remit of personal feelings to future perspectives and new vantage points …
The Fair Share Of Care: A Distributed Care Account Of Circular Design,
2026
TU Delft, Netherlands
The Fair Share Of Care: A Distributed Care Account Of Circular Design, Ida Krstulović
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores how the ethics of care can be applied to circular product design. Although the concept of care is compatible with circular design, individualistic models of care place excessive focus on single actors, such as designers, while approaches of shared or collective care risk the diffusion of responsibility, making it unclear who should act in order for certain needs to be met. These approaches fail to adequately address three interrelated problems: moral distance, influence (or lack thereof), and the diffusion of responsibility. Consequently, this paper introduces the concept of distributed care, an approach that focuses on assigning care …
In Vegetal Terms: Temporal Lenses In Human-Plant Interaction,
2026
School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China)
In Vegetal Terms: Temporal Lenses In Human-Plant Interaction, Clee Zhuo Wang, Jeffrey C. F. Ho, Bow Yiying Wu
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper highlights temporality as an important more-than-human design strategy and expands multiple lenses for engaging with the temporal complexity of more-than-human. Reflecting on the dominance of anthropocentric and industrial notions of time in design, we choose plant as a paradigmatic case for otherly temporality. We take stock from interdisciplinary literatures and introduce six temporal lenses: rhythm, horizon, continuity, duration, genealogy, and incompleteness, to articulate how plants live, change, and relate through multiple overlapping temporalities. Connecting these lenses to human-plant interaction design practice, these temporal lenses enables designers to recognize temporal frictions, attend to vegetal rhythms, and cultivate responsive and …
From Speculation To Strategy Reflection: A Case Study Of Design-Led Foresight Workshops At Revigrés,
2026
ID+, DeCA, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
From Speculation To Strategy Reflection: A Case Study Of Design-Led Foresight Workshops At Revigrés, Gisela Pinheiro Agostinho, Teresa Franqueira
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This article presents a case-based investigation of design-led foresight in practice through a series of international workshops conducted in Denmark and China within a doctoral action-research programme with Revigrés, a Portuguese ceramic manufacturer. Grounded in a structured trend cartography clustered into fifteen domains, multidisciplinary teams employed lightweight foresight methods, including personas, rapid scenario visioning, and low-fidelity prototyping, to explore possible housing futures for 2070. Twelve speculative design visions emerged, ranging from bio-integrated habitats and privacy-legible smart homes to circular neighbourhood systems and programmable interiors. Rather than treating these visions as predictive outcomes, the study examines how workshop artefacts functioned as …
Olfactory Prototyping As Diplomatic Device: Codesigning A Morethanhuman ‘Us’ With Two Captive Pumas,
2026
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
Olfactory Prototyping As Diplomatic Device: Codesigning A Morethanhuman ‘Us’ With Two Captive Pumas, Marcela Mora, Pablo Hermansen
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper extends cosmopolitical prototyping into the olfactory domain to examine how smell can operate as a diplomatic device for interspecies coexistence. Building on a longitudinal, autoethnographic research through design project, we report multi session fieldwork with two captive pumas—Huilo (older, methodical) and Maqui (younger, playful)—at Refugio Animal Cascada, Chile. The study sought not to apply enrichment as an external fix, but to co constitute a situated more than human we in which animal, designer, materials, climate and infrastructures jointly stage conditions for safe relationality. We designed textile olfactory braids (reused cotton braids and burlap sachets) infused with botanicals (e.g., …
Towards Equitable Participation Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing People In Co-Design Research: An Initial Working Framework,
2026
School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Towards Equitable Participation Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing People In Co-Design Research: An Initial Working Framework, Barbara Hein-Machado, Cecilia Landa-Avila, John Alexander Rey-Galindo, Carlos Aceves-Gonzalez, Rebecca Cain
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Research involving Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants remains limited in its ability to include and engage with diverse participants lived experiences, weakening research rigour, relationships with communities, and perpetuating existing inequalities. The use of co-design approaches to address these needs, by positioning lived experience as an additional form of expert knowledge, has increased in recent years. However, the ways in which practices genuinely empower DHH participants, enabling participation that advances justice within and beyond the research setting, have not been translated into co-design research. This paper proposes an initial participatory framework for exploring DHH engagement in research, examining how models of …
Co-Evolution In Practice: The Wolf's Disruptive Return To The Netherlands,
2026
Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, The
Co-Evolution In Practice: The Wolf's Disruptive Return To The Netherlands, Laurens Kolks
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Dutchmen like to pride themselves on having ‘successfully conquered nature’ through engineering, management and design. Currently, however, this triumphant spirit has been dampened by global, regional, and local developments that expose established Dutch notions of malleability and control as fallacies. This paper uses the unsolicited return of wolves to the Netherlands as an explanatory case study to illustrate how in this unfolding controversy problem and solution spaces co-evolve and thus call for all-but-reductionist design and management approaches. Building on the crucial difference between problems (that can be solved) and issues (that can be stabilised), a model is proposed that explicates …
Bodystorming Through Disruption: Ai-Assisted Design Improvisation Pedagogy,
2026
Tsinghua University, China, People's Republic of
Bodystorming Through Disruption: Ai-Assisted Design Improvisation Pedagogy, Jiawei Li, Jiayue Wang, Lin Zhu, Jiaxuan Xu, Changran Zhao, Zhiyong Fu
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study presents an AI-assisted Design Improvisation Pedagogy integrating artificial intelligence with bodystorming in space design education. Built on a three-dimensional framework—Embodiment, Enactment, and Improvisation—an AI system was developed using Coze to generate emergent scenarios and guide improvisational performance. Validated over three semesters with 16 undergraduate students tackling extreme environment challenges, the system employed Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to deliver context-rich, adaptive prompts. Results showed strong correlation between AI support and enhanced improvisational creativity (r = 0.48), especially in spontaneous adaptability. Students often underrated their own performances, with significant gaps in Improvisation (p < 0.01). Material types influenced outcomes, with sound-based tasks producing the largest evaluation discrepancies. Findings highlight AI’s evolving role from tool to creative collaborator, offering a novel pedagogical model that merges embodied cognition, reflective practice, and AI to foster design thinking under constraints.
Queering Empathy In/For/With/By Design,
2026
DePaul University, United States of America
Queering Empathy In/For/With/By Design, Jessica Meharry
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Empathy is widely used as the initial stage of the design process to understand users and meet their needs and desires. Recently these methods have been critiqued for commodifying empathy in commercial practice, centering the designer instead of the user, and failing to account for power dynamics. Empathy is also under attack in political spheres, increasing the dehumanization of others. To address these criticisms, we explore the value of empathy in design processes and examine how queer theory and queering methodologies can help designers move past “walking in someone else’s shoes” towards intersectional design processes rooted in political responsibility. Synthesizing …
When Can Asmr Sound Improve Consumer Product Evaluation? Exploring The Joint Influences Of Asmr Sound And Visual Richness,
2026
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China, People's Republic of
When Can Asmr Sound Improve Consumer Product Evaluation? Exploring The Joint Influences Of Asmr Sound And Visual Richness, Huan Chen, Peiyao Cheng
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As immersive media grows, brands increasingly adopt multisensory design, with ASMR emerging as a key auditory tool. How ASMR interacts with visual content to influence consumer product evaluation remains underexplored. Grounded in multisensory integration and processing fluency theory, this study employed three experiments (N=630) to examine their joint effects on immersive experience and purchase intention. Results indicate that ASMR generally enhances consumer evaluation, but its effect depends on visual richness. With low visual richness (color), ASMR adds sensory cues and enhances immersive experience. With moderate visual richness (3D), ASMR’s effect diminished. With high visual richness (close-up), ASMR may induce overload …
