Crafting Legacies With Care: Speculative Frameworks For The Digital Afterlife,
2026
Independent Researcher, Denmark
Crafting Legacies With Care: Speculative Frameworks For The Digital Afterlife, Sara Bilić, Jessica Sorenson
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Emerging grief technologies promise to preserve the dead through data, yet often neglect the relational, ethical, and spiritual dimensions of memory and identity. This paper proposes a care-centred framework for digital legacy design, grounded in the speculative concept of A Living Will, which uses augmented reality to enable co-created posthumous memories between the living and the deceased. Through autoethnography, participatory workshops, and theoretical analysis, the study critically examines how care ethics and co-authorship can transform digital legacy from an act of preservation to one of participation. By treating identity as distributed and legacy as relational, we reframe grief technology as …
Systematic Material Experimentation With Photosynthetic Biomineralisation Across Waste Substrates For Circular Product Design,
2026
Living Systems Lab, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, London N1C 4AA, United Kingdom
Systematic Material Experimentation With Photosynthetic Biomineralisation Across Waste Substrates For Circular Product Design, Hyejo Shin, Lorraine Archer, Matt Malpass, Carole Collet
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In response to escalating planetary challenges, circular bioeconomy frameworks are increasingly vital for sustainable resource management. Biomineralisation, a natural process in which organisms produce inorganic materials, has been extensively studied in engineering but remains underutilised in circular product design. This paper investigates systematic material experimentation with photosynthetic biomineralisation across diverse waste substrates for circular product design. Through a practice-based biodesign methodology integrating biological protocols with design experimentation, the study developed a material sample collection of eleven waste substrates biomineralised by cyanobacteria. The findings reveal that the type of waste substrate influences material formation, consolidation, and aesthetic qualities, informing distinct design …
The Who Cares? Approach: Materializing Values In Community-Based Participatory Research,
2026
The Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Canada
The Who Cares? Approach: Materializing Values In Community-Based Participatory Research, Logan Wilkinson, Collen Reid, Caylee Raber, Jon Hannan
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Emerging from a three-year arts-based participatory design and research collaboration, the Who Cares? Approach is a framework for social change developed to understand how a community in rural British Columbia could cultivate a system of support for aging. Through iterative cycles of team retreats, including creative engagement and group interviews, project members developed a framework grounded in values of trust, presence, creativity, storytelling, relationality, and acknowledgement of the unknown. By transforming value statements into diagrams, installations, and participatory events, the project demonstrated how design artifacts can act as mediators of shared meaning and catalysts for ethical reflection. The resulting visual …
Reconfiguring Industrial Heritage: Human-Centered Narrative Design For Reconciliation And Inclusive Storytelling,
2026
Hunan Normal University, China;
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Reconfiguring Industrial Heritage: Human-Centered Narrative Design For Reconciliation And Inclusive Storytelling, Yiling Fu, Marco Borsotti
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This article takes the Shenyang China Industrial Museum as an example to expose the interpretation and design of China's representative industrial heritage museums dominated by authoritative narratives and technocratic biases. Through the case study of the “Steel Home Still” exhibition, explore how narrative design can reconstruct industrial archives and challenge their power structure. This article conducts a comparative analysis of two cases based on three parameters: narrative themes and strategies, representation of individuals and workers, technology narratives and human engagement, discussing how human-centered exhibition narratives reposition human memory at the core of industrial heritage, transforming it from static representations of …
Is This The “Me” They Want To See? Exploring Near-Future Adaptations Of Ai For Professional Visibility And Self-Presentation,
2026
Delft University of Technology, Department of Human-Centered Design
Is This The “Me” They Want To See? Exploring Near-Future Adaptations Of Ai For Professional Visibility And Self-Presentation, Forouzan Ebrahimi, Mahan Mehrvarz, Nazli Cila
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As professional collaboration increasingly shifts to digital and asynchronous modes, workers use collaboration technologies not only to coordinate tasks but also to manage their professional visibility and reputation. To examine how these practices could evolve as AI becomes more embedded in the collaboration environment, a speculative design approach was adopted to make near-future scenarios experiential. We prototyped speculative AI systems that support visibility through employee self-report reflection, performance scoring, AI-enhanced meeting appearance, communication delegation, and AI-use disclosure as probes for a series of immersive and interactive scenario-based interviews. The findings uncover selective disclosure of AI use to manage professional image, …
A Slow Ethos In A Fast World: Persistence And Compromise In Craft Commercialization,
2026
Graduate School of Creative Industry Design, National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan
A Slow Ethos In A Fast World: Persistence And Compromise In Craft Commercialization, Shih Chieh Shen, Yueh Hsiu Giffen Cheng
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study explores how a micro craft brand sustains its original sincerity toward craftsmanship while confronting the challenges posed by industrialized production processes and economic constraints. Based on a fifteen-year practice-led case of craft entrepreneurship, it analyzes reflective negotiations between persistence and compromise, ideal and capital, craft and industry. Employing the Double Diamond model and Aristotle’s Four Causes, the research interprets the process of craft commercialization and examines the underlying motivations that sustain the existence of micro craft brands. The findings reveal that practical limitations can be transformed into drivers of creativity. “Compromise” no longer signifies failure but, when approached …
Erased By Default: Reorienting Digital Welfare Systems With Care And Participation,
2026
South East Technological University, Ireland
Erased By Default: Reorienting Digital Welfare Systems With Care And Participation, Emma Holden, P.J. White, Aisling Tuite, Ray Griffin
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The shift from analogue to digital-first government service delivery positions design as a central gatekeeper of welfare access and civic recognition. However, these systems frequently act upon blanket assumptions regarding trust, digital literacy, and engagement, inadvertently marginalizing the most vulnerable of society. This paper examines how digital welfare interfaces produce forms of non-response, interpreted both as user disengagement and systemic erasure. Grounded in a qualitative, design-led study with marginalized young adults in Ireland’s Youthreach programme, alongside the perspectives of frontline support and service providers. The study documents how these users navigate and resist platforms that presume universal digital competence. Their …
Imagining Speculative Design Tools With A Capability Approach,
2026
Independent researcher
Imagining Speculative Design Tools With A Capability Approach, Olga Barbara Lackner
DRS Biennial Conference Series
While the more-than-human is often made visible on the individual, contextual level, it is nevertheless vital to shape sustainable practices at policy and industry level to create sustained change. If it was a necessity to include non-human stakeholders in the creation of new buildings, in the manufacturing of new products and more, what could the needed design tools look like? This paper envisions design practices shaping a world where the more-than-human is already accepted and anchored in law through narration. Subsequently, an attempt is made to create tools that find practical application in this speculative scenario, creating a more-than-human practice …
Supporting Deep(Er) Engagement With Site Through Blended Resources: A Case Study Across Two Design Studios,
2026
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Supporting Deep(Er) Engagement With Site Through Blended Resources: A Case Study Across Two Design Studios, James Thompson, Sidh Sintusingha, Dennis Prior
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper reports on the evaluation of a funded teaching initiative for two undergraduate studios, one architecture and one landscape architecture, within an Australia-based design school. The initiative funded the expansion of a virtual site visit, as well as production of detailed digital and physical models. This suite of resources was meant to reduce demand on students related to searching for contextual and historical background, thus allowing them to grapple with the site’s complexities in a deeper fashion than they might otherwise. Students reported satisfaction across a range of criteria, including engagement, interaction, and feedback. Teaching staff reported more sustained …
Does Knowledge In Design Require A Distinct Epistemology? A Critical Rationalist Perspective,
2026
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Does Knowledge In Design Require A Distinct Epistemology? A Critical Rationalist Perspective, Jj Digby
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design epistemology has long been divided by apparent dualities, such as science versus art and rationality versus intuition, which resist resolution within existing frameworks. This paper argues these are false dichotomies and that Critical Rationalism (Popper, 1963/2002, 1972; Deutsch, 1997, 2011) provides a universal account of knowledge creation that explains the distinctive character of design without requiring a separate epistemology. Knowledge is conjectural and fallible: progress occurs not through justification or verification, but through iterative creative conjecture and — crucially — error-correction via criticism. Deutsch's account of knowledge as physically instantiated information, subject to the same logic of variation and …
Making-With Biomaterials: Attuning To More-Than-Human Temporalities In Growth And Decay Practices,
2026
RMIT, Australia School of Design
Making-With Biomaterials: Attuning To More-Than-Human Temporalities In Growth And Decay Practices, Javier De Urquijo Isoard, Joshua Riesel
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores how design practices involving biomaterials can promote attuning within more-than-human temporalities. Drawing on two comparative case studies working with decomposing organisms to make and unmake materials, it examines how growth and decay unfold across different ecological timescales. Through concepts of noticing, pace, and rhythm, the studies explore how designers negotiate when to pause, accelerate, or distribute agency within multispecies collaborations. Rather than treating biomaterials as substitutes for synthetics, the paper positions them as temporal components of ecosystems shaped by humidity, temperature, and microbial diversity. Attuning emerges as a practice of more-than-human coordination and care. The findings contribute …
The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping Cuteness As An Affective Strategy For Purpose-Led Communication Design,
2026
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London;
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore
The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping Cuteness As An Affective Strategy For Purpose-Led Communication Design, Guo Yi Xian Yix, Mimi Nguyen, David Preston
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Cuteness is often dismissed as trivial or decorative. Yet research across neuroscience, psychology, and cultural theory reveals it as a powerful affective force that captures attention, evokes empathy, and encourages prosocial behaviour and well-being. Cute’s affective potency also renders it ethically ambivalent, capable of manipulation as much as comfort. Despite its ubiquity, cuteness remains under-theorised in design research, a notable gap for a discipline concerned with communication, emotion, and human connection. Addressing this gap, this study conducts an interpretive systematic literature review of publications from 1943 to 2025, identifying 65 key scholarly sources. Interdisciplinary insights are synthesized into the ‘Cuteness …
Designing Within The Clinic: A Situated Co-Design Approach For Healthcare Provider Engagement,
2026
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
Designing Within The Clinic: A Situated Co-Design Approach For Healthcare Provider Engagement, Neda Barbazi, Ji Youn Shin, Gurumurthy Hiremath, Carlye Anne Lauff
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Healthcare providers’ participation in the design process is essential for developing effective care interventions. However, engaging them through traditional design methods is challenging due to heavy workloads, unpredictable schedules, and hierarchical roles within care teams. Traditional co-design approaches, such as synchronous workshops, are often less effective in capturing clinical realities and may not fully embody participatory principles of collaboration and shared ownership. Our study addresses these challenges through a situated, self-paced co-design approach created with provider input and embedded within clinical workflows. Conducted in a pediatric cardiology clinic, fifteen providers participated over one month to refine a hybrid educational intervention …
Craft As Experiential Knowledge: Designing Workshops And Record-Keeping Practices For Cultural Transmission Among Young Generations,
2026
Kyoto Institute of Technology & University of the Arts London
Craft As Experiential Knowledge: Designing Workshops And Record-Keeping Practices For Cultural Transmission Among Young Generations, Kai Kishita
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study demonstrates the potential of an experiential learning approach combining craft production experiences, dialogue with craftsmen, and record-keeping activities for young people. An ageing workforce and declining demand contribute to the loss of cultural identity and intangible value that craftsmanship culture provides to contemporary Japanese society. However, opportunities to engage with crafts beyond mere consumption remain limited. Using Kyoto roof tiles (京瓦 / Kyō-gawara) making as a primary case study, this research examines how experiential knowledge can promote cultural transmission and education through workshops and record-keeping (聞き書き / kikigaki). Through hands-on making and record-keeping, participants gained technical skills and …
Speculative Socially Engaged Design Interventions In Menopause Health And Post-Extractive Environmental Regeneration,
2026
University of New South Wales, Australia
Speculative Socially Engaged Design Interventions In Menopause Health And Post-Extractive Environmental Regeneration, Chantelle Baistow, Katherine Moline
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Rarely does speculative socially engaged design reflectively compare different approaches. This paper reflects on two speculative socially engaged design projects that employ materials-based participatory methods to explore the supports and barriers to the continuity of healthcare and the remediation of environmental pollution. The first project, TheChange@Work, engaged hospital staff and outpatients in exploring menopause-related workplace stigma through colour, collage, and textiles, to reflect on diverse experiences of dynamic hormones. The second project, From Waste to Care, involved communities in 3D-printing ceramics from coal ash waste, addressing the remediation of toxic materials remaining from energy production. We analyse the blind spots …
Producing Knowledge For Whom? Parallel Knowledge Worlds In Chinese Doctoral Education In Design And International Design Research,
2026
North Carolina State University, United States of America;
Cornell University
Producing Knowledge For Whom? Parallel Knowledge Worlds In Chinese Doctoral Education In Design And International Design Research, Linghao Li, Wangda Zhu, Tingxin Zheng
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Since the first programs were established in 2011, China's design doctoral education has expanded to 37 institutions by 2024, yet Chinese scholars remain marginalized in international venues like DRS (3.6% of papers, 2012–2024). Through mixed-methods analysis of 426 dissertations, 95 conference papers, 6,239 citations, 40 author trajectories, and 9 interviews, we reveal systematic divergence rather than exclusion. Citation analysis demonstrates a 50.9 percentage point shift: scholars cite 54.5% Chinese-language sources in dissertations but only 3.6% in DRS papers. Author tracking shows 72.5% became one-time participants with no subsequent first-author international publications, evidencing strategic credential-seeking over sustained engagement. Keyword analysis confirms …
Between Consumption And Care: Restorative Design And Cultural Memory In Hong Kong Coffee Shops,
2026
School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Between Consumption And Care: Restorative Design And Cultural Memory In Hong Kong Coffee Shops, Ada Ying Man Chan, Victor Manuel Serrano
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Hong Kong’s specialty coffee shops embody a paradox in the city’s cultural landscape. They are products of consumption with atmospheres curated to attract customers while many also draw on “Old Hong Kong” material culture to invoke a sense of care for the past. This paper explores the tension between consumption and responsibility by investigating how coffee shops in Hong Kong mobilise adaptive reuse design practices. Building on a previous survey of 706 coffee shops, the study identifies four interlinked modes of practice: material reuse, spatial staging, narrative framing, and participatory engagement. These modes enact forms of restorative design, revealing how …
Designing Integrated, Trauma-Informed Care Pathways For Co-Occurring Addiction And Trauma: Insights From Two Interrelated Co-Design Workshops,
2026
Monash University, Australia
Designing Integrated, Trauma-Informed Care Pathways For Co-Occurring Addiction And Trauma: Insights From Two Interrelated Co-Design Workshops, Troy Mcgee, India Read, Leah Heiss, Sara Daly, Katrin Oliver, Ali Cheetham, Irina Hart, Cathryn Pilcher, Anne-Laure Couineau, Shalini Arunogiri
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Co-occurring trauma and substance use disorder (SUD) are common and clinically consequential. Evidence supports concurrent, integrated responses within trauma-informed systems, yet implementation remains uneven. This study aims to identify design principles for integrated, trauma-informed care pathways by examining current service pathways and workforce capabilities across mental health (MH), alcohol and other drugs (AOD), and community health. We report insights from two interrelated co-design workshops (n>40) that included AOD/MH clinicians, hospital staff, peer and lived-experience practitioners, and community partners. Workshops used personas to surface barriers, enablers, and attributes of an enabling environment. Thematic analysis yielded five themes: Consumer experience; Workforce …
Is The Trend Your Friend? Exploring The Interior Shape And Material Use Across Australian ‘Car Of The Year’ Winners,
2026
School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Is The Trend Your Friend? Exploring The Interior Shape And Material Use Across Australian ‘Car Of The Year’ Winners, Jesse Goddard, Rafael Gomez, Shayne Beaver, Robbie Napper
DRS Biennial Conference Series
As car interiors transition toward emerging sustainable materials, exploring historical patterns of material use may inform future iteration and adoption. While automotive exterior literature is abundant, historical studies of interior trend evolution are rare. This study investigates over 60 years of interior material and form trends using Australian Wheels magazine’s annual ‘Car of the Year’ winners (1963-2024). Objective visual observations of 57 car interior image-sets built an abductive-coded matrix, followed by visual pattern analysis. This identified a cyclical trend in metal usage, and an evolutionary transition of gloss to matte surface finishes. Subjective scoring of interior shape using scales of …
Design Considerations For Effective In-Vehicle Interaction: The Effects Of Icon Type And Individual Heterogeneity,
2026
Hunan University, China, People's Republic of
Design Considerations For Effective In-Vehicle Interaction: The Effects Of Icon Type And Individual Heterogeneity, Weiqi He, Meiyan Leng, Chunxi Huang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Icons are essential visual elements in vehicle cabins, serving as key conduits for presenting information. As in-vehicle infotainment systems grow increasingly complex, it becomes critical to understand how different types of icons influence the interaction effectiveness across different user groups. This study investigates the effects of icon type and individual cognitive differences on in-vehicle interaction effectiveness, employing a 2×2 mixed experimental design with two independent variables: icon type (i.e., abstract versus concrete) and drivers’ construal level (i.e., high versus low). Results show that icon type significantly affects reaction time, perceived matchiness, and cognitive fluency, while construal level independently modulates cognitive …
