Dynamics In Relating Craft Practices, Distinguishing Shifting Emotional States To Expand Tacit Knowledge Transfer,
2026
Mines Saint-Etienne, Univ. Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5307 LGF, France
Dynamics In Relating Craft Practices, Distinguishing Shifting Emotional States To Expand Tacit Knowledge Transfer, Catherine Schwarz, Nicola Sofia Rohsig Lopez, Yassamine Zmir, Jean-François Bassereau, Jenny Faucheu
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Disappearing tacit knowledge in high-end craft industries and expert industries, stresses the need to examine the workings of crafting to maintain and gain competitive advantage. To pursue this study, we have been conducting interviews with craft professionals and apprentices to gather insight into their rapport with their practices. Using quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods, we have identified specific moments of a craftsperson’s discourse when relating to their practice, revealing distinct emotional states during the interaction with the material. These findings support enquiry into the craftsperson’s emotional states during the craft practice, to expand knowledge transfer.
More-Than-Human Perspectives In Teaching Technology Design: From Research To Classroom, To The Real World?,
2026
Malmö University, Sweden
More-Than-Human Perspectives In Teaching Technology Design: From Research To Classroom, To The Real World?, Elisabet M. Nilsson, Rikke Hagensby Jensen, Wolmet Barendregt, Daisy Yoo, Anne-Marie Hansen, Eva Eriksson
DRS Biennial Conference Series
There is an increasing awareness of the importance of considering more-than-human (MtH) perspectives in the design of technology, especially in academia. However, to cause real-world impact, it is essential that such awareness is translated into practical action. One way to do so is by educating new designers to apply MtH perspectives. Teaching MtH to design students requires teachers to develop educational materials on the role that MtH perspectives play in design. Currently, there are not many examples of educational materials that teachers can take inspiration from. This paper therefore presents a collection of practical teaching activities to introduce students to …
Influence And Potential Of Quintessential Forms As Inspirational Stimuli,
2026
LAB University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Influence And Potential Of Quintessential Forms As Inspirational Stimuli, Beatriz De Moura Figueiredo
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Quintessential products, forms widely perceived as typical examples of their category, are embedded in everyday life, yet their influence on product design ideation remains largely unexplored. This study investigates if and how such products can affect inspiration in the creative process of students and suggests approaches on how to address fixation, should it arise from the quintessential stimuli. Through a multi-modal case study with design students working on product development briefs, the research captures both self-reported and observed data to reveal patterns in creative decision-making. The findings indicate that quintessence is not particularly perceived as highly inspirational; however, there might …
Projects As Actors In Design Education,
2026
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Projects As Actors In Design Education, Barak Pelman, Edith Bouton
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study examines how design projects function as actors within studio-based pedagogy, drawing on Actor-Network Theory. Data were collected over a nine-month fieldwork at a higher education institution, covering courses in architecture, industrial design, and ceramics design. The study was conducted as a Research-Practice Partnership, uniting education researchers and design practitioners to shift the focus away from practitioners' specialized knowledge and experiences by positioning them alongside critical perspectives from K-12 educational research. Our findings demonstrate how students and instructors view projects as active actors in the design process across three main dimensions: 1) Through language: instructors and students personify projects, …
Infrastructuring Transitional Bio-Materialities: Case Of The Biomakerstudio,
2026
Department of Design, Aalto University, Finland
Infrastructuring Transitional Bio-Materialities: Case Of The Biomakerstudio, Ena Naito
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Designers today are actively engaging with experimentation and innovation of bio-materials derived from living matter, foregrounding the interrelationship between biological processes, material design, and ecological responsibility. In this context, workspaces that provide conditions to design with living organisms become especially crucial to leverage their transitional material potentials. Grounded upon a 24-month research-through-design study, this paper discusses the ground-up infrastructuring work of establishing a biodesign workspace to support designing with living matter in a university setting. I highlight the emergent nature of such endeavour, including the continuous alignment, containment, and care and maintenance work necessary for growing a provisional intervention into …
Designing With Care For The End Of Life: A Reflective Co-Design Workshop Using Material Facilitation,
2026
Northeastern University, United States of America
Designing With Care For The End Of Life: A Reflective Co-Design Workshop Using Material Facilitation, Chenfei Yu, Michael Arnold Mages
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Conversations about end-of-life (EOL) care are often delayed until moments of crisis, leaving little time or emotional capacity for people to reflect on what matters most to them. This paper reports on a reflective co-design workshop in which fifteen participants used material-facilitated methods to explore their imagined EOL experiences. Through landscape making, journey mapping, and collaborative service model building, participants expressed hopes, fears, values, and priorities that are difficult to articulate through direct questioning. The materials created a low-pressure and supportive environment, allowing participants to approach a sensitive topic at their own pace and translate personal meaning into ideas for …
Disrupting Gender Binaries In Product Language: A Workshop On Gender Awareness,
2026
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Disrupting Gender Binaries In Product Language: A Workshop On Gender Awareness, Martina Labarta Labrador, Francesca Mattioli, Silvia D. Ferraris
DRS Biennial Conference Series
When introduced to product language—the interplay between aesthetic qualities and conveyed meanings—design students often learn that objects embody gender. Soft, curved, and organic shapes are typically framed as feminine, while monolithic and sturdy shapes are most likely labelled as masculine. Although this vocabulary bridges human communication and aesthetics, it also risks reinforcing stereotypes. Building on ongoing doctoral research investigating how product language can reproduce or challenge discrimination, a five-day workshop with 23 bachelor's design students was developed. Through reflective and analytical activities, participants examined gender beyond the binary, exploring how products convey gender norms and how aesthetic qualities embed narratives …
Reimagining Body–Instrument Relations Through Feminist Design Practice: Reflections On An E-Textile Musical Interface,
2026
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Reimagining Body–Instrument Relations Through Feminist Design Practice: Reflections On An E-Textile Musical Interface, Qiaosheng Lyu, Ryo Ikeshiro
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores how e-textile musical interface can reimagine the relationship between body and instrument from a feminist perspective. Drawing on a practice-based research project, the study examines how soft, deformable materials and embodied interaction can challenge the masculine-coded logic of control that dominates digital musical instrument (DMI) design. Constructed from knitted conductive textiles, the interface functions both as musical controller and prostheses that redistributes agency between performer and instrument. Through design practice, reflective performance, and a somatic experiment with another performer, the research investigates the entangled relationship between performer and instrument from a feminist perspective. The findings suggest that …
Re-Configuring Body Perception: Colour And Dynamic Pattern Strategies To Challenge Aesthetic Norms,
2026
School of Design, College of Creative Arts, Massey University, New Zealand
Re-Configuring Body Perception: Colour And Dynamic Pattern Strategies To Challenge Aesthetic Norms, Hongyi Xiao, Dongdong Zhang, Yitong Zheng
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This research frames colour and print as responsive strategies to challenge entrenched aesthetic norms and empower diverse bodies. It explores how dynamic visual patterns and colour psychology can disrupt static perceptions of body shape, moving beyond the confines of normative ideals. Through an iterative, research-through-design process, the study develops motifs and colourways that foster aesthetic agency, self-confidence, and vitality. By treating surface design as an embodied material interface, dynamic visual elements (such as moiré effects and gradients) are integrated to sustain novelty and reduce aesthetic fatigue. This approach re-frames emotional durability not just as longevity, but as the capacity for …
Design Methods As Cognitive Tools: Understanding Method Usage Through Cognitive Theories,
2026
Aalto Design Factory, Aalto University, Finland
Design Methods As Cognitive Tools: Understanding Method Usage Through Cognitive Theories, Jakob Clemen Lavrsen
DRS Biennial Conference Series
While design methods are a crucial aspect of design research, education, and practice, our understanding of how they work and what shapes their performance remains limited. To address this, this paper reports on a theory-building effort, outlining core aspects of the phenomenon of method usage in design. Following recent calls for grounding design research in cognitive science, it frames method usage as a cognitive process and integrates cognitive load theory and dual-process theory to describe central relationships between the design method, the method user, and the context of usage. The paper concludes by highlighting that method performance emerges from these …
Situating Textile Design: Practice Research In Interdisciplinary Material Science Projects,
2026
University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Situating Textile Design: Practice Research In Interdisciplinary Material Science Projects, Rebecca Earley, Laetitia Forst
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Textile design practice research (TDPR) has recently been used in the delivery of multiple largescale material science-based projects. This paper considers the role TDPR played in the EU-funded HEREWEAR project and how has it contributed to theories of design practice research. The full range of textile experimentation - including engineering and design-led sampling - is mapped; then three TDPR interventions are explored using annotated portfolio approaches (Gaver & Bowers, 2012) framed by ‘sited’, ’situated’ and ‘situating’ conditions (Kaszynska & Kimbell, 2024). The authors examine the results from the TDPR within the context of various communities of validation, presenting how TDPR …
When Frames Collide: Participatory Frame Navigation Through Co-Design In Policy Contexts,
2026
Northumbria University, United Kingdom
When Frames Collide: Participatory Frame Navigation Through Co-Design In Policy Contexts, Nicholas Spencer, Joyce Yee, Margaret Defeyter
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design’s expanding presence in policy has generated multiple expressions of its value and impact, yet few address the political and strategic dimensions of policymaking. This paper examines how co-design operates within these dynamics by navigating frame conflicts during policy problem-setting and policy options modelling. Drawing on Schön and Rein’s theory of Frame Reflection, we analyse how institutional framings of policy issues collide with those held by communities, and how co-design practices surface, negotiate, and reconfigure these conflicts. Through two English case studies: 1) School Food Systems and 2) Breakfast Clubs, we show how co-design reveals divergent interpretations of public problems …
Exploring Future Smellscapes With Smellwalks,
2026
Tilburg University, Netherlands, The
Exploring Future Smellscapes With Smellwalks, Zuzana Neupauerová, Simone Ashby, Supraja Sankaran
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study examines how present-day smell encounters stimulate participants to reflect on possible futures and those scents that are emergent or susceptible to becoming transformed or lost altogether. We describe our speculative design setup whereby participants assumed the persona of an olfactory researcher from the year 2100, armed with a smell passport and set of vials, and tasked with time-traveling back to 2025 to capture scent samples. Smellwalk observations span three themes: environmental awareness of scent, the functional role of future scents, and social and cultural dimensions of olfaction. We discuss those scents which participants found to be particularly salient …
Constraints As Knowledge Amplifiers: Understanding How Research-Through-Design Makes Design Knowledge Visible,
2026
FLAME University, India
Constraints As Knowledge Amplifiers: Understanding How Research-Through-Design Makes Design Knowledge Visible, Amit Kundal, Tina Mangwani
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Research-through-Design (RtD) continues to grapple with how prototypes can generate comparable design knowledge beyond stand-alone studies. This paper addresses that gap by studying how knowledge takes shape in constrained design settings, where limitations themselves become sources of insight. Using the case of affordable dental care in India, chosen for its material, spatial, and procedural limitations, the study shows how constraints can make tacit design understandings more visible. From this work, three categories of knowledge emerged: embodied negotiation of ergonomics, enacted hygiene, and modularity-for-resilience. These categories describe how designers learn through doing, maintaining, and adjusting within limitations. Rather than focusing on …
The Future Of Architectural Design Research: An Emerging Niche In Digital Transition,
2026
Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, The
The Future Of Architectural Design Research: An Emerging Niche In Digital Transition, Angela Rout, Michael Tjia, Marija Mateljan
DRS Biennial Conference Series
To remain effective in an era of technological flux and AI-driven tools, architects must continuously expand their knowledge base. Architectural research and education must evolve alongside these digital transitions to secure legitimacy and funding within academic institutions. This paper asks how the architectural design research community can self-manage in response to these changes. Using the lens of Strategic Niche Management (SNM), we examine how design research behaves as an emerging niche seeking to participate in broader academic regimes. We conducted a multi-stage review of the Design Research Society (DRS) Conference Biennale Series (2002–2024), involving a quantitative analysis of over 2,000 …
Recognize Ourselves, Understand And Transform: An Approach To A Latin American Feminist Design Methodology,
2026
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Escuela de Diseño
Recognize Ourselves, Understand And Transform: An Approach To A Latin American Feminist Design Methodology, Dora Sánchez-Hidalgo
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper presents a first approach to a Latin American feminist design method based on three actions proposed by the Chilean feminist sociologist Julieta Kirkwood who said feminist praxis required to (1) know the structures of oppression, (2) recognize our place in them and (3) transform them through our practice. Although the intersection between design and feminism has successfully pointed out the false neutrality in design practice and its potential to imagine more equal futures, practical approaches are still needed as a guidance to put feminist design into practice. Therefore, this design method based on understanding, recognizing ourselves and transforming …
Beyond The Menace Of The Gaze: Archetypes, Dualities, And Emptiness In Alexander Mcqueen’S Fashion Philosophy,
2026
University of Wollongong in Dubai
Beyond The Menace Of The Gaze: Archetypes, Dualities, And Emptiness In Alexander Mcqueen’S Fashion Philosophy, Andjela Bisevac
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Western philosophy has often framed the gaze as alienation: for Sartre, the self fractures through being-for-others, while for Lacan the subject becomes object within the visual field. Norman Bryson (1988) expands this view by engaging Japanese thought—particularly Nishida and Nishitani—to propose a relational gaze grounded in śūnyatā (emptiness). This paper argues that Alexander McQueen’s fashion materially performs this philosophical shift. Across four feminine archetypes—the Armored, Vulnerable, Elegant, and Transformative Woman—McQueen stages a movement from confrontation to relation. Through these tensions, McQueen’s fashion operates as existential design discourse: a mode of design in which form interrogates what it means to see …
Promoting The Development Of Critical Thinking Among Design Novices In Aigc-Aided Design Processes,
2026
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Promoting The Development Of Critical Thinking Among Design Novices In Aigc-Aided Design Processes, Peiyuan Ge, Fei Fan*
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The use of AIGC to assist in design is increasingly common in industry and classrooms. Designers delegate critical thinking, creativity, and decision-making to AI, leading to mental inertia and blind obedience, making learners’ critical thinking crucial. This study explores how AIGC-aided E6 design thinking affects beginner designers’ critical thinking via controlled experiments. Beginners conducted "future travel products" concept design, generating sketches on LiblibAI, with the E6 design thinking scale as an intervention. Data were collected via repeated generation, retesting, and interviews. Results: 58.82% of the scale items showed improved critical thinking, 71.43% of the works were rated better by experts, …
Reciprocal Value Between Learning And Circular Practices,
2026
University of Pretoria, South Africa
Reciprocal Value Between Learning And Circular Practices, Franchesca Michaela De Moura, Nonkululeko Grootboom, Christina Breed
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study investigates how adaptive reuse servicescapes may contribute to sustainable transformation through learning, by leveraging circular practices as experiential learning tools. Research on circular economy rarely adopts a human-centred lens or explores its links to learning, especially in the Global South, where the value of alternative epistemologies and informal economies often remains unrecognised. To address this gap, a qualitative case study approach was employed, combining participant observation and semi-structured interviews at educational initiatives in an adaptive reuse precinct in inner-city Johannesburg, South Africa. The findings reveal a reciprocal relationship between education and circular practices in generating value for sustainable …
From Sustainable Campuses To Regenerative Governance: A Design Perspective On Participation And Institutional Learning In The Pays De La Loire University Ecosystem,
2026
University of Sapienza, Rome;
École de design Nantes Atlantique, France
From Sustainable Campuses To Regenerative Governance: A Design Perspective On Participation And Institutional Learning In The Pays De La Loire University Ecosystem, Rajmonda Zajmi Avignon
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Universities are increasingly recognised as laboratories for socio-ecological transition, yet higher education sustainability frameworks in France remain largely managerial, privileging compliance and infrastructure over participation. This paper examines how three national and regional instruments, including the Plan Climat–Biodiversité, the Note de cadrage TEDS, and the SRESRI 2021–2027, are translated into governance practices within two university campus ecosystems in the Pays de la Loire region: Chantrerie (Nantes) and Belle-Beille (Angers). Adopting a systemic design perspective, the study conceptualises governance as a process mediated through design practices involving feedback, coordination, and institutional learning. Through a comparative analysis of these models, it identifies …
