Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities

Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 721 - 750 of 123213

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Framing Data Choices: How Pre-Donation Exploration Designs Influence Data Donation Behavior And Decision-Making, Zeya Chen, Zach Pino, Ruth Schmidt Jun 2026

Framing Data Choices: How Pre-Donation Exploration Designs Influence Data Donation Behavior And Decision-Making, Zeya Chen, Zach Pino, Ruth Schmidt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Data donation, an emerging user-centric data collection method for public sector research, faces a gap between participant willingness and actual donation. This suggests a design absence in practice: while promoted as "donor-centered" with technical and regulational advances, a design perspective on how data choices are presented and intervene on individual behaviors remain underexplored. In this paper, we focus on pre-donation data exploration, a key stage for adequately and meaningful informed participation. Through a real-world data donation study (N=24), we evaluated three data exploration interventions (self-focused, social comparison, collective-only). Findings show choice framing impacts donation participation. The "social comparison" design (87.5%) …

Go to article

Design For Coastal Futures: Rethinking Space And Time With A More-Than-Human And Transcultural Lens., Serena Pollastri, Juan Montalvan Lume, Louise Mullagh, Suzana Ilic Jun 2026

Design For Coastal Futures: Rethinking Space And Time With A More-Than-Human And Transcultural Lens., Serena Pollastri, Juan Montalvan Lume, Louise Mullagh, Suzana Ilic

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Amid the intensifying challenges of climate change, there is an emerging consensus within coastal academic and practitioner networks on the importance of integrating design led-approaches that enhance resilience and foster the long-term adaptation for coastal communities. However, coastal environments present peculiar contexts for design actions, as the movement of water consistently challenges the boundaries between water and land, along with the relational interactions between human and non-human communities—both in cyclical and unpredictable ways. Drawing from the authors’ experiences in tidal coastal and estuarine areas across diverse geographies, this article proposes ways to cultivate design’s response-ability (Haraway, 2016) to the more-than-human …

Go to article

A Messy Substance: Mediating The Stigma And Lived Experience Of Endometriosis Through Participatory Design, Carolina Vaz-Pires, Ricardo Melo Jun 2026

A Messy Substance: Mediating The Stigma And Lived Experience Of Endometriosis Through Participatory Design, Carolina Vaz-Pires, Ricardo Melo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Endometriosis is a chronic condition often surrounded by taboo, silence, and misunderstanding. Although diagnostic uncertainty and epistemic tensions shape endometriosis care, little is known about how design can address the communicative and relational gaps between patients and gynaecologists. This article investigates how participatory and speculative design can support communication between these groups. Using a Research through Design approach, three co-design workshops were conducted with six individuals with endometriosis and five doctors. Participants created analogue artefacts including empathy maps, body maps, clay representations, written narratives, speculative futures and collective posters that materialised embodied pain, emotional burden and clinical perspectives. The workshops …

Go to article

Exploring Embodiment’S Impact On Autonomy And Agency In Behavioral Design, Ruth Schmidt Jun 2026

Exploring Embodiment’S Impact On Autonomy And Agency In Behavioral Design, Ruth Schmidt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The field of behavioral design uses insight into humans’ cognitive tendencies to help people make better, more rational choices. Yet individuals’ perceptions of what seems rational—let alone viable, or even conceivable—are not universally shared and are often informed by their embodiment as much as cognition. For example, fear of being scolded can inhibit overweight or obese individuals from seeking preventive healthcare, people with ‘invisible’ disabilities may feel pressured to pass as able-bodied to fit in, and Black individuals may avoid ordinary activities likely to prompt ‘birding while Black’ confrontations. Depicting cognition as the single site of judgment and decision-making therefore …

Go to article

Data And The Changing Landscape Of Architectural Intelligence, Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, Andrew Witt Jun 2026

Data And The Changing Landscape Of Architectural Intelligence, Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, Andrew Witt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The paper addresses emerging and potential changes to the core expertise and structural frameworks of architectural practice in an era of human-machine collaboration and transdisciplinary design, utilizing history and theory to situate the current condition of the profession and its socio-technical infrastructure. The role and relationships defining the architect within society are dissected in light of practical uses of artificial intelligence, highlighting the rapidly evolving ways in which our relationships with site, construction, collaborators, and even the fundamental DNA of the building as an artifact are shifting in the transition from digitization to digitalization. Activities surrounding data collection, classification, process …

Go to article

Design For Healthy Ageing: Developing And Applying A Resource Model, Yumei Dong, Hua Dong, Tingting Wang, Richard H. M. Goossens Jun 2026

Design For Healthy Ageing: Developing And Applying A Resource Model, Yumei Dong, Hua Dong, Tingting Wang, Richard H. M. Goossens

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The sustainable development of an ageing society necessitates active participation of older people, requiring effective integration of their individual and collective resources into design. However, designers’ understanding of older people’s resources is rather limited. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of older people’s resources to support design for healthy ageing. Through literature review and interviews with 19 recently retired Dutch seniors, twelve resource types were identified, categorised into six dimensions: practical, emotional, intellectual, social, cultural, and time. These categories were synthesised into a Diamond Model of Resources. The framework, encompassing both resource categories and the Diamond Model, was …

Go to article

Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired, Mônica Moura, Cristina Portugal, Márcio Guimarães Jun 2026

Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired, Mônica Moura, Cristina Portugal, Márcio Guimarães

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper details the development and impact of the "Lembrei de Você" (I Remembered You) project, an inclusive design initiative that created a digital platform to combat loneliness and promote autonomy among the visually impaired, especially the elderly, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using participatory methods, the research led to the creation of a platform that manages and distributes audio messages through a solidarity network of readers and listeners. The study describes the design process, from accessibility requirements to implementation using WordPress. Results show the platform successfully optimized project logistics and fostered an inclusive digital environment, enhancing social interaction …

Go to article

Responsible Retail And Branded Environments, Katelijn Quartier, Mia Münster, Bethan Alexander, Zakkiya Khan, Marina Ricci, Francesca Murialdo Jun 2026

Responsible Retail And Branded Environments, Katelijn Quartier, Mia Münster, Bethan Alexander, Zakkiya Khan, Marina Ricci, Francesca Murialdo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As spaces of consumption adapt to social, environmental, and technological shifts, design is emerging as a powerful agent of change. This track investigates the future of retail, hospitality, and other consumer-facing environments—including cafés, concept stores, and hybrid formats—through the lens of responsibility. Topics addressed include, but are not limited to: Restorative and regenerative approaches to consumption are gaining momentum, alongside wellbeing-driven design that recognises how the built environment can support mental, physical, and emotional health. At the same time, socially and environmentally sustainable practices—often grounded in circular economy principles—are redefining how we think about materiality, consumption, spatial design, and business …

Go to article

Designing For And With Taboo, Ana Correia De Barros, Yoni Lefèvre, Petra Salarić, Isabel Prochner Jun 2026

Designing For And With Taboo, Ana Correia De Barros, Yoni Lefèvre, Petra Salarić, Isabel Prochner

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The theme track of designing with and for taboo responds to the increasing number of design researchers working on taboo topics from various parts of the world. In this session, six papers addressed sensitive topics such as intimacy, chronic disease, relationships, and death, but they also touched upon taboos within the design activity itself, on what is considered to be good design. The discussions provide critical reflections when exploring emotionally challenging and sensitive research environments through design research practices. While this theme track represents an initial contribution, we acknowledge there is still more work necessary to strengthen the community’s understanding …

Go to article

Design For Equitable Health: Public Policies And Participatory Practices, Cláudia De Souza Libânio, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Leigh-Anne Hepburn Jun 2026

Design For Equitable Health: Public Policies And Participatory Practices, Cláudia De Souza Libânio, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Leigh-Anne Hepburn

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This theme track explores the critical intersection of design, health equity, public policies, and participatory practices. We invited submissions addressing how participatory design approaches and community-based practices can tackle structural health disparities and foster more just, accessible, and inclusive healthcare systems. Recognizing that health outcomes are profoundly shaped by social, economic, and environmental determinants, contributions span issues of access to care, cultural diversity, disability, ageing, digital inclusion, and community health infrastructures. Papers are organized around three sessions: Design with others, Care takes shape and Shaping health futures. The eighteen selected papers foreground participatory approaches in which diverse actors, including vulnerable …

Go to article

Design With Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, And Politics, Zixuan Wang, Jiashuo Liu, Bow Yiying Wu, John Vines, Karey Helms, Sarah Kettley, Paul Rodgers, Ann Light Jun 2026

Design With Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, And Politics, Zixuan Wang, Jiashuo Liu, Bow Yiying Wu, John Vines, Karey Helms, Sarah Kettley, Paul Rodgers, Ann Light

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This is an overview editorial of the track "Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics" at the Design Research Society (DRS) conference 2026. In this track, we discuss how care could serve as a critical lens guiding research and design. Our track received 55 full paper submissions, and 21 of which have been accepted through a double-blind peer-review process. Together with three additional submissions from the open track, we organise these papers into four theme sessions: Knowing with Care, Practicing with Care, Co-designing with Care, and Making with Care. Collectively, the track demonstrates diverse ways of engaging with care …

Go to article

Transitional Materialities, Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete, Camilo Ayala-Garcia Jun 2026

Transitional Materialities, Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete, Camilo Ayala-Garcia

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Transitional Materialities brings together research that understands materials not as static substances, but as dynamic agents embedded in ecological, technological, and socio-economic transitions. This perspective highlights the evolving relationship between material innovation, planetary health, and design’s capacity to mediate and guide change. The track explores how designers move beyond passive material selection to engage actively in experimentation, critical reflection, policy making and the development of alternative, resilient futures. Contributions address material inspiration, education, and archives as means to support knowledge sharing and open-access dissemination; they also map materials and practices across contexts, from rethinking traditional material values and local specificities …

Go to article

Design For And With Values In Designing For Social Change (Design Ethics Sig), Deger Ozkaramanli, Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke, Sine Celik, Geertje Slingerland, Michael Nagenborg, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, Leigh-Anne Hepburn Jun 2026

Design For And With Values In Designing For Social Change (Design Ethics Sig), Deger Ozkaramanli, Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke, Sine Celik, Geertje Slingerland, Michael Nagenborg, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, Leigh-Anne Hepburn

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This editorial introduces the theme track ‘Design for and with values in designing for social change’. Building on prior work that frame ethics as an invitation to care, the track focuse on values as a central construct in socially engaged design. It responds to a growing need to move beyond abstract value frameworks toward understanding how values are elicited, surfaced, negotiated, and enacted in practice. Drawing on 24 selected papers, we reveal a strongly interdisciplinary collection where participatory design emerges as a dominant method. The contributions are organized into four overlapping themes revolving around the concepts of power, methods, dignity …

Go to article

Design Education In Its Teenage Years: Growth With Tensions, Nicole Lotz, Ricardo Sosa, Violeta Clemente Jun 2026

Design Education In Its Teenage Years: Growth With Tensions, Nicole Lotz, Ricardo Sosa, Violeta Clemente

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design education research is one of the largest clusters of contributions at the Design Research Society 2026 Conference. This editorial reflects on the thirty papers of this cluster presented across five sessions. It identifies emerging concerns and persistent tensions in the field. Drawing on a synthesis of themes including creativity and identity, systemic and situated pedagogies, reflective practices, cultures and knowledges, and AI in design education, the editorial characterises the field as being in a productive phase of transition. Like an adolescent discipline, design education research shows signs of rapid growth alongside enduring continuities and noticeable leaps. Across the papers, …

Go to article

What Can't Be Confessed: The Structural Absence Of Value Accountability In Design Culture, Michael Dunbar, Liam Fennessy, Chris Speed Jun 2026

What Can't Be Confessed: The Structural Absence Of Value Accountability In Design Culture, Michael Dunbar, Liam Fennessy, Chris Speed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design culture has proliferated aspirational value frameworks, from manifestos championing social justice to ethics toolkits, yet lacks meaningful accountability infrastructure when values are violated or conflict. This paper examines a transgressive design research intervention: a mobile confessional booth at a city Design Week in 2025 that invited designers to anonymously confess professional compromises and ethical failures. The 125 confessions revealed patterns of deflection (blaming systems over individual agency), superficiality (focusing on technical mistakes rather than methodological rigour leading to ethical violations), and conspicuous absence of admissions regarding exploitation, greenwashing, or designing harm. Unlike medicine, law, or journalism, design has implemented …

Go to article

Participatory Design As Emotional Infrastructure: Supporting Collective Reflection And Resilience After The Pandemic, Xinyu Zhang Jun 2026

Participatory Design As Emotional Infrastructure: Supporting Collective Reflection And Resilience After The Pandemic, Xinyu Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

COVID-19 has left enduring emotional distress for many citizens even as public attention to the crisis has faded. In this context, participatory design (PD) is increasingly recognised as a dialogic and restorative practice that enables collective reflection and emotional recovery through shared meaning-making. This study examines how participatory design supports citizens in reflecting on pandemic-related psychological distress, with particular attention to war metaphors widely used in governmental and media communications during COVID-19. While these metaphors mobilised collective action, they also intensified perceptions of risk and vulnerability. The research is based on a year-long participatory design project, W&M, involving nine participants, …

Go to article

Ai-Enhanced Chinese Style Furniture Design: Integrating Cnn Cultural Recognition With Latent Diffusion Generation, Yupeng Jiang, Jiayong Zheng, Bingchen Gou, Jie Song, Jianing Kang, Zhaoxian Ren, Ying Liu, Lingwei Lyu, Junyan Lin, Suyao Wei, Weilan An Jun 2026

Ai-Enhanced Chinese Style Furniture Design: Integrating Cnn Cultural Recognition With Latent Diffusion Generation, Yupeng Jiang, Jiayong Zheng, Bingchen Gou, Jie Song, Jianing Kang, Zhaoxian Ren, Ying Liu, Lingwei Lyu, Junyan Lin, Suyao Wei, Weilan An

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In the wave of artificial intelligence development, employing computer technology to advance the innovative design of Chinese-style furniture and optimize the intelligent development of cultural products is crucial for revitalizing the industry and strengthening cultural confidence. This study identifies issues of homogenization and cultural dilution in intelligent furniture design and proposes an intelligent design model based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and a latent diffusion model (LDM). CNNs are used to recognize cultural features in Chinese-style furniture, while the LDM generates design schemes, rapidly producing Chinese chairs that meet contemporary aesthetic preferences while retaining traditional cultural attributes. The study enhances …

Go to article

Design For Adversarial Growth: Post-Traumatic Growth, Resilience And Subjective Wellbeing, Xueliang Li, Haian Xue, Siyuan Huang Jun 2026

Design For Adversarial Growth: Post-Traumatic Growth, Resilience And Subjective Wellbeing, Xueliang Li, Haian Xue, Siyuan Huang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Adversity is an inherent part of human life. This paper adopts a transformative approach to adversity, viewing it as fertile ground for personal growth. Through a theory-driven narrative review, we synthesise insights from positive psychology, post-traumatic growth, resilience, and wellbeing-driven design to introduce the Design for Adversarial Growth (DAG) framework, a guide for shaping designers' motivations and cultivating their sensibilities when designing for adversarial growth. This framework encompasses three key components of adversarial growth, each illustrated through design examples. We further discuss its contributions to design research and practice, as well as the ethical considerations for its application. With this …

Go to article

Longing For: Designing Activities To Break The Taboo Of Female Sexuality In Care Homes, Yoni Lefévre, Niels Hendriks, Heather Wilkinson, Andrea Wilkinson, Arno G. Verhoeven Jun 2026

Longing For: Designing Activities To Break The Taboo Of Female Sexuality In Care Homes, Yoni Lefévre, Niels Hendriks, Heather Wilkinson, Andrea Wilkinson, Arno G. Verhoeven

DRS Biennial Conference Series

An effort to co-explore later life sexuality with older adults, this study critically reflects on a series of intentionally designed activities to discuss intimacy and sexual pleasure in a care context. Five activities were organised in a Belgian care home, involving four to six female residents, that gradually introduced a more explicit language about sexual health. The results highlight that: 1) taboos are difficult to discuss, therefore storytelling is crucial, 2) feeling vulnerable is confronting, but also enables genuine connections, and 3) co-exploring taboos through playfulness, while enabling self-expression. This paper provides a more in-depth understanding of designing collective dialogues …

Go to article

Along The Line Of Emotional Support: Reimagining Ai Companions For Young Adults’ Wellbeing, Giulia Jiangxian Zhu, Xue Pei, Andrea Gaggioli Jun 2026

Along The Line Of Emotional Support: Reimagining Ai Companions For Young Adults’ Wellbeing, Giulia Jiangxian Zhu, Xue Pei, Andrea Gaggioli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Young adults increasingly face emotional stress, uncertainty, and a lack of accessible, non-judgmental support. While AI technologies are emerging as potential companions, many adopt anthropomorphic and chat-based models that risk emotional overdependence, blurred boundaries, and false intimacy. This research explores how AI systems might be reimagined to foster authentic and ethical forms of companionship that support young adults’ wellbeing. Grounded in Positive Technology and its focus on promoting human flourishing, this research adopts a research-through-design approach, integrating semi-structured interviews, co-design sessions, hands-on prototyping, and user feedback. The resulting prototype, ALONG is a calm, embodied AI companion designed to encourage personal …

Go to article

Infodesign Journal: Tensions And Contradictions In Twenty Years Of Information Design Research In Brazil, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Cláudia De Souza Libânio Jun 2026

Infodesign Journal: Tensions And Contradictions In Twenty Years Of Information Design Research In Brazil, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Cláudia De Souza Libânio

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The Brazilian InfoDesign journal specializes in the subject of information design (ID), with a historical trajectory that reflects efforts in establishing a Brazilian perspective on the traditionally Anglo-American ID epistemology. Recently, the paradox of indexing to gain international scientific recognition marked an inflection point for this knowledge ecosystem, posing new editorial challenges and language barriers while opening avenues for the dissemination of pluriversal approaches. Aiming to map tensions and contradictions in the evolution of information design research in Brazil, this paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the InfoDesign journal database, containing 397 publications spanning from 2004 to 2024. Findings …

Go to article

How Epistemic Uncertainty Tolerance Affects Creative Idea Generation In Design, Sue During, Michael Mose Biskjaer, Elger Abrahamse, Alwin De Rooij Jun 2026

How Epistemic Uncertainty Tolerance Affects Creative Idea Generation In Design, Sue During, Michael Mose Biskjaer, Elger Abrahamse, Alwin De Rooij

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Creativity in collaborative design unfolds under conditions of unspecific and ambiguous information. While such epistemic uncertainty is inherent to many design projects, its impact on creativity is underexplored. This study investigated how epistemic uncertainty induced through problem briefings affects creativity during idea generation, and how tolerance for epistemic uncertainty moderates this relationship. A between-subjects experiment with 67 student participants collaborating in 18 groups tested idea generation under high versus low epistemic uncertainty conditions. The results showed a dual pathway effect: high epistemic uncertainty, compared to low epistemic uncertainty, increased idea originality, but decreased idea usefulness. Average group tolerance for uncertainty …

Go to article

Patterns Of Everyday Care: Translating Cultural Practices For Online Communities, Austin Toombs, Seora Park, Tilar Manion, Xinyun Zhang Jun 2026

Patterns Of Everyday Care: Translating Cultural Practices For Online Communities, Austin Toombs, Seora Park, Tilar Manion, Xinyun Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design research in social computing has used the concept of care to describe how technologies help or hinder interpersonal support online. Yet opportunities remain to explore how the subtle, everyday forms of care that have long sustained communities can inform social technology design. Addressing this, we present a collection of design patterns that translate culturally specific, everyday social practices like passeggiata (Italian social stroll) and sobremesa (Spanish post-meal lingering) into design prompts for digital platforms. Our collection has five pattern families: Shared Habits and Routines, Atmospheric Qualities, Collective Identities, Facilitation Roles, and Boundary Practices. The patterns map these families to …

Go to article

Methodologies As Complex Systems: Practicing Pluralism In Systemic Design For Transformations Toward Regeneration, Haley Fitzpatrick Jun 2026

Methodologies As Complex Systems: Practicing Pluralism In Systemic Design For Transformations Toward Regeneration, Haley Fitzpatrick

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Pluralism is essential for transformations toward regeneration, to (re)align human activity with holistic planetary health. Systemic design’s pluralistic intentions offer a promising pathway, yet its methodologies rarely match the complexity they aim to engage. The focus often falls on adding new methods instead of examining how methodologies function. As a result, systemic design methodologies struggle to navigate the contextual, epistemic, and cultural differences within plural pathways toward regeneration. This paper argues that systemic design methodologies can negotiate pluralism more effectively when functioning as complex systems themselves: nonlinear, emergent, and relational. Drawing on participatory action research across three diverse communities, I …

Go to article

Strategic Design In Business Organizations: An Approach For Design Management, Business Strategy, And Design Strategy, G. Mauricio Mejía Jun 2026

Strategic Design In Business Organizations: An Approach For Design Management, Business Strategy, And Design Strategy, G. Mauricio Mejía

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The term “strategic design” gained popularity over the last three decades. It originated in the 1990s, when design management scholars began studying the strategic value of design within business organizations. In the 2000s, terms such as design thinking and user-centered design gained traction, expanding the scope of design work and who was considered a designer. In professional networks, strategic design has been emerging as some professionals claim to be strategic designers or discuss related practices. This exploratory paper aims to identify definitions, roles, and skills associated with strategic design in the context of business organizations. A scoping of the literature …

Go to article

Queering Design With A Queer Community: Co-Creation, Translation, And Application Of Queer-Positive Design Principles, Colin Putman Jun 2026

Queering Design With A Queer Community: Co-Creation, Translation, And Application Of Queer-Positive Design Principles, Colin Putman

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Trans and queer individuals, particularly transmasculine, transfeminine, nonbinary and genderqueer folks, remain underrepresented in contemporary design practice despite a growing awareness of the community’s existence. This project creates a set of translational materials co-created by members of the queer community. These materials are intended to educate industry professionals on queer perspectives and provide actionable methods to help design solutions that meet the needs of queer people. Co-creation processes centering the queer community were used to identify and describe key queer-inclusive design principles: discretion, perception, inclusion, and motion. These principles were then translated into an educational zine intended for creative professionals, …

Go to article

Imperfect Utopias: Norms In Vr Design And Queer Counter-Strategies, Alexandra Chalmers Braithwaite Jun 2026

Imperfect Utopias: Norms In Vr Design And Queer Counter-Strategies, Alexandra Chalmers Braithwaite

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper puts forward a set of strategies for designing queer experiences for virtual reality. First, the paper will outline The Body Traces Archive VR experience, the primary practice-based outcome of my doctoral research. This will be followed by a discussion of the medium of virtual reality and three industry-standard design norms that serve to limit and foreclose the possibilities of virtual reality: militaristic mastery and control, seamless (dis)embodiment, and prioritisation of comfort. For each industry standard norm, I propose a queer counter-strategy that works to re-align VR towards other possibilities. In turn, they are: utopian worldbuilding, embodiment via friction, …

Go to article

From Lab To Line: Mechanisms For Anchoring Human-Centred Design In Public Policy And Service Development, Maike Klip, Jasper Van Kuijk Jun 2026

From Lab To Line: Mechanisms For Anchoring Human-Centred Design In Public Policy And Service Development, Maike Klip, Jasper Van Kuijk

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Human-Centred Design (HCD) is increasingly proposed as a way to align government policies and services with citizens’ needs and capabilities. However, embedding HCD in everyday government practice remains challenging. This paper reports on a 2.5-year longitudinal action research study within the CGDC programme, where eight national agencies jointly redesigned debt-repayment services. The study combines observations, interviews and workshop data to analyse barriers and enablers for HCD practices in a politically and organisationally complex environment. Findings identify six recurring mechanisms: 1) Normalising user involvement, 2) Organising mandate for user needs, 3) Building multidisciplinary collaboration, 4) Creating facts on the ground, 5) …

Go to article

Designing For Themselves: The Gearbox Model Of Value-Reclaiming Design Within Grassroots Sports Communities, Yijia Jiang, Huiyi Zhang, Keren Zhang, Shiyu Liu, Kin Wai Michael Siu Jun 2026

Designing For Themselves: The Gearbox Model Of Value-Reclaiming Design Within Grassroots Sports Communities, Yijia Jiang, Huiyi Zhang, Keren Zhang, Shiyu Liu, Kin Wai Michael Siu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Grassroots sports communities (GSCs) express and impact values through everyday design practices that build belonging, identity, and agency. Adopting qualitative multi-case analysis of representative GSCs (n=10), this study explores how these communities define and reclaim their values through design practice. Four modalities are identified: 1) narrative re-authoring, 2) aesthetic re-coding, 3) collaborative re-making, and 4) ethical re-grounding. These modalities constitute a dynamic process wherein design functions as a relational infrastructure for collective meaning-making. Based on these findings, the study generates a Gearbox Model of Value-Reclaiming Design, theorising how communal design agency is exercised through dynamic and recursive interplay. The model …

Go to article

Designing For Self-Tailoring In Adolescent Health Behavior Change, Timothy A. Houtman, Froukje Sleeswijk Visser, Ece Şekerli, Valentijn Visch Jun 2026

Designing For Self-Tailoring In Adolescent Health Behavior Change, Timothy A. Houtman, Froukje Sleeswijk Visser, Ece Şekerli, Valentijn Visch

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Digital behavior change tools increasingly use system-driven tailoring to guide users toward healthier choices. While well-intentioned, such approaches may undermine autonomous behavior change by removing users from decision-making processes and limiting opportunities to develop self-knowledge: a practical understanding of what works for oneself that can help regulate current and future behaviors. This is particularly consequential for adolescents, who are developing personal autonomy at a time when the health behaviors they establish can have long-term consequences. We propose that self-tailoring can enhance autonomy by actively involving users in constructing and adapting approaches to their own contexts. Through two studies, we investigated …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last