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The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations With Source Communities In Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions, Ning Zhao, Ziqiang He, Shijie Ming, Haopeng Yuan, Furui Sun, Ke Jiang
The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations With Source Communities In Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions, Ning Zhao, Ziqiang He, Shijie Ming, Haopeng Yuan, Furui Sun, Ke Jiang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper examines how to redistribute curatorial power in VR heritage exhibitions by designing actionable governance mechanisms. We conceptualize VR heritage exhibitions as political curatorial infrastructures rather than neutral storytelling media. We employ a two-stage RtD framework: first building a baseline VR stage, then embedding two mechanisms: Parallel Weave (narrative authorship) and Asynchronous Governance Lock (publishing/veto rights). With N=32 participants, analysis reveals four tensions: (1) community narratives increased affective engagement and epistemic recognition, yet (2) parallel inclusion also risked narrative segregation; (3) a visible veto established accountable workflows, but (4) this power redistribution also transferred sociopolitical risk onto community representatives, …
Strategic Positioning In Design Agencies: Achieving Optimal Distinctiveness Through Portfolios, Bingqing Tian, Antonius Van Den Broek, Mikko Koria
Strategic Positioning In Design Agencies: Achieving Optimal Distinctiveness Through Portfolios, Bingqing Tian, Antonius Van Den Broek, Mikko Koria
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The growing recognition of design’s value to business and society has driven rapid expansion in the design industries, intensifying competition among designers and design firms. Despite an increased scholarly attention to the strategic role of design, there is a lack of understanding how design businesses strategize and position themselves in the market. We aim to revitalise this debate by reviewing a diverse range of literatures on strategic positioning of design agencies and suggest a focus on the theory of optimal distinctiveness. This theory argues that to be successful, firms need to find an optimal balance between being different to be …
Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, And Theories Of Strategic Design In Business Organizations, G. Mauricio Mejía, Violeta Clemente, Aroop Ratan Guha, Jeanne Liedtka, Beatrice D'Ippolito
Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, And Theories Of Strategic Design In Business Organizations, G. Mauricio Mejía, Violeta Clemente, Aroop Ratan Guha, Jeanne Liedtka, Beatrice D'Ippolito
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The DRS Edinburgh theme-track “Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, and Theories of Strategic Design in Business Organizations” includes a dozen papers that study the influence of strategic designers and strategic design practices in business organizations. This editorial describes and briefly assesses their contributions. While scholars have studied and explored the strategic role of design for organizational change, the papers show that designers and design practices must still contribute from their specific foundational mission and strengthen collaboration with other functions and senior management to materialise their potential. Future research should focus on solid case studies and the understanding of expert strategic …
Strategic Design In Business Organizations: An Approach For Design Management, Business Strategy, And Design Strategy, G. Mauricio Mejía
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 …
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
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 …
Design As A Distributed Capability For Organizational Strategies Of New Product Development, Caterina Dastoli, Gabriele Goretti
Design As A Distributed Capability For Organizational Strategies Of New Product Development, Caterina Dastoli, Gabriele Goretti
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study positions Design as a distributed capability for New Product Development through ecosystems knowledge. While the strategic role of Design in local productive systems is well established, new technology affordances often necessitate the design and implementation of organizational strategies—beyond traditional business strategies—across SMEs from diverse industrial clusters. Consequently, technological evolution calls for a system-level positioning of Design interventions and a clear articulation of Design capabilities within the organizational dimension of an ecosystem, where multiple actors participate in strategic and operational decision-making for New Product Development. By conceptualizing Design as an organizational intelligence, this research highlights its potential to enable …
Toward An Architectural Model Of Design Methods: Meta-Methods, Proto-Methods, And Method Building Blocks, Colin M. Gray, Shruthi Sai Chivukula, Abdul Moeed Asad
Toward An Architectural Model Of Design Methods: Meta-Methods, Proto-Methods, And Method Building Blocks, Colin M. Gray, Shruthi Sai Chivukula, Abdul Moeed Asad
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Design methods have long occupied a central yet ambiguous role in design research. They are invoked as distillations of procedural knowledge and recipes for action but also function as placeholders for more complex performances. Yet the persistent assumption that methods are checklists—mechanical sequences of steps that can be validated or optimized—has obscured their performative and situated dimensions. This paper revisits the nature of methods through an architectural model that distinguishes between meta-methods, proto-methods, and method building blocks. Drawing from historical, theoretical, and empirical discussions, we argue that methods are best understood as assemblages of prescription and performance, whose coherence emerges …
Embedding Design Capability In Growth-Oriented Smes In China: A Multiple-Case Study, Shiyi Li
Embedding Design Capability In Growth-Oriented Smes In China: A Multiple-Case Study, Shiyi Li
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This multi-case study of seven Chinese growth-oriented manufacturing SMEs explores how design capability is integrated and stably embedded within organizational innovation systems. Through analysing the dynamic process of sensing-seizing-reconfiguring and integrating the RPV framework, four stable embedding patterns are identified: Supporting, Rooted, Cognitive, and Instrumental. Findings reveal that embedding patterns are jointly determined by value creation logic, value chain position, resource conditions, and managerial cognition. Design capability embedding is not a linear maturity process but depends on continuous dynamic adaptation and organizational adjustment. Market validation feedback loops linking design investment to business outcomes play a crucial role in sustaining embedding …
Strategic Design For Circular Transitions: Co-Defining Servitisation Strategies With A Furniture Company, Mattia Italia, Silvana Migliozzi, Michele Melazzini, Daniela Maurer, Xue Pei
Strategic Design For Circular Transitions: Co-Defining Servitisation Strategies With A Furniture Company, Mattia Italia, Silvana Migliozzi, Michele Melazzini, Daniela Maurer, Xue Pei
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The furniture industry is currently facing profound environmental and systemic challenges that demand radical transformation. Servitisation, understood as the shift from selling products to delivering value through integrated product–service systems, offers a potential pathway to foster circularity and long-term competitiveness. However, this change requires the adaptation and integration of circularity strategies within the sector. Strategic Design and Transition Design can provide solid theoretical and practical foundations to support this integration. Therefore, this article explores how participatory processes supported by design can assist companies in co-defining circular strategies through servitisation. Using Participatory Action Research within a leading Italian furniture manufacturer, the …
A Product-Service System Design Approach For The Frame Innovation Of Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning, Zhiqian Hu, Yaojia Zhang, Peiyuan Ge, Leijie Ding, Mager Birgit, Li Zhang
A Product-Service System Design Approach For The Frame Innovation Of Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning, Zhiqian Hu, Yaojia Zhang, Peiyuan Ge, Leijie Ding, Mager Birgit, Li Zhang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Robotaxi services are expanding rapidly, but interior cleanliness, valued by passengers, remains a critical weak link. This study examines embedding the Automated Robotaxi Interior Space Cleaning (ARISC) framework in existing operations via a product service system (PSS) architecture without reducing fleet availability. Methodologically, frame innovation is undertaken from companies’ internal processes and governance: first, the study benchmarks DiDi Autonomous Driving, Baidu’s Apollo Go, and SAIC Mobility Robotaxi, and maps existing Robotaxi service systems; second, eleven semi structured interviews with cleaning providers, company staff, and passengers yield 384 records indicating functional needs (air circulation, surface cleaning, waste removal) and value needs …
Service Design-Driven Formation Of Dynamic Capabilities For International Service Innovation: A Case Study Of A Chinese Nev Firm, Chengbo Li, Jun Zhang
Service Design-Driven Formation Of Dynamic Capabilities For International Service Innovation: A Case Study Of A Chinese Nev Firm, Chengbo Li, Jun Zhang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Amidst the acceleration of internationalization, service innovation has emerged as a critical pathway for New Energy Vehicle (NEV) firms to attain sustainable growth. Adopting a dynamic capability view (DCV), this paper investigates how service design contributes to the development of service innovation dynamic capabilities (SIDCs) within firms undergoing internationalization. Drawing upon a case study of the BYD New Energy Vehicle firm, the findings indicate that the functional, systemic, and iterative characteristics of service design facilitate the construction of micro-foundations for SIDCs. This is achieved through the integration of user insights, the fostering of cross departmental collaboration, and the reconfiguration of …
Designing For Emotion: A Scoping Review Of Phygital Emotional Experience Design In Historical Museums, Linlin Wang, Jiarui Wu*, Yi Zhang, Sai Ma, Yingji Wang
Designing For Emotion: A Scoping Review Of Phygital Emotional Experience Design In Historical Museums, Linlin Wang, Jiarui Wu*, Yi Zhang, Sai Ma, Yingji Wang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Abstract: As digital technology becomes an integral part of museum services and strategies, visitor experiences have evolved from physical to phygital experiences. Phygital emphasizes the fusion of digital and physical environments, constructing complex emotional scenarios that bridge those realms across different exhibition phases—from entry and immersion to extended experiences—thus distinguishing itself from traditional, object-led historical museums. This scoping review employs a hybrid deductive-inductive coding method to analyse 54 publications from databases including WOS, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycInfo. It proposes a DES emotional experience framework for historical museums and identifies corresponding technological interventions and design directions. The study advocates …
Design As Strategic Competence For The Evolving Energy Industry, Qing Tian, Xiangyang Xin
Design As Strategic Competence For The Evolving Energy Industry, Qing Tian, Xiangyang Xin
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Responding to the evolving changes in the energy industry—from government-led infrastructure development to business-driven energy solutions, and nowadays to energy products and services created by householders—this paper explores how design can contribute to this transition and create value across multiple frontlines. The paper begins by outlining the dynamics of the energy industry’s transformation and the reasons behind it, followed by a case study conducted in collaboration with an internationally recognized renewable energy technology company. The case study traces the evolution of design from a peripheral function to a central driver of corporate strategy. It identifies a triple-mechanism model through which …
Strategies For Successful Collaborative Engagement: Navigating Organizational Dynamics, Sylvan Lobo, Ravi Mahamuni
Strategies For Successful Collaborative Engagement: Navigating Organizational Dynamics, Sylvan Lobo, Ravi Mahamuni
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Typical organizations are characterized by complexity, comprising individuals working in isolated groups with competing priorities. Structural and cultural factors often hinder effective collaboration, despite organizational efforts. This paper examines collaboration dynamics in organizations through the lens of behaviour-change. It introduces the CraftChange framework for behaviour-change for promoting collaborative participation, demonstrating the approach through an analysis of two real-world organizational projects. The paper argues that genuine participatory engagement cannot be achieved solely through top-down directives or establishment of support units like innovation labs, design thinking or prototyping teams. Instead, there is a need to focus on bringing behaviour-change through a stagewise …
Public Participation Infrastructuring For Sustainability Transitions, Maria Andrea Valladares, Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Martina Maria Keitsch
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 …
Transforming A Precarious Equilibrium: Embracing Complexity In Public Design Practices, Thomas Van Arkel, Nynke Tromp, Deger Ozkaramanli
Transforming A Precarious Equilibrium: Embracing Complexity In Public Design Practices, Thomas Van Arkel, Nynke Tromp, Deger Ozkaramanli
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper examines how design space for engaging with complexity was constrained, negotiated and expanded within a Dutch public sector organisation providing occupational disability services. While systemic design calls for transformation and embracing complexity, practical understanding of enacting this within a political-administrative context remains limited. Through critical analysis of a participatory action research project, we trace six key moments where possibilities for transformation were opened up or constrained: from processing the initial individual-centric framing, through recognising relational complexity, to translating insights into interventions. Our analysis reveals tensions between systemic aspirations and organisational realities: while the project successfully reframed reintegration from …
Design Things In Search For Public Concern: A Study Of How Urban Lighting Is Scripted In The City Of Gothenburg, Christina Vildinge, Elena Raviola
Design Things In Search For Public Concern: A Study Of How Urban Lighting Is Scripted In The City Of Gothenburg, Christina Vildinge, Elena Raviola
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Light is gaining attention as a design element in public space. Its relational and ephemeral aesthetics enable urban transformations beyond the built environment, offering new possibilities for sustainable and inclusive cities. Yet, artificial light remains a relatively new concern in planning, traditionally excluded in drawings and regulations. This paper examines how light’s relational materiality is translated within urban planning and design, and travels as a matter of concern in city governance to become a public thing. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory, we analyze municipal lighting policymaking in Gothenburg, Sweden, showing how light’s multiple dimensions—its aesthetics, sustainability, safety, environmental —are mediated through …
Dilemmas Of Institutionalizing Human-Centered Design In Startups, Wenlin Zhang, Jin Ma
Dilemmas Of Institutionalizing Human-Centered Design In Startups, Wenlin Zhang, Jin Ma
DRS Biennial Conference Series
While business and strategic design scholarship widely acknowledges the benefits of Human-Centered Design (HCD), limited research noted that implementing HCD may produce intricate challenges in real-world business contexts—especially in startups constrained by resource scarcity and limited time for trial and error. Drawing on institutional theory, we examine how HCD permeate into organizational culture, strategy making, and daily operations. Our case study develops a framework of “HCD Institutionalization Dilemma”. The framework encompasses four themes. First, overcommitment to HCD, where organizational members deeply adhere to HCD tenets. Second, operational predicament perception, where high investments fail to deliver tangible, actionable design outputs. Third, …
How Automation Impacts Worker Ecosystems In Organizations: A Case Study Of Autonomous Bus Operations At An International Airport, Garoa Gomez-Beldarrain, Femke Van Dam, Euiyoung Kim, Himanshu Verma, Alessandro Bozzon
How Automation Impacts Worker Ecosystems In Organizations: A Case Study Of Autonomous Bus Operations At An International Airport, Garoa Gomez-Beldarrain, Femke Van Dam, Euiyoung Kim, Himanshu Verma, Alessandro Bozzon
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Organizations are increasingly immersed in automation programs aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, yet these initiatives fundamentally impact and reshape traditional workplaces. Prior research has examined automation's effects on workers who directly interact with it, but less attention has been given to how broader worker ecosystems are impacted. To address this gap, we investigate an autonomous shuttle bus project at an international airport. We conduct an interview study with nine external experts holding prior experience in similar automation contexts. To engage participants in discussing the impacts of a future autonomous bus operation, we utilize systemic design as a lens and conduct …
Exploring Intentions And Use Scenarios Behind Geomatic Data Artefacts For Public Health Policies In Québec From A Co-Design Perspective, Angélique Montuwy, Lorenz Herfurth
Exploring Intentions And Use Scenarios Behind Geomatic Data Artefacts For Public Health Policies In Québec From A Co-Design Perspective, Angélique Montuwy, Lorenz Herfurth
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores the production and intended use of publicly available Geomatic Data Artefacts (such as geo-repositories, maps, and dashboards) and their relevance in the context of public health policies. We are an interdisciplinary team of academics with backgrounds in geomatics and design who began discussing the role of accessing and visualizing geographic data to support participation in public healthcare policy. Specifically, this paper examines questions related to stakeholder involvement in the production and development of use scenarios for Geomatic Data Artefacts that inform public health policies. We reviewed existing artefacts, conducted a first round of conversations, and produced an …
Symbiotic Behaviors And Strategic Design: A Situated Participatory Framework For Organizations Led By/For Older Adults, Juliana Gómez, Mariana González, Tala Pedraza, Laura Sofía Riveros
Symbiotic Behaviors And Strategic Design: A Situated Participatory Framework For Organizations Led By/For Older Adults, Juliana Gómez, Mariana González, Tala Pedraza, Laura Sofía Riveros
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Café Séneca, the largest affinity chapter of the Uniandinos Alumni Association in Colombia, is dedicated to the wellbeing of older adults and led by retired members. Despite its popularity, the chapter lacked a strategic design structure, relying on inertia to shape its activities and limiting its ability to evolve sustainably. This paper presents a reflective case study of SenSilver, a situated participatory strategic design framework developed for organizations led by and for older adults. Combining business, positive, and empowerment-oriented design with biological, social, and psychological dimensions of aging, the framework was applied through a research-consultancy process with Café Séneca. The …
Design And The Public Sector: Contemporary Methods And Practice, Scott Schmidt, Sabine Junginger, Marzia Mortati, Federico Vaz
Design And The Public Sector: Contemporary Methods And Practice, Scott Schmidt, Sabine Junginger, Marzia Mortati, Federico Vaz
DRS Biennial Conference Series
The DRS2026 track titled “Design and the Public Sector: Contemporary Methods and Practices” examines the expanding relationship between design and the public sector, situating design as an active process in shaping public services, institutional change, and governance practices. Building on a trajectory established across DRS2022, DRS2024, and now DRS2026, this third Design for Policy and Governance Special Interest Group (PoGoSIG) hosted track reflects a shift from foundational and integrative concerns toward a more systems-based orientation. The following contributions are organised around four central themes: AI and New Technologies, Design and Infrastructure, Hope and Imagination, and Participation in Policymaking. Drawing on …
Designing Relational Employment: Supporting Employee Well-Being Through Onboarding Innovation In Emerging Smes, Michele Melazzini, Mon-Shiuan Lee, Gianluca Carella
Designing Relational Employment: Supporting Employee Well-Being Through Onboarding Innovation In Emerging Smes, Michele Melazzini, Mon-Shiuan Lee, Gianluca Carella
IASDR Conference Series
This paper investigates how design practices can advance employee engagement and well-being toward relational employment during onboarding in new and emerging SMEs characterized by uncertainty and limited resources. Employing a research-through-design approach, the study integrates preliminary research activities with semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders (employees/HR/therapist) and a phase of Participatory Action Research to identify critical leverage points for redesigning the onboarding experience. Findings emphasize the importance of authentic human connection, psychological safety in the workplace, and peer-led learning cultures. The proposed COMPANION-SHIP Pilot Program proposes how design could addresses these systemic issues through multi-stakeholder collaboration, embedding sustainable relationship-building practices within …
Perceptemo: Exploring How Generative Ai Affects Emotional Data Sensemaking On Human Perception For Academic Procrastination, Zitian Zhang, Yi-Ching (Janet) Huang
Perceptemo: Exploring How Generative Ai Affects Emotional Data Sensemaking On Human Perception For Academic Procrastination, Zitian Zhang, Yi-Ching (Janet) Huang
IASDR Conference Series
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) demonstrates potential for supporting data processing and interpretation, limited research investigates how to support individuals in emotional sensemaking in the context of procrastination behaviors. This work introduces Percept Emo, a platform that uses generative AI models (image-to-image and image-to-video) to support people to make sense of and experience their emotional data. It transforms users' sketches of emotions related to procrastination into new visual representations. In a within-subjects experiment, we investigate how AI supports emotional data sensemaking and its influence on perceptions of procrastination by comparing three conditions: no AI, image-to-image, and image-to-video. Results showed that the …
Design Thinking Beyond The Hype: Organisational Barriers And Implementation Challenges, Gianluca Carella, Cabirio Cautela, Michele Melazzini, Francesco Zurlo
Design Thinking Beyond The Hype: Organisational Barriers And Implementation Challenges, Gianluca Carella, Cabirio Cautela, Michele Melazzini, Francesco Zurlo
IASDR Conference Series
Despite the growing popularity of Design Thinking (DT) as a catalyst for organisational innovation, agility, and user-centred transformation, its actual adoption often remains superficial, fragmented, or symbolic. This study presents a systematic literature review of 64 peer-reviewed publications, aiming to identify, categorise, and interpret the key barriers to DT implementation in organisational contexts. Findings reveal that resistance to DT is rooted not merely in technical or procedural limitations, but in deeper organisational structures, cultures, and mental models. Through thematic synthesis, four recurring macro-barriers are identified: (1) uncertainty induced by change, (2) leadership-related constraints, (3) incompatibility of approaches and languages, and …
Maps That Matter: Design As A Translation Tool In Industrial Sustainability Transitions, Delphine Wang Leger, Annie Gentès
Maps That Matter: Design As A Translation Tool In Industrial Sustainability Transitions, Delphine Wang Leger, Annie Gentès
IASDR Conference Series
This paper explores how organizational design can support sustainability transitions in complex industrial contexts, through the development of situated, visual tools. The study is based on a one- year design intervention within a railway maintenance facility in France, aiming to improve industrial waste sorting practices following the departure of the site's waste manager. Drawing from system design, service design, and Actor-Network Theory, the project approaches waste management not as a technical issue, but as a socio-material system of routines, infrastructures, and tacit knowledge. To navigate this complexity, the design team produced a series of hybrid documents— field enquiry maps, analog …
Interdisciplinary Tensions In The Integration Of Strategic Design And Community-Engaged Research Practices, Mauricio Mejía, Kathleen Pine, Ruchita Mandhre
Interdisciplinary Tensions In The Integration Of Strategic Design And Community-Engaged Research Practices, Mauricio Mejía, Kathleen Pine, Ruchita Mandhre
IASDR Conference Series
The meaning of design and the approaches to design activities are distinctive for practitioners of different design disciplines and other disciplines. In this article, the authors report a document case study where social scientists, design researchers, and community partners (fire leaders and personnel of four fire departments in the US) collaborated on a research project with a design component, aiming to create technologies and services for fire departments in the US. In analyzing the process and engaging in reflection, we identified our overlapping but distinct approaches. Social scientists adopted a community-engaged research approach, and design researchers adopted a strategic design …
How Designers Leverage Service Design To Catalyze Strategic Transformation: An Action Research On Third-Party Payment Enterprises Responding To Financial Inclusion Challenges, Ching-An Hsieh, Hsien-Hui Tang
How Designers Leverage Service Design To Catalyze Strategic Transformation: An Action Research On Third-Party Payment Enterprises Responding To Financial Inclusion Challenges, Ching-An Hsieh, Hsien-Hui Tang
IASDR Conference Series
This study explores how, under the trend of financial inclusion, designers can apply service design methods to embed human-centered thinking into fintech enterprises, thereby facilitating strategic transformation and guiding organizations to shift their focus from large enterprises to micro, small, and medium-sized businesses to achieve more inclusive services. Adopting an action research approach conducted over nine months and involving twenty-one cross-departmental meetings, the study found that designers visualized service breakdowns to initiate discussions and reveal organizational defensiveness and decision-making inertia. By mitigating commercial sensitivity to enhance focus and using data to strengthen organizational awareness, key issues were gradually incorporated into …
The Internal Meaning-Making Of 'Design' By A Design Community Of Government Officials In Japan's Central Government, Haruhi Miyoshi
The Internal Meaning-Making Of 'Design' By A Design Community Of Government Officials In Japan's Central Government, Haruhi Miyoshi
IASDR Conference Series
This study investigates how public officials in Japan interpret and give meaning to design approaches within the context of policy making, with a particular focus on the processes through which these approaches are taken up and translated into practice by public officials themselves. Previous studies have offered valuable insights into the introduction of design in the public sector, often in response to externally driven conditions such as institutional pressures, fiscal constraints, and innovation demands. While such work has advanced understanding of the value of design in public administration, the intrinsic dimension of design practice—central to design activity—has received limited attention. …
Empowering Sustainable Transitions: A Design-Led Capacity-Building Framework, Silvia Maria Gramegna, Carmen Bruno, Erminia D'Itria, Francesca Mattioli, Michele Melazzini, Xue Pei
Empowering Sustainable Transitions: A Design-Led Capacity-Building Framework, Silvia Maria Gramegna, Carmen Bruno, Erminia D'Itria, Francesca Mattioli, Michele Melazzini, Xue Pei
IASDR Conference Series
call for a radical rethinking of development models, supporting non-linear, decentralized, sustainable, and open solutions. In this context, plural design plays a strategic role by envisioning alternative scenarios, encouraging interdisciplinarity, and activating discontinuous innovation. Design must move beyond serving a single growth model, embracing multiplicity, collaboration, and inclusivity through contextual and interactive solutions. This is the framework of ECODeCK—ECO-Design Circular Knowledge, a project addressing the sustainable transition of Italy’s fashion and furniture sectors, which are tightly linked to both local and global socio-cultural systems. ECODeCK project adopts a design-driven approach that integrates systemic design and sustainability into business practices, supporting …