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

Digital Commons Network™

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

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 6511 - 6540 of 933493

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Mapping Design’S Contribution To Policymaking: A Framework For Understanding Design’S Roles Across Policymaking Levels, Amy Hyewon Lee Jun 2026

Mapping Design’S Contribution To Policymaking: A Framework For Understanding Design’S Roles Across Policymaking Levels, Amy Hyewon Lee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines how design is conceptualised within design and policy literature in public-sector contexts, contributing to the expanding discourse on design for policy. Despite the growing adoption of design approaches in governance, robust evidence of their contribution remains limited. Using a qualitative meta-synthesis of 24 publications spanning design studies, policy design, and public administration, the study identifies four interrelated logics through which design is conceptualised in policymaking: systems learning and reflexivity; legitimacy and relational effectiveness; structuring and coherence; and adaptation and delivery. These logics are reframed as epistemic, relational, systemic, and operational dimensions of contributive capacity that describe how …

Go to article

Speculative Co-Imagination: Participatory Visualization Informed By Design Fiction, Moshi Wang, Yining Gong, He Wang, Zhi Geng, Zhuojun Hu, Aiwen Ding Jun 2026

Speculative Co-Imagination: Participatory Visualization Informed By Design Fiction, Moshi Wang, Yining Gong, He Wang, Zhi Geng, Zhuojun Hu, Aiwen Ding

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper proposes speculative co-imagination, a design approach that integrates design fiction with participatory visualization to explore alternative futures. In the post-AI era, as automation replaces standardized tasks, designers increasingly focus on framing critical questions. Design fiction creates plausible yet fictional scenarios to provoke reflection, but often lacks audience engagement. By incorporating participatory visualization, users become co-creators of speculative narratives through data input and interaction. Drawing on the project Sky Protocol, which imagines the urban sky as an algorithmic visual platform, the paper demonstrates how user-driven data shapes collective perception. The practice is guided by a five-stage framework consisting of …

Go to article

Co-Designing Equitable Engagement - Home Health Assessment In Healthcare Practice In Scotland, Sonja Oliveira, Laura Maclean, Gráinne Mcgill, Carolina Recart Jun 2026

Co-Designing Equitable Engagement - Home Health Assessment In Healthcare Practice In Scotland, Sonja Oliveira, Laura Maclean, Gráinne Mcgill, Carolina Recart

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reflects upon the research process of co-designing equitable engagement within the healthcare sector. The research considers approaches to co-design as rooted within researchers sharing decision-making and shifting power not from themselves to participants, but amongst the research team itself. Co-design is mostly discussed as a process of academics and non-academics sharing the research design journey through participatory, inclusive and dialogical methods. This study considers how this process evolves within the research team itself, whereby known research project roles, responsibilities and remit are put to one side allowing difference, conflict and disagreement to be explored using design research methods. …

Go to article

Mapping The Identity Design Process For Ai Co-Creativity: Interviews With 20 Graphic Designers, Melani De Luca, Sebastian Berns Jun 2026

Mapping The Identity Design Process For Ai Co-Creativity: Interviews With 20 Graphic Designers, Melani De Luca, Sebastian Berns

DRS Biennial Conference Series

With the increasing insertion of AI tools in creative work in recent years, concerns about misinterpreting creativity and rendering designers obsolete are growing. Moreover, progress in AI predominantly comes from computer science, often resulting in misconceptions about graphic design. In particular, when it comes to highly specialized practices like identity design, the use of AI often remains too generic and fails to reflect the diversity employed by designers in their practice, propagating the homogenization of trends in graphical artefacts. This paper aims to bridge the discourse and methodological gap between computer science and graphic design by presenting a detailed exploration …

Go to article

Reimagining Cultural Heritage: Designing Game Jams As Learning Spaces, Kim Holflod, Eva Eriksson Jun 2026

Reimagining Cultural Heritage: Designing Game Jams As Learning Spaces, Kim Holflod, Eva Eriksson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Game jams have increasingly been adopted as innovative learning approaches to explore and address complex cultural and societal challenges across formal (e.g., university) and informal (e.g., GLAM) educational contexts. However, there remains a lack of pedagogical models and materials that align learning goals, activities, and assessments constructively for such events. Based on an analysis of four cultural game jams (2024-2025) involving 168 young people (aged 14-32) held in an art museum, this paper proposes a pedagogical design model grounded in systematisation and adaptability as core design principles. The model promotes hybrid and inclusive participation that connects young people, museum professionals, …

Go to article

Countering Tokenism In E-Participation: Potentials Of Participatory Design In Democratic Policymaking, Jia Xin Liu, Marzia Mortati, Lucy Kimbell Jun 2026

Countering Tokenism In E-Participation: Potentials Of Participatory Design In Democratic Policymaking, Jia Xin Liu, Marzia Mortati, Lucy Kimbell

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The implementation of e-participation platforms in policymaking has removed spatial and temporal barriers to citizen engagement; however, digitalisation also introduces new challenges which undermine democratic values and risk participation outcomes becoming symbolic and superficial. In this paper, we conducted a narrative literature review and examined barriers in e-participation through the framework of narrow and broad sense tokenism. Through a theoretical discussion, we position participatory design (PD) as a steward in addressing tokenistic participation, focusing on PD’s notion of creating carefully designed participation ‘spaces’ and ‘approaches’ that foster more democratic, deliberative, and inclusive forms of digital participation, thereby countering tokenistic tendencies.

Go to article

Decoding Physicality In Human–Artifact Interaction: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis, Xiaoshan Wang, Long Liu* Jun 2026

Decoding Physicality In Human–Artifact Interaction: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis, Xiaoshan Wang, Long Liu*

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As interaction design increasingly bridges the digital and physical realms, exemplified by tangible and embodied interaction, a clear understanding of "physicality" is critical. However, the concept remains ambiguous within the interaction between humans and artifacts, lacking a systematic understanding to guide research and practice. This research applies Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis, guided by three etymological meanings of "physical", to conduct a hybrid thematic analysis of literature from interaction, ergonomics, and design. The findings suggest that physicality is understood through a structured framework of five core attributes: material substantiality, perceptibility, two-way interaction, embodied correlation, and affordance. This preliminary framework elucidates the …

Go to article

Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies, Michela Musto, Marzia Micelisopo Jun 2026

Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies, Michela Musto, Marzia Micelisopo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, …

Go to article

Entangled Archives: Uncovering New Connections In Digital Interfaces, Renata Perim Lopes, Giselle Beiguelman Jun 2026

Entangled Archives: Uncovering New Connections In Digital Interfaces, Renata Perim Lopes, Giselle Beiguelman

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article presents a study examining digital collections in order to map resources available on digital platforms that influence user behavior and participation. By analyzing the collections’ interfaces, it identifies how artificial intelligence resources can relate different cultural objects within those spaces, working with different layers of information. These resources provide ways to overcome barriers between systems and the assumptions of their original cataloging, leading us to conceptualize digital objects as potential entangled objects. From this perspective, the article discusses the dual role of digital collections—as knowledge repositories and as mediation systems—while exploring viable alternatives for constituting collections within specific …

Go to article

Everything Is An Instrument: Making Data Instruments As Critical Pedagogy, Rusaila Bazlamit, Michael Dunbar, Chris Speed Jun 2026

Everything Is An Instrument: Making Data Instruments As Critical Pedagogy, Rusaila Bazlamit, Michael Dunbar, Chris Speed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper critically examines how contemporary data design logics reframe everyday objects and services as active instruments of measurement and knowledge production. Through a pedagogical experiment in [place name withheld] Square, we explore how student-designed data instruments capture ambiguous, affective, and more-than-human aspects of experience that conventional instrumentation obscures. Drawing on Barad’s agential realism and Lupi’s Data Humanism, our iterative approach reveals that artifacts co-constitute what becomes knowable, making visible the entanglement of bodies, materials, and environments in data production. As students encountered material resistance, breakdown, and multispecies interaction, they developed “instrumental consciousness,” recognising artifact agency and their own complicity …

Go to article

Beyond The Gallery: Neurodivergent Digital Access In Australian Museums, Jorge E. Arreola Rosendo Jun 2026

Beyond The Gallery: Neurodivergent Digital Access In Australian Museums, Jorge E. Arreola Rosendo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Australian museums invest heavily in hybrid and immersive gallery technologies yet treat their websites, where many neurodiverse visitors seek essential planning information, as static brochures. As 15 to 20 percent of the global population is neurodivergent, this oversight affects a significant audience. This study presents the first Australian audit of neurodivergent accessibility across 43 museums, revealing major disconnects: 86% offer minimal digital experiences despite their accessibility potential, and 35% provide no neurodivergent resources. While many claim consultation, neurodivergent voices remain absent from digital design. Shared digital infrastructure across museum networks creates sector-wide intervention points, since improving centralised systems could enhance …

Go to article

The Culture Communications Model: Visual Sensemaking And The Everyday In Design Practice, Patrick Sundqvist, Åsa Wikberg-Nilsson, Lennart Pettersson Jun 2026

The Culture Communications Model: Visual Sensemaking And The Everyday In Design Practice, Patrick Sundqvist, Åsa Wikberg-Nilsson, Lennart Pettersson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The Culture Communications Model (CCM) provides a framework for structured sensemaking grounded in everyday visual culture. It assists designers and non-designers in navigating complex contexts through four interrelated domains – physical, social, commercial and media – each examined via interpretive filters such as norms, gender, class, power and capital. Through iterative processes of finding, understanding and synthesizing, the CCM structures visual inquiry as an embodied and dialogical practice. By translating observations through these filters and reconfiguring them with conceptual tools, users can reveal hidden relationships, challenge assumptions and generate new perspectives on context and identity. The model transforms diffuse contextual …

Go to article

When Grief Takes Shape: Codesigning Creative Modalities In Grief Support Groups For Children, Kirstine Neimann Skov, Eva Knutz, Thomas Markussen Jun 2026

When Grief Takes Shape: Codesigning Creative Modalities In Grief Support Groups For Children, Kirstine Neimann Skov, Eva Knutz, Thomas Markussen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Research highlights the positive impact of creative modalities, such as drawings and images, in grief practice for children. However, more knowledge is needed to guide grief practitioners regarding the effects and contributions of these modalities to children’s coping strategies and wellbeing. This paper investigates the use of creative modalities in Danish grief support groups for children through a study involving participatory design research. The study provides a comprehensive overview of how creative modalities can support grieving processes and lay new ground for future work in codesigning creative modalities for and with practitioners and children. The concept of grief as an …

Go to article

Service Design-Driven Formation Of Dynamic Capabilities For International Service Innovation: A Case Study Of A Chinese Nev Firm, Chengbo Li, Jun Zhang Jun 2026

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 …

Go to article

Exploring Everyday Heritage Futures: Co-Creating Urban Narratives Through Cultural Probes, Guo Chen, Robert G. Harland, Michael Wilson Jun 2026

Exploring Everyday Heritage Futures: Co-Creating Urban Narratives Through Cultural Probes, Guo Chen, Robert G. Harland, Michael Wilson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Narrative has long been used in cultural heritage for interpretation and communication, primarily within institutions and historic sites. Everyday heritage, however, foregrounds seemingly modest places and is constituted through routine interactions and practices, emphasising a continuing narrative between place and everyday life. Ubiquitous digital technologies make multi-layered narratives possible and bring underrepresented stories to light in situ. This pilot study in Loughborough’s Market Place, UK, explores narratives rooted in lived experiences that convey cultural-heritage significance. We designed and deployed cultural probes (a set of creative and speculative tasks) to prompt and record place-based stories. The analysis identified four themes: spatiality, …

Go to article

Designing For Emotion: A Scoping Review Of Phygital Emotional Experience Design In Historical Museums, Linlin Wang, Jiarui Wu*, Yi Zhang, Sai Ma, Yingji Wang Jun 2026

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 …

Go to article

The Intrusive Sounds Of Resilence., Andrea Cera, Georgios Loupas, Eleftheria Lagiokapa, Nefeli Valeria Georgakopoulou, Sotiris Diplaris, Stefanos Vrochidis, Eleonora Ceccaldi, Nicola Corbellini, Simone Ghisio, Antonio Camurri Jun 2026

The Intrusive Sounds Of Resilence., Andrea Cera, Georgios Loupas, Eleftheria Lagiokapa, Nefeli Valeria Georgakopoulou, Sotiris Diplaris, Stefanos Vrochidis, Eleonora Ceccaldi, Nicola Corbellini, Simone Ghisio, Antonio Camurri

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In a ReSilence (S+T+Arts) residency dedicated to the consequences of urban soundscapes on human movement, 36 sound-files and their spectral analyses were considered as examples of auditory intrusiveness (intended as a pre-conscious effect, anticipating conscious behaviors). These 36 sounds were used in three modules: a pilot experiment to study the influence of auditory intrusiveness on human movement; an installation, where the sound-files were triggered by the participants' movement qualities – moreover, their spectral analyses served as prompts to an image-generating GAN network; in the design of a smartphone app, where the 36 analyses allowed to study the spectral features to …

Go to article

Beyond Situated Ethics: Towards A Practice-Based Understanding Of How Designers Do Ethics, Samantha Osys Jun 2026

Beyond Situated Ethics: Towards A Practice-Based Understanding Of How Designers Do Ethics, Samantha Osys

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As discussions about AI and its societal impacts grow, questions about how to practise design responsibly and ethically have become more prominent. This paper examines how designers do ethics in practice, focusing on the relationship between universal frameworks and situated, lived experiences. Conversations with design practitioners reveal that while universal ethical frameworks provide consistency, they often overlook the everyday negotiations designers face in the workplace. Practitioners report that current governance systems, influenced by external regulations, are overly ‘top-down’ and narrowly focused on specific technologies. This approach leaves designers to identify and fill ethical gaps themselves, often through subtle, even covert, …

Go to article

Desiring Production: Design As An Ethical Action, Yihui Yang, Li Zhang Jun 2026

Desiring Production: Design As An Ethical Action, Yihui Yang, Li Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Contemporary design theory and practice have long taken user need-oriented as the core principle. Need has become the ethical and practical foundation of design. It has suppressed the creativity and initiative of both users and designers in the name of functionality. Tracing the origin and evolution of need in design history, this paper points out its inadaptability to complex contemporary design scenarios and diverse demands. On this basis, it introduces the Desiring Production theory of Deleuze and Guattari, reinterprets desire as a more productive and relational life power than need, and explores the feasible path for the ethical intervention of …

Go to article

Navigating Lca In Circular Design: Methodological Barriers When Applying Life Cycle Assessment To Industrial Waste Upcycling Design Decisions, Seidpooyan Ghafoori, Linda Nhu Laursen, Christian Tollestrup Jun 2026

Navigating Lca In Circular Design: Methodological Barriers When Applying Life Cycle Assessment To Industrial Waste Upcycling Design Decisions, Seidpooyan Ghafoori, Linda Nhu Laursen, Christian Tollestrup

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Industrial designers increasingly valorise pre-consumer waste through upcycling; yet face methodological ambiguities when applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for design decision-making. This paper critically examines barriers in using LCA to evaluate circular design strategies for industrial waste metals, plastics, and wood. Through focused literature review of LCA studies and guidelines, this research identifies key methodological tensions: allocation approaches produce contradictory conclusions about upcycling benefits; system boundary definitions inconsistently classify upcycling activities; functional unit choices fundamentally alter comparative results; guideline selection (ISO, GHG Protocol, PEF) creates large variation in results; performance metrics remain application-dependent rather than operational. Findings reveal when LCA …

Go to article

Preserving Material Integrity: Designing For Value Retention In Imperfect, Discarded Materials, Nikoline Sander, Linda Nhu Laursen Jun 2026

Preserving Material Integrity: Designing For Value Retention In Imperfect, Discarded Materials, Nikoline Sander, Linda Nhu Laursen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines how designers can contribute to the sustainable transition by retaining intrinsic value in imperfect, discarded materials from manufacturing. With European manufacturing generating over 230 million tons of waste annually, potential lies in using such materials at their processing stage as substitutes for virgin materials into new products. Drawing on a Danish research project with 22 material discards, the study categorises and characterises the materials into offcuts, rejected materials, rejected objects, process waste, and excess materials, each varying in imperfection parameters, predictability, variability, and data availability. The analysis examines how designers retain intrinsic value embedded in prior processing …

Go to article

From Co-Design To Co-Execution: A Knowledge Map Of Real-Time User Participation In Service Settings (2008-2024), Yue Cao, Yihan Zhao Jun 2026

From Co-Design To Co-Execution: A Knowledge Map Of Real-Time User Participation In Service Settings (2008-2024), Yue Cao, Yihan Zhao

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This bibliometric study analyzes 236 articles from Web of Science (2008-2024) to map the intellectual structure of real-time user participation in service encounters (RUP-SE). The field has transitioned from exploration (2008-2013) to maturity, with post-2020 publications averaging 29.5 annually. Three core research clusters emerge: real-time co-creation and participation, digitally-driven service innovation, and value creation-destruction dynamics. Theoretically grounded in service-dominant logic and value co-creation frameworks, the field addresses how technological advancement and COVID-19 have accelerated the shift from co-design to co-execution. However, platform architectures introduce governance logics that render co-execution inherently asymmetrical, and value co-destruction in algorithmic contexts may be structurally …

Go to article

A Systemic Design Approach To Supporting Children With Different Language Parents, Mitte Van Boxem, Maud Gruyters Jun 2026

A Systemic Design Approach To Supporting Children With Different Language Parents, Mitte Van Boxem, Maud Gruyters

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper describes a master’s thesis process in which systemic design was used to explore how children with a different home language than the national language can be supported. Using a systemic approach, this research maps the complex network surrounding these families and identifies key leverage points: valuing the home language, reducing pressure on the child, and strengthening family integration. Through interviews, cultural probes, and co-creation with professionals, insights were translated into a low-threshold product-service system (PSS) embedded in the children’s living environment. The PSS encourages family interaction and neighbourhood engagement through playful exploration. The findings underscore the potential of …

Go to article

Balancing Aesthetics And Protection: How Digital Artists Navigate Structural Inequities Through Aesthetic Watermarking, Runqi Fang, Changjuan Ran, Shenglan Cui, Xiangyu Meng, Biyao Li, Fang Liu Jun 2026

Balancing Aesthetics And Protection: How Digital Artists Navigate Structural Inequities Through Aesthetic Watermarking, Runqi Fang, Changjuan Ran, Shenglan Cui, Xiangyu Meng, Biyao Li, Fang Liu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Online presentations of digital art place artists in an ongoing trade-off between gaining exposure and protecting copyright, one that current platforms inadequately support. As a result, artists often rely on aesthetic watermarks, yet how they manage this balance remains underexplored. In this study, we conducted a co-creation workshop with 18 digital artists and examined how they design aesthetic watermarks in practice. Analysis reveals three key concerns shaping their decisions: aesthetic integrity, semantic fidelity, and protective functionality. Participants struggled to manage the tension between protection and artistic completeness, while also expressing growing concerns about the security of their work, facing rapid …

Go to article

Historical Materials As Materials For Design, India Anderson, Skye Doherty, Ben Matthews Jun 2026

Historical Materials As Materials For Design, India Anderson, Skye Doherty, Ben Matthews

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Historical materials can support generative design work, however a tendency to focus on new and emerging technologies as design material mean the creative qualities of the past are underappreciated. This paper presents findings from four workshops that explore material and immaterial forms of history to better understand how the past might serve as material for design. Our findings illustrate how different material forms afford or limit relational connections to the present design context; that design references can hinder transformational experiences in practice; and how archival gaps and personal memory can also serve as design material. Our analysis underscores the need …

Go to article

The Atmospheric Jukebox - A Sonic Boundary Object For Multi-Sensory Exhibition Design, Jonas Rasmussen Kirkegaard Jun 2026

The Atmospheric Jukebox - A Sonic Boundary Object For Multi-Sensory Exhibition Design, Jonas Rasmussen Kirkegaard

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Museums increasingly aim to create multisensory, immersive experiences, yet exhibition design still tends to privilege visual-first ideation and communication, risking outcomes that are photogenic rather than atmospherically coherent for visitors. This paper introduces the Atmosphere Jukebox, an interactive soundscape playback device that enables heterogeneous teams of curators, designers, architects, historians, and educators, to listen to, discuss, and negotiate sonic atmospheres in the design process. In doing so, it supports multimodal attention and a shared imagination of the affective affordances that unfold across the visitor journey. The Atmosphere Jukebox is therefore proposed as a boundary object for atmospheric staging. The contribution …

Go to article

Body Class, The Grand Museum And The Queer Archive, Tadeas Riha Jun 2026

Body Class, The Grand Museum And The Queer Archive, Tadeas Riha

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Tělák, a Czech slang term for physical education (PE) that also echoes tělo - body, is a theatrical exhibition, developed by an interdisciplinary team of educators, activists, architects, and theatre professionals, introducing expressions of gender as a spectrum for teenage audiences. The exhibition unfolds across two layers. The first is a scenography evoking the familiar spaces of PE; corridors, changing rooms, bathrooms, gyms, reassembled within the museum’s own charged normative setting. The second is an archive of personal stories: fragments of experience retold by actors in sound, and others inscribed in situ by a local artist. This practice-based paper traces …

Go to article

Keeping It Real With Responsible Futuring: Reflecting On The Epistemic And Political Ambition Of A Transdisciplinary Approach For Societal Transitions, Cristina Zaga, Julieta Matos Castaño, Mascha Van Der Voort Jun 2026

Keeping It Real With Responsible Futuring: Reflecting On The Epistemic And Political Ambition Of A Transdisciplinary Approach For Societal Transitions, Cristina Zaga, Julieta Matos Castaño, Mascha Van Der Voort

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Amidst the upheaval of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the threat of the Sixth Extinction, designers focus on approaches that help communities connect and imagine alternative, desirable futures. Transdisciplinary approaches promise more sustainable and just transitions by valuing and integrating diverse forms of knowledge to co-shape more equitable design interventions. However, these ambitions often fall short. Transdisciplinary practices may be reduced to justice-washing or corporate co-optation, frequently failing to achieve epistemic and social justice. This paper introduces Responsible Futuring, a transdisciplinary design-led approach that enables communities to actively shape their future trajectories, embracing collaboration and diverse perspectives as catalysts for …

Go to article

Towards More-Than-Human Inclusion: Designing Artefacts That Cultivate Attentiveness For Engaging With More-Than-Human Worlds, Jorge Luis Siesquén Deza Jun 2026

Towards More-Than-Human Inclusion: Designing Artefacts That Cultivate Attentiveness For Engaging With More-Than-Human Worlds, Jorge Luis Siesquén Deza

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explores how Inclusive design can be expanded to recognise nonhuman stakeholders by engaging perspectives from the More-than-Human turn. Using Research-through-Design, the study combines literature, semi-structured interviews, and case studies to identify barriers to designers’ responsible engagement with nonhuman entities. The findings reveal that while designers are open to widening inclusion, current practices remain centred on human empathy, usability, and evidence, leaving nonhuman concerns unaccounted for. Instead of expanding the repertoire of prescriptive tools, what is needed is the cultivation of attentiveness and care that enables designers to engage meaningfully with nonhuman agencies. This research offers two contributions: (1) …

Go to article

Co-Speculating Future Design Research Opportunities In Community Sharing With Local Sharing Communities, Haili Wu, Bettina Nissen, Susan Lechelt Jun 2026

Co-Speculating Future Design Research Opportunities In Community Sharing With Local Sharing Communities, Haili Wu, Bettina Nissen, Susan Lechelt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Sharing communities challenge traditional models of ownership by allowing their members to temporarily access resources such as DIY tools, workshop spaces, and musical instruments. Although designers and design researchers have previously involved sharing communities in design, there are additional opportunities to engage sharing communities in speculating about their possible futures. This study invited 13 participants from various local sharing communities in Scotland to collaboratively speculate on how developments in technology, infrastructure, the economy, politics, and social and cultural aspects might influence their community sharing practices in the long term. By examining their future scenarios, we gain insight into the possible …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last