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From Decoration To Co-Presence: Reconfiguring Human–Plant Relations In Urban Workplaces Through Aesthetic Bio-Feedback, Yibo Meng, Bingyi Liu, Siyuan Li, Xinran Huang Jun 2026

From Decoration To Co-Presence: Reconfiguring Human–Plant Relations In Urban Workplaces Through Aesthetic Bio-Feedback, Yibo Meng, Bingyi Liu, Siyuan Li, Xinran Huang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Office plants are ubiquitous in urban workplaces, yet they are often treated as disposable decoration rather than living co-inhabitants. This paper examines how interaction design can reconfigure this cultural framing. Using a research-through-design approach that combines interviews, the creation of an aesthetic biofeedback artefact, and a longitudinal deployment, we explore how plant vitality, expressed through light and sound, shapes everyday encounters between employees and plants. Rather than improving maintenance efficiency, the artefact functions as a relational probe. Participants described empathy, comfort, and companionship, alongside guilt, pressure, and resistance when the plant’s expressions demanded attention. These tensions show how care for …

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Integrating Co-Design And Auto-Ethnographic Approaches: A Preliminary Review Of Methods, Intentions, And Potential, Jingyuan Tan, Linfu Zhang Jun 2026

Integrating Co-Design And Auto-Ethnographic Approaches: A Preliminary Review Of Methods, Intentions, And Potential, Jingyuan Tan, Linfu Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Co-design emphasizes the outward connectivity of perspectives and aspirations, while autoethnography foregrounds the inward exploration of the personal and intimate. Recent trends in design research that integrate these approaches prompted this literature review, guided by the question: How might combining co-design and auto-ethnographic approaches contribute uniquely to design practice and research? Drawing from design studies in education, healthcare, HCI, and community engagement, the review identifies five methodological variations of co-design and auto-ethnographic integration: solo, dialogic, triangulated, cumulative, and solidary. It suggests that these collaborative-reflective–narrative approaches empower co-design practitioners to (1) navigate their evolving and layered roles and identities in relation …

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Situated Knowledge In Rural Craft Practices: A Context-Sensitive Approach To Craft–Design Collaboration In Fife, Scotland, Peining Sheng, Ayaan Ahmed Jun 2026

Situated Knowledge In Rural Craft Practices: A Context-Sensitive Approach To Craft–Design Collaboration In Fife, Scotland, Peining Sheng, Ayaan Ahmed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores how craft, as an unselfconscious design practice and embodied knowledge, contributes to situated design research, based on an ethnographic field study in Fife, Scotland, and a co-creation workshop in Edinburgh. The study points out that existing studies and practices promoting craft–design collaboration tend to focus on urban contexts and designer-led methods, often resulting in a lack of context-sensitive consideration and the presence of imbalanced relationships. Thus, this study underscores that understanding the local knowledge of rural-based craft practitioners and the distinct attributes of rural settings can respond to the challenges of rural craft practices and the barriers …

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Learning How To Use Bodystorming In Service Design For Generating New Insights And Ideas: An Application To Out-Of-Hours Primary Care In The Netherlands, Ömer Taha Döver, Monisha Mohan, Dirk Snelders, Nikita Arora, Ruihong Geng, Paula Melo Signerez, Mathé Delissen Jun 2026

Learning How To Use Bodystorming In Service Design For Generating New Insights And Ideas: An Application To Out-Of-Hours Primary Care In The Netherlands, Ömer Taha Döver, Monisha Mohan, Dirk Snelders, Nikita Arora, Ruihong Geng, Paula Melo Signerez, Mathé Delissen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Bodystorming is a design method for generating new insights and ideas for service improvement through improvised, embodied roleplay. However, it is not easy to learn how to use bodystorming as a generative method. Guidance for learning focuses on how to engage in embodied social-technical interactions, but it does not specify clear goals for wanting to do so. In a case study of an out-of-hours primary care service we explored how goal setting can stimulate novice users to use bodystorming to generate insights and ideas. Over three iterations of bodystorming, a group of novice bodystormers focused on goals that they derived …

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Careful Configurations: An Exploration Of Smart Technologies In More-Than-Human Innovation, Ruth Neubauer, Verena Fuchsberger Jun 2026

Careful Configurations: An Exploration Of Smart Technologies In More-Than-Human Innovation, Ruth Neubauer, Verena Fuchsberger

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Smart technologies promise efficiency and sustainability, yet their intelligence remains narrow – confined to optimising isolated human needs rather than nurturing the wider ecologies in which lives unfold. This paper explores how design may shift from smart technologies to more careful configurations: systems that participate in human–material–environmental relations rather than merely processing data. Drawing on Barad’s framework of intra-action, we reimagine technological innovation as distributed and relational. Through a series of eco-social prototypes – from modular heating and communal hydration to wooden fridges and moss bathrooms – the paper demonstrates how care, reciprocity and participation may re-enter the logic of …

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Mapping Agents: A Fab City Full Stack Geospatial Framework For Interdependent, Community-Led Interventions, Tomas Vivanco, Tomas Diez Jun 2026

Mapping Agents: A Fab City Full Stack Geospatial Framework For Interdependent, Community-Led Interventions, Tomas Vivanco, Tomas Diez

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article explores mapping as an experimental design practice that emerges from the intersection of ecosystems, technologies, and communities. Grounded in the Powers of Ten model and the Fab City Full Stack framework, our approach combines multi-scale observation- ranging from local infrastructures to bioregional systems- to capture ecological, material, and social data that reveal the interdependencies shaping territories. The work focuses on detecting weak signals of hyperlocal phenomena, often overlooked shifts in ecological or social systems, that can guide an iterative prototyping process. In this way, mapping becomes a generative act, tracing connections between citizens' behaviors, environmental conditions, and material …

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Unstructuring Data, Activating Dialogue: How Situated Knowledges Shape Participatory Systemic Design Practices, Asja Aulisio, Amina Pereno, Martina Spinelli Jun 2026

Unstructuring Data, Activating Dialogue: How Situated Knowledges Shape Participatory Systemic Design Practices, Asja Aulisio, Amina Pereno, Martina Spinelli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores the role of data within participatory systemic design, focusing on how structured and unstructured data influence participation, sensemaking, and representation. Through three interconnected applications, the research examines how systems’ visual representations function as boundary objects that enable dialogue, trust, and shared understanding among diverse actors. Drawing on the concept of unstructuring data, the paper discusses how transforming data from fixed, expert-driven artefacts into open, evolving representations fosters inclusivity and reflexivity in design processes. The findings highlight that structured data support decision-making in well-defined contexts, whereas unstructured data stimulate exploration and collective learning in complex or fragile territories. …

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Youth As Cultural Agents: Facilitating Cultural And Civic Engagement Through Game Design, Carlo De Gaetano, Maarten Groen, Sabine Niederer, Susannah Montgomery Jun 2026

Youth As Cultural Agents: Facilitating Cultural And Civic Engagement Through Game Design, Carlo De Gaetano, Maarten Groen, Sabine Niederer, Susannah Montgomery

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper analyzes four Cultural Game Jams (CGJs) in the Netherlands, conducted within EPIC-WE, a European project exploring how game-making can become a tool for both cultural reflection and dialogue between youth and cultural, educational and creative stakeholders. The jams connected cultural heritage organisations, creative industries, higher education, and young people (15–25) in a Quadruple Helix framework. Across two years, youths designed games that addressed societal issues, cultural heritage, and European values, while their roles evolved from participants to members of a Youth Advisory Board acting as co-designers, research contributors, and co-facilitators. Through cross-case analysis of jam formats, game outcomes, …

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Enframing Creativity: Speculations On Design Education's Transformations In The Age Of Generative Ai, Alireza Sharifi, Michael Hohl, Fredrik Skatar Jun 2026

Enframing Creativity: Speculations On Design Education's Transformations In The Age Of Generative Ai, Alireza Sharifi, Michael Hohl, Fredrik Skatar

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The rapid advancement of AI technologies necessitates a shift from reactive adoption to speculative inquiry into long-term consequences for educational systems. Grounded in Martin Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology," this research examines the epistemology of AI in design education. Methodologically, it employs speculative futurology, integrating speculative design, critical design, and scenario planning to explore possible futures, culminating in a philosophical mapping framework based on Heidegger's critical stance. The findings reveal a critical temporal mismatch between rapid AI capability growth and slower educational adaptation, creating urgency for human-centered frameworks. The research concludes that design education's future depends on consciously cultivating Critical …

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Designing Knowledge Otherwise: The Bembo Officina Editoriale As A Case For Alternative Academic Publishing, Raimonda Riccini, Simone Spagnol, Giampiero Dalai, Stefania D'Eri, Manuel Zanettin, Giovanni Borga, Luciano Perondi Jun 2026

Designing Knowledge Otherwise: The Bembo Officina Editoriale As A Case For Alternative Academic Publishing, Raimonda Riccini, Simone Spagnol, Giampiero Dalai, Stefania D'Eri, Manuel Zanettin, Giovanni Borga, Luciano Perondi

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents Bembo Officina Editoriale (BOE) as a design-research experiment addressing the epistemological, ethical, and technical tensions in contemporary scientific publishing. BOE develops an open-source, automated editorial workflow—based on Markdown–Python pipelines—to generate fully editable InDesign outputs, reducing production costs and enabling accessibility without compromising design quality. Rooted in a non-profit academic framework, the model reclaims editorial autonomy while resisting the inequities of commercial open-access models based on Article Processing Charges. BOE thus proposes an alternative publishing infrastructure where automation sustains pluralism and transparency. The contribution situates this approach within a critical reflection on the historical continuity between typographic rationalization …

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Plant Biographies: Expanding More-Than-Human Modes Of Relating, Keili Koppel, Larissa Pschetz, Michelle Bastian, Antje Ahrends Jun 2026

Plant Biographies: Expanding More-Than-Human Modes Of Relating, Keili Koppel, Larissa Pschetz, Michelle Bastian, Antje Ahrends

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The term “plant awareness disparity” describes a tendency to overlook plants in the environment leading us to underestimate their significance in ecological systems. In this paper, we explore plant biographies as a participatory narrative method that aims to leverage new modes of relating to plants. The method consists of introducing people to the history of seasonal changes experienced by the plant, inviting them to locate and attune to its present condition, and finally writing a short biography about the plant. The interaction was tested with visitors of a botanic garden, who were invited to engage with two individual Rhododendron plants, …

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Reimagining Id Education With Ai: Perceptions, Practices, And Pedagogical Implications Of Ai Adoption, Yuanqing Tian, Byungsoo Kim Jun 2026

Reimagining Id Education With Ai: Perceptions, Practices, And Pedagogical Implications Of Ai Adoption, Yuanqing Tian, Byungsoo Kim

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study investigates how Industrial Design (ID) programs can effectively adopt and integrate Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) into curricula, while respecting the well-established ID workflow and preserving the core ID values of originality and creativity. Through multi-perspective qualitative research (including 7 ID faculty members, 6 industry professionals, and over 70 ID students), this study maps current AI tools, roles, and use cases within the ID workflow, identifies key pedagogical challenges, and proposes strategies that bridge foundational design traditions with emerging AI opportunities. Findings introduces a progressive learning trajectory, supported by innovative teaching practices that cultivate an AI-collaborative design mindset. By …

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Crafting Savage Futures: Translanguaging And The Material Politics Of Peripheral Making, Guilherme Meyer, Seher Mirza, Raees Calafato Jun 2026

Crafting Savage Futures: Translanguaging And The Material Politics Of Peripheral Making, Guilherme Meyer, Seher Mirza, Raees Calafato

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Dominant paradigms have confined imaginaries to narrow, hegemonic narratives, severing them from plural, relational, and non-domesticated possibilities. This paper challenges monolithic views of language and material craft by offering a transformative lens on cultural and linguistic dynamism within design research and practice. Drawing on “savage” futures (Lévi-Strauss, 1966) and “translanguaging” (Lee, 2015; García & Kleifgen, 2020), we highlight the situated creative practices of peripheral craft makers as mediums for multilingual storytelling, identity negotiation, and speculative futures. Translanguaging extends beyond language, involving embodied, material, and affective communication as non-hierarchical resources for collective worlding and shared meaning-making. Through participatory craft projects in …

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Mediating Heritage Through Design: Participatory Approaches To Post-Digital Transformation, Lorenzo Barberis, Lorenzo Arena, Vlasios Kasapakis, Viktor Malakuczi, Ioannis Chatziannakis Jun 2026

Mediating Heritage Through Design: Participatory Approaches To Post-Digital Transformation, Lorenzo Barberis, Lorenzo Arena, Vlasios Kasapakis, Viktor Malakuczi, Ioannis Chatziannakis

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explores how design mediates the digital transformation of cultural heritage through hybrid and multisensory installations in archaeological contexts. Using the Case Romane del Celio in Rome as a pilot site for the European project HeritAdapt, it aims to redistribute visitor flows and promote sustainable tourism by enhancing the intangible value of minor sites. The study contributes to the post-digital museology debate by framing design as a critical, participatory practice operating across physical and virtual dimensions, fostering collaboration among engineering, management and restoration. Combining Service Design, Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence technologies, qualitative research and iterative prototyping guided the …

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The Role Of Participatory Architecture In Urban Transition, Mirian Calvo, Carmen Fabregat-Nodar Jun 2026

The Role Of Participatory Architecture In Urban Transition, Mirian Calvo, Carmen Fabregat-Nodar

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In response to escalating socio-environmental challenges, transformative approaches in architectural design are crucial for facilitating urban transitions. Conventional adaptation strategies, prioritising density and digital integration, often fail to address the multifaceted crises facing modern urban contexts. Participatory architecture offers a shift towards socially engaged practices, fostering innovation and sustainable adaptation by creating spaces of disruption. This study evaluates projects in Colombia, Spain, Senegal, and the UK using our tailored/expanded deep adaptation framework through four components— resilience, relinquishment, restoration, and reconciliation. Our findings reveal that participatory architecture can enable communities to transform vulnerabilities into actionable interventions for sustainable development and transitions. …

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Material Articulation: Toward An Ornamental Thinking In Digital Tectonics, Ali Etemadi Esfarjani, Manuel Kretzer Jun 2026

Material Articulation: Toward An Ornamental Thinking In Digital Tectonics, Ali Etemadi Esfarjani, Manuel Kretzer

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explores ornament as a form of material intelligence in large-scale additive manufacturing. Through the evolution of two design case studies, this paper investigates how micro-scale design articulation evolves from surface tectonics to the traces of the machine’s toolpath and material behaviour. One reveals itself as an organic, agent-based, data-informed modulation. The other integrates a woven toolpath strategy that transforms 3D printing into a spatial composition. Considering ornament not only as an aesthetic element but as a manifestation of process creates a dialogue between matter, performance, and application. With the help of computational design and data, this intervention expands …

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Data And Power: A Tool For Designing Data Visualisations From A Feminist Perspective, Bianca Novais Queiroz, Virgínia Tiradentes Souto Jun 2026

Data And Power: A Tool For Designing Data Visualisations From A Feminist Perspective, Bianca Novais Queiroz, Virgínia Tiradentes Souto

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The production of knowledge in data visualisation can serve as a space for the reproduction of social hierarchies; therefore, there may be an intrinsic relationship between normative parameters in design and power structures. This study examines normative biases in information design and presents counterpoints to the predominance of these hegemonic values from a feminist perspective. Drawing on a theoretical framework that challenges established norms, this paper proposes a critical analytical and methodological tool to transcend normative bias in the design process. The tool supports the analysis and creation of visualisations from a humanistic and feminist perspective. To validate its potential, …

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Public Dialogues: A Citizen Participation Platform For Adaptive Deliberation, Arnold-Jan Quanjer, Nazanin Karimi, Jos P. Van Leeuwen Jun 2026

Public Dialogues: A Citizen Participation Platform For Adaptive Deliberation, Arnold-Jan Quanjer, Nazanin Karimi, Jos P. Van Leeuwen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents a practice-based approach to designing a platform for creative and deliberative citizen participation, grounded in observations of how people deliberate face-to-face. Insights from these observations informed the design, enabling the platform to mirror and extend in-person dynamics. Because deliberative processes are diverse and serve multiple purposes, taking them online requires a modular architecture, diverse deliberation tools, and flexible moderation. Participation processes also evolve during execution, so the platform was designed for adaptability, allowing moderators to respond to emerging dynamics and changing needs. The paper discusses and evaluates several practical cases demonstrating the platform’s application. Finally, it reflects …

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Designing With And Through Care: From Empathy To Relational Accountability, Ibtissam Jayed, Valentina Sorvillo Jun 2026

Designing With And Through Care: From Empathy To Relational Accountability, Ibtissam Jayed, Valentina Sorvillo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In contemporary design practice, care risks becoming an imperative that obscures asymmetric power relations. This paper interrogates the relationship between design and care, asking: how can design shift from producing solutions to cultivating relations of care without reproducing paternalistic logics? Through a comparative analysis of case studies through the lenses of knowing, making, and defining with care, we treat caring about, caring for, and caring with as simultaneous and co-present dimensions to examine how care operates within design processes. The analysis identifies a structural pattern: while caring about and caring for are compatible with existing design logics, caring with encounters …

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Boundary Objects For Systemic Insight: Relational And Embodied Systemic Co-Design Case Studies, Laura Niño Caceres, Sietske Klooster, Caroline Hummels, Wina Smeenk Jun 2026

Boundary Objects For Systemic Insight: Relational And Embodied Systemic Co-Design Case Studies, Laura Niño Caceres, Sietske Klooster, Caroline Hummels, Wina Smeenk

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Relational negotiation, contextual adaptation, and reflective exchanges between designers and non‑designers are central to how boundary objects shape knowledge creation and systemic insight in Systemic Co‑Design (SCD). Drawing on the ESCollab publication, this study examines two embodied SCD cases, the MelkSalon and the Co‑Design Canvas, which foreground sensory, experiential, and artefact‑based engagement. Using systems thinking, Relevance Theory, Aristotelian rhetoric, and affordance theory as lenses, we analyse how these boundary objects mediate boundary framing between designers and non‑designers. Findings indicate that boundary objects are most effective when grounded in contextual and cultural realities, fostering emotional engagement, trust, and adaptive participation to …

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Care-Ful Sensemaking: Co-Mapping Lived Experiences And Biases In Hormonal Self-Management Tools, Roberta Antognini, Francesca Toso, Cristina Zaga, Mascha Van Der Voort Jun 2026

Care-Ful Sensemaking: Co-Mapping Lived Experiences And Biases In Hormonal Self-Management Tools, Roberta Antognini, Francesca Toso, Cristina Zaga, Mascha Van Der Voort

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Self-management technologies help patients manage their health and improve autonomy by tracking biomedical data. For people with hormonal chronic conditions, these tools clarify complex, fluctuating symptoms. These technologies often rely on clinical data, overlooking the complexity and context of lived experiences, risking continued healthcare bias. This paper explores the lived experiences of people with chronic hormonal illness through a feminist ethics of care perspective. In collaborative sensemaking workshops, we unveiled how social and political contexts shape these experiences, the implicit politics of what data is valued (and what is not), and the socio-technical framing of self-management tools. Examining the intersections …

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Occupying The Sensors: Underwater Sound In An Urban River, Sebastian Gonzalez Quintero, Dietmar Offenhuber Jun 2026

Occupying The Sensors: Underwater Sound In An Urban River, Sebastian Gonzalez Quintero, Dietmar Offenhuber

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Although underwater soundscapes of urban rivers are understudied, they can reveal urban and biological processes across multiple scales. We present a case study of the Charles River’s underwater soundscapes in Boston, Massachusetts. We approach underwater acoustic sensing as a method to attune to infrastructural, non-human, and environmental dynamics. Given that water is an ideal medium for sound propagation, the river becomes a magnifier for ignored aspects of the city, such as the urban infrastructure’s impact on the river's soundscape or aquatic fauna activity. In the sensing process, the river’s underwater environment becomes a space where human, more-than-human, environmental, and infrastructural …

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From Matter To Method: Situated And Relational Approaches Through Geothermal Clays, Alejandra Vera Jun 2026

From Matter To Method: Situated And Relational Approaches Through Geothermal Clays, Alejandra Vera

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Working with natural materials can open space for exploratory forms of inquiry. This paper examines how nature influences our approaches to artistic practice and research. Through the frameworks of introspective methodologies and posthumanism, this study examines a case of Icelandic geothermal clays to reflect on possible methodological approaches within artistic research. The author’s ceramic practice serves to trace the processes of developing artworks with natural materials. The acts of collecting, testing, and designing with geothermal clays become both a creative and an epistemic endeavour, a way of thinking with and through materials. Artistic practice emerges as a form of inquiry …

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Interdependencies Of Art History And Design History Curriculum In Indian Undergraduate Education, Srutinwita Roy, Saurabh Tewari Jun 2026

Interdependencies Of Art History And Design History Curriculum In Indian Undergraduate Education, Srutinwita Roy, Saurabh Tewari

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research investigates the interdependencies between the subject of Art History and Design History within undergraduate programs across five prominent institutions in India. The study draws upon the experiences, perspectives, and reflections of both teachers and students and through interviews, curriculum mapping, and classroom observations, explores how these two disciplines influence, overlap, and inform each other in both content and pedagogy. The findings reveal that these subjects are deeply interconnected, with each contributing significantly to the understanding and evolution of the other. The research also highlights institutional variations among curriculum development. It is observed that the absence of a defined …

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Between Worlds: Play Materials As Mediators Of The Lived And The Ludic, Lakshmi Srinivasan, Khushboo Jogani Jun 2026

Between Worlds: Play Materials As Mediators Of The Lived And The Ludic, Lakshmi Srinivasan, Khushboo Jogani

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The ludic space exists both within and beyond reality as a parallel world. While play design has been explored through rules, experiences, and systems, the role of play materials as mediators between lived and ludic space remains under-discussed. This paper examines how play materials invite players into, operate within, and emerge from the ludic space, shaping gameplay and learning. Using a practice-based approach, the Between Worlds (BW) framework was developed and empirically grounded through classroom projects involving over 130 undergraduate students at BITS Design School. The framework identifies four qualities of play materials that enable transitions between lived and ludic …

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Who Designs The Designer? An Anticolonial Response To The World That Design Us Back, Eduardo A. B. M. Souza, Carmem Saito, Frederick Van Amstel, Rodrigo Freese Gonzatto Jun 2026

Who Designs The Designer? An Anticolonial Response To The World That Design Us Back, Eduardo A. B. M. Souza, Carmem Saito, Frederick Van Amstel, Rodrigo Freese Gonzatto

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The ontological aspect of designing is commonly defined as a feedforward loop between the world and the designer, as if the world designed us as much as we design it. In this definition, derived from the “everyone is a designer” motto, “everyone” means “we,” but also “no one”. Thus, design philosophy avoids scrutinizing worldly agents interested in designing the designer, understanding the world as a homogeneous force reacting to the designer. A world where many worlds fit isn’t a homogeneous one; therefore, answering “who designs the designer?” from an anticolonial stance requires considering the social production of design(ed) bodies and …

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Learning From Inexperienced Users’ Early Engagement With Food Tracking, Isil Oygur, Saadet Tikac Andic Jun 2026

Learning From Inexperienced Users’ Early Engagement With Food Tracking, Isil Oygur, Saadet Tikac Andic

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Current food tracking applications are largely designed to support behaviour change among users who track their food intake to meet predefined goals. As a result, individuals who are curious about food tracking but do not have specific goals remain underserved, limiting the potential of these tools for preventive care. To address this gap, we conducted a three-phase interview study using an existing food journaling application as a probe to reimagine food tracking experiences for inexperienced users. Thirty-one participants used the app for 14 days and discussed their views on healthy eating, food practices, and their tracking experiences. Our analysis identified …

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Exploring Circular Economy Strategies In The Fashion Industry: A Comparative Case Study Analysis, Gabriela Fabro Cardoso, Alessandra Spagnoli Jun 2026

Exploring Circular Economy Strategies In The Fashion Industry: A Comparative Case Study Analysis, Gabriela Fabro Cardoso, Alessandra Spagnoli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The transition toward a more circular economy is closely linked to the extent to which fashion brands incorporate sustainability principles into their retail communication, and operational practices. This paper explores circularity strategies within the fashion industry through a comparative case study analysis and data were collected through a systematic desktop review of publicly available sources. The analytical framework is structured around three key themes (Advocacy, Actions, and Transparency) through which brands engage consumers, implement circular operations, and communicate measurable impact specifically within the distribution and consumption phase. Additionally, the study discusses the role of Design as an enabler of circularity, …

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From Appraisal To Affect: Designing A Playful Activity For Social Emotional Learning Among Children, Jonathan Sawian, Aditi Sharma Jun 2026

From Appraisal To Affect: Designing A Playful Activity For Social Emotional Learning Among Children, Jonathan Sawian, Aditi Sharma

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The National Education Policy of India (2020) states that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is essential towards student’s holistic development. While existing curricula provide structured guidance and learning, they often lack playful and participatory elements to engage children in the learning process. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a non-digital, co-operative and playful activity called Bhavna Chakra (Wheel of Emotions) which aims to teach children about emotional awareness using Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. The study proposes a design framework based on cognitive appraisal theory, narrative structure and social play. A within-subjects study with 40 students (ages 11–12) from low …

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Participatory Visual Mapping As A Systemic Data Collection Method In Complex, High-Pressure Context, Wenbo Ai, Alison Prendiville Jun 2026

Participatory Visual Mapping As A Systemic Data Collection Method In Complex, High-Pressure Context, Wenbo Ai, Alison Prendiville

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper introduces design ethnographic methods—participatory observation and visual mapping activities—used in the discovery phase of a co-design project aimed at optimising blood culture pathways for potentially infectious patients across three NHS trust emergency departments in the UK. By integrating participatory systemic design with ethnographic approaches, the study enabled clinical staff to share their insights and shape service workflows. Their engagement reshapes systemic thinking for blood culture pathways used by clinical staff, enabling researchers to frame co-design workshops and later systemic interventions for the next stage of the research project. This paper emphasises the significance of systemic visual mapping activities …

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