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Supporting Deep(Er) Engagement With Site Through Blended Resources: A Case Study Across Two Design Studios, James Thompson, Sidh Sintusingha, Dennis Prior Jun 2026

Supporting Deep(Er) Engagement With Site Through Blended Resources: A Case Study Across Two Design Studios, James Thompson, Sidh Sintusingha, Dennis Prior

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reports on the evaluation of a funded teaching initiative for two undergraduate studios, one architecture and one landscape architecture, within an Australia-based design school. The initiative funded the expansion of a virtual site visit, as well as production of detailed digital and physical models. This suite of resources was meant to reduce demand on students related to searching for contextual and historical background, thus allowing them to grapple with the site’s complexities in a deeper fashion than they might otherwise. Students reported satisfaction across a range of criteria, including engagement, interaction, and feedback. Teaching staff reported more sustained …

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Does Knowledge In Design Require A Distinct Epistemology? A Critical Rationalist Perspective, Jj Digby Jun 2026

Does Knowledge In Design Require A Distinct Epistemology? A Critical Rationalist Perspective, Jj Digby

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design epistemology has long been divided by apparent dualities, such as science versus art and rationality versus intuition, which resist resolution within existing frameworks. This paper argues these are false dichotomies and that Critical Rationalism (Popper, 1963/2002, 1972; Deutsch, 1997, 2011) provides a universal account of knowledge creation that explains the distinctive character of design without requiring a separate epistemology. Knowledge is conjectural and fallible: progress occurs not through justification or verification, but through iterative creative conjecture and — crucially — error-correction via criticism. Deutsch's account of knowledge as physically instantiated information, subject to the same logic of variation and …

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Testing The Unbuilt: Design Studios As Research For Wicked Opportunities, Linus Tan, Justyna Karakiewicz Jun 2026

Testing The Unbuilt: Design Studios As Research For Wicked Opportunities, Linus Tan, Justyna Karakiewicz

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research examines the design studio as a form of architectural design research. Architectural and Urban Design studios have been operating as epistemic laboratories in which the processes of evaluating wicked problems, proposing design interventions, and iteratively testing the fit between the brief and design intersect to generate new knowledge. It is often impractical to evaluate the long-term implications of built works on complex, interrelated societal issues, as such assessments are time-consuming, costly, and rarely yield transferable insights. Hence, many architects and urban designers investigate design opportunities in design studios, allowing them to test, reframe and expand their understanding of …

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Critical Assembly: Exploring The Role Of Critical Making In Complex Technology Relationships, Chuan Khoo Jun 2026

Critical Assembly: Exploring The Role Of Critical Making In Complex Technology Relationships, Chuan Khoo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Critical making often assumes that practitioners possess or can acquire sufficient technical and fabrication skills to balance reflective inquiry with material engagement. Yet, as digital and networked technologies grow more abstract and complex, they risk constraining critical making by privileging technical proficiency over critical reflection. This tension raises questions about accessibility and the depth of engagement required for meaningful participation, as reliance on pre-integrated solutions may distance both practitioners and lay participants from interrogating technology’s societal roles. Still, uncovering the components of technological systems remains essential to critical engagement. This article proposes critical assembly as an extension of critical making, …

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The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping Cuteness As An Affective Strategy For Purpose-Led Communication Design, Guo Yi Xian Yix, Mimi Nguyen, David Preston Jun 2026

The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping Cuteness As An Affective Strategy For Purpose-Led Communication Design, Guo Yi Xian Yix, Mimi Nguyen, David Preston

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Cuteness is often dismissed as trivial or decorative. Yet research across neuroscience, psychology, and cultural theory reveals it as a powerful affective force that captures attention, evokes empathy, and encourages prosocial behaviour and well-being. Cute’s affective potency also renders it ethically ambivalent, capable of manipulation as much as comfort. Despite its ubiquity, cuteness remains under-theorised in design research, a notable gap for a discipline concerned with communication, emotion, and human connection. Addressing this gap, this study conducts an interpretive systematic literature review of publications from 1943 to 2025, identifying 65 key scholarly sources. Interdisciplinary insights are synthesized into the ‘Cuteness …

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Designing Within The Clinic: A Situated Co-Design Approach For Healthcare Provider Engagement, Neda Barbazi, Ji Youn Shin, Gurumurthy Hiremath, Carlye Anne Lauff Jun 2026

Designing Within The Clinic: A Situated Co-Design Approach For Healthcare Provider Engagement, Neda Barbazi, Ji Youn Shin, Gurumurthy Hiremath, Carlye Anne Lauff

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Healthcare providers’ participation in the design process is essential for developing effective care interventions. However, engaging them through traditional design methods is challenging due to heavy workloads, unpredictable schedules, and hierarchical roles within care teams. Traditional co-design approaches, such as synchronous workshops, are often less effective in capturing clinical realities and may not fully embody participatory principles of collaboration and shared ownership. Our study addresses these challenges through a situated, self-paced co-design approach created with provider input and embedded within clinical workflows. Conducted in a pediatric cardiology clinic, fifteen providers participated over one month to refine a hybrid educational intervention …

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Affective Epistemologies: Textile Teaching At University Of Chile, 1930-2000, Camila Vicencio-Pérez, Magdalena Cattan-Lavin Jun 2026

Affective Epistemologies: Textile Teaching At University Of Chile, 1930-2000, Camila Vicencio-Pérez, Magdalena Cattan-Lavin

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study analyses textile teaching at Universidad de Chile (1930-2000), the first institution to incorporate it as an academic discipline in the country, as a case of theory-making through practice. Drawing on archives, oral testimonies, and material objects (looms, notebooks, works), we reconstruct how textiles operated simultaneously as technical knowledge, affective space, and pedagogical practice. In dialogue with Catherine Dormor, we approach weaving as material thinking and "theory-making" through making; following Elvira Espejo, we situate it as a matrix of relational knowledges. This case inscribes itself within institutionalization of textiles in 20th-century art and design schools, with influence from foreign …

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Design For Trust: A Study On The Emotional Design Method Of Ai Educational Robots For Children With Autism, Shanhao Fang, Han Yu, Xiang Yuan Jun 2026

Design For Trust: A Study On The Emotional Design Method Of Ai Educational Robots For Children With Autism, Shanhao Fang, Han Yu, Xiang Yuan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Amid the integration of AI into special education, establishing trust between AI educational robots and children with autism through emotional design is a critical challenge in HCI. While emotional design benefits general educational robots, systematic frameworks and empirical evidence for autistic children remain scarce. This study applies the three-level emotional design model (Instinctive, behavioral, reflective) to examine how multimodal elements—voice (volume, speed), appearance (color, form), and emotional expressions—affect attention, interaction willingness, and trust. A controlled experiment (N=12) revealed that higher volume, slower speech, warm colors, and positive expressions significantly improve engagement and trust. Based on the results, a design evaluation …

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The Wicked Problem Of Ai Policy Design, Awais Hameed Khan, Saarim Saghir, Paul Henman Jun 2026

The Wicked Problem Of Ai Policy Design, Awais Hameed Khan, Saarim Saghir, Paul Henman

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Development of policy tools and instruments has always trailed behind technological innovations. More recently, the rapid advancement of AI technologies has resulted in significant widening of this policy gap — a genuine wicked problem. To address this we developed a participatory AI Policy Design toolkit, engaging 23 technology researchers and practitioners to (1) critically evaluate existing AI use cases to identify key considerations for policy; (2) generate a catalogue of current and near future AI use-cases in their domains of expertise; and (3) collaboratively develop AI policy intervention proposal artefacts, and foster a shared vocabulary for AI policy design. Results …

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Design Considerations For Effective In-Vehicle Interaction: The Effects Of Icon Type And Individual Heterogeneity, Weiqi He, Meiyan Leng, Chunxi Huang Jun 2026

Design Considerations For Effective In-Vehicle Interaction: The Effects Of Icon Type And Individual Heterogeneity, Weiqi He, Meiyan Leng, Chunxi Huang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Icons are essential visual elements in vehicle cabins, serving as key conduits for presenting information. As in-vehicle infotainment systems grow increasingly complex, it becomes critical to understand how different types of icons influence the interaction effectiveness across different user groups. This study investigates the effects of icon type and individual cognitive differences on in-vehicle interaction effectiveness, employing a 2×2 mixed experimental design with two independent variables: icon type (i.e., abstract versus concrete) and drivers’ construal level (i.e., high versus low). Results show that icon type significantly affects reaction time, perceived matchiness, and cognitive fluency, while construal level independently modulates cognitive …

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Critical Reflectors, Bridge-Builders, And Sense-Makers: How Designers Intervene In Ai’S Reproduction Of Gender Inequality, Sanita Budihardjo, Kazjon Grace, Josie Young, Yiying Wu Jun 2026

Critical Reflectors, Bridge-Builders, And Sense-Makers: How Designers Intervene In Ai’S Reproduction Of Gender Inequality, Sanita Budihardjo, Kazjon Grace, Josie Young, Yiying Wu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In recent years, AI has become increasingly entangled with design practice, whether as a tool, a design material, or a collaborator. Alongside these opportunities, it is necessary to recognise AI as a socio-technical system that reproduces existing gender hierarchies. Treating design as a political site of intervention; this paper examines how designers can ground their practice in addressing gender bias in AI. Drawing on a scoping review of gender bias in AI, feminist design perspectives, and existing interventions in design research, we argue that designers occupy a consequential role as critical reflectors, bridge-builders, and sense-makers, uniquely positioned to question how …

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Designing With Country: Relational Infrastructuring Beyond Technocratic Urbanism, Kimberley Harding, Jennifer Seevinck, Marcus Foth Jun 2026

Designing With Country: Relational Infrastructuring Beyond Technocratic Urbanism, Kimberley Harding, Jennifer Seevinck, Marcus Foth

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The design of both physical and digital layers of the built environment is increasingly shaped by the pursuit of “smartness,” often privileging efficiency and control over the cultural, ecological, and ethical dimensions that sustain life in cities. Resisting this technocratic urbanism and reimagining infrastructuring through Australian Aboriginal principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) – including relationality, responsibility, and reciprocity – offers ethical and sustainable directions for design. This paper proposes relational infrastructuring as a situated design practice that enacts and sustains cultural and ecological relations rather than merely delivering technical functions. Drawing on design scholarship, Indigenous knowledges, and urban studies, …

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“Everything That No Longer Relates To Anything”: Discard Studies For Thinking Through Waste In Design, Timothy Cowlishaw, Joan Soler Adillon, Laia Blasco Soplon Jun 2026

“Everything That No Longer Relates To Anything”: Discard Studies For Thinking Through Waste In Design, Timothy Cowlishaw, Joan Soler Adillon, Laia Blasco Soplon

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Existing attitudes to waste in sustainable design treat it as a quantity to be minimized: reduced, reused, or recycled. However, according to the field of Discard Studies, waste, and the act of wasting, are shaped by wider social, political, and material systems of interest to design (Liboiron & Lepawsky, 2022), therefore working with waste can have broader implications for design practice. We introduce the principles and methods of Discard Studies, through a report on the participatory project "L'Arxiu de Rastres Tecnològics de Vic", carried out in Vic, Catalonia, in autumn 2025. The project used Discard Studies methods to encourage participants …

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Interface Cultures, Forever: Speculative Prototypes For Technological Awareness, Mario Ciaramitaro, Pietro Costa Jun 2026

Interface Cultures, Forever: Speculative Prototypes For Technological Awareness, Mario Ciaramitaro, Pietro Costa

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As artificial intelligence increasingly takes over the designer’s role in shaping interfaces for services and platforms, a key challenge is how to teach young designers to critically reflect on how design mechanisms shape users and their everyday lives. Interface Cultures, Forever was a design workshop that challenged the conventional notion of the digital interface. Participants were asked to design critical interfaces - concepts that reveal tensions, paradoxes, and invisible mechanisms within digital life. Through speculative and ironic prototypes, students explored how interfaces shape behavior, emotion, and identity. The projects articulate a landscape of cultural critique, where the interface becomes both …

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Disrupting Walking: Rethinking The Practice Through A Podal Extension, Zeynep Gul Bagan, Yaren Hazal Erman, Gulten Nur Bilgic Jun 2026

Disrupting Walking: Rethinking The Practice Through A Podal Extension, Zeynep Gul Bagan, Yaren Hazal Erman, Gulten Nur Bilgic

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Walking is approached not merely as a bodily act but as a phenomenon shaped by its historical, cultural, and spatial meanings, along with its relationship to the ground. Its historical continuity has made walking a constitutive element of social norms and bodily behavior patterns. The study seeks to reconceptualize walking not as rhythmic, standardized motion but as a relational experience, foregrounded through its intentional disruption. Such disruption prompts a questioning of biological and cultural codes, as the body becomes fragile when departing from the habitual. The first phase, conducted in Istanbul, explored the disruption of walking through body-movement experiments using …

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Dilemmas Of Institutionalizing Human-Centered Design In Startups, Wenlin Zhang, Jin Ma Jun 2026

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, …

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A Study On The Transfer Signage System In The Seoul Subway Network: Focusing On Persons With Reduced Mobility (Prm), Kyulim Kim, Injeong Kim, Yujin Bae, Younjoon Lee Jun 2026

A Study On The Transfer Signage System In The Seoul Subway Network: Focusing On Persons With Reduced Mobility (Prm), Kyulim Kim, Injeong Kim, Yujin Bae, Younjoon Lee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study addresses the inadequate wayfinding signage system in the Seoul subway, which causes significant delays for people with reduced mobility (PRM), particularly wheelchair users, during transfers. We examined the information structure and visual accessibility of transfer signage from the PRM perspective. Using a shadowing method, we observed the movement of 30 unfamiliar wheelchair users across 10 transfer stations. The evaluation focused on information continuity, visual accessibility, location identifiability, and information hierarchy. Results indicated frequent information gaps and unrecognised signage due to structural obstructions and visual clutter. Crucially, inconsistencies and confusion surrounding lift locations were repeatedly observed. Based on these …

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Multispecies Convivial Learning: Art-Based Interventions At A Japanese Public Junior High School, Sakura Kotokawa, Tomohide Mizuuchi Jun 2026

Multispecies Convivial Learning: Art-Based Interventions At A Japanese Public Junior High School, Sakura Kotokawa, Tomohide Mizuuchi

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study examined the conditions under which multispecies convivial learning (MCL) can be established within the institutional setting of a Japanese public junior high school, and the kinds of transformations it enables. Integrating Participatory Action Research (PAR) and co-design, interventions A–E were conducted over 2023–2024. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed four interlinked elements—(1) self-understanding and expression, (2) sociality, (3) agency, and (4) co-creation with other species—which collectively transformed the classroom into an “ecological dialogic space” where humans and other living beings learn together. The study contributes by conceptualising MCL—previously under-theorised in public education—as a practice of redesigning relationships, and by specifying …

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Questioning One’S Body: Overtrusting In Body-Sensing Technology, Piyakorn Koowattanataworn, Margo Lengua, Anders Sundnes Løvlie, Steve Benford Jun 2026

Questioning One’S Body: Overtrusting In Body-Sensing Technology, Piyakorn Koowattanataworn, Margo Lengua, Anders Sundnes Løvlie, Steve Benford

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Body sensors render human bodies as digital data, promising better self-knowledge. Yet, as people trust and learn to attune to these representations, system breakdowns expose tensions between embodied knowing and digital authority. Through Research through Design and Critical Design, this paper investigates how trust, control, and self-perception are negotiated in bodily interaction with data. Breathe Kritisk is a critical artefact that externalises breathing via an inflatable system linked to the user's solar plexus. Designed for estrangement, it resists attunement through a sensitive sensor and deceptive outputs — sometimes following the user’s breaths, other times acting on its own. We discuss …

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Designing For The Working Body: Challenges In The Development Of Occupational Exoskeletons, Emese Papp-Schmitt, Christian Wölfel, Torben Söker, Jens Krzywinski Jun 2026

Designing For The Working Body: Challenges In The Development Of Occupational Exoskeletons, Emese Papp-Schmitt, Christian Wölfel, Torben Söker, Jens Krzywinski

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Exoskeletons exemplify intimate body-technology entanglements, where user experience is inherently corporeal. Despite their increasing presence in industrial and emerging consumer markets, current development methods often neglect the embodied dimensions of these devices. This paper explores what it means to design for the working body in the context of occupational exoskeletons. Drawing from our design practice and qualitative interviews in automotive and logistics, we identify tensions across three areas: (1) user and context research, inclusive and (2) body-sensitive development processes, and (3) the semiotics and social meaning of exoskeletons. We highlight challenges such as normalized risk and harm, limited attention to …

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Supporting Mental Health And Wellbeing Through A Staff Home Food-Growing Project, Laura Maclean, Andrew Wodehouse, Frederike Garbe, Mia Shepherd, Sarah Bowyer Jun 2026

Supporting Mental Health And Wellbeing Through A Staff Home Food-Growing Project, Laura Maclean, Andrew Wodehouse, Frederike Garbe, Mia Shepherd, Sarah Bowyer

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents a co-designed, nature-based intervention supporting NHS staff wellbeing through food growing. The NHS Home Growing Group (HGG) was collaboratively developed by DesignHOPES, NHS24, and a community garden. Home growing was identified as a feasible and meaningful activity compatible with shift work, with the potential of improving mental wellbeing in line with the NHS’s Five Steps to mental wellbeing model: connect, be active, keep learning, give, and take notice. Following a feasibility study, the 12-week intervention (April–July 2025) engaged 60 NHS staff using windowsill-growing kits designed for flexibility, autonomy, and asynchronous participation. Kits were sustainably sourced through recycled …

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Exploring Value Perceptions And Identifying Integrated Value Propositions Of Ai-Enabled Smart Homes For Solo-Living Older Adults’ Wellbeing, Sanqi Yang, Lei Tang, Jaehyun Park Jun 2026

Exploring Value Perceptions And Identifying Integrated Value Propositions Of Ai-Enabled Smart Homes For Solo-Living Older Adults’ Wellbeing, Sanqi Yang, Lei Tang, Jaehyun Park

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As the population of solo-living older adults grows, hundreds of AI-enabled smart home solutions have entered the gerontechnology market, yet adoption remains below 15%. Technology- or market-driven solutions often overlook integrated, multi-stakeholder value perceptions. Guided by Service‑Dominant Logic, we explored how misaligned stakeholder value perceptions hinder the development of compelling value propositions. We conducted 20 in-depth interviews across three stakeholder groups: users (solo-living older adults, their family members, and their caregivers), design experts, and technology experts. Through thematic analysis, we elucidated three value perceptions: (1) orchestration needs, (2) relational maintenance, and (3) transparency and explainability. Based on these findings, we …

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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 Jun 2026

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 …

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Against The Given: Reframing The Brief For Transformative Design Practices, Roger Paez, James Auger Jun 2026

Against The Given: Reframing The Brief For Transformative Design Practices, Roger Paez, James Auger

DRS Biennial Conference Series

While design transition discourse foregrounds systemic change, pedagogy frequently remains rooted in a solutionist mindset, in which the design brief often functions to perpetuate norms. Drawing on the Erasmus+ project Speculative Urban Futures, we reimagine the design brief as an infrastructure for epistemic plurality. Students collaboratively develop and circulate briefs across groups, harnessing divergence as a means of expanding the design space and unsettling normative expectations. We argue that embracing this tension is central to navigating the “growing pains” of design transitions. By embedding theoretical complexity within viscerality, playfulness and speculation, design education can shift from transmission to transformation—equipping students …

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Paper, Pixels, And Play: Designing A Trauma-Informed Ai Assessment Toolkit, Awais Hameed Khan, Angela Elvery, Dang Khuong Tran, Suvradip Maitra, Suzanna Fay, Paul Henman, Lyndal Sleep Jun 2026

Paper, Pixels, And Play: Designing A Trauma-Informed Ai Assessment Toolkit, Awais Hameed Khan, Angela Elvery, Dang Khuong Tran, Suvradip Maitra, Suzanna Fay, Paul Henman, Lyndal Sleep

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Artificial intelligence (AI) and automated processes hold significant potential to enhance service user experiences, by augmenting or fully automating aspects of service delivery. However, if not carefully designed, these systems also risk creating unintended, widespread harms, at unprecedented speed and scale. Drawing upon trauma-informed principles and developed in collaboration with social service delivery practitioners, we designed the Trauma Informed AI Assessment Toolkit (TIAKIT). TIAKIT supports users in critically designing, reviewing, and evaluating current or planned AI service integrations. We report on the iterative design process of TIAKIT and its adaptation across three formats — analogue, digital, and design game. Findings …

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The Invisible Playground For Taboos: A Framework For Recognising And Designing For Inner Play To Engage With Death And Anticipatory Grief, Manuela Melo, Sofie Kinch, Andrew Tibbles, Allan Køster Jun 2026

The Invisible Playground For Taboos: A Framework For Recognising And Designing For Inner Play To Engage With Death And Anticipatory Grief, Manuela Melo, Sofie Kinch, Andrew Tibbles, Allan Køster

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Death and Anticipatory Grief remain culturally taboo, limiting opportunities for open dialogue and emotional preparedness. This paper explores how design can facilitate such conversations through play. Inner Play is a form of imaginative and introspective play that aids engagement with taboos in an empathic way, but lacks ways to understand and evaluate how to design for it. Employing a Research-through-Design approach, the papers presents a speculative design project that mediates communication between the bereaved and the deceased with a game kit resulting in a shared grief artefact. Ten participants in five workshops engaged in an iterative prototyping process, which resulted …

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Proximity, Technology, And Care: Towards Longevity-Friendly Urban Ecosystems, Carla Sedini, Carolina Nina Bonato Jun 2026

Proximity, Technology, And Care: Towards Longevity-Friendly Urban Ecosystems, Carla Sedini, Carolina Nina Bonato

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Social relationships, extending beyond the familiar and domestic spheres, play a crucial role in sustaining the healthy ageing of cities’ inhabitants. The urban ecosystem can support social participation and interdependence among its inhabitants by combining the design of hard and soft infrastructures that shape social engagement and urban attractiveness. Within this framework, a new dimension of care is emerging, one that transcends traditional healthcare and institutionalised models. How can technologies help generate the cornerstones of caring, inclusive, long-life communities? By examining a series of international case studies on technology, proximity, care, and ageing, the paper aims to offer actionable design …

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Game Design As An Educational Method, Adeline Hvidsten, Evan Barba, Sarit Youdelevich, Rebecca Rouse Jun 2026

Game Design As An Educational Method, Adeline Hvidsten, Evan Barba, Sarit Youdelevich, Rebecca Rouse

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design is playing an increasingly important role in the liberal arts and in general education at various grade levels. Integrating design into a curriculum can take many forms, from teaching general design literacy to specific disciplinary practices and using design methods to support topical learning. Over decades of teaching game design in various contexts, we have observed how students gain a deep and systemic understanding of topics when designing games on them. Synthesizing our experiences from higher education, we expand on Hanghøj’s model for game-based teaching to include teaching through game design as a pedagogical method. We argue that to …

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How Does Costume Illustration Sketching Mediate Between Visual Development Concept Art And The Practical Construction Of Film Costumes?, Sophie Fretwell, Jon Burgess Jun 2026

How Does Costume Illustration Sketching Mediate Between Visual Development Concept Art And The Practical Construction Of Film Costumes?, Sophie Fretwell, Jon Burgess

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Sketching is a vital form of communication across creative industries. As an essential part of the filmmaking process, costume illustration functions as a mediating design practice where sketching translates concept art into wearable garments. Historically rooted in hand-drawn fashion illustration, contemporary costume sketching has evolved into a globalised digital practice that bridges artistic vision and physical construction. Through this lens of design mediation and embodied expertise, the study draws on industry interviews and reflective practice to examine the costume illustrator’s changing role as translator between the digital concept and physical costume. Costume sketching solves practical challenges based on knowledge of …

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Designing For Radical Renewal: Innovation Outcomes Across Circular And Regenerative Approaches, Belinda Nors, Louise Møller Haase, Sara Nielsen Jun 2026

Designing For Radical Renewal: Innovation Outcomes Across Circular And Regenerative Approaches, Belinda Nors, Louise Møller Haase, Sara Nielsen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper defines regenerative design in relation to current collaborative, sustainability-oriented innovation. Production and consumption patterns are largely linear, with circular economy efforts largely focused on recycling. Regenerative approaches are emerging but underdeveloped. Literature describes the Regenerative worldview and theoretical framework, and the few papers on methodology and practice highlight a need for greater definition of the field. An actionable design- and innovation methodology for the regenerative field is lacking. We conduct a scoping review and define the Regenerative design approach in relation to the current Circular Oriented Design approaches. We present the characteristics of the Value Preserving and Regenerative …

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