Digital Commons Network^™

Design For Longevity: A Relational And Systemic Perspective, Sheng-Hung Lee

Nordes Conference Series

As Relational Design (RD) grows in popularity, Casual Loop Diagrams (CLD) can complement RD in systemic analysis by visualizing relationships between variables. This study integrates CLD with RD within the context of longevity planning, which considers dimensions of financial, social and physical wellness. While RD maps static relationships, CLDs model dynamic interactions and feedback loops, enhancing innovation through a holistic and adaptive approach. By bridging relational and systemic perspectives, this preliminary study advances discourse in service design, system thinking, and research methodologies, demonstrating how RD and CLD contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of longevity planning. Findings emphasize the importance …

Equine Equipment And Relational Design In Horse-Human Intra-Action, Synne Skjulstad

Nordes Conference Series

This exploratory paper examines equine tack and equipment as relational interfaces between horses, humans and their wider surroundings. It unpacks the notion of relational design within a posthuman view on design, and the long-term relationships and wordless dialogues with an Arabian horse. It frames equestrian tack as relational interfaces for horse-human intra-action. These interfaces are documented in use through ongoing photographic exploration and documentation of horses in a leisure riding context in a Norway. The hours spent in the saddle and in companionship with these horses form a situated knowledge basis from which the relationship between horse, human, tack, and …

Balancing Children’S Play With Plastic–Materialistic Character Toys, Minjin Kim, Young-Ae Hahn

Nordes Conference Series

This study investigates the impact of the South Korean TV show Catch! Teenieping: Fairies of Emotion and its associated merchandise on children's play and values. A survey of 100 mothers and an analysis of existing literature reveal the excessive time and expenses that children, particularly young girls, spend on Teenieping play, in spite of the play being primarily imitative and potentially limiting developmental benefits. Such commercial success led to an imbalance in children’s play. Additionally, Teenieping merchandise functions as a status symbol, contributing to materialistic attitudes among children. To address these issues, this study proposes a framework of Place, Material, …

Expanding Environmental Discourse Through Practice-Led Research: From An Experimental Pavilion To Mainstream Architecture, Maiju Suomi, Sofie Pelsmakers

Nordes Conference Series

This practice-led research paper explores how the making of a temporary architectural intervention with a transformative sustainability aim can expand environmental discourse in mainstream architecture. The paper explores the case of Alusta, a pavilion to enhance urban biodiversity and encourage multi-species encounters and environmental discussion in the context of Finland. Through the case, architecture emerges as a practical environmental act and a cultural representation of lower impact living. Findings show how an experimental pavilion can bypass some constraints of large-scale architecture and become an agile tool in discussing topical sustainability issues. Small-scale projects enable testing and showcasing experimental solutions, lessons …

Everywhere, All At Once: Speculative Layering Of Multiple Temporalities With Augmented Reality, Alessandro Ianniello, Roy Bendor

Nordes Conference Series

This paper considers the design of Augmented Reality experiences that allow the interrogation of multiple temporalities, in order to foster engagement with More-than-Human worlds. While Augmented Reality has traditionally been used to layer different spatial contexts onto the physical environment, we explore its potential to visualize alternative temporalities, offering users unique ontological perspectives on time and its role in shaping interconnected human and non-human futures. Drawing from futures studies, experiential futures, and speculative design, we examine how Augmented Reality’s capacity to represent temporal layers can deepen understanding of More-than-Human interdependencies. We report on a pilot experiment where participants engaged with …

Exploring The Entanglement Of Relational Design, Spatiality And Places, Thomas Binder, Jörn Christiansson, Gabriela Quintana Vigiola

Nordes Conference Series

Over the last two decades, we have witnessed a relational turn in design research, embracing the entanglements of human and non-human elements in socio-material arrangements. Despite the foregrounding of relations in these entanglements, little attention has been given to what role spatiality and places may have in relational design. This workshop explores the entanglement of relational design, spatiality and places based on design case studies from participants. Using a design charette methodology, participants will collaboratively (1) map how relational entanglements shape and are shaped by design research and practice; (2) identify and unpack cross-disciplinary tensions and opportunities; and (3) co-create …

Exploring Affective Dimensions Of The Ecological Crisis In Design: A Reflective Manifesto Writing Workshop, Femke Coops, Anna Schröder, Daphne Hamilton-Jones

Nordes Conference Series

This workshop aims to bring together members from the NORDES community interested in work relating to environmental urgency, regenerative practices and the affective dimensions of design. Participants will collectively reflect on the affective dimensions of their design practice when engaging with ecological/sustainability transitions and explore the values in which they root their designerly practice. Through engaging with the relationality between the breadth of angles from which participants might understand the troubling experiences they encounter in this context, this workshop aims to bring participants to draw from their experiences and the epistemologies they work with to craft a Manifesto regarding the …

The Conspiracy Capitaliser: A Tool For Exploring The Intersection Of Ai, Politics And Profit, Robert Collins

Nordes Conference Series

The Conspiracy Capitaliser is a physical interface for Generative AI which allows the user to produce a bespoke conspiracy through the operation of knobs, switches and buttons. The original intent of the artefact was as a personal exploration of how conspiracy theories were being monetised against a backdrop of social media disinformation and how these observations could be communicated to the general public. While the artefact began as a non-functioning sculptural work, the advent of accessible AI models like ChatGPT allowed it to become fully functional and transformed it into a useful tool for design ethics, public awareness and a …

Toying With Relations: Speculative Toys For Children And Sustainability, Karey Helms, Petra Jääskeläinen, Sharon Lindberg, Elin Sporrong, Arjun Menon, Meike Schalk, Airi Lampinen

Nordes Conference Series

Toys as situated within the relational ontologies of children includes how more-than-human relations are imagined and valued through play. Motivated by a concern for a damaged environment, we critique a selection of existing toys intended for outdoor play and fabulate other versions based upon alternative relations. From the detailing of six redesigns through text and collage, we foreground generative pathways for how children, and adults, might relate differently to nature. These pathways are presented as questions prompted by the toys. This exploratory research contributes to the imagining of multispecies worlds and the agency of children in toying with more-than-human relations.

The Relational Designer, Michaela Honauer

Nordes Conference Series

Despite the growing recognition of relational design, limited attention has been given to the designer as a relational individual. Why is a designer relational (i.e. relationship-oriented)? How can they reflect and make their individual relationality transparent? This exploratory paper sheds light on these questions and stimulates reflection of designers as relational entities. A designer can take on many roles –practitioner, researcher, manager, collaborator, provider, politician, etc.– but always remains an individual with personal feelings and connections. Like every other individual, a designer experiences their being and doing uniquely. This constructivist understanding of the designer likewise suggests that every designer approaches …

Shaping Space And Forming Dimensionality Through Origami Practice, Laureen Mahler

Nordes Conference Series

Space surrounds and enfolds the breadth of our doings. It is vital in relational perspectives on designing because relations exist both in and because of space. This is especially apparent in practice-led design research, in which world-building is predicated on repeated flows that form becomings. Through diverse documentation of the author's origami research, this exploratory paper investigates how engagement with space in the making process provides a rich medium for new perspectives on relationality. Specifically, when space is perceived as alive and dynamic — physically made alongside the artifact — its activation reveals new potentialities for identifying relations and interdependencies. …

Relational Design For Remote Intergenerational Sensorial Play Experiences, Kristi Kuusk, Azeem Hamid, Zaur Babayev, Paula Veske-Lepp, Nesli Hazal Oktay

Nordes Conference Series

This paper explores intergenerational mental well-being through sensorial play between children and remote grandparents. With increasing physical separation due to transnational family networks, maintaining these relationships is vital for mental health. While digital communication tools help, excessive screen use negatively impacts children's well-being. Through three case studies, we exemplify relational design sensitivities by engaging participants in co-creation, adaptive improvisation, and networked interactions through our design process. We investigate how relational design approaches combined with sensorial design could enhance connection beyond screens, emphasizing the role of embodied, multisensory engagement in intergenerational bonds.

Exploring Data Physicalization For Environmental Engagement: A Case Study On The Disposal Of Contact Lens Blisters, Chengtian Li, Daichi Tezuka, Xinru Zhu, Salani Giorgio, Kayoko Nohara

Nordes Conference Series

In response to increasing calls for more responsible and creative design approaches, this research explores how data physicalization can shed light on the often-overlooked ecological impacts of everyday consumption. Focusing on the disposal of contact lens blisters, a seemingly trivial yet significant waste stream, we developed two tangible interfaces that encourage playful and reflective interactions. Through participant observation and discussion, we found that making disposal habits both visible and interactive enhanced participants' awareness of, and engagement with, routine actions typically deemed insignificant. By emphasizing embodied engagement, playfulness, and metaphorical representations, this exploratory paper contributes to design practices seeking to nurture …

Is It About Time? On The Meanings Of Temporal Representations In Object Art, Patricia Ciobanu, Ylva Fernaeus

Nordes Conference Series

Perspectives on time within interaction design research have extended beyond material embodiments, such as standard clocks, to exploring alternative designs and situating these in cultural practices and relations. We investigate examples of how time has been expressed in a series of object-based artworks that represent time otherwise, highlighting how they use a variety of material forms to engage with social, political, and contextually performative issues. Through a critical analysis, we illustrate how such works engage with topics of social negotiation, hidden labour, gender, power, and technology-supported disruptive living. We end with a reflection on how these expressions of meaning-making cultivate …

Intentional Action At The Margins: Unpacking Agency In Public Service Ecosystem Design, Nicole Hußmann, Annukka Svanda, Martina Čaić

Nordes Conference Series

This paper examines how public service ecosystems shape the agency of marginalized residents, focusing on immigrant job seekers. While ecosystem perspectives in service design have highlighted marginalization and actor interconnectedness, the role and intricacies of agency remain underexplored. To address this gap, we draw on a service design project in the City of Espoo aimed at improving an employment service for immigrants. Our findings reveal that immigrant job seekers’ agency is affected by (i) limited psychological, financial, and temporal resources, (ii) distorted information flows, (iii) the dependence on community support, (iv) biased attitudes of service staff and managers, and (v) …

Exploring Design Fieldwork Dilemmas In Mental Healthcare Through Foucaultian Mechanisms Of Power, Eva Liisa Kubinyi, Jeanne Sintic

Nordes Conference Series

Design scholars are advocating for building a deeper and more nuanced power literacy when applying participatory approaches in mental healthcare. Although actionable frameworks have been developed to identify risks, these approaches rely heavily on designers’ analytical skills and do not offer ways to understand power through multiple scales that simultaneously influence individuals and populations. If this concern is not addressed, designers might inadvertently reproduce harmful power structures. Therefore, this paper builds a Foucaultian lens of disciplinary and bio-power to reflexively analyze design fieldwork dilemmas in mental healthcare contexts from France and Estonia. It contributes to deepening designers’ power literacy by …

Designing Relational Space: Towards Adaptive And Interactive Learning Environments, Johannes Pointner, Albert Lang

Nordes Conference Series

This paper investigates relational and interactive principles in spatial design. Drawing from Relational Theory of Space, Actor-Network Theory, and embodied interactivity, it examines space as a dynamic and interactive system rather than a static framework. Using the New Practice Co-Lab as a case study, the paper examines modular architectural frameworks, technological integrations, and participatory design processes that create flexible, multifunctional environments for learning and collaboration. It further explores the ambiguities of relational spatial design, highlighting its challenges and opportunities. Rather than proposing a universal blueprint, this research presents scalable principles for designing situated spaces as emergent, user-driven systems.

The Relational Becoming Of A Participatory Design Commoner, Sanna Marttila, Frederick Van Amstel, Joanna Saad-Sulonen, Andrea Botero, Giacomo Poderi, Maurizio Teli, P.D. Commoner

Nordes Conference Series

This research expands the understanding of the collective designer behind Scandinavian Participatory Design with the Latin American notion of relational ontology, which posits a worldview where everything and everyone are mutually constituted through evolving relationships. Drawing from three thematic workshops with design practitioners and scholars that explored intersections between commoning and designing, this research unveils the relational becoming of a participatory design commoner. This includes the production of a shared subjectivity—the collective designer—as integral to commoning design and designing commons. Specifically, we explore the role of participatory designers in commoning through their subjectivity in their infrastructuring actions and affective engagements …

Journeying With Kala: Exploring Interdependencies Of Material, Land, And Maker In Shaping Textile Practices, Mithila Amy Mohan

Nordes Conference Series

Accompanied by Kala, an indigenous cotton from Kutch, India, this study examines the interdependencies of land, material, and maker that are fostered in textile practices. It explores materials as companions in practice, shaping the trajectory of making through their processual entanglements with human and more-than-human environments. The research employs a practice-led methodology integrating historical review of cotton in India, ethnographic inquiry into practices related to Kala in Kutch, and hands-on weaving experiments. The weaving explorations with Kala, seen as a process of correspondence, detail the role of materials in making, where environmental conditions, material properties, and practitioner interactions shape the …

Developing Ai Literacy Through Design Education, Simon Norris, Yi Luo, Andrea Resmini, Dimitrios Gkouskos

Nordes Conference Series

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years is observable by its increasing adoption in various domains. Generative AI technologies have furthered this trend, yet AI remains opaque by nature and design. This poses challenges for designers of AI-enabled products, who need to understand materials properties to design effectively, emphasising a need for AI literacy, a multidimensional competency encompassing ethical, cognitive, and practical skills. The study explores how three distinct design practices, Research through Design, Human-Centred Design, and Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence, can help students develop AI literacy. We carried out the study with a class of eighteen graduate …

Aestheticising Material Imperfections: Diverse Waste, Nikoline Sander, Linda Nhu Laursen

Nordes Conference Series

Using discarded materials from manufacturing is a design strategy to support a sustainable future by using already circulating resources. This study introduces the visions of pluralism to the design activity of designing an aesthetic unity with materials previously rejected for their imperfections. Drawing on the psychophysical, organisational, and meaningful properties, the research examines a best-case study involving the design of an indoor door made from wasted pinewood. Emphasising the design of joints and transitions internally in the door, the designers achieve aesthetic unity through the deliberate composition of pinewood pieces, characterised by soft, rounded transitions between them. Designing meetings between …

Rethinking Self-Diagnosis: Bridging Doctor And Patient Perspectives, Melis Dursun Ugras, Guzin Sen, Asli Gunay

Nordes Conference Series

The rise of digital health technologies has reshaped the patient’s role in healthcare, enabling greater autonomy in managing health and making medical decisions. Self-diagnosis tools, including AI-driven applications, symptom checkers, and online health platforms, allow individuals to assess symptoms and explore potential conditions before consulting a healthcare professional. While these tools offer increased access to health information, they also raise concerns about misinformation, misinterpretation, and their impact on patient-provider relationships. This study examines how both patients and healthcare professionals perceive self-diagnosis, identifying tension points and shared concerns that shape its role in healthcare interactions. To explore these perspectives, we conducted …

Designing For Multispecies Affordances: A Poetics Of Control, Martin Avila, Nelly Mäekivi, Erik Andersson

Nordes Conference Series

This workshop will engage participants in an exercise that conceives experimental design practices that involve communication with other-than-human species. The process encourages a shift away from human-centred control, creating conditions that allow other species to manifest their own behaviours. This is important since the dominant global material culture of design does not acknowledge the presence and interaction of other species with things designed, erasing biodiversity as human habits repeat anthropocentric and destructive ecological patterns. Building on the work of J. J. Gibson’s concept of affordances, and other work that conform the emerging field that today is understood as posthumanism, the …

In The Relational Sandbox: Deep Democracy And Technology, Alma Leora Culén, Nicholas Sebastian Stevens, Jasmin Niess, Sisse Finken, Jason Miklian, Kristian Hoelscher

Nordes Conference Series

Designing for democracy often emphasizes values but underestimates the role of relationships in shaping civic life. This workshop explores how relationality - our social ties, political agency, and economic conditions - affects grassroots democratic design experiments and the technologies they inspire. Grounded in deep democracy and participatory approaches, we engage in small-scale experiments using Relational Sandbox to explore how new technologies that support democratic values can reshape power dynamics and how locally rooted, tailored designs can counteract capital-driven technological development. By experimenting with relational civics, we will collectively imagine new design strategies that prioritize meaningful technologies for deep democracy over …

An Exploration On Relationality And Decoloniality In Participatory Design Based On Care, Annalinda De Rosa, Milagros Hurtig, Marco Andrea Finardi

Nordes Conference Series

How is positionality brought into participatory practices? How are moments for self-reflection created in participatory design? How do design researchers challenge colonial perspectives in design? The workshop aims to create a space for a collective reflection on the need to undo the narratives of modernity and the cult of futurity that brings to the ubiquitous discourse on innovation as the only possible path for a better future. The workshop experiments with materiality as a channel to collectively explore how designing – as a transformative action embracing relationality – could adopt a pluriversal mindset. It furthers the discussion on relationality, elucidating …

Beyond Good And Evil, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Hannah Arendt Marginalia - All

Chicago, Gateway Editions; distributed by H. Regnery Co. [1965]

Call #: B3313 .J43 1965

Contains underlining

PDF Information: 6 pages – 2 MB

Jenseits Von Gut Und Böse, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Hannah Arendt Marginalia - All

Liepzig: A. Kröner, 1924

Call #:B3313 .J4 1924

Contains underlining, marginal lining, and endpaper notes

PDF Information: 142 pages – 47.1 MB

The Birth Of Tragedy And The Genealogy Of Morals, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Hannah Arendt Marginalia - All

Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1956

Call #: B3312.E5 G6 1956

Contains marginalia, underlining and marginal lining.

PDF Information: 76 pages – 32.3mb

Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen: Schriften Für Und Gegen Wagner, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Hannah Arendt Marginalia - All

Leipzig : A. Kröner, 1927

Call #: B3313 .U5 1927

Contains marginalia and underlining.

PDF Information: 27 pages – 15mb

Anarchy, State, And Utopia, Robert Nozick

Hannah Arendt Marginalia - All

New York : Basic Books, [1974]

Call #: JC571 .N68

Arendt copy contains marginalia

PDF Information: 9 pages – 540KB