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

Arts and Humanities Commons™

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

Conference

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
File Type

Articles 241 - 270 of 10024

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Weaving Visual Language: Encoding Gaelic In Tartan Length To Facilitate Interaction With Endangered Languages, Emmie Drummond, Dr Loraine Clarke, Miriam Sturdee, Freya Macleod Jun 2026

Weaving Visual Language: Encoding Gaelic In Tartan Length To Facilitate Interaction With Endangered Languages, Emmie Drummond, Dr Loraine Clarke, Miriam Sturdee, Freya Macleod

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This project reimagines tartan as a data-physicalization of Scots Gaelic. Extending ‘Radical Gaels’, a psycho-geographic soundscape that maps the identity, geographies and material history of Contemporary Gaels. Weaving Visual Language translates Scots waulking songs and geographies through cryptographic mapping to weave structure, using a Python-based binary matrix encoding system, illustrating the loss of Gaelic oral traditions. The resulting textiles act as linguistic archives and objects of cultural dissent. The project proposes a framework for museums to engage audiences through preserving information within the artefact itself, rather than exterior labelling. Theoretically, this work develops the idea of ‘culturally constrained physicalization’, where …

Go to article

Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired, Mônica Moura, Cristina Portugal, Márcio Guimarães Jun 2026

Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired, Mônica Moura, Cristina Portugal, Márcio Guimarães

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper details the development and impact of the "Lembrei de Você" (I Remembered You) project, an inclusive design initiative that created a digital platform to combat loneliness and promote autonomy among the visually impaired, especially the elderly, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using participatory methods, the research led to the creation of a platform that manages and distributes audio messages through a solidarity network of readers and listeners. The study describes the design process, from accessibility requirements to implementation using WordPress. Results show the platform successfully optimized project logistics and fostered an inclusive digital environment, enhancing social interaction …

Go to article

Design Education In Multicultural Contexts: Student Perceptions Of Cultural Inclusivity In The Classroom, Jasmine Yiming Sun, Najla Mouchrek Jun 2026

Design Education In Multicultural Contexts: Student Perceptions Of Cultural Inclusivity In The Classroom, Jasmine Yiming Sun, Najla Mouchrek

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Fostering intercultural integration of students of diverse backgrounds is a key concern for design education. This study examines how design students at a culturally-diverse North American university perceive cultural inclusivity in their educational experience and effects on sense of belonging and integration. We surveyed 102 undergraduate and graduate students about expressing cultural identities in the design classroom, cultural inclusivity of learning materials, environment and interactions, and navigating challenging experiences in cross-cultural integration at the school. Although the study found a considerable level of cultural inclusivity, findings suggest that efforts to foster diversity and integration are still necessary, since difficulties seem …

Go to article

Collaging Queer Decolonial Worlds: Applied Techniques In Design, Alexandra Eleazar, Cara Flores Jun 2026

Collaging Queer Decolonial Worlds: Applied Techniques In Design, Alexandra Eleazar, Cara Flores

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Collaging is a form of design that references, remixes, and transforms the past, while holding potential for queer decolonial imaginaries. Through bringing together decolonial and queer theories, we propose an exploration of collage as a design technique that seeks to tear through dominant imaginaries to create more emancipatory visualizations. To explore this, we first turn to feminist theoretical understandings of collage, and then ask: how does collaging show up as a distinctly queer and decolonial design practice? Then, we utilize examples from our field work to demonstrate how collage can function as a queer and decolonial design practice that shows …

Go to article

Fostering Human-Material Co-Creative Dialogical Relationship: Operationalizing The Art Of Making Through Degeneration, Ye Yang Jun 2026

Fostering Human-Material Co-Creative Dialogical Relationship: Operationalizing The Art Of Making Through Degeneration, Ye Yang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Moving beyond instrumental rationality that treats materials as passive objects, this study operationalizes the Art of Making (AoM) by proposing a three-dimensional degeneration approach. Degeneration disrupts object fixity, reframing objects as materials in a state of in-betweenness that invites co-creative dialogue. Adopting drawing as a universal making practice, we empirically grounded this proposition through five workshops with ten participants from diverse countries and design backgrounds. By degenerating sensory, bodily, explorative, and social dimensions of drawing products and practices, the resulting state of material-in-between invited participants into dialogical engagements. Findings reveal that this state sparks curiosity, transcends preconceptions, activates subconscious exploration …

Go to article

A 4r-Supported Circular Product–Service System For Luxury Branded Events, Ke Ma, Francesca Valsecchi, Yuchen Tan, Mingjia Ji, Junru Shen, Xiaoya Ma, Duan Wu, Jiao Mo, Shijian Zhao Jun 2026

A 4r-Supported Circular Product–Service System For Luxury Branded Events, Ke Ma, Francesca Valsecchi, Yuchen Tan, Mingjia Ji, Junru Shen, Xiaoya Ma, Duan Wu, Jiao Mo, Shijian Zhao

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Temporary luxury branded events run on short cycles and bespoke builds that accelerate material churn. We present a circular phygital product–service system that operationalises the circular economy (CE) through a 4R frame (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling) across warehouse‑to‑event journeys. Developed via a multi‑method design inquiry with a tier‑1 contractor, the system couples physical touchpoints (reusable fold‑flat transit boxes, adjustable racking, standard labels) with digital orchestration (a live digital warehouse, list‑based outbound/inbound workflow, and a sustainable materials library). The architecture aligns roles and decisions, protects and identifies assets, and makes reuse the default under luxury brand constraints. By embedding traceable …

Go to article

Plural Exhibition Experiences: Co-Designing Multisensory Storytelling With An Indigenous Sámi Museum, Siiri Paananen, Emma Kirjavainen, Juri Etto, Eeva-Kristiina Nylander, Jonna Häkkilä Jun 2026

Plural Exhibition Experiences: Co-Designing Multisensory Storytelling With An Indigenous Sámi Museum, Siiri Paananen, Emma Kirjavainen, Juri Etto, Eeva-Kristiina Nylander, Jonna Häkkilä

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article examines an Indigenous-led exhibition renewal at the Sámi Museum Siida, in which multisensory design and digital media were collaboratively developed with Sámi artists and museum experts. The exhibition was created primarily for the Sámi community, in a museum that also receives many international visitors. The study is based on a survey (n=35) and three focus groups (n=9) with participants representing diverse visitor perspectives to understand how people experienced and interpreted the exhibition’s sensory and technological elements. The results demonstrate that the exhibition created a sense of immersion through spatial and multisensory design grounded in local artistic and cultural …

Go to article

Designing With Changeability: Material Agency And Theory In Textile Design, Zuzana Šebeková, Petra Vicianová, Zuzana Veselá, Barbora Hank Palatínusová, Zuzana Machatova Jun 2026

Designing With Changeability: Material Agency And Theory In Textile Design, Zuzana Šebeková, Petra Vicianová, Zuzana Veselá, Barbora Hank Palatínusová, Zuzana Machatova

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper investigates how natural dye printing and material agency in textile design can generate theoretical insights for design practice and pedagogy. Textiles are positioned as participants in material processes, where material behaviour, environmental exposure, and user interaction shape design outcomes, moving beyond stability and control toward adaptability, reflectivity, and sustainability. Drawing on critical making and time-based design thinking, impermanence and imperfection become foundational strategies for developing pedagogical and theoretical frameworks. Practice-based experimentation demonstrates how process, relationality, and sensitivity to materials allow theory to emerge directly from making and observing transformation. By embracing changeability, this approach reframes conventional notions of …

Go to article

Spatial Tapestries: Negotiations Between Bodies, Experience, And Architecture, Kristen Mimms Scavnicky, Andrea Sosa Fontaine Jun 2026

Spatial Tapestries: Negotiations Between Bodies, Experience, And Architecture, Kristen Mimms Scavnicky, Andrea Sosa Fontaine

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Memory and experiences of the built environment cannot be registered, defined, or represented without an understanding of the complex negotiations that occur between the layered relationships of bodies, architecture, and identity. However, existing tools of architecture, including practices, methodologies, and language, have contributed to concealing the voices and experiences of marginalized communities within the built environment. In the decolonizing of architecture, discourse must expand its theoretical positioning and languages of process and critique to include informed intersections with existing disciplines outside of architecture that use systems of thinking and repair in alignment with pluralities of lived experiences. Informed by textiles, …

Go to article

Urban Typography And Cultural Memory: A Literature Review In Support Of A Design-Led Approach To Heritage And Preservation, Carolina Short, Gareth Schott Jun 2026

Urban Typography And Cultural Memory: A Literature Review In Support Of A Design-Led Approach To Heritage And Preservation, Carolina Short, Gareth Schott

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Typography has increasingly been recognised as a valuable lens for cultural and urban analysis. This literature review extends such perspectives by examining how design-led approaches can support the documentation, reinterpretation, and revitalization of urban letterforms as cultural heritage. Drawing on typographic studies, geosemiotics, and design research, it focuses on urban typography — typographic landscapes — understood as spatial and multimodal carriers of memory, identity, and cultural value. While existing scholarship has explored the semiotic and aesthetic dimensions of typography in the urban environment, and some have proposed design-led interventions, connections between theory and practice remain open to further development. The …

Go to article

Participatory Design As Third Space: Iterative Ethic In Singapore’S Contemporary Multiculturalism, Cheng Chen Jun 2026

Participatory Design As Third Space: Iterative Ethic In Singapore’S Contemporary Multiculturalism, Cheng Chen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Participatory designers in Singapore work within Bhabha’s “third space,” where identities and practices are continuously negotiated across cultural boundaries. This qualitative study, based on interviews and ethnographic observation with 18 designers addressing social welfare for marginalized communities, examines how designers’ intersectional identities—such as female, queer, Chinese, and gig creatives—shape an ethic of care rooted in Asianised neighbourliness. Designers strategically inhabit in-between spaces, balancing top-down and bottom-up approaches through critical curiosity and cultural competence. Findings identify three interlinked personas: (1) Facilitator—mediating perspectives and trust; (2) Maker—engaging in embodied, situated making; and (3) Reflexive practitioner—cultivating curiosity across demographics. This iterative ethic enables …

Go to article

Responsible Retail And Branded Environments, Katelijn Quartier, Mia Münster, Bethan Alexander, Zakkiya Khan, Marina Ricci, Francesca Murialdo Jun 2026

Responsible Retail And Branded Environments, Katelijn Quartier, Mia Münster, Bethan Alexander, Zakkiya Khan, Marina Ricci, Francesca Murialdo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As spaces of consumption adapt to social, environmental, and technological shifts, design is emerging as a powerful agent of change. This track investigates the future of retail, hospitality, and other consumer-facing environments—including cafés, concept stores, and hybrid formats—through the lens of responsibility. Topics addressed include, but are not limited to: Restorative and regenerative approaches to consumption are gaining momentum, alongside wellbeing-driven design that recognises how the built environment can support mental, physical, and emotional health. At the same time, socially and environmentally sustainable practices—often grounded in circular economy principles—are redefining how we think about materiality, consumption, spatial design, and business …

Go to article

Designing For And With Taboo, Ana Correia De Barros, Yoni Lefèvre, Petra Salarić, Isabel Prochner Jun 2026

Designing For And With Taboo, Ana Correia De Barros, Yoni Lefèvre, Petra Salarić, Isabel Prochner

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The theme track of designing with and for taboo responds to the increasing number of design researchers working on taboo topics from various parts of the world. In this session, six papers addressed sensitive topics such as intimacy, chronic disease, relationships, and death, but they also touched upon taboos within the design activity itself, on what is considered to be good design. The discussions provide critical reflections when exploring emotionally challenging and sensitive research environments through design research practices. While this theme track represents an initial contribution, we acknowledge there is still more work necessary to strengthen the community’s understanding …

Go to article

Design For Equitable Health: Public Policies And Participatory Practices, Cláudia De Souza Libânio, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Leigh-Anne Hepburn Jun 2026

Design For Equitable Health: Public Policies And Participatory Practices, Cláudia De Souza Libânio, Sara Miriam Goldchmit, Tiago Barros Pontes E Silva, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Leigh-Anne Hepburn

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This theme track explores the critical intersection of design, health equity, public policies, and participatory practices. We invited submissions addressing how participatory design approaches and community-based practices can tackle structural health disparities and foster more just, accessible, and inclusive healthcare systems. Recognizing that health outcomes are profoundly shaped by social, economic, and environmental determinants, contributions span issues of access to care, cultural diversity, disability, ageing, digital inclusion, and community health infrastructures. Papers are organized around three sessions: Design with others, Care takes shape and Shaping health futures. The eighteen selected papers foreground participatory approaches in which diverse actors, including vulnerable …

Go to article

Design With Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, And Politics, Zixuan Wang, Jiashuo Liu, Bow Yiying Wu, John Vines, Karey Helms, Sarah Kettley, Paul Rodgers, Ann Light Jun 2026

Design With Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, And Politics, Zixuan Wang, Jiashuo Liu, Bow Yiying Wu, John Vines, Karey Helms, Sarah Kettley, Paul Rodgers, Ann Light

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This is an overview editorial of the track "Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics" at the Design Research Society (DRS) conference 2026. In this track, we discuss how care could serve as a critical lens guiding research and design. Our track received 55 full paper submissions, and 21 of which have been accepted through a double-blind peer-review process. Together with three additional submissions from the open track, we organise these papers into four theme sessions: Knowing with Care, Practicing with Care, Co-designing with Care, and Making with Care. Collectively, the track demonstrates diverse ways of engaging with care …

Go to article

Transitional Materialities, Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete, Camilo Ayala-Garcia Jun 2026

Transitional Materialities, Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete, Camilo Ayala-Garcia

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Transitional Materialities brings together research that understands materials not as static substances, but as dynamic agents embedded in ecological, technological, and socio-economic transitions. This perspective highlights the evolving relationship between material innovation, planetary health, and design’s capacity to mediate and guide change. The track explores how designers move beyond passive material selection to engage actively in experimentation, critical reflection, policy making and the development of alternative, resilient futures. Contributions address material inspiration, education, and archives as means to support knowledge sharing and open-access dissemination; they also map materials and practices across contexts, from rethinking traditional material values and local specificities …

Go to article

Public Design Education: Plural Practices And Situated Teaching And Learning, Luis García, Lara Salinas, Sofía Bosch Gómez, Geert Brinkman, Francesco Leoni, Estefania Ciliotta Chehade Jun 2026

Public Design Education: Plural Practices And Situated Teaching And Learning, Luis García, Lara Salinas, Sofía Bosch Gómez, Geert Brinkman, Francesco Leoni, Estefania Ciliotta Chehade

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This editorial introduces Track 8.1, Public Design Education: Plural Practices and Situated Teaching and Learning, and reflects on the submissions, review process, and accepted contributions as a way of exploring how public design is currently being interpreted, taught, and learned. We position public design as a transdisciplinary mode of practice enacted within and alongside public administration and other public-sector subjects, where institutional ways of working, governance conditions, and commitments to public value shape the design process itself. Drawing on contributions to the track, we examine the diverse interpretations surrounding the term, the competencies and capabilities associated with becoming a public …

Go to article

Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, And Theories Of Strategic Design In Business Organizations, G. Mauricio Mejía, Violeta Clemente, Aroop Ratan Guha, Jeanne Liedtka, Beatrice D'Ippolito Jun 2026

Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, And Theories Of Strategic Design In Business Organizations, G. Mauricio Mejía, Violeta Clemente, Aroop Ratan Guha, Jeanne Liedtka, Beatrice D'Ippolito

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The DRS Edinburgh theme-track “Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, and Theories of Strategic Design in Business Organizations” includes a dozen papers that study the influence of strategic designers and strategic design practices in business organizations. This editorial describes and briefly assesses their contributions. While scholars have studied and explored the strategic role of design for organizational change, the papers show that designers and design practices must still contribute from their specific foundational mission and strengthen collaboration with other functions and senior management to materialise their potential. Future research should focus on solid case studies and the understanding of expert strategic …

Go to article

Discourses In Design Research: Historical, Critical, And Speculative Perspectives, Peter Lloyd, Theodora Vardouli, Moa Carlsson, Arlene Oak, Anna Talley, Haian Xue Jun 2026

Discourses In Design Research: Historical, Critical, And Speculative Perspectives, Peter Lloyd, Theodora Vardouli, Moa Carlsson, Arlene Oak, Anna Talley, Haian Xue

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The field of design research is now over 60 years old but, despite comprehensive archives existing, such as the DRS Digital Library, little systematic historical research has been done looking critically at how concepts in the field have developed over time. Studies looking at how certain discourses have come to dominate in design research, and those that have been disregarded, are long overdue. The theme-track Discourses in Design Research: Historical, Critical, and Speculative Perspectives invited submissions engaging historically and critically with ideas and concepts that have helped shape the discipline of design research. The papers share a concern both with …

Go to article

Relationality As Reconciliation – Designing For Equiponderance, Gwendolyn Kulick, Luis Garcia, Juan Montalvan Lume, Michael Hohl, Felix Kosok Jun 2026

Relationality As Reconciliation – Designing For Equiponderance, Gwendolyn Kulick, Luis Garcia, Juan Montalvan Lume, Michael Hohl, Felix Kosok

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Theme track 11.2 brings together six contributions that acknowledge the interdependence of all things and, as such, challenge consolidated suprematist thinking and systemic inequities through the lens of relationality. However, they do not seek pathways towards justice and equity through revenge, hardened frontiers, and divides, but through collaborative practices grounded in collective inquiry, between those affected by injustices and those who hold decision-making power. The research and design experiments, case studies, and theoretical musings of this track aim to achieve reconciliation among actors who represent diverse, sometimes conflicting, positions, knowledge systems, and practices, rather than those that reinforce polarization, even …

Go to article

Futuring Digital Cultural Heritage, Marco Mason, Raffaella Trocchianesi, Vince Dziekan, Ross Parry Jun 2026

Futuring Digital Cultural Heritage, Marco Mason, Raffaella Trocchianesi, Vince Dziekan, Ross Parry

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design is playing an increasingly important role in relation to cultural heritage, with designers and design researchers at the forefront of reimagining how cultural organisations, such as museums and galleries, operate in a mediatized, networked, and digitally mature world. In this light, the tools and methods, practices, and cultures of design are helping GLAMs navigate their postdigital condition and social, cultural, and technological complexities that this entails. This track (Futuring Digital Cultural Heritage) seeks to open new territory for design researchers to respond critically and creatively to how design engages with digital culture and can be used to interrogate, reconfigure, …

Go to article

Design For And With Values In Designing For Social Change (Design Ethics Sig), Deger Ozkaramanli, Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke, Sine Celik, Geertje Slingerland, Michael Nagenborg, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, Leigh-Anne Hepburn Jun 2026

Design For And With Values In Designing For Social Change (Design Ethics Sig), Deger Ozkaramanli, Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke, Sine Celik, Geertje Slingerland, Michael Nagenborg, Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, Leigh-Anne Hepburn

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This editorial introduces the theme track ‘Design for and with values in designing for social change’. Building on prior work that frame ethics as an invitation to care, the track focuse on values as a central construct in socially engaged design. It responds to a growing need to move beyond abstract value frameworks toward understanding how values are elicited, surfaced, negotiated, and enacted in practice. Drawing on 24 selected papers, we reveal a strongly interdisciplinary collection where participatory design emerges as a dominant method. The contributions are organized into four overlapping themes revolving around the concepts of power, methods, dignity …

Go to article

Navigating Pluralism In Systemic Design: Global Perspectives And Diverse Vocabularies, Sine Celik, Hannah Goss, Jotte De Koning, Mari Suoheimo, Amina Pereno, Asja Aulisio, Silvia Barbero, Thomas Maiorana Jun 2026

Navigating Pluralism In Systemic Design: Global Perspectives And Diverse Vocabularies, Sine Celik, Hannah Goss, Jotte De Koning, Mari Suoheimo, Amina Pereno, Asja Aulisio, Silvia Barbero, Thomas Maiorana

DRS Biennial Conference Series

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Design Education In Its Teenage Years: Growth With Tensions, Nicole Lotz, Ricardo Sosa, Violeta Clemente Jun 2026

Design Education In Its Teenage Years: Growth With Tensions, Nicole Lotz, Ricardo Sosa, Violeta Clemente

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design education research is one of the largest clusters of contributions at the Design Research Society 2026 Conference. This editorial reflects on the thirty papers of this cluster presented across five sessions. It identifies emerging concerns and persistent tensions in the field. Drawing on a synthesis of themes including creativity and identity, systemic and situated pedagogies, reflective practices, cultures and knowledges, and AI in design education, the editorial characterises the field as being in a productive phase of transition. Like an adolescent discipline, design education research shows signs of rapid growth alongside enduring continuities and noticeable leaps. Across the papers, …

Go to article

Strategic Design In Practice: Mapping Strategy Formulation And Implementation In Nordic Design Job Advertisements, Paulo Roberto Nicoletti Dziobczenski, Tua Björklund Jun 2026

Strategic Design In Practice: Mapping Strategy Formulation And Implementation In Nordic Design Job Advertisements, Paulo Roberto Nicoletti Dziobczenski, Tua Björklund

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper investigates strategic design in practice by analysing how organizations describe designers’ work in 232 job advertisements across the Nordic countries. Building on literature that positions strategic design as both strategy formulation (SF) and strategy implementation (SI), we identified explicit signs of SF and SI in the descriptions of designers’ tasks in the ads. Our findings show that Strategy implementation appeared in all ads, while strategy formulation was present in 104 roles (44.8%), mainly in senior-level positions. These SF activities included, for example, aligning design and product strategies with business objectives, leading product development and product management, driving strategic …

Go to article

What Can't Be Confessed: The Structural Absence Of Value Accountability In Design Culture, Michael Dunbar, Liam Fennessy, Chris Speed Jun 2026

What Can't Be Confessed: The Structural Absence Of Value Accountability In Design Culture, Michael Dunbar, Liam Fennessy, Chris Speed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design culture has proliferated aspirational value frameworks, from manifestos championing social justice to ethics toolkits, yet lacks meaningful accountability infrastructure when values are violated or conflict. This paper examines a transgressive design research intervention: a mobile confessional booth at a city Design Week in 2025 that invited designers to anonymously confess professional compromises and ethical failures. The 125 confessions revealed patterns of deflection (blaming systems over individual agency), superficiality (focusing on technical mistakes rather than methodological rigour leading to ethical violations), and conspicuous absence of admissions regarding exploitation, greenwashing, or designing harm. Unlike medicine, law, or journalism, design has implemented …

Go to article

Participatory Design As Emotional Infrastructure: Supporting Collective Reflection And Resilience After The Pandemic, Xinyu Zhang Jun 2026

Participatory Design As Emotional Infrastructure: Supporting Collective Reflection And Resilience After The Pandemic, Xinyu Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

COVID-19 has left enduring emotional distress for many citizens even as public attention to the crisis has faded. In this context, participatory design (PD) is increasingly recognised as a dialogic and restorative practice that enables collective reflection and emotional recovery through shared meaning-making. This study examines how participatory design supports citizens in reflecting on pandemic-related psychological distress, with particular attention to war metaphors widely used in governmental and media communications during COVID-19. While these metaphors mobilised collective action, they also intensified perceptions of risk and vulnerability. The research is based on a year-long participatory design project, W&M, involving nine participants, …

Go to article

Locality As A Driver For Transitional Materialities, Gökçe Deniz, Owain Pedgley, Camilo Ayala-Garcia Jun 2026

Locality As A Driver For Transitional Materialities, Gökçe Deniz, Owain Pedgley, Camilo Ayala-Garcia

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Material designers worldwide are transforming how innovation emerges through local engagement, moving beyond conventional material selection to create materials that reflect and embody their originating contexts. This research examines how locality influences design motivations, resource utilisation, and collaborative approaches through a systematic analysis of 635 material design projects across 56 countries, complemented by questionnaire responses from 19 practitioners across 14 countries. The mixed-methods research establishes the state of the art by mapping ingredient sourcing patterns, fabrication processes, and stakeholder engagements across diverse geographical contexts, while illuminating designers' conceptual frameworks regarding the role of locality in material development. The research reveals …

Go to article

Ai-Enhanced Chinese Style Furniture Design: Integrating Cnn Cultural Recognition With Latent Diffusion Generation, Yupeng Jiang, Jiayong Zheng, Bingchen Gou, Jie Song, Jianing Kang, Zhaoxian Ren, Ying Liu, Lingwei Lyu, Junyan Lin, Suyao Wei, Weilan An Jun 2026

Ai-Enhanced Chinese Style Furniture Design: Integrating Cnn Cultural Recognition With Latent Diffusion Generation, Yupeng Jiang, Jiayong Zheng, Bingchen Gou, Jie Song, Jianing Kang, Zhaoxian Ren, Ying Liu, Lingwei Lyu, Junyan Lin, Suyao Wei, Weilan An

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In the wave of artificial intelligence development, employing computer technology to advance the innovative design of Chinese-style furniture and optimize the intelligent development of cultural products is crucial for revitalizing the industry and strengthening cultural confidence. This study identifies issues of homogenization and cultural dilution in intelligent furniture design and proposes an intelligent design model based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and a latent diffusion model (LDM). CNNs are used to recognize cultural features in Chinese-style furniture, while the LDM generates design schemes, rapidly producing Chinese chairs that meet contemporary aesthetic preferences while retaining traditional cultural attributes. The study enhances …

Go to article

Drawn To Think: A Step Toward Decolonising Design Visualcy, Ellen O'Gorman Jun 2026

Drawn To Think: A Step Toward Decolonising Design Visualcy, Ellen O'Gorman

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design students often hesitate to use drawing as a thinking tool, wary of expectations for figurative outcomes and the evaluative traditions that shape the status quo in product design. This study draws on object-oriented ontology (OOO) and vibrant materialism to explore how a drawing tool—specifically the pencil— might act as an agent in rethinking the pedagogy of semiogenic design visualcy. The study proposes micro-camera activities that capture the pencil’s perspective to produce a radically altered visual and auditory encounter with drawing. Tracing the pencil’s entanglements reveals drawing not simply as representation but relation. The line becomes both a mark and …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last