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Articles 1 - 30 of 475
Full-Text Articles in Art and Design
Localizing Design Stories - An Exhibition, Bianca Kóczán, Philipp Stingl, Michaela Anzer
Localizing Design Stories - An Exhibition, Bianca Kóczán, Philipp Stingl, Michaela Anzer
Nordes Conference Series
localizing design stories (locdstories) is a collectively developed design research project. An offer to form a temporary group of a few facilitators and more participants interested in design. This group agrees to take time and share a braver space to explore and reflect upon the relations between their design practice, what stories have been told by whom to them about design, and what stories they would like to share. The setting consists of an adaptable seminar format and an interactive platform, a virtual globe gathering absent situated design stories beyond a dominant design historiography by inviting participants to tell stories …
Relational Design In Healthcare Innovation: Exploring A Multi-Site Context, Kathrina Dankl, Laura Aguado-González, Victoria Artigas, Canan Akoglu, Kasper Frank, Marie Kremer, Erika Renedo-Illarregi, Carlos Romero, Yeray Sañudo, Jorge Sierra-Pérez
Relational Design In Healthcare Innovation: Exploring A Multi-Site Context, Kathrina Dankl, Laura Aguado-González, Victoria Artigas, Canan Akoglu, Kasper Frank, Marie Kremer, Erika Renedo-Illarregi, Carlos Romero, Yeray Sañudo, Jorge Sierra-Pérez
Nordes Conference Series
Healthcare is a critical component of the infrastructure of a welfare state, with public services at its core. However, its challenges are more complex and intractable than those addressed by service design frameworks. The relational design approach, aligned with participatory design principles, could provide insights for service design that promotes a focus on relationships, networks and situated knowledge generation. This study explores situating tactics in the research process of a large EU project focusing on shared decision making in cancer care. By analysing how topic, timescale and methods are situated across two research sites, we discuss how relational sensitivity has …
Nrm-Critical Design As A Path Forward In The Relational Turn: Examples From A Norm-Critical Exploration Of The Hbsc Survey, Anna Isaksson, Karin Ehrnberger, Malin Björklund, Emma Börjesson
Nrm-Critical Design As A Path Forward In The Relational Turn: Examples From A Norm-Critical Exploration Of The Hbsc Survey, Anna Isaksson, Karin Ehrnberger, Malin Björklund, Emma Börjesson
Nordes Conference Series
This article explores how norm-critical design can contribute to the relational turn in design, drawing on a previous study of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. While relational design emphasizes contextualization, interdependencies, and evolving relationships, norm-critical design provides tools to identify, visualize, and challenge embedded norms within these relationships. By transforming survey questions into design concepts, this study demonstrates how norm-critical design materializes implicit assumptions, making them visible for critique and reflection. The findings illustrate that surveys are not neutral data collection tools but performative instruments shaping relationships, self-perceptions, and societal norms. The article argues that norm-critical design expands …
Design For Longevity: A Relational And Systemic Perspective, Sheng-Hung Lee
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
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 …
Exploring Haunted Spaces Of Participation Through Justice, Annunziata Albano, Azeem Hamid, Agathe Malbet
Exploring Haunted Spaces Of Participation Through Justice, Annunziata Albano, Azeem Hamid, Agathe Malbet
Nordes Conference Series
This paper discusses participation and its impact through the lenses of justice and, identifying burdens, questioning representation issues unwillingly created, prompting careful consideration of participatory methods and highlighting power tensions in relation to the participants. Specifically, it scrutinizes the dimensions of participation, addressing who participates, where, when, and how participation occurs. Furthermore, by investigating the ghosts of participation—the lingering effects and unintended consequences of participation—we investigate the broader implications of participatory processes on individuals and communities. This paper aims to contribute to the growing discourse of participation from a justice perspective, offering insights into how public participation can be reviewed …
Balancing Children’S Play With Plastic–Materialistic Character Toys, Minjin Kim, Young-Ae Hahn
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
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 …
Entangled In The Design Of A Relational Materiality: Beyond Smart Textiles, Anne Louise Bang, Delia Dumitrescu, Malene Harsaae, Inger Marie Ladekarl, Hanna Landin, Erin Lewis, Mika Latusaari, Alicja Lawrynowicz, Kati Miettunen, Mithila Mohan, Mikael Nyberg, Lena Pedersen, Pedro Silva, Maija Vaara, Jaana Vapaavouri, Linda Worbin, Zahraalsadat Madani, Kristian Rödby
Entangled In The Design Of A Relational Materiality: Beyond Smart Textiles, Anne Louise Bang, Delia Dumitrescu, Malene Harsaae, Inger Marie Ladekarl, Hanna Landin, Erin Lewis, Mika Latusaari, Alicja Lawrynowicz, Kati Miettunen, Mithila Mohan, Mikael Nyberg, Lena Pedersen, Pedro Silva, Maija Vaara, Jaana Vapaavouri, Linda Worbin, Zahraalsadat Madani, Kristian Rödby
Nordes Conference Series
Nowadays, ethics and care for the environment have shifted paradigms in smart textile design towards responsible energy use and preservation of natural resources. In this research, we aim to relate material science and engineering to textile and interaction design in discovering a vibrant responsive materiality triggered by ultraviolet (UV) energy. The research addresses a bottom-up approach entangling scientific development in material science, textile craftsmanship, and design to the understanding of human use and the capacities for change of this natural phenomena. Compared to a conventional textile design processes where material and form composition connect in a final expression, in this …
Backwards Incidentality, Sheida Amiri Rigi
Backwards Incidentality, Sheida Amiri Rigi
Nordes Conference Series
‘Backwards incidentality’ is a notion developed to trace the different pasts that have led each of us here; this place and moment that foregrounds relationality in design. This exhibit, which materializes backward incidentality, is concerned with critical differences within relationality that might get lost in an overconfidence that rushes to outline the implications it might have for design. It is in a way a challenge to any separation we might otherwise imagine between logical inquiry into relationality and all those things that have incidentally become—and continue to become—our relational inquiry.
Citational Justice In Design Education: Teaching/Learning Relationality, Lisa Baumgarten
Citational Justice In Design Education: Teaching/Learning Relationality, Lisa Baumgarten
Nordes Conference Series
This paper explores how Citational Justice can transform design education, challenging the dominant narrative of the isolated creative genius in favour of design as inherently relational and collaborative. Through a case study of a design theory seminar with 16 bachelor students, the paper demonstrates how Citational Justice reshapes teaching practices by revealing networks of influence and knowledge in design work. Drawing on relationality and care perspectives from Escobar and Puig de la Bellacasa, the research implements power-critical pedagogies such as “brave spaces”, and collaborative feedback. Results show three key transformations in students’ understanding: a new attitude toward inspiration and influence, …
Anyone Can Put A Sofa, Chenfan Zhang, Valentina Auricchio, Daniela Selloni
Anyone Can Put A Sofa, Chenfan Zhang, Valentina Auricchio, Daniela Selloni
Nordes Conference Series
This exploratory paper presents a case observed during the author’s participatory action research for the PhD programme. The case consists of reflections on a relationship-building intervention enabled through the placement of a tea dispenser and a sofa in a village’s common space. The paper provides the case to reflect about whether overemphasising on designers’ identity and roles has overshadowed the importance and opportunities of building human relationships when engaging with communities during the immersion phase. The paper argues that designers need to rethink their positioning and move beyond an overemphasis on professional roles when entering communities to better understand how …
Everywhere, All At Once: Speculative Layering Of Multiple Temporalities With Augmented Reality, Alessandro Ianniello, Roy Bendor
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 …
Participatory Storytelling As A Relational Design Practice: The Case Of The San Vittore Priso, Chiara Ligi, Elettra Panepinto
Participatory Storytelling As A Relational Design Practice: The Case Of The San Vittore Priso, Chiara Ligi, Elettra Panepinto
Nordes Conference Series
This paper explores how participatory storytelling functions as a relational design practice within the constraints of a total institution, specifically in the context of San Vittore prison in Milan, Italy. Drawing on two years of fieldwork, we analyze the power dynamics, relational infrastructures, and narrative agency that emerge through Storylab, a participatory storytelling workshop conducted inside the prison. As the workshop cultivates storytelling within a complex relational landscape, we investigate how narratives shape this relational landscape and its inherent power dynamics. We examine the ethical challenges of navigating power asymmetries in total institutions and argue for design research that is …
Exploring The Entanglement Of Relational Design, Spatiality And Places, Thomas Binder, Jörn Christiansson, Gabriela Quintana Vigiola
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
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 …
Design Briefs After Progress, Li Jönsson, Maria Göransdotter, Åsa Ståhl, Kristina Lindström, Thomas Laurien
Design Briefs After Progress, Li Jönsson, Maria Göransdotter, Åsa Ståhl, Kristina Lindström, Thomas Laurien
Nordes Conference Series
Design briefs can be expressions of needs expressed not only by educators but also by external actors and society more broadly. They are where societal needs, expectations, wishes and desires meet the internal, local and situated logic of design and design education. In this workshop, we aim to make an inventory of past and current design briefs and start to re-imagine them by moving beyond the taken-for-granted starting point of continued growth. We are led by the overarching question: what could a design brief become when it is actively intended to shift away from notions of design as formulated in …
Design In Service Of The Pluriverse (Anonymised), Clara Llamas, Pablo Calderon Salazar
Design In Service Of The Pluriverse (Anonymised), Clara Llamas, Pablo Calderon Salazar
Nordes Conference Series
The pluriverse represents an entanglement of cosmologies shaped by coloniality and modernity (Mignolo, 2013). Service design's historical roots trace back to exploitative systems, evident in both slavery's triangular trade and domestic service hierarchies. Even the etymology—'service' from servitus (slavery)—reflects a problematic legacy (Kim, 2018). These historical power dynamics persist in contemporary service design through gendered and racialized divisions, exploitative supply chains, and hierarchical service environments (Prendiville, 2024; Allen 2019; Inikori, 2002; Williams, 1994). Service design practices can either challenge or reinforce these dynamics, as demonstrated in Bitner's servicescapes theory and Clatworthy or Vink’s analysis of design's cultural and social impact. …
How To Talk Of And Evaluate Relationality In Design Research And Practice?, Tuuli Mattelmäki, Ann Light, Andrea Botero, Jaz Hee-Jeong Choi, Marketa Dolesjova
How To Talk Of And Evaluate Relationality In Design Research And Practice?, Tuuli Mattelmäki, Ann Light, Andrea Botero, Jaz Hee-Jeong Choi, Marketa Dolesjova
Nordes Conference Series
The damaged and fragmented world is calling for care, hope, and imaginative ways of nurturing dialogues. We need alternative pathways, reflexivity and collective engagements to meet this need. Designers and other creative practitioners are increasingly applying experimental, relational, experiential and participatory approaches to facilitate collaboration, social change and imaginative world-making. Such approaches build on understandings that go beyond rational thinking and involve emotional and personal aspects. To advance these practices with arguments for their relevance, and to develop collective reflexivity, we need ways to talk of and evaluate the relationalities we seek to enact. In this workshop, we engage with …
Mattering Relational Design Pedagogies, Teresa Palmieri, Sonia Cabral Matos
Mattering Relational Design Pedagogies, Teresa Palmieri, Sonia Cabral Matos
Nordes Conference Series
This workshop explores relationality in design education, particularly in the context of design practices that address social justice and climate change. It seeks to create a space for design educators to share and exchange practical approaches for integrating relational pedagogies frameworks into design education and embodying its principles in their teaching practices. Referring to theories on Relational Pedagogies, the workshop will address the dual meaning of “matter” – who matters and what matters – in design education. Drawing from their own experiences and imaginations, participants will be involved in mapping the bodies, objects, spaces, materialities and other non-human bodies and …
Nurturing Technological Imagination Through Material Exploration, Heidi Bråthen
Nurturing Technological Imagination Through Material Exploration, Heidi Bråthen
Nordes Conference Series
This exhibition introduces a tangible, modular toolkit designed for hands-on exploration of both computational and traditional materials, showcasing design possibilities without demanding prior technical skills from participants in co-design processes. Recognizing challenges posed by limited technological experience and age-related changes, we employed a research-through-design approach tailored to older adults and designers working with co-design and co-prototyping. Our toolkit aims to empower diverse participants to discover and modify technological options, fostering their technological imagination in the design process.
Traces Of Nature, A Dialogue In Memory And Art, Vigdis Storsveen, Anders-Petter Andersson
Traces Of Nature, A Dialogue In Memory And Art, Vigdis Storsveen, Anders-Petter Andersson
Nordes Conference Series
The project explores participatory processes through an art exhibition of stories and photographs of nature, involving care home residents. The aim is to investigate the potential for health promotion by facilitating conversations about memories of past nature experiences. Residents, who often lack access to nature and art exhibitions, engage in dialogue with the artist about places in nature that are meaningful to them. The artist then visits these locations and captures them through photography, offering an interpretation of the chosen site. The resulting stories and images are exhibited at institutions, fostering discussions about memories, nature, and art among residents and …
The Conspiracy Capitaliser: A Tool For Exploring The Intersection Of Ai, Politics And Profit, Robert Collins
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 …
Pollino: A Research-Through-Design Approach To Pollinator Conservation, Kitti Butter
Pollino: A Research-Through-Design Approach To Pollinator Conservation, Kitti Butter
Nordes Conference Series
This paper examines how design can foster multispecies cohabitation in urban environments by supporting wild pollinators, specifically solitary wild bees. Grounded in theories of more-than-human design and multispecies care, the project challenges conventional human-centric urban planning by integrating ecological insights into practical interventions. Using a Research-through-Design approach, the project “Pollino” was developed as an experimental urban intervention that incorporates pollinator-friendly nesting habitats into public infrastructure. The interdisciplinary project draws on stakeholder interviews with ecologists, urban planners, and municipal decision-makers, along with a one-year pilot study deploying twelve prototypes in diverse urban settings and monitoring their impact on urban biodiversity and …
Lighting A Public Thing? Organizing Design Things In Public Bureaucracy, Christina Vildinge, Elena Raviola
Lighting A Public Thing? Organizing Design Things In Public Bureaucracy, Christina Vildinge, Elena Raviola
Nordes Conference Series
This study takes an interdisciplinary approach to the design of the night city, by exploring how, through complex scripting processes, the relational aesthetics of light is translated in processes of urban planning. This exploration is based on our study of lighting design in the city of Gothenburg and highlights the multiplicities of designing light through dimensions of aesthetics, sustainability, safety, environment, biodiversity, work and more. The question we ask is how the relational materiality of light as a design material is translated in the organizational process of urban planning and how light in this process is made a matter of …
Becoming Compost: Fostering Soil Care Through Design Practices, Annarita Bianco
Becoming Compost: Fostering Soil Care Through Design Practices, Annarita Bianco
Nordes Conference Series
Soil is a complex and interconnected entity, essential for life yet constantly threatened by intensive human practices. Inspired by the Environmental Humanities, this contribution illustrates the experience of two workshops that, by immersing participants in the exchange of soil matter, aim to shed light on the fragility of our planet’s balance and promote greater ecological awareness. Through mixing soil samples, radial chromatography, and augmented reality technologies, Becoming Compost emphasises the importance of soil as a site of biopoiesis, chemical element transformation, and interspecies exchange. It also encourages participants to reflect on the significance of one of life’s fundamental elements, fostering …
Affect In More-Than-Human Design Practice: An Anecdote-Based Exploration Through Dialogue, Daphné Hamilton-Jones, Anna M. Schröder
Affect In More-Than-Human Design Practice: An Anecdote-Based Exploration Through Dialogue, Daphné Hamilton-Jones, Anna M. Schröder
Nordes Conference Series
In an effort to respond to the contemporary environmental crises, Design strives to continuously define and develop more-than-human design practices. In response, this exploratory piece puts in dialogue two “affective anecdotes”: we discuss affective encounters with the ocean and the soil, foregrounding how these experiences have impacted our perspectives on the Design discipline and practice, exploring how, through a reflective dialogue, a relational understanding of these events emerges, while also allowing us to grasp the implicit nature of our more-than-human design practice better. This paper foregrounds the difficulty in expressing affective experiences through words, as well as the value of …
Designing Speculative Probes: Narrating Menstruation With Cultural Sensitivity And Care, Canan Akoglu, Sofie Kinch, Linda Domke
Designing Speculative Probes: Narrating Menstruation With Cultural Sensitivity And Care, Canan Akoglu, Sofie Kinch, Linda Domke
Nordes Conference Series
This paper explores the design of speculative probes as a situated, exploratory, and critical practice for engaging with intimate and stigmatized topics in specific socio-cultural contexts. It examines how designers navigate cultural sensitivities with care, demonstrating how speculative design can foster alternative spaces for dialogue rather than directly confronting taboos. Drawing on a case study in Tunisia, which addresses cultural stigmas around menstruation among young men and women, the paper highlights the importance of narrative-driven and culturally sensitive speculative design in fostering non-judgmental spaces for dialogue and mutual learning, thereby supporting systemic and cultural transformation. This paper advocates for design …
Toying With Relations: Speculative Toys For Children And Sustainability, Karey Helms, Petra Jääskeläinen, Sharon Lindberg, Elin Sporrong, Arjun Menon, Meike Schalk, Airi Lampinen
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
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 …