Design Research Society Digital Library
Not a member yet
4839 research outputs found
Sort by
Design in dialogue: AI as an aid of imagination for future scenarios
No full textGenerative AI tools foreshadow fundamental changes in the dynamics of creative work. Albeit controlling the output is still challenging, the rapid conceptual development and visualization can be particularly helpful in the exploratory phase, facilitating approaches such as design fiction. The contribution aims at providing an overview of how AI can fit in various steps, demonstrating in particular how the AI-enabled visualization from text and sketches allows imagining and iterating quickly on future scenarios. Starting from a benchmarking of over sixty AI tools according to the Design Thinking process, the efficacy of a human-AI collaboration has been experimented through workshops with over hundred and fifty students. These activities have demonstrated the efficacy of following a well-defined dialogue protocol of Human Intelligence “framing” Artificial Intelligence, which serves as an AI skill-building tool, as well as a creative icebreaker, leading to vivid representations of speculative scenarios as foundation for the forward-thinking design process
AI as a Catalyst for Creativity: Exploring the Use of Generative Approach in Fashion Design for Improving Their Inspiration
No full textThe emergence of generative AI sparked thoughts on how it can be helpful across the stages of fashion design practice and creativity. We investigated the potential impact of prompt engineering using stable diffusion and Midjourney on understanding the relationship between the prompt and outcome, and how it influences the final process, thinking, or result. Our study provides guidelines for designers to use specific formats and words to describe the garments to generate clothing designs even if they are not familiar with text prompt engineering. We found fashion designers more likely to focus on the clothes and the overall feeling that the images evoke, meaning that anatomical accuracy is not their concern. This research is a rare exploration that combines prompts engineering with fashion, providing insights and recommendations on how to better utilize AI as a tool in industry
Challenges for design and designers in interdisciplinary product development: A qualitative interview study in industry
No full textToday’s challenges in areas such as climate change, health technology, and digitization require adapted or even new products. Thus, product design gains higher importance since it defines human-centered solutions, leading to lower or higher acceptance of new design solutions. While the benefits of design seem to be compelling, previous research has shown that industry still faces challenges in prioritizing design along complex interdisciplinary development processes. In this paper, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of these challenges. Based on qualitative exploratory interviews with thirteen designers from the industry, three main and interrelated challenges were identified: A lack of knowledge about the concept of design, a lack of knowledge about the value of design, and the challenge of giving design a high priority. We also identified underlying causes and possible approaches. Based on this, we suggest possible future research directions to strengthen the role of design and designers in organizations
Transformational Practices; Aligning Governance and Design.
No full textThis paper introduces the concept of ‘Transformational Practises’ as a prospective design-led integrative space to conduct multidisciplinary research aiming at ex-ceptionally innovative and/or unconventional research aiming for a high trans-formational impact. Based on a range of selected examples, the authors underpin the fundamental principles of this new framework to propose a criteria to assess prospective and multidisciplinary design-led transformations. In the process, it places design as a distinctive and fundamental activity to develop transforma-tional impact in research that aligns the applied arts (arts and design), with the prospective sciences (e.g., AI and synthetic biology), and prospective sociology (e.g., economics and policy). Finally, it combines the concepts of structured ad-versarial collaborations, knowledge vectors, and transformational practises met-rics to integrate this area into established models of academic assessment
Designing Temporal Ecologies: Reframing Multispecies Temporalities Through Design
No full textIn Western industrialised societies, the times of humans and of other species are often considered as belonging to different realms. While human life is regarded as progressive and accelerated, other species are seen as following cyclical, slow changing timescales. These narratives neglect the multiple interconnections between human and other-than-human times and contribute to increasing temporal mismatches across species, with consequences for environmental and biodiversity loss. In this paper, we use design examples generated through an interdisciplinary workshop to discuss opportunities for design to expand notions of time in more-than-human ecologies. Drawing from the Temporal Design framework and the notion of Designing for Temporal Cohabitation, we discuss how these examples incorporate a call for designers to a) draw attention to multiple ways human and other-than-human temporalities are intrinsically connected, b) expose temporal power asymmetries across ecologies, and c) design interventions that foster care-full ways of reducing impact and promoting temporal reattunements
This Class Isn’t Designed For Me: Recognizing Ableist Trends In Design Education, And Redesigning For An Inclusive And Sustainable Future
No full textTraditional and currently-prevalent pedagogies of design perpetuate ableist and exclusionary notions of what it means to be a designer. In this paper, we trace such historically exclusionary norms of design education, and highlight modern-day instances from our own experiences as design educators in such epistemologies. Towards imagining a more inclusive and sustainable future of design education, we present three case studies from our own experience as design educators in redesigning course experiences for blind and low-vision (BLV), deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, and students with other disabilities. In documenting successful and unsuccessful practices, we imagine what a pedagogy of care in design education would look like
Is There a Design-based Capacity-building Model for Achieving Sustainability and Circularity
No full textEnabling Regenerative Transitions: What Can Design Offer?
No full textTransition design first emerged as a provocation to designers to apply design theory and practice to enable societal transitions, including transitions toward sustainability. This raises questions around the roles that transition design can play in sustainability transitions and the specific capabilities that designers can draw on. This paper seeks to answer these questions via a transition design case study project in agricultural sustainability. Specifically, the project focuses on the growing interest in regenerative agriculture in New South Wales, Australia from 2017 through 2023. Within the case study, the researcher as designer-practitioner works as a change agent, taking part in collaborative initiatives. Through semi-structured interviews, ethnographic immersion and involvement in multiple working groups, the researcher-designer-practitioner tests design-based practices, identifies acupuncture points across the agriculture sector, and co-develops initiatives to address these. This research into practice yields a set of capabilities and methods, as well as key roles for design in transitions
