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From Crisis to Transformation: The Role of Creative Practices in Organisational Transitions
No full textOrganizational transitions can evoke a range of reactions and emotions among employees, departments, stakeholders, and leaders. To effectively manage the transition, it is crucial to comprehend how organizations experience and design change to navigate the various challenges of the transition process. This study investigates how changes in the working environment of the catering staff of a convention centre in the Netherlands led to the formation of a close-knit community that not only embraced the change but also developed innovative approaches for addressing local and social challenges. We draw on interviews with 16 individuals from the organization and use social practice theory to show the interconnected elements of practices that collectively constitute a creative approach to change. The study reveals that leadership and support are crucial competencies for promoting the participation and engagement needed to turn a crisis into an opportunity for both the organization and its stakeholders
Co-diagnosed: A multi-disciplinary workshop reimagining cultures of care for medical and mental health
No full textThis paper focuses on places of healing for co-diagnosed patients who suffer from both mental and medical illnesses. Comorbidity is recognized as a growing concern yet there is little prece-dent in the healthcare industry for designing spaces that respond to needs of patients who re-quire hospitalization for medical conditions, and who simultaneously suffer mental health disor-ders. To explore this problem, we created a workshop to engage healthcare providers, adminis-trators and healthcare architects with undergraduate and graduate students in art, architecture, visual communications and urban design. Our goal was to identify issues that must be ad-dressed through the lens of patients and providers, and to generate design concepts for this largely unprecedented space type. Lived experiences of doctors, nurses and healthcare designers were central to guiding the design investigation. Insights from the workshop create pathways for future research and industry application that prioritize cultures of care for co-diagnosed pa-tients and caregivers
How Can We Measure Human Cognition and Emotion for Human Centric Design in Interior Urban Spaces?
No full textUnderstanding the impact on individuals and the socio-psychological effects of residing in continuously developed high-rise and densely populated urban areas is a crucial part of assessing the quality of interior spaces, particularly in how this may feed into a human-centred urban design process. This research offers a novel, neuro-scientific research approach using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to establish a connection between emotions and the spatial conditions of urban environments. The study utilises data collected through fMRI to shed light on the intricate relationship between urban design and psychological well-being, underscoring the value of incorporating neuroscientific approaches into urban studies. By unraveling cognition patterns associated with different emotions, the findings advocate for the leveraging of these insights to improve urban livability and ensure that design practices are centered around human experiences
The mentor archetype: Female character design trends in contemporary feature film animation
No full textArchetypal images transcend cultures and time, being easily recognized, and absorbed by worldwide audiences. Thus, understanding how archetypal meaning is conveyed through design is undoubtedly a useful tool for character designers in the animation industry. Because popular animated films often target culturally diverse audiences worldwide, stereotypes and archetypes are often used to communicate a character’s identity and narrative role quickly and effectively. This paper presents trends of representation of the Mentor archetype found in female character design, from thirty popular and contemporary animated feature films. These trends emerged through a process of data collection and analysis. By mapping the current paradigm of female character design in this context, we aim at contributing to the understanding of design practices in animation, while fostering critical thinking around gender representation in mainstream media, and ultimately contributing to a more just representation of women
Harnessing information visualization as a vehicle for translational design
No full textDesigners are often positioned as mediators or interpreters, working between disciplines and stakeholders to frame and address problems. This quality is particularly desired when a product transitions from one implementation to another. Translational designers assist this process through critical activities such as navigating differing domain knowledge and balancing conflicting values or cultures between stakeholders. We argue the primary outcome of translational design is not necessarily an artifact but the translation of knowledge across disciplines for decision-making. Our research explains and shows how information visualization can translate meaning within a group of experts familiar with the same topic and between a group of experts with differing expertise. In collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo SpA - Innovation & Process team, we present Processes Map, an interactive information visualization that assists users with better understanding the distribution of activities and associated risks across an organization to contribute to the developing literature on ‘translational design practices.
Insert here: Unpacking tensions in designing technologies for the vagina
No full textFrom sex toys to fertility trackers to vaginal fitness, the design of vaginally inserted technologies often mirrors gendered norms and societal taboos. These norms perpetuate the vagina as an obscure and mystified area, making it difficult for designers to find their way amidst a web of technical, material, and ethical concerns. In this paper, we present a mingling of our experiences as designers, together with feminist and posthuman literature, to discuss the challenges and tensions arising when designing in this space. We provide alternative framings and reflect on how the case of designing for the vagina creates blurry definitions of the inside/outside of the body and of medical/non-medical devices. We offer future directions on how we might demystify and destigmatize designing for vaginas, calling for more queer and feminist approaches to intimate design
Pluriversality on Earth and Beyond: Opening the Field of Critical Interplanetary Design within the Design Discipline
No full textPast, present and future of design ethics
No full textWith the ever-more present climate crisis, resource shortage and the expansion of AI, the core question of the ethical aspects of our development of new products and solutions becomes unavoidable. But which topics are commonly discussed in design ethics literature and how has it evolved? To answer this question and to understand the existing underpinnings and foundation of ethics in design, we adopted a structured literature review searching literature across 42 renowned scientific design journals. A systematic search revealed 1177 academic publications relating to the topic. After filtering and reviewing the titles, abstracts and keywords of these publications, a total of 121 sources were singled out as qualified to constitute the foundation of this review. From these, 8 central themes in past and present design ethics research were identified: Design processes and practices, design education, participatory/co-creation, responsible design, social design, sustainability, technology, and human-centred design This opens a discussion of future research, what are we missing
What in the world do we hear? Understanding public and private spaces through SoundAI
No full textThis paper reports on the Lab that the authors conducted during the DRS2024 conference. Through novel concepts of Auditory Footprint, the authors aimed at exploring and highlighting the perceptual and ecological dimensions of sound events in both private and public spaces. During the DRS2024 Lab, multidisciplinary experts explored AI’s capacity to interpret and influence human interactions with soundscapes, proposing speculative-use cases, and addressing challenges such as subjective perception, equitable data collection, and ethical considerations. The findings advocate for a responsible integration of SoundAI technologies, aiming to foster accessibility, environmental awareness, and community well-being, while mitigating risks. Future work will formalize frameworks for AI-based sound applications and explore policy and technical feasibility