ISSN 2398-3132
PROCEEDINGS OF DRS
27–30 JUNE 2016
VOLUME 4
50th Anniversary Conference Brighton, UK
Design + Research + Society Future-Focused Thinking EDITED BY: PETER LLOYD ERIK BOHEMIA
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Proceedings of DRS 2016 Design + Research + Society Future–Focused Thinking 50th Anniversary International Conference Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016 Volume 4
Editors Peter Lloyd and Erik Bohemia
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Proceedings of DRS 2016 International Conference 28–30 June 2016, Brighton, UK www.drs2016.org Volumes 4 of 10 Cover and conference identity design by Gavin Ambrose, Nikki Brewster and Seamus White Proceedings compiled by Kaajal Modi Editors: Peter Lloyd and Erik Bohemia Section-Editors: Harriet Atkinson; Leonard Bachman; Giovanni Baule; Michaël Berghman; Noemi Bitterman; Alison Black; Rebecca Cain; Elena Caratti; Rachel Cooper; Anne Cranny-Francis; Tejas Dhadphale; Hua Dong; Bianca Elzenbaumer; Carolina Escobar-Tello; Luke Feast; Tom Fisher; Aija Freimanee; Lorraine Gamman; Valeria Graziano; Camilla Groth; Marte Gulliksen; Paul Hekkert; Derek Jones; Sarah Kettley; Tore Kristensen; Sylvia Liu; Geke Ludden; Jamie Mackrill; Maarit Mäkelä; Betti Marenko; Andrew Morris; Kristina Niedderer; Nithikul Nimkulrat; Maya Oppenheimer; Elif Ozcan; Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness; Ann Petermans; Philip Plowright; Tiiu Poldma; Hendrik Schifferstein; Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen; Qian Sun; Michael Tovey; Rhoda Trimingham; Kim Trogal; Nynke Tromp; Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer; Sue Walker; Alex Wilkie; Alex Williams; Seda Yilmaz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Proceedings of DRS 2016 International Conference: Future–Focused Thinking ISSN 2398-3132 Published by the Design Research Society Loughborough University, London 3 Lesney Avenue, The Broadcast Centre, Here East London, E15 2GZ United Kingdom
Design Research Society Secretariat email: admin@designresearchsociety.org website: www.designresearchsociety.org Founded in 1966 the Design Research Society (DRS) is a learned society committed to promoting and developing design research. It is the longest established, multi-disciplinary worldwide society for the design research community and aims to promote the study of and research into the process of designing in all its many fields.
DRS Special Interest Groups Design for Behaviour Change Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness Design Innovation Management Design Pedagogy Design for Sustainability Design for Tangible, Embedded and Networked Technologies Experiential Knowledge Inclusive Design Objects, Practices, Experiences, Networks
DRS International Conference Series DRS 2002 London; DRS 2004 Melbourne; DRS 2006 Lisbon; DRS 2008 Sheffield; DRS 2010 Montreal; DRS 2012 Bangkok; DRS 2014 Umeå
DRS 2016 Programme Committee Conference Chair Peter Lloyd, University of Brighton, UK Conference Co-Chairs Tracy Bhamra, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Stephen Boyd-Davis, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Jonathan Chapman, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Peter Childs, Imperial College, United Kingdom International Scientific Review Committee Tracy Bhamra, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Erik Bohemia, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Lin Lin Chen, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Nathan Crilly, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Paul Hekkert, TU Delft, The Netherlands Peter Lloyd, University of Brighton, UK Debates, Conversations and Workshops Chairs Stella Boess, TU Delft, The Netherlands Carlos Peralta, University of Brighton, UK Cameron Tonkinwise, Carnegie Mellon University, US Conference Experience Chairs Dan Lockton, Royal College of Art, UK Veronica Ranner, Royal College of Art, UK PhD by Design Bianca Elzenbaumer, Leeds College of Art, UK Maria Portugal, Goldsmiths University, UK Alison Thomson, Goldsmiths University, UK DRS Special Interest Group Chairs Erik Bohemia, Loughborough University, UK Rebecca Cain, Warwick University, UK Hua Dong, Tongji University, China Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent University, UK Sarah Kettley, Nottingham Trent University, UK Kristina Niedderer, University of Wolverhampton, UK Nithikul Nimkulrat, Estonian Academy of Arts, Talinn Michael Tovey, Coventry University, UK Rhoda Trimmingham, Loughborough University, UK Executive Advisors Carl DiSalvo, Georgia Institute of Technology, US Kees Dorst, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Janet Mcdonnell, University of the Arts London, UK Johan Redstrรถm, Umeรฅ Institute of Design, Sweden Erik Stolterman, Indiana University, US Anna Valtonen, Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland
International Board of Reviewers Tom Ainsworth, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Katerina Alexiou, The Open University, United Kingdom Manola Antonioli, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture Paris La Villette, France Rina Arya, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom Harriet Atkinson, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Stephen Awoniyi, Texas State University, United States Jeremy Aynsley, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Leonard Bachman, University of Houston College of Architecture, United States Betsy Barnhart, Iowa State University, United States Giovanni Baule, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Nigan Bayazit, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey Michaël Berghman, TU Delft, Netherlands Tracy Bhamra, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Richard Bibb, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Noemi Bitterman, Technion, Israel Alison Black, Reading University, United Kingdom Janneke Blijlevens, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia Anne Boddington, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Stella Boess, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Erik Bohemia, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Casper Boks, NTNU, Norway Elizabeth Boling, Indiana University, United States Andy Boucher, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Simon Bowen, Newcastle University, United Kingdom Stephen Boyd Davis, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Jamie Brassett, Central Saint Martins, United Kingdom Philip Breedon, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Charlie Breindahl, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark Patrick Bresnihan, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Cheryl Buckley, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Jacob Buur, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Rebecca Cain, University of Warwick, United Kingdom Elena Caratti, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Philip Cash, DTU, Denmark Tom Cassidy, University of Leeds, United Kingdom Julia Cassim, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan Jonathan Chapman, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Chien-Hsiung Chen, Taiwan Tech, Taiwan, R.O.C. Chun-Chih Chen, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan, R.O.C. Chun-Di Chen, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C. Kuohsiang Chen, I-Shou University, Taiwan, R.O.C. Lin-Lin Chen, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. Peter Childs, Imperial College London, United Kingdom Wen-Ko Chiou, Chang Gung University, Taiwan, R.O.C. Bo Christensen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Henri Christiaans, UNIST, School of Design & Human Engineering, South Korea Abdusselam Selami Cifter, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey Nazli Cila, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands Mollie Claypool, University College London, United Kingdom Stephen Clune, Lancaster University, United Kingdom Tim Cooper, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Anne Cranny-Francis, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Nathan Crilly, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Odette da Silva, TU Delft, Netherlands Massimo De Angelis, University of East London, United Kingdom Michel de Blois, Université Laval, Canada Cees de Bont, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Christine de Lille, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Jakki Dehn, Jakki Dehn Materials, United Kingdom
Federico Del Giorgio Solfa, National University of La Plata, Argentina Claudio Dell'Era, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Samuel DeMarie, Iowa State University, United States Halime Demirkan, Bilkent University, Turkey Gaurang Desai, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Pieter Desmet, TU Delft, Netherlands Emma Dewberry, The Open University, United Kingdom Sarah Diefenbach, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany Ingvild Digranes, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway Orsalia Dimitriou, Central Saint Martins, United Kingdom Hua Dong, Tongji University, China Dennis Doordan, University of Notre Dame, United States Kees Dorst, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Shelby Doyle, Iowa State University, United States Alex Duffy, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom Delia Dumitrescu, University of Borås, United Kingdom Abigail Durrant, Newcastle University, United Kingdom Thomas Dykes, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Wouter Eggink, University of Twente, Netherlands Bianca Elzenbaumer, Leeds College of Art, United Kingdom Magnus Eneberg, Konstfack - University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden Alpay Er, Ozyegin University / Istanbul Institute of Design, Turkey Ozlem Er, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey Pia Geisby Erichsen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Carolina Escobar-Tello, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Juhyun Eune, Seoul National University, South Korea Mark Evans, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Luke Feast, Aalto University, Finland Thomas Fischer, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China Tom Fisher, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Kate Tanya Fletcher, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Jodi Forlizzi, Carnegie Mellon University, United States Lois Frankel, Carleton University, Canada Jill Franz, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Biljana Fredriksen, University College of Southeast Norway, Norway Ken Friedman, Tongji University, China Jennifer Gabrys, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Loraine Gamman, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, United Kingdom Nick Gant, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Philippe Gauthier, Université de Montréal, Canada Aysar Ghassan, Coventry University, United Kingdom Katherine Gibson, University of Western Sydney, Australia Carolina Gill, The Ohio State University, United States Steve Gill, Cardiff Met University, United Kingdom Maria Goransdotter, Umeå University, Sweden Colin Gray, Purdue University, United States Camilla Groth, Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland Marte Sørebø Gulliksen, Telemark University College, Norway Ian Gwilt, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom Robert Harland, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Dew Harrison, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom Steve Harrison, Virginia Tech, United States Marc Hassenzahl, Folkwang University of the Arts, Germany Anders Haug, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Tero Heikkinen, independent / University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland Tincuta Heinzel, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Paul Hekkert, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Bart Hengeveld, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands Ricardo Hernandez, Lancaster University, United Kingdom Ann Heylighen, KU Leuven, Belgium Clive Hilton, Coventry University, United Kingdom
Michael Hohl, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany Chung-Ching Huang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, R.O.C. Karl Hurn, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Praima Israsena Na Ayudhya, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Robert Jerrard, Manchester Metropolitan Univ/Birmingham City Univ, United Kingdom Wolfgang Jonas, Braunschweig University of Art, Germany Derek Jones, The Open University, United Kingdom Peter Jones, OCAD University, Canada Rachel Jones, Instrata, United Kingdom Guy Julier, University of Brighton/Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom Sabine Junginger, Hertie School of Governance, Germany Lorraine Justice, Rochester Institute of Technology, United States Faith Kane, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Helen Kennedy, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Tobie Kerridge, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Richard Arthur Kettley, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Sarah Kettley, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Jinsook Kim, Trinity Christian College, United States Lucy Kimbell, UAL, United Kingdom Holger Klapperich, Folkwang University of Arts, Germany Maaike Kleinsmann, TU Delft, Netherlands Ben Kraal, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Ksenija Kuzmina, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom John Langrish, Salford University, United Kingdom Keelin Leahy, University of Limerick, Ireland Helmut Leder, University of Vienna, Austria Ji-Hyun Lee, KAIST, South Korea Yanki Lee, Hong Kong Design Institue, Hong Kong Eva Lenz, Folkwang University of Arts, Germany Pierre Levy, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands Debra Lilley, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Rungtai Lin, National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan, R.O.C. Stephen Little, Asia Pacific Technology Network, United Kingdom Sylvia Liu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Peter Lloyd, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Kathy Pui Ying, Lo, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Dan Lockton, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Vicky Lofthouse, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Lian Loke, University of Sydney, Australia Nicole Lotz, The Open University, United Kingdom Rachael Luck, The Open University, United Kingdom Geke Ludden, University of Twente, Netherlands Rohan Lulham, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Ole Lund, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Alastair Macdonald, Glasgow School of Art, United Kingdom Fiona Maciver, Norwich University of the Arts, United Kingdom Jamie Mackrill, Imperial College London, United Kingdom Anja Maier, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark Maarit Mäkelä, Aalto University, Finland Betti Marenko, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Ben Mathews, The University of Queensland, Australia Tuuli Mattelmäki, Aalto University, Finland Ramia Mazé, Aalto University, Finland Sanjoy Mazumdar, University of California, Irvine, United States Janet McDonnell, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Chris McGinley, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Tomislav Medak, Multimedia Institute, Croatia Wellington Gomes de Medeiros, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University, United States Paul Micklethwaite, Kingston University, United Kingdom Karen Miller, University of Brighton, United Kingdom
Val Mitchell, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Kathryn Moore, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom Michael Moore, Ulster University, United Kingdom Sarah Morehead, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Nicola Morelli, Aalborg University, Denmark Mariale Moreno, Cranfield University, United Kingdom Andrew Morris, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Andrew, Morrison, AHO, Norway Jeanne-Louise Moys, Reading University, United Kingdom Tara Mullaney, Umeå Institute of Design, Sweden Yukari Nagai, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Ki Young Nam, KAIST, South Korea Kristina Niedderer, Wolverhampton University, United Kingdom Liv Merete Nielsen, Oslo and Akershus university college, Norway Nithikul Nimkulrat, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia Conall Ó Catháin, Past Chairman DRS, Ireland Arlene Oak, University of Alberta, Canada Maya Oppenheimer, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Elif Ozcan, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Kursat Ozenc, Stanford, United States Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, Iowa State University, United States Eujin Pei, Brunel University London, United Kingdom Carlos Peralta, University of brighton, United Kingdom José Pérez de Lama, University of Sevilla, Spain Oscar Person, Aalto University, Finland Ann Petermans, Hasselt University, Belgium Daniela Petrelli, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom Doina Petrescu, The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway Sarah Pink, RMIT University, Australia Silvia Pizzocaro, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Philip Plowright, Lawrence Technological University, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, United States Anna Pohlmeyer, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Tiiu Poldma, University of Montreal, Canada Lubomir Popov, Bowling Green State University, United States Vesna Popovic, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Thomas Porathe, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Ruben Post, TU Delft, Netherlands William Prindle, Iowa State University, United States Charlie Ranscombe, Swinburne, Australia Yaone Rapitsenyane, University of Botswana, Botswana Ingo Rauth, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Kirstine Riis, University College Telemark, Norway Paul Rodgers, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Zoe Romano, WeMake, Makerspace, Italy Jose Antonio Rosa, Iowa State University, United States Seymour Roworth-Stokes, Coventry University, United Kingdom Robin Roy, The Open University, United Kingdom Keith Russell, University of Newcastle, Australia, Australia Daniel Saakes, KAIST, South Korea Noemi Maria Sadowska, Regent's University London, United Kingdom Miguel Said Vieira, Independent, Brazil Fatina Saikaly, Co-Creando, Italy Filippo Salustri, Ryerson University, Canada Liz Sanders, The Ohio State University, United States Rick Schifferstein, TU Delft, Netherlands James Self, UNIST, South Korea Nick Senske, Iowa State University, United States Matt Sinclair, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Kin Wai Michael Siu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Dirk Snelders, TU Delft, Netherlands
Ricardo Sosa, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand Chris Speed, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Jak Spencer, The Sound HQ, United Kingdom Kay Stables, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Pieter Jan Stappers, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Shanti Sumartojo, RMIT University, Australia Kärt Summatavet, Aalto University, Estonia Qian Sun, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Helena Sustar, Aalto University, Finland Gunnar Swanson, East Carolina University, United States Ben Sweeting, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Keith Tam, University of Reading, United Kingdom Hsien-Hui Tang, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. Toshiharu Taura, Kobe University, Japan Damon Taylor, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Sarah Teasley, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom Adam Thorpe, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Clementine Thurgood, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Jeremy Till, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Oscar Tomico, Eindhoven University of Technology, United Kingdom Cameron Tonkinwise, Carnegie Mellon University, United States Mike Tovey, Coventry University, United Kingdom Rhoda Trimingham, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Nynke Tromp, TU Delft, Netherlands Darren Umney, Open University, United Kingdom Louise Valentine, University of Dundee, United Kingdom Anna Valtonen, Aalto University, Finland Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Johann van der Merwe, Independent Researcher, South Africa Mascha van der Voort, University of Twente, Netherlands Karel van der Waarde, Graphic Design - Research, Belgium Susann Vihma, Aalto University, Finland Andre Viljoen, University of Brighton, United Kingdom John Vines, Newcastle University, United Kingdom Bettina von Stamm, Innovation Leadership Forum, United Kingdom Sue Walker, Reading University, United Kingdom Renee Wever, Linköping University, Sweden Alex Wilkie, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Alex Williams, Kingston University, United Kingdom Garrath Wilson, Loughborough University, United Kingdom Heather Wiltse, Umeå University, Sweden Christian Woelfel, TU Dresden, Germany Martin Woolley, Coventry University, United Kingdom Paul Wormald, National University of Singapore, Singapore Artemis Yagou, Macromedia University for Media and Communication, Germany Joyce Yee, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Susan Yelavich, The New School, United States Seda Yilmaz, Iowa State University, United States Robert Young, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
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Table of Content Editorial................................................................................................................................................................................................... i – Volume 1 – SECTION 1 50 YEARS OF DESIGN RESEARCH Design Research: What is it? What is it for?............................................................................................................................................. 5
Victor Margolin Schön’s Legacy: Examining Contemporary Citation Practices in DRS Publications ................................................................................... 17
Jordan Beck, Laureline Chiapello The Idea of Architecture, The User As Inhabitant: Design through a Christopher Alexander Lens ........................................................... 31
Molly Wright Steenson Design Research for Sustainability: Historic Origin and Development .................................................................................................... 43
Astrid Skjerven The Design Methods Movement: From Optimism to Darwinism ............................................................................................................ 51
John Z. Langrish User Design: Constructions of the “user” in the history of design research ............................................................................................ 65
Theodora Vardouli 60 years of creativity in business organizations ..................................................................................................................................... 83
Ricardo Sosa, Pete Rive and Andy M. Connor 20th Century Boys: Pioneering British Design Thinkers .......................................................................................................................... 97
Emma Murphy and Martyn Evans Design Research and Design Participation ........................................................................................................................................... 111
Robert Aish The Design Research Society in the 1980s and 1990s: a memoir .......................................................................................................... 125
Conall Ó Catháin SECTION 2 AESTHETIC PLEASURE IN DESIGN Introduction: Aesthetic Pleasure in Design .......................................................................................................................................... 139
Michaël Berghman and Paul Hekkert Measuring design typicality – a comparison of objective and subjective approaches ........................................................................... 145
Stefan Mayer and Jan R. Landwehr Most Advanced yet Acceptable: A case of referential form-driven meaning innovation ....................................................................... 157
Seong geun Lee, James Self and Ekaterina Andrietc Extracting Design Aesthetic Heuristics from Scientific Literature.......................................................................................................... 179
Ana Cadavid, Stefany Ruiz-Córdoba and Jorge Maya Putting product design in context: Consumer responses to design fluency as a function of presentation context ................................. 203
Laura K. M. Graf and Jan R. Landwehr The Value of Transparency for Designing Product Innovations............................................................................................................. 215
Peiyao Cheng and Ruth Mugge A comparison between colour preference and colour harmony – taking athletic shoe design as an example........................................ 233
Li-Chen Ou Creating Novel Encounters with Nature: Approaches and Design Explorations..................................................................................... 245
Thomas J. L. Van Rompay and Geke D. S. Ludden Introducing Experience Goals into Packaging Design ........................................................................................................................... 259
Markus Joutsela and Virpi Roto The beauty of balance – An empirical integration of the Unified Model of Aesthetics for product design ............................................. 277
Michaël Berghman and Paul Hekkert SECTION 3 DESIGN EPISTEMOLOGY Introduction: Design Epistemology...................................................................................................................................................... 295
Derek Jones, Philip Plowright, Leonard Bachman and Tiiu Poldma Mapping design knowledge: 36 years of Design Studies ...................................................................................................................... 303
Kathryn Burns, Jack Ingram and Louise Annable I know this one, but the answer is complex… ...................................................................................................................................... 321
Simon Downs Source domains of Architectural Knowledge: Mappings, Categories, Validity and Relevance ............................................................... 339
Philip D Plowright Using Rhetoric in Persuasive Design: What Rhetoric? .......................................................................................................................... 355
Danny Godin Design Fiction: Does the search for plausibility lead to deception? ...................................................................................................... 369
Paul Coulton, Joseph Lindley and Haider Ali Akmal
Graphicality: why is there not such a word? ........................................................................................................................................ 385
Robert Harland and David Craib Design as Anticipation and Innovation: Co-creating a future by learning from the future as it emerges ................................................ 401
Markus F. Peschl and Thomas Fundneider – Volume 2 – SECTION 4 Design EDUCATION AND LEARNING Introduction: Design Education and Learning ...................................................................................................................................... 419
Michael Tovey “Dis-course is Killer!” Educating the critically reflective designer ......................................................................................................... 425
Veronika Kelly Design Culture and Contemporary Education ...................................................................................................................................... 441
Therese Uri Promoting an emancipatory research paradigm in Design Education and Practice ............................................................................... 455
Lesley-Ann Noel Design Thinking: A Rod For Design’s Own Back? .................................................................................................................................. 471
Aysar Ghassan Designing the unknown: supervising design students who manage mental health issues ..................................................................... 483
Welby Ings Using Design Thinking to create a new education paradigm for elementary level children for higher student engagement and success 501
Lesley-Ann Noel and Tsai Lu Liu Design Research in Interior Design Education: A Living Framework for Teaching the Undergraduate Capstone Studio in the 21st Century ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 513
Charles Boggs, Helena Moussatche, Catherine Pizzichemi and Meghan Woodcock Designing Universities of the Future .................................................................................................................................................... 525
Anna Valtonen Dexign Futures: A Pedagogy for Long-Horizon Design Scenarios .......................................................................................................... 539
Peter Scupelli, Arnold Wasserman, and Judy Brooks Design and Interdisciplinarity: the improbable introduction of “fundamental physics” in a design school ............................................ 555
Annie Gentes, Anne-Lyse Renon and Julien Bobroff Card Games Creation as a Learning Method ........................................................................................................................................ 569
Birgit S. Bauer “Spend another day in our class talking about this research please”: Student insights from a research-based design thinking exercise 593
Cynthia J. Atman, Arif Ahmer, Jennifer A. Turns and Jim Borgford-Parnell Communication is not collaboration: observations from a case study in collaborative learning ............................................................ 609
Iestyn Jowers, Mark Gaved, Gary Elliott-Cirigottis, Delphine Dallison, Alan Rochead and Mark Craig The use of argumentation in design research ...................................................................................................................................... 625
Stella Boess Digital Sketch Modelling: Integrating digital sketching as a transition between sketching and CAD in Industrial Design Education ....... 637
Charlie Ranscombe and Katherine Bissett-Johnson Prototyping in the in-between. A Method for Spatial Design education ............................................................................................... 653
Jennie Andersson Schaeffer and Marianne Palmgren Global Flows of Materials: Design Research and Practice in Architecture ............................................................................................. 669
Janet McGaw Evaluating Living and Learning on Campus: A Community Engaged Research Model ............................................................................ 685
Rebekah Radtke What is sought from graphic designers? A first thematic analysis of job offers for graphic design positions in the United Kingdom ...... 705
Paulo Roberto Nicoletti Dziobczenskiand Oscar Person LIVD: An Avant-Garde Publication with Pedagogical and Epistemological Aims .................................................................................... 719
Meredith James Design Studio Desk and Shared Place Attachments: A Study on Ownership, Personalization, and Agency. ........................................... 729
Peter Scupelli and Bruce Hanington Online Reflective Interactions on Social Network Sites in Design Studio Course ................................................................................... 751
Simge Hough Junior designers’ awareness of personal values and their employment choices ................................................................................... 767
Anna Jonkmans, Julia Wurl, Dirk Snelders and Lenny van Onselen Knowledgeability culture: Co-creation in practice................................................................................................................................ 781
Alicen Coddington, Colin Giang, Alexander Graham, Anne Prince, Pauliina Mattila, Christine Thong and Anita Kocsis Visual Thinking Styles and Idea Generation Strategies Employed in Visual Brainstorming Sessions ...................................................... 795
Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi The Future of Product Design Utilising Printed Electronics ................................................................................................................... 813
Nicola York, Darren Southee and Mark Evans
Project Contribution of Junior Designers: Exploring the What and the How of Values in Collaborative Practice .................................... 835
Lennart Kaland, Annelijn Vernooij and Lenny van Onselen Exploring framing within a team of industrial design students ............................................................................................................. 853
Mithra Zahedi, Lorna Heaton, Manon Guité, Giovanni De Paoli and Marie Reumont – Volume 3 – SECTION 5 AESTHETICS, COSMOPOLITICS AND DESIGN Introduction: Aesthetics, Cosmopolitics and Design ............................................................................................................................ 873
Alex Wilkie Framing Values in Design .................................................................................................................................................................... 881
Marta Gasparin and William Green The Prototype as a Cosmopolitical Place: Ethnographic design practice and research at the National Zoo ............................................ 895
Martín Tironi, Pablo Hermansen and José Neira The Role of Participation in Designing for IoT ...................................................................................................................................... 913
Anuradha Reddy and Per Linde Aesthetics, Cosmopolitics and Design Futures in Computational Fashion ............................................................................................. 927
Laura Forlano Designing diagrams for social issues .................................................................................................................................................... 941
Michele Mauri and Paolo Ciuccarelli iPhoneography and New Aesthetics: The Emergence of a Social Visual Communication Through Image-based Social Media ................ 959
Eman Alshawaf A Creative Ontological Analysis of Collective Imagery during Co-Design for Service Innovation ............................................................ 969
Priscilla Chueng-Nainby, John Lee, BingXin Zi and Astury Gardin Post-critical potentials in experimental co-design................................................................................................................................ 985
Sissel Olander Collaborative Imaging. The communicative practice of hand sketching in experimental physics ........................................................... 997
Judith Marlen Dobler The Aesthetics of Action in New Social Design ....................................................................................................................................1013
Ilpo Koskinen Designing Debate: The Entanglement of Speculative Design and Upstream Engagement ....................................................................1025
Tobie Kerridge SECTION 6 DESIGN AND TRANSLATION Introduction: Design and Translation .................................................................................................................................................1039
Giovanni Baule and Elena Caratti Towards Translation Design A New Paradigm for Design Research .....................................................................................................1047
Giovanni Baule and Elena Caratti Design as translation activity: a semiotic overview .............................................................................................................................1061
Salvatore Zingale Word to Image – Image to Word The Contribution of Visual Communication to Understanding and Dialog ........................................1073
Michael Renner Perception, Meaning and Transmodal Design .....................................................................................................................................1089
Mathias Nordvall and Mattias Arvola The Ways of Synesthetic Translation: Design models for media accessibility .......................................................................................1101
Dina Riccò The narratives and the supports. Remediating Design Culture in the translation of transmedia artefacts. ...........................................1111
Matteo Ciastellardi and Derrick de Kerckhove Rules of Thumb: An Experiment in Contextual Transposition ..............................................................................................................1123
Damon Taylor, Monika Büscher, Lesley Murray, Chris Speed and Theodore Zamenopoulos Juxtaposing Chinese and Western Representational Principles: New Design Methods for Information Graphics in the Field of Intercultural Communication .............................................................................................................................................................1139
Ruedi Baur and Ulrike Felsing Elucidating perceptions of Australian and Chinese industrial design from the next generation of industrial designers .........................1163
Blair Kuys and Wenwen Zhang Translating picturebooks: Re-examining interlingual and intersemiotic translation.............................................................................1179
Anne Ketola Long Kesh: Site - Sign - Body...............................................................................................................................................................1191
Ola Ståhl
SECTION 7 DESIGN FOR DESIGN – THE INFLUENCE AND LEGACY OF JOHN HESKETT Introduction: Design for Design The Influence and Legacy of John Heskett .........................................................................................1205
Tore Kristensen and Sylvia Liu Doing qualitative studies, using statistical reasoning ..........................................................................................................................1211
Gorm Gabrielse and Tore Kristensen Design as Driver for Understanding Sustainability and Creating Value in the Fur Industry ...................................................................1223
Irene Alma Lønne, Else Skjold Design Awareness: Developing Design Capacity in Chinese Manufacturing Industry ...........................................................................1237
Sylvia Liu Design Expanding into Strategy: Evidence from Design Consulting Firms ............................................................................................1253
Suzan Boztepe – Volume 4 – SECTION 8 Design for Behaviour Change Introduction: Design for Behaviour Change ........................................................................................................................................1271
Kristina Niedderer, Geke Ludden, Rebecca Cain, Andrew Morris and Aija Freimane An alternative approach to influencing behaviour: Adapting Darnton’s Nine Principles framework for scaling up individual upcycling 1277
Kyungeun Sung, Tim Cooper and Sarah Kettley Assessment of the Co-creative Design Process ...................................................................................................................................1291
Pratik Vyas, Robert Young, Petia Sice and Nicholas Spencer The potential of Design for Behaviour Change to foster the transition to a circular economy ..............................................................1305
Laura Piscicelli and Geke Dina Simone Ludden Developing a theory-driven method to design for behaviour change: two case studies .......................................................................1323
Anita Van Essen, Sander Hermsen and Reint Jan Renes What a designer can change: a proposal for a categorisation of artefact-related aspects ....................................................................1339
Anneli Selvefors, Helena Strömberg and Sara Renström Exploring and communicating user diversity for behavioural change ..................................................................................................1357
Aykut Coskun and Cigdem Erbug How I learned to appreciate our tame social scientist: experiences in integrating design research and the behavioural sciences .........1375
Sander Hermsen, Remko van der Lugt, Sander Mulder and Reint Jan Renes A Design Approach for Risk Communication, the Case of Type 2 Diabetes...........................................................................................1390
Farzaneh Eftekhari and Tsai Lu Liu Metadesigning Design Research – How can designers collaboratively grow a research platform? .......................................................1412
Mathilda Tham, Anna-Karin Arvidsson, Mikael Blomqvist, Susanne Bonja, Sara Hyltén-Cavallius, Lena Håkansson, Miguel Salinas, Marie Sterte, Ola Ståhl, Tobias Svensén and Ole Victor SECTION 9 Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness Introduction: Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness .................................................................................................................1434
Rebecca Cain, Noemi Bitterman, Geke Ludden, Jamie Mackrill, Elif Ozcan, Ann Petermans and Carolina Escobar-Tello In the moment: designing for late stage dementia..............................................................................................................................1442
Cathy Treadaway, David Prytherch, Gail Kenning and Jac Fennell Design for Ageing-in-place: Evidence from Australia ...........................................................................................................................1458
Naseem Ahmadpour and Alen Keirnan Supporting healthy behaviour: A stages of change perspective on changing snacking habits of children .............................................1473
Geke D.S. Ludden and Laura H.J. de Ruijter Co-creating narratives: an approach to the design of interactive medical devices, informed by phenomenology .................................1487
Rowan Page and Mark Richardson A Design Primer for the Domestication of Health Technologies ..........................................................................................................1499
Paul Chamberlain and Claire Craig Disentangling complexity: a visualisation-led tool for healthcare associated infection training ...........................................................1515
Alastair S. Macdonald, David Loudon, Susan Wan and Colin Macduff Exploring Design for Happiness in the Home and Implications for Future Domestic Living ...................................................................1529
Emily Corrigan-Doyle, Carolina Escobar-Tello and Kathy Pui Ying Lo Using symbolic meaning as a means to design for happiness: The development of a card set for designers .........................................1553
Mafalda Casais, Ruth Mugge and Pieter M. A. Desmet Designs with benefits: hearth fire nights and bittersweet chores ........................................................................................................1573
Stella U. Boess and Anna E. Pohlmeyer Happy moments: A well-being driven design of a Car2Go ...................................................................................................................1589
Tessa Duste, Pieter Desmet and Elmer van Grondelle
SECTION 10 DESIGN FUTURES Games as Speculative Design: Allowing Players to Consider Alternate Presents and Plausible Futures ................................................1609
Paul Coulton, Dan Burnett and Adrian Gradinar An approach to future-oriented technology design – with a reflection on the role of the artefact .......................................................1627
Tiina Kymäläinen Future Product Ecosystems: discovering the value of connections ......................................................................................................1643
Tim Williams and Marianella Chamorro-Koc Vision Concepts within the landscape of design research ...................................................................................................................1659
Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento, Gert Pasman and Pieter Jan Stappers Visual conversations on urban futures. Participatory methods to design scenarios of liveable cities ...................................................1677
Serena Pollastri, Rachel Cooper, Nick Dunn and Chris Boyko – Volume 5 – SECTION 11 Design Innovation Management Introduction: Design Innovation Management ...................................................................................................................................1701
Rachel Cooper, Alex Williams, Qian Sun and Erik Bohemia Emerging Trends of Design Policy in the UK ........................................................................................................................................1709
Qian Sun Resourcing in Co-Design .....................................................................................................................................................................1725
Salu Ylirisku, Jacob Buur and Line Revsbæk From Participation to Collaboration: Reflections on the co-creation of innovative business ideas .......................................................1739
Cara Broadley, Katherine Champion, Michael Pierre Johnson and Lynn-Sayers McHattie Bridging service design with integrated co-design decision maker interventions .................................................................................1759
Sune Gudiksen, Anders Christensen and Pernille Henriksen Exploring framing and meaning making over the design innovation process .......................................................................................1779
Clementine Thurgood and Rohan Lulham The making of sustainable cultural and creative cluster in Hong Kong ................................................................................................1795
Kaman Ka Man Tsang and Kin Wai Michael Siu An exploration of Service Design Jam and its ability to foster Social Enterprise ...................................................................................1811
Ksenija Kuzmina, Chris Parker, Gyuchan Thomas Jun, Martin Maguire, Val Mitchell, Mariale Moreno and Samantha Porter Fiction as a resource in participatory design .......................................................................................................................................1829
Eva Knutz, Tau U. Lenskjold and Thomas Markussen Space as organisational strategy ........................................................................................................................................................1845
Pia Storvang The value of design: an issue of vision, creativity and interpretation ..................................................................................................1865
Mariana Fonseca Braga A Multilevel Approach to Research ‘Obscure’ Innovation Processes and Practices ..............................................................................1883
Emmanouil Chatzakis, Neil Smith and Erik Bohemia Coordinating product design with production and consumption processes .........................................................................................1905
Anders Haug How Companies adopt different Design approaches...........................................................................................................................1921
KwanMyung Kim Challenges in co-designing a building .................................................................................................................................................1937
Min Hi Chun SECTION 12 DESIGN PROCESS Form as an abstraction of mechanism ................................................................................................................................................1953
Lewis Urquhart and Andrew Wodehouse Integrating Nanotechnology in the Design Process: An Ethnographic Study in Architectural Practice in Egypt .....................................1971
Ramy Bakir and Sherif Abdelmohsen Of Open bodies: Challenges and Perspectives of an Open Design Paradigm. .......................................................................................1987
Émeline Brulé and Frédéric Valentin Provocative design for unprovocative designers: Strategies for triggering personal dilemmas ............................................................2001
Deger Ozkaramanli and Pieter M. A. Desmet A case based discussion on the role of Design Competences in Social Innovation................................................................................2017
Tamami Komatsu, Manuela Celi, Francesca Rizzo and Alessandro Deserti Riding Shotgun in the Fight Against Human Trafficking .......................................................................................................................2031
Lisa Mercer Could LEGO® Serious Play® be a useful technique for product co-design? ...........................................................................................2045
Julia Anne Garde and Mascha Cecile van der Voort
Intuitive Interaction research – new directions and possible responses. .............................................................................................2065
Alethea Blackler and Vesna Popovic Skilling and learning through digital Do-It-Yourself: the role of (Co-)Design ........................................................................................2077
Giuseppe Salvia, Carmen Bruno and Marita Canina Design Research, Storytelling, and Entrepreneur Women in Rural Costa Rica: a case study .................................................................2091
Maria Gabriela Hernandez Temporal design: looking at time as social coordination .....................................................................................................................2109
Larissa Pschetz, Michelle Bastian and Chris Speed A Physical Modeling Tool to Support Collaborative Interpretation of Conversations ...........................................................................2123
Piotr Michura, Stan Ruecker, Celso Scaletsky, Guilherme Meyer, Chiara Del Gaudio, Gerry Derksen, Julia Dias, Elizabeth Jernegan, Juan de la Rosa, Xinyue Zhou and Priscilla Ferronato – Volume 6 – SECTION 13 DESIGN INNOVATION FOR SOCIETY Introduction: Design Innovation for Society .......................................................................................................................................2143
Nynke Tromp and Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer The Challenges of Human-Centred Design in a Public Sector Innovation Context ................................................................................2149
Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer Activating the core economy by design ..............................................................................................................................................2165
Rebeca Torres Castanedo and Paul Micklethwaite On presenting a rich picture for stakeholder dialogue ........................................................................................................................2183
Abigail C. Durrant, Wendy Moncur, David S. Kirk, Diego Trujillo Pisanty and Kathryn Orzech Design and the Creation of Representational Artefacts for Interactive Social Problem Solving ............................................................2203
Richard Cooney, Nifeli Stewart, Tania Ivanka and Neal Haslem Appreciative Co-design: From Problem Solving to Strength-Based Re-authoring in Social Design ........................................................2221
Tasman Munro Design Tools for Enhanced New Product Development in Low Income Economies ..............................................................................2241
Timothy Whitehead, Mark Evans and Guy Bingham Redesigning governance – a call for design across three orders of governance....................................................................................2257
Tanja Rosenqvist and Cynthia Mitchell Involving stakeholders in cross-border regional design .......................................................................................................................2273
Annet Kempenaar From the specificity of the project in design to social innovation by design: a contribution .................................................................2287
Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson, Stéphane Vial, Michela Deni and Thomas Watkin SECTION 14 EFFECTIVE INFORMATION DESIGN Introduction: Effective Information Design.........................................................................................................................................2303
Alison Black and Sue Walker Informing the design of mobile device-based patient instructions leaflets: the case of Fentanyl patches ............................................2309
Myrto Koumoundourou, Panayiotis Koutsabasis and Jenny S. Darzentas Design methods for meaning discovery: a patient-oriented health research case study ......................................................................2327
David Craib and Lorenzo Imbesi Expectations and prejudices usurp judgements of schematic map effectiveness .................................................................................2343
Maxwell J. Roberts and Ida C.N. Vaeng Data Visualisation Does Political Things .............................................................................................................................................2361
Joanna Boehnert The information designer through the lens of design for learning .......................................................................................................2381
Eden Potter A user centred approach to developing an actionable visualisation for ‘balance health’ .....................................................................2393
Shruti Grover, Simon Johnson, Ross Atkin and Chris Mcginley SECTION 15 Design Thinking Introduction: Design Thinking ............................................................................................................................................................2417
Seda Yilmaz, Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness and Tejas Dhadphale From Technology-Driven to Experience-Driven Innovation: A Case from the Aviation Industry using VIP ............................................2425
Wan-Jen Jenny Tsay and Christine de Lille Critically Exploring the Development of a Conceptual Framework for Building Innovative Brands .......................................................2447
Xinya You and David Hands United We Stand: A Critique of the Design Thinking Approach in Interdisciplinary Innovation ............................................................2465
Fiona Maciver, Julian Malins, Julia Kantorovitch and Aggelos Liapis
Designing Creative Destruction ..........................................................................................................................................................2483
Ashley Hall Blending Hard and Soft Design via Thematic Analysis .........................................................................................................................2495
Vasilije Kokotovich and Kees Dorst2495 The cycle of interdisciplinary learning and theory-solution building in design research .......................................................................2507
Young-ae Hahn Don’t Look Back: The Paradoxical Role of Recording in the Fashion Design Process ............................................................................2521
Helen McGilp, Claudia Eckert and Christopher F Earl Contrasting similarities and differences between academia and industry: evaluating processes used for product development..........2535
Nathan Kotlarewski, Christine Thong, Blair Kuys and Evan Danahay What is the Nature and Intended Use of Design Methods? .................................................................................................................2551
Colin M. Gray Becoming a More User-Centred Organization: A Design Tool to Support Transformation ....................................................................2565
Lennart Kaland and Christine de Lille – Volume 7 – SECTION 16 DESIGN RESEARCH – HISTORY, THEORY, PRACTICE: HISTORIES FOR FUTURE-FOCUSED THINKING Introduction: Design Research – History, Theory, Practice: Histories for Future-Focused Thinking .......................................................2585
Harriet Atkinson and Maya Rae Oppenheimer The Structure of Design Processes: ideal and reality in Bruce Archer’s 1968 doctoral thesis ................................................................2593
Stephen Boyd Davis and Simone Gristwood Closing the circle ................................................................................................................................................................................2613
Douglas Tomkin Re-integrating Design Education: Lessons from History ......................................................................................................................2627
Peter A. Hall (Re)working the Past, (Dis)playing the Future. Italy: The New Domestic Landscape at MoMA, 1972 ...................................................2639
Ingrid Halland Rashidi Recommendations to rebuild the body of feminist work in industrial design ......................................................................................2655
Isabel Prochner and Anne Marchand Design practice and design research: finally together? .......................................................................................................................2669
Kees Dorst Design Research is Alive and Kicking… ................................................................................................................................................2679
Paul A. Rodgers and Joyce S.R. Yee Reverse Innovation: How Has Design in the Greater Pearl River Delta Region Changed the World ......................................................2701
Ningchang Zhou and Tao Huang Beautiful Nerds: Growing a rigorous design research dialogue in the Irish context ..............................................................................2711
Adam de Eyto Carmel Maher, Mark Hadfield and Maggie Hutchings Design Research in the East – at Universities and the Board of Industrial Design of the GDR between the 1960s and 1990 ..................2723
Sylvia Wölfel and Christian Wölfel International Norms and Local Design Research: ICSID and the Promotion of Industrial Design in Latin America, 1970-1979 ...............2739
Tania Messell SECTION 17 DESIGN-ING AND CREATIVE PHILOSOPHIES Introduction: Design-ing and Creative Philosophies ............................................................................................................................2757
Betti Marenko Probing the future by anticipative design acts ....................................................................................................................................2761
Annelies De Smet and Nel Janssens Making polychronic objects for a networked society ..........................................................................................................................2795
Jane Norris Responsibility in design: applying the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon ...............................................................................................2809
Sander Mulder Space as a Becoming: Fresh Water Expo Pavilion as a Creative Practice for an Architecture to Come ..................................................2825
Emine Görgül The Foam: a Possible Model for the Motion Graphic Design ...............................................................................................................2837
Anamaria Galeotti and Clice Mazzilli Experience – A Central Concept in Design and its Roots in the History of Science ................................................................................2869
Johannes Uhlmann, Christian Wölfel and Jens Krzywinski
SECTION 18 EMBODIED MAKING AND LEARNING Introduction: Embodied Making and Learning ....................................................................................................................................2889
Marte S. Gulliksen, Camilla Groth, Maarit Mäkelä and Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen The role of sensory experiences and emotions in craft practice ..........................................................................................................2895
Camilla Groth Learning to learn: What can be learned from first-hand experience with materials? ...........................................................................2911
Biljana C. Fredriksen Why making matters—developing an interdisciplinary research project on how embodied making may contribute to learning ..........2925
Marte S. Gulliksen Physiological measurements of drawing and forming activities ..........................................................................................................2941
Marianne Leinikka, Minna Huotilainen, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Camilla Groth, Mimmu Rankanen and Maarit Mäkelä Code, Decode, Recode: Constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing knowledge through making ................................................2959
Anna Piper Experience Labs: co-creating health and care innovations using design tools and artefacts .................................................................2965
Tara French, Gemma Teal and Sneha Raman – Volume 8 – SECTION 19 DESIGN FOR TANGIBLE, EMBEDDED AND NETWORKED TECHNOLOGIES Introduction: Design for Tangible, Embedded and Networked Technologies .......................................................................................2985
Sarah Kettley and Anne Cranny-Francis Designing from, with and by Data: Introducing the ablative framework..............................................................................................2991
Chris Speed and Jon Oberlander Feel it! See it! Hear it! Probing Tangible Interaction and Data Representational Modality ...................................................................3005
Trevor Hogan and Eva Hornecker Designing Information Feedback within Hybrid Physical/Digital Interactions ......................................................................................3019
David Gullick and Paul Coulton Harnessing the Digital Records of Everyday Things .............................................................................................................................3033
Dimitrios Darzentas, Adrian Hazzard, Michael Brown, Martin Flintham and Steve Benford A Toaster For Life: Using Design Fiction To Facilitate Discussion On The Creation Of A Sustainable Internet of Things .........................3049
Michael Stead Making Service Design in a Digital Business ........................................................................................................................................3069
Piia Rytilahti, Simo Rontti, Titta Jylkäs, Mira Alhonsuo, Hanna-Riina Vuontisjärvi and Laura Laivamaa Ad Hoc Pairings: Semantic Relationships and Mobile Devices .............................................................................................................3085
Jason O. Germany Serious Play Strategies in the Design of Kinetic and Wearable Devices................................................................................................3103
Lois Frankel and Ellen Hrinivich Tangibility in e-textile participatory service design with mental health participants............................................................................3121
Sarah Kettley, Anna Sadkowska and Rachel Lucas Wearable Sensory Devices for Children in Play Areas .........................................................................................................................3133
Cai-Ru Liao, Wen-Huei Chou and Chung-Wen Hung Intuitive Interaction in a Mixed Reality System ..................................................................................................................................3149
Shital Desai, Alethea Blackler and Vesna Popovic From nano to macro: material inspiration within ubiquitous computing research...............................................................................3165
Isabel Paiva SECTION 20 Experiential Knowledge Introduction: Experiential Knowledge ................................................................................................................................................3177
Nithikul Nimkulrat Double-loop reflective practice as an approach to understanding knowledge and experience.............................................................3181
John Gribbin, Mersha Aftab, Robert Young and Sumin Park Designing “little worlds” in Walnut Park: How architects adopted an ethnographic case study on living with dementia ......................3199
Valerie Van der Linden, Iris Van Steenwinkel, Hua Dong and Ann Heylighen Bonding through Designing; how a participatory approach to videography can catalyse an emotive and reflective dialogue with young people ...............................................................................................................................................................................................3213
Marianne McAra Capturing architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users: Exploring an ethnographic research approach ....................................3229
Valerie Van der Linden, Hua Dong and Ann Heylighen SECTION 21
INCLUSIVE DESIGN Introduction: Inclusive Design ............................................................................................................................................................3247
Hua Dong ...................................................................................................................................................................................
Designing for older people: But who is an older person? ....................................................................................................................3251
Raghavendra Reddy Gudur, Alethea Blackler, Vesna Popovic and Doug Mahar Towards designing inclusion: insights from a user data collection study in China ................................................................................3263
Weining Ning and Hua Dong ‘Difficult’ packaging for older Chinese adults ......................................................................................................................................3279
Xuezi Ma, Hua Dong Crafted with Care: Reflections from co-designing wearable technologies with care home residents....................................................3295
Christopher Sze Chong Lim and Sara Nevay To Shed Some Light on Empowerment: Towards Designing for Embodied Functionality .....................................................................3313
Jelle van Dijk and Fenne Verhoeven Measuring Product-Related Stigma in Design .....................................................................................................................................3329
Kristof Vaes, Pieter Jan Stappers and Achiel Standaert Towards more culturally inclusive communication design practices: exploring creative participation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Australia ...........................................................................................................................................................3349
Nicola St John Designing meaningful vehicle for older users: culture, technology, and experience.............................................................................3373
Chao Zhao, Vesna Popovic and Xiaobo Lu Towards Innovative and Inclusive Architecture ..................................................................................................................................3393
Sidse Grangaard Hidden public spaces: when a university campus becomes a place for communities ...........................................................................3407
Davide Fassi, Laura Galluzzo and Liat Rogel – Volume 9 – SECTION 22 FOOD AND EATING DESIGN Introduction: Food and Eating Design.................................................................................................................................................3427
Hendrik N.J. Schifferstein Designing with Empathy: Implications for Food Design.......................................................................................................................3435
Hafdís Sunna Hermannsdóttir, Cecilie Dawes, Hanne Gideonsen and Eva De Moor Designing for sustainability: a dialogue-based approach to the design of food packaging experiences. ...............................................3449
Zoi Stergiadou, Jenny Darzentas and Spyros Bofylatos Towards a sensory congruent beer bottle: Consumer associations between beer brands, flavours, and bottle designs .......................3467
Anna Fenko, Sanne Heiltjes and Lianne van den Berg-Weitzel SECTION 23 OBJECTS, PRACTICES, EXPERIENCES AND NETWORKS Introduction: Objects, Practices, Experiences and Networks ...............................................................................................................3479
Tom Fisher and Lorraine Gamman Stories in a Beespoon: Exploring Future Folklore through Design ........................................................................................................3485
Deborah Maxwell, Liz Edwards, Toby Pillatt and Niamh Downing Uber and Language/Action Theory .....................................................................................................................................................3503
Michael Arnold Mages Emotional Fit: Developing a new fashion design methodology for mature women..............................................................................3521
Katherine Townsend, Ania Sadkowska and Juliana Sissons From Afterthought to Precondition: re-engaging Design Ethics from Technology, Sustainability, and Responsibility ...........................3539
Jeffrey Chan Design for Resourceful Ageing: Intervening in the Ethics of Gerontechnology .....................................................................................3553
Elisa Giaccardi, Lenneke Kuijer and Louis Neven SECTION 24 REFRAMING THE PARADOX – EXAMINING THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN EVIDENCE-BASED DESIGN AND DESIGN FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR Introduction: Reframing the Paradox – Evidence-based Design and Design for the Public Sector.........................................................3569
Luke Feast Open Practices: lessons from co-design of public services for behaviour change .................................................................................3573
Simon O’Rafferty, Adam DeEyto and Huw Lewis Capturing the “How”: Showing the value of co-design through creative evaluation ............................................................................3591
Arthi Kanchana Manohar, Madeline Smith and Mirian Calvo Design in the Time of Policy Problems ................................................................................................................................................3605
Lucy Kimbell The introduction of design to policymaking: Policy Lab and the UK government .................................................................................3619
Jocelyn Bailey and Peter Lloyd Problematizing Evidence-Based Design: A Case Study of Designing for Services in the Finnish Government ........................................3635
Helena Sustar and Luke Feast
Designed Engagement .......................................................................................................................................................................3653
Gemma Teal and Tara French Public design and social innovation: Learning from applied research ..................................................................................................3669
Caroline Gagnon and Valérie Côté Design as analysis: examining the use of precedents in parliamentary debate. ...................................................................................3687
Darren Umney, Christopher Earl and Peter Lloyd Exposing charities to design-led approaches through design research. ...............................................................................................3705
Laura Warwick and Robert Djaelani – Volume 10 – SECTION 25 SUSTAINABLE DESIGN Introduction: Sustainable Design .......................................................................................................................................................3725
Rhoda Trimingham Design for Sustainability: An Evolutionary Review ..............................................................................................................................3731
Fabrizio Ceschin and Idil Gaziulusoy Consumer Product Design and Innovation: Past, present and future...................................................................................................3755
Robin Roy Product-Service Systems or Service Design ‘By-Products’? A Systems Thinking Approach ...................................................................3771
John Darzentas and Jenny Darzentas Supporting SMEs in designing sustainable business models for energy access for the BoP: a strategic design tool ...............................3785
Silvia Emili, Fabrizio Ceschin and David Harrison Extending clothing lifetimes: an exploration of design and supply chain challenges. ...........................................................................3815
Lynn Oxborrow and Stella Claxton The effect of consumer attitudes on design for product longevity: The case of the fashion industry ....................................................3831
Angharad McLaren, Helen Goworek, Tim Cooper, Lynn Oxborrow and Helen Hill Framing Complexity in Design through theories of Social Practice and Structuration: A comparative case study of urban cycling ........3847
Tobias Barnes Hofmeister and Martina Keitsch Integrating Sustainability Literacy into Design Education ....................................................................................................................3861
Andrea Quam Design of resilient consumer products ...............................................................................................................................................3873
Anders Haug Designing for Sustainable Transition through Value Sensitive Design ..................................................................................................3889
Luisa Sze-man Mok, Sampsa Hyysalo and Jenni Väänänen Mixing up everyday life - uncovering sufficiency practices through designerly tools ............................................................................3913
Miriam Lahusen, Susanne Ritzmann, Florian Sametinger, Gesche Joost and Lars-Arvid Brischke Give car-free life a try: Designing seeds for changed practices ............................................................................................................3929
Mia Hesselgren and Hanna Hasselqvist A sociotechnical framework for the design of collaborative services: diagnosis and conceptualisation ................................................3943
Joon Sang Baek, Sojung Kim and Yoonee Pahk Moving Textile Artisans’ Communities towards a Sustainable Future – A Theoretical Framework .......................................................3961
Francesco Mazzarella, Carolina Escobar-Tello and Val Mitchell Sharing 10 years of experience with class AUP0479 – Design for Sustainability ...................................................................................3983
Maria Cecília Santos, Tatiana Sakurai and Verena Lima SECTION 26 THE POLITICS OF COMMONING AND DESIGN Introduction: The Politics of Commoning and Design ..........................................................................................................................4005
Bianca Elzenbaumer, Valeria Graziano and Kim Trogal Commons & community economies: entry points to design for eco-social justice? .............................................................................4015
Fabio Franz and Bianca Elzenbaumer Design Togetherness, Pluralism and Convergence ..............................................................................................................................4029
Monica Lindh Karlsson and Johan Redström Designing participation for commoning in temporary spaces: A case study in Aveiro, Portugal ...........................................................4045
Janaina Teles Barbosa, Maria Hellström Reimer and João Almeida Mota From Rules in Use to Culture in Use – Commoning and Infrastructuring Practices in an Open Cultural Movement ...............................4063
Sanna Marttila
Index of Authors ………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4080
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Editorial DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.651
The 50th Anniversary conference of the Design Research Society is a special event at an interesting time for Design Research. The Design Research Society was formed in 1966 following the Conference on Design Methods held at Imperial College London in 1962. In the lead up to DRS2016 we contacted the secretary to the 1962 conference, Peter Slann, who now lives in Scotland, and who sent us the original reel-to-reel audio tape recordings of that conference. Listening to those tapes it is striking not only how similar some of the discussions are about design and design research, but also how much has changed. In 1962 every voice is a male British voice. One comment at the end of the conference stands out as significant. Thanking people for coming to the conference and looking towards the future at the end of the closing session, John Page, then Professor of Building Science at Sheffield University, asks the audience three questions (the quote is verbatim): “if one agrees that there are bodies of knowledge that have been raised here, which need further exploration – particularly a case in point would be the terminology of design – is there any point in trying to get some kind of inter-disciplinary working party going on these problems? In this question of disciplines, is there any machinery or any way of arranging for an interchange of information between specialists and people working at Universities? Lastly, is there any point in making the whole thing more of a formal entity, a society, or something of that kind?”
Fifty years later it is clear that there was a point. The DRS as it exists today can trace its origins to the affirmation of that last question in 1962, and the ‘some kind of interdisciplinary working party’ that Design Research has become owes its identity to that 1960’s future-focused thinking. Since the Conference on Design Methods in 1962 many Design Research conferences have been held, with the DRS often as a key organiser. Certainly in the earlier days, defined subfields of research originated from these conferences. Design Participation in 1971 started the participative design movement that has grown into present day co-design. Design for Need, held in 1976, and taking a global view of the population, started both sustainable and inclusive design, and Design Policy held in 1980 introduced a much needed social, political and international dimension to the design research field as Design itself lurched into the consumerist 80s. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Peter Lloyd
From almost every conference comes a thread that leads to the present day, so the fiftieth anniversary conference represents a point to gather these threads together, see how they complement and blend with one another, and consider what kind of textile they might weave in the coming years. Indeed, the early advice that many gave was not to spend too much time looking back and to concentrate on the future. For DRS2016, as well as the Design Research field more generally, the increasing number of PhD researchers is a sign that this future is set to be a healthy one. A significant number of papers in these proceedings are the result of doctoral research projects and organisations like PhD by Design, who had a strong presence at DRS2016, ensure that today’s PhD Researchers will become tomorrow’s Design Research leaders. The DRS Conferences have always looked to develop new formats for people to engage with one another, over and above the standard paper presentation. The 1973 Design Activities conference aimed at: “the provision of an extension of media forms beyond the normal ‘verbalized’ media of the average conference with the idea that such extensions were significant contributions to dialectical form, and not just ‘entertainments’.”
The 2014 DRS conference, in Sweden, continued that tradition by introducing ‘Conversations’ and ‘Debates’ alongside the more traditional academic paper presentation. It feels entirely appropriate that the field of Design Research is at the forefront of conference design, appropriating new technologies in developing more productive formats for discussion, networking, and presentation. And rightly so, because in an age when research papers and keynote presentations are available online we need to ask whether a conference, with all the travel, expense, and carbon involved, is still the most effective way of energizing and invigorating a research field. DRS2016 is no exception and continues this ongoing conference prototyping activity. We have tried to develop a discursive conference that leans both towards the academic, in research papers, but also towards the practical in Conversations and Workshops. So this is a conference that presents existing research, projects, and discussions not as fixed end points, but as ongoing dialogue. To do that we have tried to balance the online conference with the offline one, and the ephemeral with the enduring. Partly this approach helps to provide a continued legacy for the conference, but it also helps to include as many people as possible in (re)directing the dialogical flow of research activity. As an organising committee we met in January 2015 to talk about key questions, conference themes and conference design. From that discussion the three individual words of the DRS – Design, Research, and Society – were felt to define an interesting area for a conference; one that was about the practice and doing of design but also about design’s societal impact and the moderating role that research plays between the two. Design + Research + Society perhaps represents a larger area than that of the Design Research Society, but as these proceedings demonstrate the appetite is clearly apparent for Design Research to embrace ever-wider concerns.
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The underlying premise, however, was that 50 years of design research has provided us with a sound understanding of design and a solid foundation upon which to build. The interesting questions, then, appeared to us as not so much how we do more of the same – though that of course has its place – but in how we use what we now know. Hence the three broad questions that the papers in these conference proceedings respond to: How can design research help frame and address the societal problems that face us? How can design research be a creative and active force for rethinking ideas about Design? How can design research shape our lives in more responsible, meaningful, and open ways? The DRS has a number of established Special Interest Groups (SIGs) which the organising committee thought important to prioritise but we also wanted to find a way to add additional emerging and complementary research themes to these. This resulted in a call for additional themes in June 2015 and a selection process that resulted in 15 further themes (from 25 proposals) alongside the 9 themes represented by the Special Interest Groups. The idea of a ‘conference of conferences’ began to emerge, with theme papers managed by subchairs, but consistency of peer-review overseen by a central review committee across all themes. The systems currently available for managing paper submission, in the case of DRS2016 the excellent ConfTool system, now provide comprehensive integrative platforms to conduct sophisticated submission, peer-review, rebuttal, discussion, communication, and programming of papers, which means we can be more confident than ever about the academic quality of the final papers accepted for DRS2016. In total we received just under 500 paper submissions all of which were reviewed by two, and sometimes three reviewers, as well as being managed by theme chairs. In total 939 reviews were written by 290 reviewers with 200 papers being accepted, and a further 40 accepted following revision. This represents an acceptance rate of 49%. The 240 papers in these proceedings have been grouped under 26 themes, 23 of which have been closely managed and developed by theme chairs (the other 3 themes derived from an Open Call). In these proceedings you will find an introduction to each theme by the relevant chair(s), outlining the background to the theme and putting the papers that were finally accepted and published into a wider context. Nine of the themes are the result of calls from the Design Research Society Special Interest Groups, which are active throughout the year and that report to the DRS council regularly. Many Special Interest Groups hold their own conferences, supported by the DRS, so the papers in these proceedings, responding to the overall theme of Future-focused Thinking, should be seen as a sample of those specialisms. Fittingly for a 50th Anniversary conference there is a strong historical thread of papers – the field of Design Research now becomes a subject of historical study in the themes of Histories for Future-focused Thinking, 50 Years of Design Research, and Design for Design: The
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Influence and Legacy of John Heskett. This is a useful development, and shows the maturity of the field now, with early work not just a familiar citation in reference lists, but something that can be looked at in a wider cultural and historical context. Many of the new themes bring a more critical and speculative approach to Design Research, framing research questions and practices in ways other than what some see as more ‘traditional’ evidence-based approaches to research. These are papers that argue for a particular position or approach to understanding design or practice. Examples of these themes include Aesthetics, Cosmopolitics & Design; Design-ing and Creative Philosophies, and Reframing the Paradox: Evidence-based Design and Design for the Public Sector. The emerging area of Social Design is well represented in the areas of Design Innovation for Society and The Politics of Commoning and Design and shows the importance of Design Research to discussing and achieving concrete outcomes for social good. The idea and limits of Design and Design Research are explored in many themes, but in particular Objects, Experiences, Practices & Networks; Design and Translation; and Design for Tangible, Embedded and Networked Technologies take a more systemic view of design, placing it within a network of activities and technologies. In contrast to this other themes focus much more on the individual and collective experience of designers and others involved in the process of design, for example: Experiential Knowledge; Embodied Making and Learning; Aesthetic Pleasure in Design; and Food and Eating Design. Of course there are themes that have been ever-present in DRS, and in other Design Research, conferences – understanding design process and the nature of design knowledge are the subject of the Design Epistemology and Design Process themes. The practical impacts that design can have on all types of organisations are explored in Design Thinking, an area of continued and increasing interest, and Design Innovation Management. Design Education and Learning, now with its own large biennial conference series, was the most popular theme for DRS2016, with 28 papers accepted from 53 submissions. Finally, there are a set of well-developed themes, organised as part of DRS Special Interest Groups, that broadly explore the welfare of others both in a small and large sense embracing ideas of person-centredness, responsibility and ethics. These themes include Design for Health, Wellbeing, and Happiness; Inclusive Design; and finally Sustainable Design. As in any research field the definitions between sub-areas often blur and overlap, and there are themes that contradict and conflict with one another, strongly arguing against a particular approach or theoretical grounding of another area. The DRS2016 keynote debates were designed to explore some of these issues and fault lines but more generally this should be taken as a sign of health and maturity. For many years we have heard that Design Research is a new field, still finding its feet, but as an organising committee we think the definition and extent of the themes in these proceedings demonstrate precisely the opposite. In Fifty years we have built up a strong and diverse research field that is widely applicable, broadly inclusive and, in 2016, more relevant than ever.
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There is a sense in which design research sits at the crux of a false dichotomy; between on the one hand research in a ‘pure’ form (which values objectivity, subjectivity, experiment, discourse, history, analysis) and on the other the active engagement in shaping future forms by suggestion, prototype, speculation, practice, and intervention at all levels, from the molecular to the political, from the anthropological to the computational. In an increasingly fragmented and atomised world Design Research is a field which reveals the falsehood of the dichotomy. It is a field that collectively links disciplines, audiences, and technologies in a critical but productive way. The design of a conference – with its implicit value systems, partiality to statistical analysis, but with an emergent structure and representation – is no bad example of a future-focused design research that shares what knowledge is known and explores what knowledge is possible. Finally, we would like to thank all people – the local organisation, the international programme and review committee, and all the reviewers – involved in organising DRS2016 and who have contributed to such a huge collective effort. The valuable time that has been given in helping to shape and deliver the conference has been very much appreciated. Thanks should also go to the Design Research Society, for supporting the conference so effectively; to the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London for providing time and resources as partner Universities; and to the University of Brighton, particularly the College of Arts and Humanities, for enabling the early vision of a 50 th Anniversary DRS conference to be fulfilled. Peter Lloyd DRS2016 Conference Chair Vice Chair of the DRS Brighton, UK
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Previous Design Research Society and Associated Conferences 1962 Conference on Design Methods, London, UK 1964 The Teaching of Engineering Design, Scarborough, UK 1965 The Design Method, Birmingham, UK 1967 Design Methods in Architecture, Portsmouth, UK 1971 Design Participation, Manchester, UK 1972 Design and Behaviour, Birmingham, UK 1973 The Design Activity, London, UK 1974 Problem Identification for Design, Manchester, UK 1976 Design for Need, London, UK 1976 Changing Design, Portsmouth, UK 1978 Architectural Design, Istanbul, Turkey 1980 Design Science Method, Portsmouth, UK 1982 Design Policy, London, UK 1984 The Role of the Designer, Bath, UK 1998 Quantum Leap, Birmingham, UK 1999 CoDesigning, Coventry, UK 2002 Common Ground, London, UK 2004 Futureground, Melbourne, Australia 2006 Wonderground, Lisbon, Portugal 2008 Undisciplined!, Sheffield, UK 2010 Design And Complexity, Montreal, Canada 2012 Uncertainty, Contradiction and Value, Bangkok, Thailand 2014 Design's Big Debates, Umea, Sweden
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SECTION 8 DESIGN FOR BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
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Introduction: Design for Behaviour Change Kristina Niedderera*, Geke Luddenb, Rebecca Cainc, Andrew Morrisd and Aija Freimanee a
University of Wolverhampton, UK University of Twente, NL c Warwick University, UK d Loughborough University, UK e Art Academy of Latvia, LV * k.niedderer@wlv.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.620 b
Abstract: The ‘Design for Behaviour Change’ SIG seeks to promote the understanding and applications of design for behaviour change across the various domains of design. Design for behaviour change is seen as a potent way to tackle some of the biggest problems in the world around us. However, covering divergent fields and problems, there is a challenge to create a coherent understanding of practices and approaches relating to design for behaviour change. The ‘Design for Behaviour Change’ SIG strand at the DRS2016 conference brings together 8 papers in two sessions. The first session addresses the understanding of design for behaviour change frameworks, methods and artefacts. The second session discusses the different perspectives of researchers, designers and users concerning design for behaviour change. In this way, the strand explores the theoretical and practical challenges of design for behaviour change, progressing from generic understandings to specific applications, from systems thinking to user experience. Keywords: design for behaviour change, framework, method, co-design
1. Introduction to the Design for Behaviour Change SIG Strand The UK as well as many other countries in the world face major environmental, health, social and economic challenges today. Design for behaviour change (DfBC) is seen as a potent way to tackle some of these challenges. Already, individual examples of DfBC appear to have much impact, enabling us to recycle (European Environmental Agency, 2014), to use energy more efficiently (Stephenson et al 2010), to comply with speed limits (Elliott and Armitage 2009), to increase our exercise patterns (Fanning et al 2012), and to change the way we think about social interaction (Niedderer 2007). The ‘Design for Behaviour Change’ SIG takes a broad focus on the understanding, theories, mechanisms and applications of design for behavior change in the widest sense across the This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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various domains of design and its applications, such as health, safety, sustainability and social issues. This broad focus is necessary for three reasons. First, despite design’s clear influence on human behaviour, overall the field of DfBC is still comparatively little understood: it is still fragmented and limited frameworks exist for its effective implementation in professional and public contexts. Second, inspiring as some of the successful examples of DfBC may be, they are not transparent, and therefore have not led to a coherent understanding of how DfBC methods can be used to lead to effective solutions. Third, and in an extension of the second reason above, there is as yet insufficient evidence that DfBC theories work in practice. Whilst there are several examples of where behaviour modification has occurred in a range of industrial and commercial environments together with social scenarios, the link between the behavioural modification and the design strategy has never been robustly researched. However, such an understanding is important because design can affect behaviour change both intentionally and unintentionally. Many designs have not been created to specifically and intentionally alter behaviours, nevertheless, they can create large-scale behavioural change with both positive and negative consequences. For example, mobile phones and computers have transformed the speed, social code and mediums used to communicate. While the increased ability to communicate is generally seen as positive, it is acknowledged that they may cause an increase in stress levels with a wide range of health impacts (Ilstedt 2003), cause a nuisance (e.g. talking on your mobile phone in public) or present a safety hazard (e.g. texting while driving, Srivastava 2005). Covering such divergent fields and problems, one of the core challenges is to create a coherent understanding of practices and approaches relating to DfBC. Emerging approaches range from theoretical understanding and frameworks to guidelines, methods and hands-on toolkits to help designers to design for behavior change. Underpinning theory stems originally from the behavioural and social sciences and is being increasingly adopted and adapted to build genuine design frameworks and theories for behaviour change. (e.g. Clune 2010; Ludden and Hekkert 2014; Niedderer 2014). Also a number of guidelines and tools have been emerged in the design research field that introduce behavioural theories and make them accessible and usable for designers (e.g. Dolan et al 2012; Dorresteijn 2012; Lockton et al 2013). A review by Niedderer et al (2014) has indicated that while there have been a number of approaches emerging over the last ten years, at present, these remain fragmented and disconnected, perhaps because of differences in domain specific language and practices, and in spite of many similarities between such approaches. The result of this is that there is a replication of work in different design domains and in different areas of application. The review has further found that there is a growing range of case studies that together outline the possible use and application of theories and tools. However, the adoption of tools is not as widespread as it could be. This appears to be partly due to issues of awareness, and partly due to a lack of accessible examples that allow for easy understanding adoption in practice. Current examples from design practice are often reported from a marketing perspective, rather than giving the detail required to enable sound management decisions and thus
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foster managerial commitment, or for other designers to be able to follow and adopt practices from such examples (Niedderer et al 2014). In short, the lack of systematic reporting has created a lack of and strong need for sound evidence based examples to enable adoption and practical use of the available tools. In response to this need, the Design for Behaviour Change SIG at the DRS2016 conference brings together 8 papers in two sessions that contribute to the knowledge gap sketched out above. While the papers of the first session are addressing the theoretical understanding of design for behaviour change, the second session changes the focus onto the complexities of an interdisciplinary design process and the role of the user within the design process, including diversity and risk perceptions. The first session (Design for Behaviour Change SIG - Contexts and Frameworks) is concerned with the development of principles, frameworks and methods, as well as their application in novel contexts. Contributions consider the adaptation of Darnton’s Nine Principles in a sustainable context; and the categorization of artefact-related aspects and the artefacts designed to facilitate such changes. The discussions of this session further consider the role of design for behaviour change in the context of the circular economy; and the application of design for behavior change through case studies to illustrate how theory can inform relevant methods development. The second session (Design for Behaviour Change SIG – Process and Experience) focuses on the experience of both researchers/designers and users in the process of designing for behavior change, considering issues of agency, diversity and risk. Contributions address on the one hand the challenges of inter disciplinary working for designers and researchers: they consider scientific divides and experiences in an aim to integrate design research and the behavioural sciences; and they review co-design practices and challenges of knowledge sharing as well as the need to build trust. On the other hand, user experiences are key to successful behavior change: the need to take account of user diversity is discussed with regard to sustainable driving styles, introducing the idea of user orientation maps. Finally, the importance of communication of risk is assessed as a basis for successful behavior change. In this way, the two sessions of the strand explore the theoretical and practical challenges of design for behaviour change progressing from generic understandings to specific applications, from systems thinking to user experience. Several contributions also explore the cross-disciplinary application and challenges of design for behaviour change. Characteristic for all submissions is their aim for practical application to make a change in the world. Through its theoretical and practical discussions, the DfBC SIG session aims to contribute a small piece towards closing the knowledge gap of our understanding of the use and application of design for behavior change, and to help build a more holistic understanding and approach to design for behavior change.
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2. References Clune, S. (2010). Design for Behavioural Change. Journal of Design Strategies, 4, 68-75 Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D., Metcalfe, R., & Vlaev, I. (2012). Influencing behaviour the MINDSPACE way. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(1), 264-277. Dorrestijn, S. (2012). The Product Impact Tool: Designing for user-guiding and user-changing. In J. I. Van Kuijk (Ed.), Design for Usability: Methods & Tools - A Practitioner’s Guide (pp. 110-119). Delft, NL: Design United/IOP-IPCR Design for Usability research project. Elliott, M.A. and Armitage, C.J. (2009) Promoting drivers' compliance with speed limits: Testing an intervention based on the theory of planned behaviour. British Journal of Psychology 100(1), pp. 111–132. European Environmental Agency. (2014). Recycling rates in Europe. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/what/public-events/competitions/waste-smartcompetition/recycling-rates-in-europe/view Fanning, J., Mullen, S.P., & McAuley, E. (2012) Increasing Physical Activity With Mobile Devices: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14(6), e161. Ilstedt Hjelm, S. (2003) Research + Design: The Making of Brainball, Interactions, 10(1), 26-34. Lockton, D., Harrison, D., Cain, R., Stanton, N.A., & Jennings, P. (2013). Exploring problem-framing through behavioural heuristics. International Journal of Design, 7(1), 37-53. Ludden, G.D.S. & Hekkert, P. (2014). Design for healthy behavior. Design interventions and stages of change. 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion, Bogota, Colombia. Niedderer, K., Mackrill, J., Clune, S., Lockton, D., Ludden, G., Morris, A., Cain, R., Gardiner, E., Gutteridge, R., Evans, M., Hekkert, P. (2014b). Creating Sustainable Innovation through Design for Behaviour Change: Full Report. University of Wolverhampton, Project Partners & AHRC. Retrieved March 9, 2015, from http://hdl.handle.net/2436/336632 Niedderer, K. (2013). Mindful Design as a Driver for Social Behaviour Change. Proceedings of the IASDR Conference 2013. Tokyo, Japan: IASDR. Niedderer, K. (2014). Mediating Mindful Social Interactions through Design. In A. Ie, C. T. Ngnoumen & E. Langer (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness, vol 1 (pp. 345-366). Wiley, Chichester, UK. Srivastava, L. (2005). Mobile phones and the evolution of social behaviour. Behaviour & Information Technology, 24(2), 111-129. Stephenson, J., Barton, B., Carrington, G., Gnoth, D., Lawson, R. & Thorsnes, P. (2010). Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours. Energy Policy, 38, 6120–6129.
About the Authors: Kristina Niedderer is professor of Design and Craft at the University of Wolverhampton. Her research focuses on the impact of design on human relationships. She leads the European project ‘Designing for People with Dementia’, Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 691001, 2016-2020. Geke Ludden is Assistant Professor at the University of Twente, Department of Design. Her interests center around the (theoretically informed) development and evaluation of products and services that
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support healthy behaviour or that otherwise contribute to people’s wellbeing. Rebecca Cain is Associate Professor and Head of the Experiential Engineering Research Group in WMG, University of Warwick. She is the lead convenor of DRS SIGWELL and an elected council member of the Design Research Society. Andrew Morris is Professor of Human Factors in Transport Safety and leads the Behavioural Safety and Injury Prevention Research Group at Loughborough University. Andrew is also Director of Internationalisation for the Loughborough Design School and holds a position as a Visiting Professor at Hasselt University in Belgium. Aija Freimane is Associate Professor of the Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Design. Her expertise is in design for sustainable social wellbeing, social and human-centred design, and creative design research methods.
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An alternative approach to influencing behaviour: Adapting Darnton’s Nine Principles framework for scaling up individual upcycling Kyungeun Sung*, Tim Cooper and Sarah Kettley Nottingham Trent University * kyungeun.sung2013@my.ntu.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.391
Abstract: Behaviour change or influencing behaviour has recently been recognised as a new role of design by design academics and practitioners. Some approaches have been explored in past research, yet most focused on behaviour intervention generation as a form of product design or communication design. In the meantime, increasing interest in design as a way of thinking and as an effective tool for policy and service innovation in the public sector calls for wide-ranging approaches for design and policy interventions. This paper therefore suggests an alternative approach as a response to such calls. Darnton’s Nine Principles framework is critically reviewed as an overarching framework, and adapting this framework, the early stages of behaviour intervention are proposed. The application of the alternative approach to influencing behaviour is demonstrated by giving an example of scaling up individual upcycling. The paper concludes by discussing the value and usefulness of the suggested approach. Keywords: Darnton’s Nine Principles framework; design for behaviour change; upcycling; sustainable design
1. Introduction Design academics and practitioners have recently recognised the role of design in influencing human behaviour for desirable outcomes (e.g. environmentally or socially beneficial) instead of, or in addition to, fulfilling the needs and wishes of consumers (Brown & Wyatt, 2010; Clune, 2010; Lilley, 2007; Lockton, Harrison, & Stanton, 2009; Niedderer, 2013). This recently recognised new role and practice of design, design for behaviour change, has so far been applied to a number of areas such as sustainability, crime prevention, health enhancement and safety (Niedderer, 2013). In these areas of application, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Kyungeun Sung, Tim Cooper and Sarah Kettley
a range of approaches to influencing behaviour – either changing undesirable behaviour or reinforcing desirable behaviour – by design have been explored. For example, Lilley (2007) investigated the feasibility of applying design-led approaches to influence user behaviour to reduce the negative social impacts of products during use and proposed a framework of attributes for behaviour changing devices. Tang (2010) proposed a Design Behaviour Intervention Model to bridge the social-psychological theories of behaviour and the behaviour intervention approaches based on design to influence more sustainable actions for reducing environmental household impacts. Clune (2010) applied the four stages from Community Based Social Marketing (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith, 1999) for design interventions for behaviour change. Lockton et al. (2010) presented the Design with Intent Method, an innovation tool for designers working in product and system design to influence user behaviour for improving performance and reducing user error. Dorrestijn (2012) proposed The Product Impact Model for product development professionals, reflecting different modes of interaction – physical, cognitive, environment and abstract. Niedderer (2013) suggested the use of attitude change as a basis for lasting behaviour change, namely Mindful Design – using mindfulness (Langer, 1989) as an opened attitude leading to increased awareness, reflection and responsibility in design. Most of these approaches have focused on products or communication information and graphics as a form of intervention. Investigation into interventions beyond product and communication design (e.g. service design) appear to be relatively lacking. In the meantime, the increasing interest in design as a way of thinking and as an effective tool for policy and service innovation in the public sector (Bason, 2014; 2010; Boyer, Cook, & Steinberg, 2011; European Commission, 2012), calls for more general or wide-ranging approaches to design and policy interventions. The aims of the paper, therefore, are threefold. The first is to critically review Darnton’s Nine Principles framework (Darnton, 2008a) as an overarching framework that addresses the need for design and policy intervention. The second is to show how the framework could be adapted especially for the situation where the behaviour under investigation has been relatively unexplored and there are insufficient resources to engage in prototyping and piloting the interventions before making a critical decision to commit substantial amount of resources. The third is to demonstrate an application of the adapted framework through the case of scaling up individual upcycling.
2. Darnton’s Nine Principles framework for behaviour intervention Amongst psychologist and policy makers it is a common knowledge that behaviour understanding and behaviour change policies rest on certain behavioural models (either explicitly or implicitly) – exhibiting, for example, what the behaviour is, what its antecedents are, and how it is influenced, shaped and constrained. Darnton’s Nine Principles framework was designed to “integrate [such] behaviour models with theoretical understanding of effective approaches to change. The framework provides a starting point for selecting [appropriate] models and developing behaviour change interventions.” (Darnton, 2008a, p.
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23). It is based on theory-based guidance for planning interventions, such as Community Based Social Marketing (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith, 1999) and Stern’s Principles (Stern, 2000), yet it puts the building of behavioural models into the heart of the intervention developing process (Darnton, 2008a). Darnton suggests the Nine Principles as: (1) identify the audience groups (or actors) and the target behaviour; (2) identify relevant behavioural models and draw up a shortlist of influencing factors; (3) select the key influencing factors to design objectives in a draft strategy for the intervention; (4) identify effective intervention techniques; (5) engage the target audience for the intervention; (6) develop a prototype intervention; (7) pilot the intervention and monitor continuously; (8) evaluate impacts and processes; and (9) feedback learning from the evaluation (Darnton, 2008a). See Figure 1 for a framework based on these nine principles.
Figure 1 The Nine Principles framework from Darnton (2008a). Darnton suggested nine principles yet provided eight stages in the framework by combining principle (5) and (6) for the stage five, develop prototype with ‘actors’.
Darnton seemed to have assumed that identifying target behaviour and actors suffices to understand behaviour/audience; that extracting key influencing factors from the models and past empirical research result is valid and appropriate in all cases; and that co-creating the intervention prototype with actors is prerequisite for finding out effective interventions. But what if the behaviour under investigation has not yet been explored before such that it is evident that empirical research is required in the new situation? And what if there are not enough resources (e.g. time, financial support) to proceed with prototyping with actors and piloting before making a critical decision of committing significant amount of resources? Adaptations of the Darnton’s framework were made to address these issues.
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3. Setting the scene: The case of scaling-up individual upcycling This section describes the case of scaling up individual upcycling, which will be used to illustrate how Darnton’s framework could be adapted and applied to behaviour change intervention.
3.1 Project background The UK is legally obliged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050. As part of the Government’s commitment to achieving this reduction, the Research Councils UK Energy Programme established six End Use Energy Demand Centres (EUED, 2015). The Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) is one of these six centres and focuses on materials and embodied energy reduction in the UK and beyond.1 The first author’s PhD research as part of CIE-MAP explores the emerging household behaviour of individual upcycling in the UK as an important opportunity at the domestic level (and potentially beyond) for contributing to sustainable production and consumption by reducing carbon emissions related to materials and energy.
3.2 Individual upcycling as environmentally significant behaviour Environmentally significant behaviour is, according to Stern, behaviour that “changes the availability of materials or energy from the environment, or alters the structure and dynamics of ecosystems or the biosphere itself.” (Stern, 2000, p. 408). It is often used interchangeably with pro-environmental behaviour, green consumer behaviour, environmentally responsible behaviour, environmentally friendly behaviour, ecological behaviour, sustainable behaviour, sustainable lifestyle, etc. Despite differences in terminology, the common denominator is the idea that individual behaviour can collectively impact positively on the environment. Individual upcycling, the creation or modification of any product from used products, components or materials in an attempt to generate a product of higher quality or value than the compositional elements (Sung, Cooper, & Kettley, 2014) by individuals, is another example of environmentally significant behaviour.2 It may be assumed to be a more sustainable way of making, crafting or personalising products for individuals than doing so with virgin materials only. When scaled up to a meaningful level with appropriate interventions, it could, in theory, significantly reduce the need for new products as well as
1 RCUK Centre for Energy Epidemiology (UCL-Energy) has focused on an energy epidemiological approach that looks to reinterpret the health sciences research structure; The Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand on developing a socio-technical understanding of the emergence, diffusion and impact of low energy innovations; DEMAND (Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand) Centre on tackling the fundamental question of what energy is for; i-STUTE (The interdisciplinary centre for Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy) on examining the potential for energy use reduction in heating and cooling (EUED, 2015). 2 The term, upcycling, was recently coined and can be traced back to the interview with Riner Pilz (Kay, 1994). Pilz, in the context of architecture and interior design, said, “Recycling, I call it down-cycling. They smash bricks, they smash everything. What we need is upcycling, where old products are given more value, not less.” (Kay, 1994, p.14). The more widely understood meaning of upcycling in academia, however, comes from Braungart and McDonough (2002). They see upcycling as the process that maintains or upgrades materials’ value and or quality in their second life and beyond in a closed-loop industrial cycle. This paper uses the definition from Pilz and adds ‘individual’ in front of ‘upcycling’ in order to reflect the emerging, contemporary individual activities of upcycling as well as to distinguish it from ‘industrial upcycling’ which more often refers to improved recycling rather than product recreation.
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municipal solid waste. Reduced need for new products would lessen the amount of materials and industrial energy used in production with new materials, and therefore contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (Ali, Khairuddin, & Abidin, 2013; Goldsmith, 2009; Szaky, 2014). In addition, the decreased amount of municipal solid waste may obviate the need for additional landfill spaces. The benefit of individual upcycling is not only limited to positive environmental benefits. Individual upcycling can save money for individuals – fulfilling needs with fewer financial resources (Frank, 2013; Lang, 2013) – and, in theory, lead to new jobs in small- or medium-sized enterprises (Sung & Cooper, 2015). It can, furthermore, provide participants with sociocultural and psychological benefits such as learning and empowering, a sense of community, relaxing (Sung, Cooper, & Kettley, 2014).
3.3 Scaling-up of individual upcycling by behaviour interventions Evidence suggests that the overall number of people who upcycle items has recently increased in developed countries, including the UK, possibly as a response to the contemporary Maker1 Movement (Anderson, 2012; Lang, 2013), physical resources (e.g. Maker Faire, Hackspace/Makerspace) and digital resources (e.g. Instructables, Etsy). Despite this growing interest, individual upcycling is evidently still a marginal activity. Considering the potential benefits of individual upcycling environmentally, as well as economically and socio-culturally, one of the pertinent questions from the perspective of sustainable design concerns scaling up (Ceschin, 2012; van den Bosch, 2010). How can this emerging, yet still marginal activity, be scaled up into a mainstream everyday activity in households (and possibly also in industries) to make a bigger impact on the environment and society? One solution to create a meaningful level of scaling up would be to generate effective intervention strategies for influencing consumer behaviour.
4. Adapted framework and its application to individual upcycling This section illustrates an adapted framework from Darnton’s Nine Principles framework (Darnton, 2008a), focusing on the early stage activities in the behaviour intervention (i.e. behaviour research and intervention strategies generation). The adaptation in these early stages was made to understand relatively unexplored behaviour for extracting valid key influencing factors based on empirical results, and to design effective interventions with limited resources without having to fully engage in co-development of prototype with actors and piloting. The adapted model does not suggest that later stages of prototyping and piloting are unnecessary. Rather, it suggests how the cycle can be split up between researchled intervention generation process and the rest of them for the half-way decision-making and planning in order to effectively invest resources in prototyping and piloting of the prioritised intervention options.
1 The term, ‘Maker’, could apply to potentially everyone in the sense that “we are all makers. We are born makers: just watch a child’s fascination with blocks, Lego, etc. It’s not just about workshops, garages and man caves. If you love to cook, you are a kitchen Maker and your stove is your workbench. If you love to plant, you are a garden Maker. Knitting and sewing, scrap-booking, beading, and crossstitching – all Making.” (Anderson, 2012, p. 13).
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The premise in this approach is that the design researcher or practitioner has already identified which specific behaviour to target. There are three stages in the early stages of this adapted framework. Each consists of two steps. The first includes identifying behaviour model and understanding behaviour and consumers. The second includes refining the behaviour model for operationalisation and identifying key drivers, facilitators and barriers. The third includes designing effective intervention strategies and, evaluating and improving the draft strategies (Figure 2). The following sub-sections elaborate each stage and demonstrate an application of the approach through the example of scaling up individual upcycling. This project is ongoing and currently at the second step in stage three – evaluate and improve the draft strategies.
Figure 2 Adapted framework based on the Darnton’s Nine Principles framework (Darnton, 2008a). Dark grey boxes represent research-led intervention generation process where the adaptations were made, and light grey boxes are part of Darnton’s original framework
4.1 Stage one: Understanding behaviour and consumers Step one: Identify behaviour model for exploration Identifying a suitable model for the targeted behaviour by literature review is a crucial first step in a sense that “different behaviours are driven by different factors and in different combinations” (Darnton, 2008a, p. 25). In addition, the model used determines the scope of the understanding in terms of the number of behaviour-influencing factors.1 As a designer without any psychology or sociology educational background, choosing the right model for 1 For example, Schwartz’ Norm Activation Theory (Schwartz, 1968; Schwartz & Fleishman, 1978) is more suitable for moral or ethical behaviour, and it is a more parsimonious model with only three factors of behaviour (i.e. awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and personal norm). On the other hand, Bagozzi’s Comprehensive Model of Consumer Action (Bagozzi & Warshaw, 1990; Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001) is more suitable for complex and multifaceted behaviour such as consumption, and it provides more than 20 behaviour-influencing factors (e.g. goal feasibility, anticipated positive emotions, outcome expectancies, attitudes, subjective norms, situational forces, etc.).
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the targeted behaviour might be a daunting task for some, in which case, Darnton’s ‘practical guide’ to models (Darnton, 2008a) could be of help. This provides a table that matches behaviours to models in eight different behaviour domains (i.e. community participation, consumption, environment, health, transport, work & savings, addictive and other).1 In the case of scaling up upcycling, a thorough literature review was conducted; this confirmed that behaviour is complex and therefore should be understood by both internal (e.g. attitude, social factors, emotions, habits) and external (e.g. situational constraints and conditions) factors (Egmond & Bruel, 2007; Jackson, 2005a; Kallbekken, Rise, & Westskog, 2008; Martiskainen, 2007). Most notably, Jackson’s extensive review of behaviour in the context of sustainable consumption concluded that “[a] grand unified theory of human behaviour is probably impossible. But a pragmatic synthesis is a useful starting point for policy design. Triandis’ early theory of interpersonal behaviour provides a good illustration of such a synthesis.” (Jackson, 2005b, p. 5). Similarly, Martiskainen (2007) reviewed different models of behaviour and change regarding households’ energy-related behaviour and recommended Triandis’ model for its comprehensiveness and inclusion of habits. A number of integrative or comprehensive models, such as Integrative Agent-Centred Framework (Feola & Binder, 2010), Comprehensive Action Determination Model (Klöckner & Blöbaum, 2010) and the combination model of Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Value-BeliefNorm Theory (Kallbekken, Rise, & Westskog, 2008), showed that most elements in these models are part of Triandis’ model. Furthermore, Triandis’ model is known for its wider applicability unlike other models: for instance, Norm Activation Theory is more appropriate for predicting altruistic behaviour and Health Belief Model for preventative health behaviour (Darnton, 2008b). It has been used for technology adoption behaviour (Gagnon, Sanchez, & Pons, 2006), civic behaviour (Cotterill, Richardson, Stoker, & Wales, 2008), dietary behaviour (Salonen & Helne, 2012) and behaviour intervention model in product design (Tang, 2010) in addition to sustainable consumption, pro-environmental behaviour or energy-related behaviour. Individual upcycling may be assumed to be a form of sustainable production and consumption, not necessarily with pure pro-environmental intention. Some consumers may see it as environmentally significant behaviour, while for others it may be a way of engaging with their community, or about product personalisation. Individual upcycling, therefore, needs a versatile model which can not only explain environmentally significant behaviour but also other behaviour domains (e.g. community participation, ‘craft consumption’2). Therefore, Triandis’ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (Triandis, 1977), from its comprehensive nature and wider applicability, was considered to be the most suitable model to understand individual upcycling behaviour. 1 The examples are such as Theory of Reasoned Action for voter choice, Bagozzi’s Theory of Trying for shopping, Stern’s ABC model for recycling, Theory of Planned Behaviour for taking exercise, etc. 2 Craft consumption is “the consumption activity in which the product concerned is essentially both made and designed by the same person and to which the consumer typically brings skill, knowledge, judgement and passion while being motivated by a desire for selfexpression” (Campbell, 2005, p. 1).
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Step two: Understand behaviour and consumers Understanding behaviour and consumers could be more exploratory for designers unlike Darnton’s original approach which only includes identifying which actors and which specific behaviour to target (Darnton, 2008a). Designers could investigate each behaviour factor and consumer profiles in a qualitative way, using interviews, focus groups, etc. In the case of individual upcycling, semi-structured interviews1 were conducted with 23 UKbased consumers. The interview schedule was designed on the basis of behaviourinfluencing factors in Triandis’ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour: perceived benefits, norms, roles, self-concept, emotions, habits, and facilitating conditions2. The questions were such as “What benefits do you expect and see from upcycling?” or “What conditions do you think have facilitated your upcycling so far?” The results provided a variety of elements (e.g. which perceived consequences) in each behaviour factor of individual upcycling (which can then be used for the quantitative study in the next stage). Several insights into the potential differences arising from demographic characteristics were found: for instance, women appeared to view their relationship roles more relevant to upcycling whereas men viewed occupational roles more relevant.
4.2 Stage two: Key behaviour-influencing factors identification Step one: Refine the behaviour model for operationalisation This is the step in which one can make sure that the selected model is operationalisable for quantitative research (i.e. usable for survey). The activity can be either refining the behaviour model or identifying the existing model as tested research instrument by further literature review. In the case of scaling up upcycling, some issues of Triandis’ model were identified through further investigation. There is no clear guidelines for the operational definition of the variables in the original Triandis’ model (Araujo-Soares & Presseau, 2008), and a few adapted models from Triandis’ original model did not show the agreed approach to measure each variable (Gagnon, et al., 2003; Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003; Knoeri & Russell, 2014). In order to address such issues, Triandis’ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour model was combined with another model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen I. , 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), one of the most widely used models in behaviour research, for the improved operationalisability.
1 The method was chosen for its flexibility which allows for probing when necessary, while keeping the pre-determined interview schedule (Barriball & While, 1994). 2 Perceived benefits mean ‘perceived consequences with positive value attached to the expected and/or experienced consequences’. Norms are “beliefs that certain behaviours are correct, appropriate, or desirable” and roles are “sets of behaviours that are considered appropriate for persons holding particular positions (e.g. father, leader, salesperson) in a group” (Triandis, 1977, p. 8). Self-concept refers to “a person’s ideas about who he or she is” (p.9). Emotions (or affect) are what a person feels at the thought of the behaviour – positive or negative and strong or weak (Triandis, 1977). The habit to act is “measured by the number of times the act has already been performed by the person” (p.10). Facilitating conditions are “the total situation in which a subject and another find themselves” (p.208).
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Step two: Identify key drivers, facilitators and barriers Key drivers and facilitators for and barriers to the targeted behaviour can be identified through quantitative research (e.g. survey) based on the selected behaviour model, using the variables identified from the previous qualitative understanding research. For the statistical analysis to identify key influencing factors, multiple regression analysis (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2013), for example, can be used to reveal how much of the behaviour variance is explained by the model and which factors are more influential. In the case of individual upcycling, an online survey1 was used. The population of interest (or behaviour actors) was Makers, defined by Anderson (2012) to include makers, hackers, crafters, tinkerers, fixers, knitters, gardeners, etc. (potentially everyone; see footnote 1). The survey was administered through websites which the interview participants mentioned as the most frequently and regularly visited by themselves. 122 responses were attained from British residents. The analysis results revealed that intention2 explains the largest variance in behaviour frequency, and that attitude,3 personal norm4 and perceived behaviour control5 showed stronger unique contribution in explaining the variance in intention. The implication of the results is that to be effective, intervention strategies should prioritise building positive attitude towards individual upcycling, establishing positive personal norm about it, and developing competent perceived control over upcycling in order to increase intention, leading to more widely practiced and frequent upcycling (i.e. scaling up of individual upcycling).
4.3 Stage three: Intervention strategies development Step one: Design effective intervention strategies Designing effective intervention strategies is based on the key behaviour-influencing factors identified from the previous stage. This first step requires benchmarking of existing intervention strategies. Darnton (2008a) suggests that Abraham and Michie’s work in developing a typology of behaviour change techniques through a meta-analysis (Abraham & Michie, 2008) is a useful starting point. Another useful source might be Defra’s 4E approach (Defra, 2005) – Enable, Engage, Encourage and Exemplify – particularly when one deals with behaviour related to sustainable development. Designers in this step, taking into account the key behaviour factors and existing intervention strategies, are expected to use ‘strategic design’ – “a design activity aiming at an integrated system of products, services and 1 Online survey was chosen for its ability to reach large number of people within a relatively short time with relatively inexpensive cost (Fink, 2013). 2 Intention is the immediate antecedent and key determinant of behaviour in many popular behaviour models such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen & Madden, 1986) as well as the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (Triandis, 1977). The typical intention questions are, for example, “If I have the opportunity, I will …” or “I intend to …” 3 Attitude toward a behaviour is “a person’s overall evaluation of performing the behaviour in question” (Ajzen I. , 2002, p. 5). The typical attitude questions are such as “For me, … is pleasant/good/worthwhile/enjoyable/etc.” 4 Personal norm is “the feeling of personal obligation regarding the performance of a given behaviour (Gagnon, Sanchez, & Pons, 2006, p. 3). 5 Perceived behaviour control refers to “control over performing the defined behaviour” (Ajzen I. , 2002, p. 2). It is the respondents’ perception on their ability to perform the behaviour. The typical questions are such as “For me, … would be possible.” or “It is mostly up to me whether or not I …”
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communication, based on new forms of organisation, based on the roles reconfiguration […]; a design developing strategy linking long term goals with existing trends” (Manzini & Vezzoli, 2003, p. 856) – for their ideation. In the case of scaling up upcycling, the initial intervention ideas were generated on the basis of the identified, key behaviour factors – intention, attitude, personal norm and perceived behaviour control. These initial ideas were then mapped onto the table of Defra’s 4E actions, and extra ideas added to the table. Step two: Evaluate and improve the draft strategies Evaluating and improving the draft strategies/ideas is an important final step before developing any prototype with actors (or the targeted population for intervention). In this step, the draft strategies on policy and design intervention can be explored and evaluated, preferably by a group of experts. The evaluation criteria may include desirability, importance (in terms of potential impact on scaling up) and feasibility (technical, economic, and political). New suggestions can be made. Taking into account the agreed evaluation results as well as new suggestions and comments, the draft strategies can be improved for prototyping and piloting. In the case of scaling-up upcycling, a semi-Delphi method1 is to be used. The expertise will include psychology, policy studies, sociology, innovation studies and design. The invited experts will be asked, through an online questionnaire, to review all interventions for scaling up individual upcycling in the UK, make comments, rate the level of importance and feasibility of each intervention, vote for the most suitable actor for each intervention, suggest new interventions if any, and select the five most important interventions. A subsequent focus group with the same expert group will facilitate the in-depth conversation about possible disagreements amongst experts in different disciplines. It is hoped that by the end, there would be a list of effective and feasible intervention strategies.
5. Conclusion The paper critically reviewed Darnton’s Nine Principles framework as an overarching framework that addresses the need for design and policy intervention. Some limitations were identified and adaptations were made accordingly. Adapting the framework, the paper elaborated the early stages of behaviour intervention process – from understanding behaviour and consumers to designing intervention strategies. The application of the adapted framework was demonstrated through the example of scaling up individual upcycling. The suggested framework might be more useful for strategic design than, for instance, designing a particular product. Its applicability is not limited: it can be applied to any behaviour domain for design and policy interventions. It would be particularly useful for 1 The Delphi method is typically used to estimate the impact and consequences of any particular option, or to examine acceptability of any given option, in order to make an informed judgement in the fields of social policy and public health under conditions of uncertainty. The method often consists of a number of questionnaire studies for exploration and evaluation (Adler & Ziglio, 1996). It is semi-Delphi because it includes one questionnaire-based study combining exploration and evaluation, followed by FG for further discussion.
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design researchers and practitioners in the situations where the behaviour under investigation has been understudied, and they need to go through the critical decision making process involving higher managers, clients, local authorities or funders in order to commit significant amount of resources to the next steps, prototyping and piloting. We believe that the interventions generated from this approach could be effective in terms of impact on behaviour change because the approach is based on tested behaviour models, scientific research evidence, and (potentially) experts’ agreed confirmation. Or at least, this approach could provide decision makers with certain extent of guarantee that the interventions, when piloted or implemented, would create impact, and thus leading to smooth buy-in from decision makers for the next steps. Acknowledgements: This work was funded with support from the RCUK Energy Programme’s funding for the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products, grant reference EP/N022645/1, as well as a Student Research Bursary from the Design Research Society.
6. References Abraham, C., & Michie, S. (2008). A taxonomy of behaviour change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology, 27, pp. 379-387. Adler, M., & Ziglio, E. (1996). Gazing into the oracle: The Delphi method and its application to social policy and public health. London: Jessica Kingsley. Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50, pp. 179-211. Ajzen, I. (2002). Constructing a TPB questionnaire: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Retrieved 3 31, 2015, from http://chuang.epage.au.edu.tw/ezfiles/168/1168/attach/20/pta_41176_7688352_57138.pdf Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc. Ajzen, I., & Madden, T. (1986). Predictions of goal-directed behaviour: Attitudes, intentions and perceived behavioural control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, pp. 453-474. Ali, A. S., Khairuddin, N. F., & Abidin, S. Z. (2013). Upcycling: Re-use and recreate functional interior space using waste materials. International Conference on Engineering and Product Design, Dublin. Anderson, C. (2012). Makers: The new industrial revolution. London: Random House Business. Araujo-Soares, V., & Presseau, J. (2008). Theory-based behaviour prediction and change: An interview with Gaston Godin. The European Health Psychologist, 10(September), pp. 51-58. Bagozzi, R., & Warshaw, P. (1990). Trying to consume. Journal of Consumer Research, 17, pp. 127140. Bamberg, S., & Schmidt, P. (2003). Incentives, morality or habit? Predicting students' car use for university routes with the models of Ajzen, Schwartz, and Triandis. Environment and Behavior, 35(2), pp. 264-285. Barriball, K. L., & While, A. (1994). Collecting data using a semi-structured interview: A discussion paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19(2), pp. 328-335. Bason, C. (2010). Leading public sector innovation: Co-creating for a better society. Bristol: Policy Press .
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Bason, C. (2014). Design for policy. Farnham: Gower. Boyer, B., Cook, J. W., & Steinberg, M. (2011). In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change. Helsinki: Sitra. Brown, T., & Wyatt, J. (2010, July). Design thinking for social innovation. Development Outreach, pp. 29-43. Campbell, C. (2005). The craft consumer. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(1), pp. 23-42. Ceschin, F. (2012). The introduction and scaling up of sustainable product-service systems: A new role for strategic design for sustainability. Milan: Politecnico di Milano. Clune, S. (2010). Design and behaviour change. The Journal of Design Strategies, 4(1), pp. 68-75. Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S., & Aiken, L. (2013). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioural science. Mahwah, New Jersey: Routledge. Cotterill, S., Richardson, L., Stoker, G., & Wales, C. (2008). Reinvigorating the civic: Searching for a rationale for our research programme. Southampton : Political Studies Association Conference 2008. Darnton, A. (2008a). Practical guide: An overview of behaviour change models and their uses. London: Government Social Research Unit. Darnton, A. (2008b). Reference Report: An overview of behaviour change models and their uses. London: Government Social Research Unit. Defra. (2005). Changing behaviour through policy making. London: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Dorrestijn, S. (2012). The product impact tool: Designing for user-guiding and user-changing. Delft: Design United. Egmond, C., & Bruel, R. (2007). Nothing is as practical as a good theory: Analysis of theories and a tool for developing interventions to influence energy-related behaviour. Den Haag: SenterNovem. EUED. (2015). What is EUED? Retrieved March 18, 2015, from http://www.eued.ac.uk/whatiseued European Design Innovation Initiative. (2012). Design for growth & prosperity: Report and recommendations of the European design leadership board. Helsinki: DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission. Available at: Http://ec.Europa.eu/enterprise (Accessed 4/1/13) Feola, G., & Binder, C. R. (2010). Towards an improved understanding of farmers' behaviour: The integrative agent-centred (IAC) framework. Ecological Economics, 69, pp. 2323-2333. Fink, A. (2013). How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide (5 ed.). London: Sage. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, atittude, intention and beahviour: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Frank, C. (2013). Living simple, free & happy: How to simplify, declutter your home, reduce stress, debt & waste. Georgetown, Ontario: Betterway Books. Gagnon, M.-P., Godin, G., Gagne, C., Fortin, J.-P., Lamothe, L., Reinharz, D., & Cloutier, A. (2003). An adaptation of the theory of interpersonal behaviour to the study of telemedicine adoption by physicians. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 71, pp. 103-115. Gagnon, M.-P., Sanchez, E., & Pons, J. M. (2006). From recommendation to action: Psychosocial factors influencing physician intention to use Health Technology Assessment (HTA) recommendations. Implementation Science, 1(8), pp. 1-11. Goldsmith, B. (2009). Trash or treasure? Upcycling becomes growing green trend. Retrieved 9 23, 2013, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/09/30/us-trends-upcycling-lifeidUSTRE58T3HX20090930 Jackson, T. (2005a). Motivating sustainable consumption. London: Sustainable Development Research Network.
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Jackson, T. (2005b). SDRN briefing one: Motivating sustainable consumption. London: Sustainable Development Research Network. Kay, T. (1994). Peiner pilz. Salvo, October, pp. 11-14. Kallbekken, S., Rise, J., & Westskog, H. (2008). Combining insights from economics and social psychology to explain environmentally significant consumption. Oslo: Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research. Klöckner, C. A., & Blöbaum, A. (2010). A comprehensive action determination model: Toward a broader understanding of ecological behaviour using the example of travel model choice. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, pp. 574-586. Knoeri, C., & Russell, S. (2014). End-users' motivations and barriers to infrastructure serviceperformance contracting: Survey procedure and design. Leeds: University of Leeds. Lang, D. (2013). Zero to maker: Learn (just enough) to make (just about) anything (1 ed.). Sebastopol, CA: Maker Media, Inc. Langer, E. J. (1989). Mindfulness. New York: Addison Wesley Publishing Company. Lilley, D. (2007). Designing for behavioural change: Reducing the social impacts of product use through design. Loughborough University. Loughborough: Loughborough University . Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N. A. (2009). Choice architecture and design with intent. 9th BiAnnual International Conference on Naturalistic Decision Making, London. Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N. A. (2010). The design with intent method: A design tool for influencing user behaviour. Applied Ergonomics, 41(3), pp. 382-392. Manzini, E., & Vezzoli, C. (2003). A strategic design approach to develop sustainable product service systems: Examples taken from the 'environmentally friendly innovation' Italian prize. Journal of Cleaner Production, 11(8), pp. 851-857. Martiskainen, M. (2007). Affecting consumer behaviour on energy demand. Brighton: Sussex Energy Group, Science and Technology Policy Research. McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make things. London: Vintage. McKenzie-Mohr, D., & Smith, W. (1999). Fostering sustainable behaviour: An introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers. Niedderer, K. (2013). Mindful design as a driver for social behaviour change. IASDR Conference 2013 (p. 4561). Tokyo: IASDR. Perugini, M., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2001). The role of desires and anticipated emotions in goal-directed behaviours: Broadening and deepening the theory of planned behaviour. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, pp. 79-98. Salonen, A. O., & Helne, T. T. (2012). Vegetarian diets: A way towards a sustainable society. Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(6), pp. 10-24. Schwartz, S. (1968). Awareness of consequences and the influence of moral norms on interpersonal behaviour. Sociometry, 31, pp. 355-369. Schwartz, S., & Fleishman, J. (1978). Personal norms and the mediation of legitimacy effects on helping. Social Psychology, 41, pp. 306-315. Stern, P. C. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavour. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), pp. 407-424. Sung, K., & Cooper, T. (2015). Sarah Turner–Eco-artist and designer through craft-based upcycling. Craft Research, 6(1), pp. 113-122.
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Sung, K., Cooper, T., & Kettley, S. (2014). Individual upcycling practice: Exploring the possible determinants of upcycling based on a literature review. Sustainable Innovation 2014 Conference, Copenhagen, pp. 237-244. Szaky, T. (2014). Outsmart waste: The modern idea of garbage and how to think our way out of it. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publisher, Inc. Tang, T. (2010). Towards sustainable use: Design behaviour intervention to reduce household environment impact. Loughborough: Loughborough University. Triandis, H. C. (1977). Interpersonal behaviour. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. van den Bosch, S. (2010). Transition experiments: Exploring societal changes towards sustainability. Rotterdam: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.
About the Authors: Kyungeun Sung is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK. Her research broadly deals with sustainable design while paying close attention to sustainable production and consumption by individual upcycling. Tim Cooper is Professor of Sustainable Design and Consumption at Nottingham Trent University and Co-Director of the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products. He specialises in product lifetimes and was Contributing Editor of Longer Lasting Products (Gower, 2010). Sarah Kettley is Reader in Relational Design at NTU. Her research concerns with how networks of things can be designed for networks of people. She is a member of the Design for Health and Wellbeing, and the Digital Craft research groups.
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Assessment of the Co-creative Design Process Pratik Vyas*, Robert Young, Petia Sice and Nicholas Spencer Northumbria University. * vyas.711@gmail.com DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.334
Abstract: Co-creation in Design is a multi-disciplinary process where co-designers are not only trained professionals from different disciplines, but also members from the community with whom the co-design project is focused, e.g. local government officers and other interested parties such as financiers, local businesses, NGOs working in the area etc. Handling such multi-disciplinary, multi-personality and multicultural situations requires personal and professional development through reflective practice to understand one’s own experience. This technique has been traditionally called ‘the act of becoming aware’ (Schön, 1983) As the importance of co-design is increasing, the interactions generated during the co-design process are being considered important and such interactions need to be considered in the assessment criteria. Experts in psychology, systems thinking, western and eastern medicine and design education were invited to share knowledge during workshops and a consequent review of inter-disciplinary literature resulted in a list of ‘inner values’, where the anticipation was that, when these inner values exist in a co-design team, they can lead to harmonious working and co-owned decisions during the co-design process (Vyas et.al., 2012) The inner values were then clearly defined using the interdisciplinary literature and literature from positive psychology was used to convert the conceptual inner values into a practical research framework. This paper describes the application of the framework for research to generate empirical evidence that justifies the role and utility of the ‘inner values’ in the co-design process. Keywords: Co-design, Qualitative research, Inner values, Professional development
1. Introduction Co-creation in Design, also called as co-design, is a multi-disciplinary process. The most widely accepted definition of co-design comes from European Design Leadership Board (2012) who define co-design as “A community centred methodology that designers use to enable people who will be served by a design outcome to participate in designing solutions to their problems.” It is increasingly being used because co-design gives importance to This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Pratik Vyas, Robert Young, Petia Sice and Nicholas Spencer
understanding the users’ mind-set and it involves users and stakeholders in the design of solutions using participatory approaches. Co-design gives equal importance to the designer, user, and stakeholders, making the process increasingly inclusive and multi-disciplinary with no formal structure. Therefore, such scenarios are complex and no two co-design projects can have an identical process. Social science and Design research have studied co-design projects in a variety of contexts for more than four decades. Citizen engagement, social innovation initiatives, crowd sourcing activities and group/team work are a few examples of such studies. In these, the stakeholders are not always trained professionals from different disciplines, but can be members of the community, local government authorities/officials or other interested parties such as financiers, local businesses, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) etc. In co-design projects, the designer facilitates the dialogue for solutions to emerge (Vyas and Young, 2011) However, such multi-disciplinary, multipersonality and multi-cultural situations require special skills that develop through experience and reflection in action. Reflection helps designers to understand their experiences and through ‘the act of becoming aware’, develop their personal professional capabilities (Schön, 1983) Such reflection and professional development aids the codesigners to understand and manoeuvre situations where internal politics and power relations can make interactions stressful. The learning mechanisms employed are driven by interactions, either with other people or with the surroundings (Platts, 2013) However, to achieve competence and excellence, one needs to have the capacity to learn not only by acquiring knowledge and skills but also by building the right attitude. For example, when interacting with rock, the attitude of a sculptor is different to a layman. Attitudes arise out of core inner values, which denote the worth of things, concepts and people in the mind (Thompson, 2013, p. 34) The collective minds of people lead to terms such as family values and the values of society. These internalised systems determine the actions that make up the behaviour of a person (Perloff, 2010, p.92-101) Building appropriate inner values is therefore, the creation for change in future action strategies as explained in the next section (Argyris and Schön, 1987).
2. The importance of inner values Argyris and Schön (1974) made a distinction between the two contrasting theories of action. The distinction is between those theories that are implicit in what people do as professionals, and those theories that people use to describe their actions to others. The theories-in-use are tacit structures governing the decisions, behaviour and actions of the professionals. The theory used to convey what a professional would like others to think they do has been called espoused theory (pg. 93). The gulf between espoused theory and theoryin-use always exists and is not a bad thing. However, if the gulf gets too wide then there is clearly a difficulty in understanding one's own actions properly, but if the two remain connected then the gap creates opportunities for growth through reflection. To bridge this gap, there are two learning strategies suggested by Argyris and Schön (1987). When organizations, groups of professionals or a person focuses on improvement of action
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strategies alone, it is called single-loop learning. When the focus is on the improvement of the governing variables (inner values) and the action strategies, then it is called double-loop learning. It is noted that every professional or group of professionals have both single and double-loop learning and the aim is to have more double-loop learning for a more holistic learning experience. However, this is not explicitly possible because there is no well defined set of inner values. The inner values are culturally and subjectively relative. Thus, even when two people say they value freedom, each has a different conception of what freedom means and each would use their idiosyncratic concepts to act differently. Values are often intuitive and tacit. There are no objective grounds to define, let alone quantify inner values. They often conflict with each other in specific contexts, such that individuals must juggle and prioritize values, often in an ad-hoc and logically inconsistent way (Sensen, 2011) Thus, an individual is rarely aware of all of the values he/she might believe to be good or bad, and thus, many individuals are not able to fully articulate or rationalize their values. The inner values that are important for co-design can aid the designer to become aware. Such awareness can help designers and design teams function smoothly for successful cocreation of design solutions (Vyas and Sice, 2012) Inner values, according to Shwartz (2006), are the intrinsic worth that a person assigns to thoughts or ideas and creates outcome because “when values are activated, they become infused with feelings.” Thus according to Schwartz inner values are beliefs linked inextricably to effect on emotions. Consequently, inner values motivate actions because according to Schwartz (ibid), they determine desirable goals. However, inner values are not bound to certain feelings and a few actions alone and as Schwartz explains, they transcend specific actions and situations. Thus, inner values are not present because of emotions or situations, but are inside a person all the time and demonstrate themselves in any and even all types of contexts for different situations. The trade-offs among relevant, competing values are what guides attitudes and behaviours (Schwartz, ibid) Some inner values recognised from a literature review for relationship development during co-design are explained below.
3. Inner values for successful co-design Co-design has been considered the application of co-creation through and for design where co-creation is “an eclectic process of facilitating collaborative creation of shared knowledge and co-operating to generate outcomes that are built by co-owned decisions”. (Vyas, et.al. 2011) Thus, successful co-design requires co-operation and collaborative working. It should be noted that these two factors are used to map literature below and every inner value recognised is highlighted by using bold font style.
3.1 Co-operation Co-operation is the key factor in co-design. From an evolutionary point of view, Nowak (2013) explained that, in the real world, interactions happen iteratively between people and the inner values for the next interaction are determined by the perception of interactions in the past. This calculation is subconscious but inevitable (Nowak and Highfield, 2011) The
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inner values still remain in the person and the person’s perception of an interaction being positive or negative is key to the occurrence or lack of a particular inner value in future interactions. Nowak (2011) explains that for any co-operation, the key inner values needed are: Hopefulness for Co-operation, Generosity of spirit and Forgiveness for defection1. Thus, the inner values defined by Nowak from an evolutionary point of view are considered crucial for co-design to be successful by building relations for harmonious interactions. Hopefulness is “the intention that the first move of both the parties will be towards cooperation” (Nowak, 2011, pg. 272) Nowak argues that to start the cycle of interactions between two entities (people or another species, depending on the context), both parties involved in a situation with a potential for interaction; need to show the inner value of Hopefulness for co-operation. Generosity of spirit is “the ability to accept a smaller share of the benefits of co-operation” (Nowak, 2011, p. 208) Nowak argues that the inner value of Generosity of spirit is required for Co-operation to accept a smaller share of the benefits generated from a co-operation. Putting the competition aside is important and Peterson and Seligman (2004) explain that the inner value of Generosity of spirit determines the presence of humanity (p.50) and relies on doing more than what is only fair (p.37) Showing Generosity even when an equitable exchange would suffice shows “kindness, even if it cannot be returned and understanding, even when punishment is due” (p.326) Forgiveness is “the ability to reciprocate defection with co-operation in the next interaction, with a certain probability” (Nowak, 2011, pg. 223) Nowak (2011) argues that the consequence of defection (non-cooperation) in a tit-for-tat strategy is too harsh and in terms of altruism or selflessness is too low or even non-existent. He suggests that for the two parties (people or species) to co-operate during consecutive interactions, the inner value of Forgiveness is required, where the chances of co-operation in the next interaction increase or decrease with a probability in response to the past (or the last) experience. Thus, the inner value of Forgiveness grows stronger with experiences that are perceived positive and weakens if the experiences are perceived as negative. Peterson and Seligman (2004, p. 449) mention the Hindu philosophy of repentance with regards to forgiveness and highlight that both are important precursors to the complete restoration of a relationship.
3.2 Collaboration Collaborative working is another crucial aspect in a successful co-design. Osborn (1963) propagated brainstorming as the process for collaborative working. He advocated that the most important thing that distinguishes brainstorming from other types of group activities was the absence of criticism and negative feedback. Nemeth (2012) conducted research and proved that Osborn’s approach may be counter-productive and even ineffective. He showed that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition. Both Osborne and Nemeth put forth very important points. The desire for 1
Defection is an act of non-co-operation by opposite person
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harmony during decision-making should not override a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members should try to minimize conflict and reach a consensual decision but this should not be at the expense of the critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints. If the group agrees on a solution as it fits everyone’s ego, the solution they come up with could be inappropriate if applied without challenge. This has also been discussed by Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004, p. 12) Thus Osborn can be said to give importance to the inner value of being Non-judgmental and crucial to welcome different opinions. Osborn does not criticise having debates over creative differences, but can be said to urge for the inner value of Patience so that every opinion can be presented. Nemeth can also be said to urge the inner value of Patience for collegial debate but also the inner value of Acceptance for exchange of critical evaluations. The judgment of others creates a distorted account of events. Biestek (1953) explained being non-judgemental does not mean being devoid of feelings and emotions and definitely does not mean being indifferent to ethics, morals and values. It is actually, the exact opposite. The inner value of being non-judgemental limits personal bias so that a genuine account of reality can be understood. Though pure objective reporting is not the goal, being non-judgemental provides an unbiased report of events that includes emotions and feelings as a part of it. The ability to be non-judgemental is thus multi-dimensional (Williams and Kabat-Zinn, 2013). Whilst having opinions is an integral part of the design process, opinions are rooted in reason and instincts are rooted in experience and therefore open to change as the context changes. However, judgments, by definition, are final and often rooted in emotions and experiences from the past that are not let go. Grossman (2011) describes that, Patience as an inner value means “not interrupting or reacting before letting the occurring event unfold completely.” The inner value of Patience is described as a conscious effort through an event and not as a state of mind. Ancient Hindu wisdom explains that Patience is not simply waiting (Sanskrit: pratiksha) or endurance (Sanskrit: sahansheelta) It is not inactivity. Patience is a conscious choice of actively seeking balance in one's own choices, thoughts and so on (Swami, 2000) Acceptance has been defined as “experiencing events fully and without defence, as they are” (Hayes, 1994, p. 30) It is usually observed after an event has occurred. Acceptance as an inner value is important to overcome turbulence in the mind and the suffering that follows due to the unexpected event. Beginner’s mind is required so that team members keep an open mind and learn something new from each other, yet do not remain unknown to one another. From an enactive cognitive science perspective, Varela (1993) explains this stage as ‘Unlearning’. Beginner’s mind comes from Zen meditation as having an undisturbed, open experience of things as they are and freedom from preconceptions when approaching anything (Suzuki, 2010) In psychology, Buddhist meditation techniques have been studied and findings mention that a Beginner’s mind is to have a clean slate, experiencing everything as if for the first time (Greenberg, 2012; Kabat-Zinn, 2013)
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These inner values are not exhaustive or mutually exclusive. There is no known relationship or hierarchy between the inner values. The demonstration of the inner value or the lack of an inner value in a situation depends completely on an individual’s choice, which can be conscious or sub-conscious. Inner values often conflict with each other in specific contexts, such that individuals must juggle and prioritize values, often in an ad-hoc and logically inconsistent way (Sensen, 2011) Thus, an individual is rarely aware of all of the values he/she might believe to be good or bad, and thus, many individuals are not able to fully articulate or rationalize their values. Therefore, Schön (1983) highlights the importance of reflective practice aiding the practice-based professional learning that arises from and leads to enhanced understanding of one's own professional experiences. Reflection is the act of looking at one’s actions and reactions, thoughts and emotions and understanding the nature of experience as opposed to a mere recollection of events. Thus, reflection adds to the knowledge of a person. So the reflective practitioner is becoming aware of what is inside (emotions, experiences) and what is outside (actions and responses) and also what knowledge lies in the interaction of the inside and the outside with the inner values building the necessary attitude. However, the list derived above needed to be verified by using data from co-design projects to build case studies that could establish the importance of inner values during the co-design process. For this purpose the list of inner values has been used to build an analytical framework for communication analysis. Guidance to evaluate the existence or lack of an inner value and assessment of phrases has been borrowed from Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) book: Character Strengths and inner values: A handbook and classification. These have been developed from key literature in Psychology such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) (American Psychiatric Association, in: Peterson and Seligman, 2004) and International Statistical Classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD) (World Health Organization, in: Peterson and Seligman, 2004) and their collateral classification and strategies of assessment for each of the inner values (IVs) The crucial difference between these entries and the approach for this research is the focus on the betterment of the cocreation process rather than simple detection of inner values. However, to be able to study the change in the inner values of the co-creating team, the values must be thoroughly defined and identifiable. Without proper definition, subjective interpretation affects observations (Mills, 1980) Well defined inner values need to be identifiable so that rational study can be conducted. Figure 1 shows the analytical framework produced by this research study, where a binary system is used to identify if a certain inner value exists or is lacking in a particular situation.
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Figure 1: The analytical model of inner values for successful co-design
4. The data collection and analysis process The participants for data collection were co-designers trained in the co-design process for one year through taught courses and through practical projects. They needed to be new to co-design with not more than two years of professional experience so that effect of ‘the act
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of becoming aware’ on their behaviour could be studied while they worked as teams on their respective projects for eight weeks. The projects were selected using pre-defined criteria created using the definition of social innovation- namely, the intention, methods and outcomes focused on social change of a definable set of people. The projects were assigned to the participants to mimic real world opportunism. Data was collected using reflective post project semi-structured interviews with 12 participants working in three teams. Two teams (referred to in the study as team A and B) were working on the Akzonobel project sponsored by Dulux to co-design social engagement events and youth engagement activities respectively with the Ashington community, which is considered as being underprivileged for at least three generations. The third team (team C) worked on a project sponsored by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for England and Wales and the project aimed to improve the perception of the public towards parking using design. The collected data was transcribed, made anonymous using coding and confidentiality was strictly maintained throughout the analysis. However, before applying the framework defined in table1 as a part of data analysis strategy, it is important to understand it’s necessity. The lack of empiricism in social research highlighted by Bourdieu (1975), Thiollent (1980) and Löwy (1985) and the criticism of the culture of observations and self reporting techniques led to the need to produce objective proof and replicable results in social science research. Similarly, the effort to understand people and the decisions they make, with the help of positive psychology, can focus on both strengths and weaknesses as authentic and as amenable to scientific understanding of such moral values (Peterson and Seligman, 2004) Mason (2006, p.54) categorizes these into three key approaches known as literal, interpretive, and reflexive. The literal approach to the analysis of qualitative data is “the process that focuses on the exact use of a particular language or grammatical structure.” This approach is utilized while using coding with rigid sets of rules for analysing qualitative data. The interpretive approach is concerned with “making sense of research participants' accounts, so that the researcher is attempting to interpret their meaning.” The reflexive approach attempts to focus attention on the researcher’s insights about the data creation and analysis process. Mason (2006) suggests that, in practice, many researchers would use a combination of the above approaches. However, this research uses an interpretive approach for qualitative analysis because the researcher was interested in understanding the inner values from an objective third person perspective. Qualitative data collected from semistructured interviews is transcribed from audio recordings. The transcripts are redacted to ensure anonymity and remove confidential information. The aim of data analysis is to use the processed transcripts, which hold the relevant data and make observations on the codesign process with regard to different themes of investigation and to create findings that can be analysed further to compare the co-design process of the different teams. To achieve this goal, the following steps from Creswell (2013), were adopted for analysis.
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Step 1: Recognizing emergent themes and organizing data accordingly This step has been correctly explained by Marshall and Rossman (1995, p. 114) “Identifying salient themes, recurring ideas or language, and patterns of belief that link people and settings together, is the most intellectually challenging phase of the analysis and one that can integrate the entire endeavour�. To assist in this endeavour, a list of pre-recognised themes selected for the qualitative data collection was derived from the literature review and converted into questions for a semi-structured interview. Collected data was made anonymous in keeping with ethical research practices and organized by selecting quotes from the transcripts of the participant interviews. A quote is a manageable section of the transcript, which may be as small as a sentence or could be a whole paragraph. A quote has the potential to provide the necessary information regarding inner values and has the context of its meaning in the transcript. It is supported by the time stamp from the audio it has been derived from and a quote number has been assigned to indicate its placement in the transcript. In the transcript, a quote starts when the participant starts speaking on one of the themes and ends when the participant changes the theme or stops speaking. When a quote is on a theme that was not previously determined, then the new theme is noted. If a theme is recurring in all the other interviews, then it means that the participants consider the theme as important. Therefore, the theme should be used to compare the co-design process as applied by the participants. Similarly, if more than half of the participants (6 participants for this research) do not reflect on one of the pre-determined themes, then it means that most of the participants do not consider the theme as an important aspect of their co-design process. By the end of this process, the list of themes is updated by adding any emergent themes and by removing any themes not considered important. All the quotes appearing on a theme are brought together to analyse the views of a participant on that theme. Bigger quotes may be divided into smaller quotes so that they are easy to manage and analyse.
Step 2: Data matrix: The observations from the data are noted in the form of a data matrix to segregate the quotes that support and refute an effective co-design process as applied by the teams based on the specific theme for which a data matrix is drawn (See section 5.3.2 for data matrix for each theme).
Step 3: Making an Observation: A quote could have more than one idea, thought, concept or reflection expressed by the participant. This step recognises these reflections on different themes of the co-design process, to understand what argument the participant is making during the reflection and what inner values can be observed based on the way the participant articulates the reflection. There are two sub-steps for achieving this.
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Step 3.1: Looking for Words and phrases of interest O’Conner and Gibson (2003) explain that, “Sometimes we can learn about a person’s perceptions, attitudes, and feelings about something simply by noticing the words, sentences and phrases used to express them.” Thus, the way in which a participant reveals thoughts, biases, feelings and concerns around themes of investigation is recognised using phrases within Quotes. Similarly, any expression used frequently by interviewees and which sounds different to what it means, is noted. During the analysis of qualitative data, these are selected from quotes and italicised. This step is important because these phrases mark the start of making observations.
Step 3.2: Finding meaning in language During this step, an appropriate argument is determined from the quotes. The argument is used to build the case for the team’s co-design process being effective or not being effective with regard to the theme of investigation. Further, inner values are recognised to be existing or lacking in the quote, based on the criteria set out in the analytical framework created from the review of the literature (See section 2.6.5), which is shown in table 2.1. The evidence from the quotes in the form of statements or phrases has been noted to provide the rationale for making an observation regarding inner values.
5 Conclusions The resulting framework was applied to analyse transcripts of reflective interviews of 12 codesigners who applied the co-design process for social innovation. The participants were divided into two teams. These two teams worked on an community enterprise project to bring social innovation into the Ashington town centre community. Their tasks were similar but not same. They worked for eight weeks on the project as a part of the Multi-disciplinary Innovation (MDI) course, a MSc degree from Northumbria University. While working on the projects, one of the teams was subjected to Awareness-based Meditative Technique (AbMT) intervention while the other was not. The researcher wanted to study the effect of AbMT intervention on the co-design process by understanding the existence or lack of the inner values recognised as important for co-design. There were five key aspects to the case study projects, the involvement of the multi-disciplinary design team, the input from sponsors, the engagement with the community and stakeholders working in and for the community, utilising existing knowledge and creating new knowledge and the element of leadership within and outside the team. The teams were neither provided with a hierarchy within the multi-disciplinary team, nor were they instructed to give importance to the community, their stakeholders or sponsors. The teams showed the importance of the inner values during different aspects of the co-design project even though the application of co-design project was widely different for both teams. 1) The team A, showed the inner values of Generosity of spirit and Patience during codesign process. This helped the team recognise the need for action instead of prolonged discussion and to calmly apply an action-reflection cycle during the decision making
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2)
3)
4)
5)
process. Team B on the other hand lacked the inner values of Generosity of spirit and Patience and had lengthy unproductive discussions which adversely affected relationships between team members. Team A showed the inner value of Hopefulness for co-operation and Beginner’s mind, which helped build Acceptance towards different view-points raised by other team members, users and stakeholders from the community. Team B also showed Hopefulness on many occasions which helped to build Acceptance but on certain occasions a lack of Hopefulness for co-operation led to a lack of Acceptance of other’s views and Acceptance towards the situation as a whole. Being Non-judgemental about negative response from the community helped in building inner values such as Patience and Forgiveness for both teams and helped them in building relationships with local community members and stakeholders in government, schools and businesses. Being Non-judgemental was also crucial for the internal working of the team to sort out issues arising due to multi-disciplinary work. With Team B, the internal working of the team suffered when team members became judgemental and could not forgive each other. As leadership was not officially assigned there was a lack of hierarchy within the design teams. All the multi-disciplinary design team members had to share leadership. Generosity of spirit was important to take up responsibility of leading the design team when it was necessary as well as to let go the leadership role and to follow a leader within the design team. Hopefulness for co-operation led team A to overly indulge with the community of users and temporarily lose focus on the financial viability of solutions being developed until the sponsors brought this to the team’s attention.
It was concluded that the inner values highlighted by literature played an important part in building relationships and for cordial working, not only within the team, but also while working with the community of users and stakeholders. There may be other inner values that could be essential but the ones listed above form list of key inner values observed to occur in this study. Acknowledgements: Thanks to participants, supervisors and guides of this research.
6. References Argyris, C. & Schön, D. (1974) Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. Jossey-Bass. Argyris, C. & Schön, D. (1987) Reasoning, action strategies, and defensive routines: The case of OD practitioners. Research in organizational change and development, 1, 89-128. Argyris, C., Putnam, R. & Smith, D. M. (1985) Action science. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Biestek, F. P. (1953) The non-judgmental attitude. Social Casework. Bourdieu, P. (1984) A social critique of the judgement of taste. Traducido del francés por R. Nice. Londres Creswell, J. W. (2013) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
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Greenberg, J., Reiner, K. & Meiran, N. (2012) Mind the trap: mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity. PloS one, 7(5), e36206. Grossman, P. (2011) Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology's (re) invention of mindfulness: comment on Brown et al.(2011) Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D. & Wilson, K. G. (1999) Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. Guilford Press. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013) Full catastrophe living, revised edition: how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. Hachette UK. Lowy, L. (1985) Social work with the aging: The challenge and promise of the later years. Longman Publishing Group. Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (1995) Recording, managing and analyzing data.MARSHALL, C.; ROSSMAN, G. Designing qualitative research, 2, 109-119. Mason, J. (2006) Mixing methods in a qualitatively driven way. Qualitative Research, 6(1), 9-25. Mills, A. J. (1988) Organization, gender and culture. Organization Studies,9(3), 351-369. Nemeth, C. J. (2012) Minority influence theory. PAM Van Lange & AWT Kruglanski, Handbook of theories in social psychology, 2, 362-378. Nowak, M. A. and Rand, D. G. (2013) Human cooperation. Trends in cognitive sciences, 17(8), 413425. Nowak, M. and Highfield, R. (2011) SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed. Free Press, London Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving (Third Revised Edition) New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Perloff, R. M. (2010) The dynamics of persuasion: communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century. Routledge. Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. (2004) Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press. Platts, J. (2013) The Fault Line in Chinese Reflective Thinking. Philosophy Study, 3(10), 945. Schön, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-06874-6 Schwartz, J., Dockery, D. W., & Neas, L. M. (1996) Is daily mortality associated specifically with fine particles?. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 46(10), 927-939. Schwartz, S. H. (2009) Basic human values. sociologie, 42, 249-288 Sensen, O. (2011) Kant's Conception of Inner Value. European Journal of Philosophy, 19(2), 262-280. Siegel, D. J. (2007) The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) WW Norton & Company. Sensen, O. (2011) Kant's Conception of Inner Value. European Journal of Philosophy, 19(2), 262-280. Suzuki, S. (2010) Zen mind, beginner's mind. Shambhala Publications. Thiollent, M. (1980) O processo de entrevista. Crítica metodológica, investigação social e enquête operária. Thompson, J. B. (2013) Ideology and modern culture: Critical social theory in the era of mass communication. John Wiley & Sons. Varela, F. J. (1993) The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT press.
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Vyas, P., Sice, P. (2012) Ancient wisdom on Management. Philosophy of Management Conference at Oxford University. Vyas, P., Young, R. (2011) Redefining socially responsible designing to assist collaborative approaches to community engagement. Grand Challenge in Service at Cambridge University. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cambridgeservicealliance.org/uploads/downloadfiles/serviceweekslides/Pratik%20Vy as%20-%204B.pdf Vyas, P., Young, R., Spencer, N. Sice, P. (2014) Can awareness-based practices benefit co-creation for social innovation? ServDes Conference at Lancaster University. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.servdes.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Vyas-P-Young-R-Spencer-N-Sice-P.pdf Williams, J. M. G. & Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011) Mindfulness: diverse perspectives on its meaning, origins, and multiple applications at the intersection of science and dharma. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(01), 1-18. About the Authors: Pratik Vyas is a research analyst with experience of over 7 years, more than 20 projects and three successful funding applications. Prof. Robert Young is Chair of Design Practice, Research & Innovation Lead and Dept. of Design Director. Dr. Petia Sice is reader in Complexity and Organization and lead and facilitator of Wellbeing, Complexity and Enterprise (WELCOME) research group. Dr. Nick Spencer is Programme Leader for MA/MSc Multidisciplinary Innovation programme.
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The potential of Design for Behaviour Change to foster the transition to a circular economy Laura Piscicelli* and Geke Ludden University of Twente * l.piscicelli@utwente.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.489
Abstract: The negative environmental, social and economic effects of overconsumption and a throwaway culture have exposed the limits of traditional linear ‘take-make-dispose’ production and consumption patterns. Recently, the shift to a ‘circular economy’ has attracted growing interest as a possible pathway towards more sustainable ways of producing and consuming. Circular business models (e.g. product-service systems, hiring and leasing schemes, collaborative consumption, incentivised return and reuse) aim to keep resources in use for longer, extract maximum value from them whilst in use, and recover and regenerate products or components when they reach their end of life. However, these innovative propositions often encounter important corporate, regulatory and cultural barriers to their introduction. This paper discusses how Design for Behaviour Change (DfBC) – with a focus on Design for Sustainable Behaviour and Practice-oriented design – could contribute to address the latter and foster the transition to a circular economy. Keywords: circular economy; consumer acceptance; design for behaviour change
1. Towards a circular economy In recent decades, overconsumption and the rising demand for finite natural resources (e.g. raw materials, water, energy) have exerted growing pressure on the environment and produced increasing amounts of waste (Cohen, et al. 2010; European Commission 2011; Krausmann, et al. 2009; Tukker, et al. 2008). As a result, essential resources (e.g. rare earth metals critical to high-value manufacturing sectors such as aerospace, automotive and communications) have become scarce and more expensive, and their price volatility has negatively affected industry and the economy (Benton and Hazell 2013; European Commission 2011; Gregson, et al. 2015; Hislop and Hill 2011). With the global population expected to reach 9 billion in the next 35 years and the rising living standards in emerging
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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economies (Bastein, et al. 2013; ESA 2013), it is estimated that in 2050 an equivalent of more than two planets would be needed to sustain human activity at the current rate of resource use (European Commission 2011). Resource depletion and tighter environmental standards urgently call for more sustainable patterns of production and consumption able to decouple economic growth and sales revenues from scarce resource demand (Accenture 2014; Bastein, et al. 2013; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Transforming the economy onto a resource-efficient path is considered one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century (European Commission 2011; Wallace and Raingold 2012).
1.1 Linear vs circular economy Since the start of the industrial revolution, the economy has largely operated on a linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model of resource use (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). This model relies on large quantities of easily accessible resources that are harvested or extracted by companies to manufacture products which are sold to consumers and discarded as waste when they are worn out or no longer needed (European Commission 2014c) (Figure 1). Based on the intensive (and often inefficient) use of raw materials, natural resources and energy, this traditional way of operating has proved to be at odds with constraints on the availability of virgin resources (Accenture 2014; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Raw materials
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Waste
Figure 1 Linear economy.
In recent years, the ‘circular economy’– a multifaceted concept still lacking a scientifically endorsed definition – has gained increased traction as “an economy that provides multiple value creation mechanisms which are decoupled from the consumption of finite resources” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment 2015, p.23). Building on McDonough and Braungart’s (2002) idea of a ‘cradle to cradle’ system (as opposed to ‘cradle to grave’), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in partnership with the consultants McKinsey have advanced a ‘butterfly model’ of the circular economy (Figure 2) characterised by two types of materials flows: ‘biological nutrients’ (Figure 2, left), which are designed to re-enter the biosphere and build natural capital; and ‘technical nutrients’ (Figure 2, right), which are designed to circulate in closed loops without entering the biosphere (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012).
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Figure 2 The circular economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012, p.24). Reproduced with permission from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The value of biological nutrients, consisting of biomass and biotic waste streams, is maximised through biorefining processes that enable the ‘extraction of biochemical feedstock’ (e.g. fuels, materials and high-quality chemicals), although often in small volumes. The ‘anaerobic digestion/composting’ – a process in which micro-organisms break down organic material in the absence of oxygen – allows for the production of ‘biogas’ (methane) that can be used as an energy carrier, thereby contributing to energy supplies. Finally, biological nutrients can be returned to the soil as nutrients (i.e. ‘restoration’), for example in the form of agricultural fertilisers (i.e. ‘farming/collection’) (Bastein, et al. 2013; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Technical nutrients, consisting of manufactured products and materials, are first kept into circulation through their ‘maintenance’ and repair. Subsequently, it is possible to ‘reuse/redistribute’ them, e.g. through second-hand markets. The ‘refurbish/remanufacture’ loop involves repairing or replacing faulty components to return a product to good working conditions, or taking out failed parts of a used product and using them in a new one. These processes generally include quality controls to ensure the quality of the final product, which is often sold with a guarantee. Recycling (i.e. ‘recycle’) should be the final option at the end of the cascading use of technical nutrients, which makes it possible to recover materials
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contained in a product and put them back into other production processes (Bastein, et al. 2013; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Maintenance, reuse/redistribute and refurbish/remanufacture are preferred options compared to recycling since smaller inner loops retain the highest value. For example, a report from the Circular Economy Task Force – a government supported, business led group convened by Green Alliance in the UK – indicates that a reused iPhone retains around 48% of its value, the value of reusing its components is 28%, whereas its value as recyclate is just 0.24% of its original value (Benton and Hazell 2013). A transition from a linear to a circular economy has the potential to benefit both the environment and the economy (Bakker, et al. 2014a; Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment 2015; Gregson, et al. 2015; House of Commons 2014). From an environmental point of view, using ‘waste’ streams as a resource could provide secure and affordable supplies of raw materials, thus reducing the pressure on the environment connected with primary extraction, processing, production, transportation and disposal (Bastein, et al. 2013; Hislop and Hill 2011). This would also generate net savings for companies on material and energy costs, while reducing their dependency on resource markets and exposure to resource price volatility and supply risks (Accenture 2014; Wallace, et al. 2015). Apart from building resilience (both at a company and national level), a more circular economy can also provide opportunities for increased business competitiveness and profitability, while boosting employment (European Commission 2011). In terms of economics, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012) estimated that at European level the circular economy represents a material cost savings opportunity of between USD 380 and USD 630 billion per year. In the UK, materials savings of between £30-60 billion are expected to be achieved by adopting a circular approach to designing and using cars, vans, washing machines and mobile phones (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Bastein et al. (2013) estimated that the overall impact of moving towards a circular economy in the Netherlands would be €7.3 billion, involving the creation of approximately 54,000 jobs.
1.2 Circular business models A circular economy in which products have multiple lifecycles (i.e. the inner loops in Figure 2) requires business models based on longevity, reuse, repair, upgrade, refurbishment, renewability, capacity sharing and dematerialisation (Accenture 2014; Wallace, et al. 2015). Different authors have proposed various lists of ‘circular business models’ (also referred to as ‘innovative’ or ‘resource efficient’ business models). Table 1 compares the classifications adopted by Accenture (2014), Bakker et al. (2014b), Kiørboe et al. (2015) and REBUS (2015) by grouping them under the broad categories of ‘product-based’, ‘service-based’, ‘sharingbased’ and ‘supply chain-based’ circular business models.
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Table 1 Circular business models.
Accenture 2014 Product life extension PRODUCT a. Resell -BASED b. Repair/Upgrade c. Remanufacture
Bakker, et al. 2014b Classic long life model
Kiørboe, et al. 2015
REBUS 2015
Product design
Long life
Reuse
Incentivised return & re-use
Repair Hybrid model Service- and function based models
Performance SERVICEProduct as a service model BASED Access model SHARINGSharing platforms BASED
Collaborative consumption
Circular supplies SUPPLY CHAINBASED
Product Service System Dematerialised services Hire & Leasing Collaborative consumption Made to order
Recycling and waste management
Resource recovery a. Re-/upcycle b. Waste as a resource c. Returning byproducts
Asset management
Gap exploiter model
Collection of used products
Product-based circular business models are built around high quality products designed to last (e.g. ‘the classic long life model’ in Bakker, et al. 2014b; ‘product design’ in Kiørboe, et al. 2015; ‘long life’ in REBUS 2015) and optimised for being later disassembled, remanufactured and reused (e.g. ‘reuse’ and ‘repair’ models in Kiørboe, et al. 2015). When these durable products are sold to the consumer (as opposed to being leased or rented, i.e. service-based circular business model), there are incentives or agreements in place to ensure that they are returned after use, collected, refurbished and sold for re-use on appropriate markets (e.g. ‘product life extension’ in Accenture 2014; ‘incentivised return & reuse’ in REBUS 2015) (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). Durable products can also be combined with dedicated short-lived consumables (e.g. toner cartridges, coffee pads) whose repeat sale generates the primary revenue stream (e.g. ‘the hybrid model’ in Bakker, et al. 2014b).
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In service-based circular business models the manufacturer or retailer retains the ownership of the product (in order to internalise the benefits of circular resource productivity) and acts as a service provider, thus selling the use of (or access to) the product for a limited period of time or a fixed amount of cycles rather than its one-way consumption (e.g. ‘product as a service’ in Accenture 2014; ‘the access model’ in Bakker, et al. 2014b; ‘service- and function based models’ in Kiørboe, et al. 2015; ‘product service system’ in REBUS 2015) (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). When a product is leased or rented to the consumer and its ownership remains with the manufacturer or retailer (e.g. ‘hire & leasing’ in REBUS 2015), product durability, a longer service life, lower maintenance load, lower use of materials, ease of disassembly and refurbishment, and the existence of efficient and effective takeback systems become essential for the model to function. A second possibility is to provide a service offering the benefits of a product (i.e. delivering performance outputs), without the need for a physical product (e.g. ‘performance model’ in Bakker, et al. 2014b; ‘dematerialised service’ in REBUS 2015). Sharing-based circular business models enable an increased utilisation rate of products by making possible their shared use, access or ownership (e.g. ‘sharing platforms’ in Accenture 2014; ‘collaborative consumption’ in Kiørboe, et al. 2015 and REBUS 2015). The rental of products between consumers (P2P) or between businesses (B2B) can generate an income for the product owner and provide cheaper access to a product for the renter. However, transactions can also be non-income based as in the case of P2P online and/or offline exchange and re-use (REBUS 2015). Supply chain-based circular business models reduce the quantity of raw materials required to meet the market demand by recovering useful resources or energy out of disposed products and byproducts. This can be attained through internal collection, re-use, refurbishing and re-sale of used products (e.g. ‘resource recovery’ in Accenture 2014; ‘asset management’ in REBUS 2015) or through their recycling (e.g. ‘circular supplies’ in Accenture 2014; ‘recycling and waste management’ in Kiørboe, et al. 2015). Table 1 also considers REBUS’s (2015) ‘made to order’ model – managing production as to minimise material requirements and producing only when demand is present, thus avoiding potential losses from over-stocking products – as a supply chain-based circular model. The classification proposed in Table 1 does not allocate Bakker et al.’s (2014b) ‘gap exploiter model’ (i.e. models that exploit value gaps in the existing system, e.g. a person who repairs smartphones or sells second-hand equipment) and REBUS’s (2015) ‘collection of used products’ (i.e. collection by a service provider to ensure products/materials are passed on to an appropriate re-use system) under any of the proposed macro-categories (i.e. product-, service-, sharing- and supply chain-based circular business models). The two business models could fall under any of the four categories.
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2. Design for a circular economy Design acts as both a barrier to and a catalyst for moving away from the current ‘take-makedispose’ linear model to a circular economy (Wallace and Raingold 2012). Several authors (e.g. ESA 2013; RSA 2013; Wallace and Raingold 2012) report that approximately 80% of a product’s environmental impact is ‘locked in’ at the design stage, when material choices are made and the durability of the product, its ease of reuse, disassembly, repair, upgradability, refurbishment and recycling is determined (European Environmental Bureau 2015). Many products are currently designed and manufactured as to minimise production costs and stimulate their fast replacement. Moreover, their complexity makes effective and efficient recovery difficult or even impossible (Bastein, et al. 2013; Benton and Hazell 2013). By contrast, in a circular economy products need to be designed for ‘closed-loops’, allowing for many life cycles and users while optimising the environmental effects of the materials employed (Accenture 2014). This means designing products to be used longer, reused, repaired, upgraded, remanufactured and eventually recycled (European Environmental Bureau 2015; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Hislop and Hill 2011; Wallace, et al. 2015). Furthermore, they need to be adapted to generate revenues not only at point of sale but also during use (e.g. through their maintenance, upgrade, or share) and be supported by low-cost return chain and reprocessing (Accenture 2014; Hislop and Hill 2011). Currently, there are few studies that link design to a circular economy. The Great Recovery project – launched in 2012 in the UK by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) – aimed at specifically investigating the role of design in a circular economy. Four ‘design models’ were identified (Figure 3), which are directly associated with the different cycles proposed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (2012) model (Table 2): (i) ‘design for longevity’ entails designing products that have a long lifespan, extended through their upgrade, fixing and repair; (ii) ‘design for service’ enables sharing and leasing arrangements, as well as product reuse and redistribution through digital platforms; (iii) ‘design for re-use in manufacture’ creates the conditions for product refurbishment and remanufacture; and (iv) ‘design for material recovery’ supports effective end-of-life material recoverability.
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Figure 3 Design for circularity diagram (RSA 2013, p.34). Reproduced with permission from the RSA. Table 2 Circular economy loops and associated design strategies. CIRCULAR ECONOMY LOOPS (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012)
DESIGN STRATEGIES (RSA 2013)
Maintenance
Design for longevity
Reuse/Redistribute
Design for service
Refurbish/Remanufacture
Design for re-use in manufacture
Recycle
Design for material recovery
Bakker and colleagues (Bakker, et al. 2014a, 2014b) have conducted extensive research on how product design can address product life extension (through longer product life, refurbishment and remanufacturing) and product recycling in a circular economy. In their recently published book ‘Products that last’, Bakker et al. (2014b) have proposed a methodology for applying circular business models and the following six ‘design strategies for a long product lifespan’ to products at different stages of their lifecycle (i.e. introduction, growth, maturity and decline): Design for attachment and trust Design for durability Design for standardisation and compatibility
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Design for ease of maintenance and repair Design for adaptability and upgradability Design for dis- and reassembly
3. The economic, political and cultural barriers to the circular economy While a few attempts to implement circular business models and design approaches into (B2B or B2C) commercial propositions have been made (e.g. often cited examples include Philips’s ‘Pay-per-lux’ model or Bundles’s pay-per-use model for washing machines), these have not yet been implemented on a large scale and their uptake on the market is still very limited (Bastein, et al. 2013; Gregson, et al. 2015; Tukker 2015). There are significant economic, political and cultural barriers that need to be overcome for the circular economy to become mainstream (European Commission 2014c; Wallace and Raingold 2012).
3.1 Economic barriers From a business perspective, operating in a circular economy requires a significant change in business planning and strategy (Accenture 2014). Furthermore, companies shifting to a circular economy face economic challenges that range from the risk of cannibalisation (e.g. the introduction of a service-based proposition might have a negative impact on the sales performance of the company’s product portfolio) to financial risk (e.g. leasing arrangements require manufacturers to make higher initial investments and financing of upfront production costs). In addition, a more widespread reuse of products is expected to lower the sales of new products, thus weakening business revenue and profits (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Wallace and Raingold 2012). Nevertheless, a circular economy is largely portrayed as offering new business opportunities, strengthening competitiveness, generating employment (e.g. in the logistics services sector) and outweighing the costs in the long run (Accenture 2014; Bastein, et al. 2013; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Wallace and Raingold 2012).
3.2 Political barriers Many economic obstacles could be overcome by changing existing policies, rules and regulations (Wallace and Raingold 2012). Currently, natural resources are considered as “free” commodities and their economic value is not properly accounted for on the market (European Commission 2011). The low cost of virgin materials makes the use of recycled or reused parts less appealing for companies. Furthermore, rules and regulations in force tend to treat end-of-life products as ‘waste to get rid of’ rather than a resource (e.g. raw materials that can feed back in the production system) (Bastein, et al. 2013) and recyclate struggles to meet the quality standards demanded by the market for recycled products (Gregson, et al. 2015).
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To avoid this, measures that are often advocated by proponents of a circular economy include the introduction of tax initiatives (e.g. shifting taxation from labour to resources; implementing tax premiums for the use of regenerated resources; reducing the rate of VAT on circular services such as repairs and reuse of components), setting recycling targets for industries, making companies responsible for products throughout their life cycle, and creating an international standard definition of waste (Accenture 2014; Bastein, et al. 2013).
3.3 Cultural barriers Cultural resistance could also prevent the implementation and uptake of circular business models in the market (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012). A circular economy requires a change in business practices as well as consumer behaviour (Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment 2015). Leasing models, pay-per-use schemes, products with shared ownership and personalised maintenance or upgrade services depend upon a shift towards access over ownership and repair over repurchase (Gregson, et al. 2015; Wallace and Raingold 2012). Bastein et al. (2013) argue that consumers’ craving for material possessions, their sensitivity to the latest fashion, the importance attributed to price (as opposed to, for example, looking at whether a product contains sustainable raw materials or it can be easily disassembled) and short-term considerations (e.g. looking at the price of a product rather than its entire lifecycle costs) are all possible barriers to moving towards a more circular economy. While some authors (e.g. Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Wallace and Raingold 2012) consider an on-going societal shift towards access rather than ownership (such as leasing mobile phones and car clubs) as a promising trend for the wider market penetration of circular business models, there is some consensus on the need for consumer acceptance to grow significantly to make circular economy a mainstream paradigm (European Commission 2014c; Wallace and Raingold 2012).
4. The untapped potential of designing for behaviour change Research on design in the context of the circular economy has been largely limited to the identification of design strategies for circular business models, products and services (e.g. Bakker, et al. 2014a, 2014b; McDonough and Braungart 2002; RSA 2013). As the cultural barriers described above suggest, these often require consumers to change their behaviour. However, little attention has been devoted so far to the potential of Design for Behaviour Change (DfBC) to foster the transition from a linear to a circular economy. This section discusses how this emerging field of design research could account for behavioural factors and address consumer acceptance, thus contributing to the wider introduction and diffusion of circular business models, products and services in the market.
4.1 The (underexplored) consumer dimension in the circular economy Most available literature on the circular economy consists of reports produced by various organisations (e.g. Bastein, et al. 2013; Benton and Hazell 2013, 2014; Ellen MacArthur
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Foundation 2012; Hislop and Hill 2011; Wallace and Raingold 2012; Wallace, et al. 2015) and business consultancies (e.g. Accenture 2014; JWT 2014). These publications strive to make the business case for moving towards a circular economy, while governments support their cause by exploring what actions can be taken to facilitate the transition and remove existing regulatory hurdles (e.g. House of Commons 2014; European Commission 2011, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c; Kiørboe, et al. 2015; RLI 2015). So far the circular economy has been mainly portrayed “as an idealised producer-led model” to which academics tend to attribute inherent positive values by virtue of its possible contribution to sustainable development (cf. Gregson, et al. 2015, p.225). While this paper does not go into the merits of whether or not perfect resource circularity can be achieved (e.g. Gregson, et al. 2015; Moreno, et al. 2014) or the ethics of design for behaviour change (e.g. Lilley and Wilson 2013; Pettersen and Boks 2008), this section draws attention to how current discourse on the circular economy has tended to underestimate the role played by consumers in the transition from a linear to a circular economy. The consumer dimension in the circular economy remains largely unexplored, which is at odds with the fact that most circular business models require (and rely on) a significant change in consumer behaviour and consumption patterns. How consumers view and interpret their role in a circular economy is as yet unclear (Bastein, et al. 2013) and different (if not contradicting) evidence and assumptions feature in the literature reviewed. For example, consumer acceptance is described as a major barrier to the transition towards a circular economy by Wallace and Raingold (2012), whereas it is expected to simply occur when circular business practice has reached a tipping point in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (2012) report. Results of a study on the needs and concerns of citizens about the ‘Biobased Economy’ conducted by Tertium and the CSG Centre for Society and the Life Sciences in the Netherlands demonstrate how the matter of consumer acceptance of circular business models is a complex one and needs further investigation. “The circular economy seems to dovetail well with citizens’ views of a biobased economy. Many believe that they should ‘be more conscious about raw materials, recycling and reducing waste’ (My 2030’s, p.24). But product service systems are a different story. ‘That is not true yet for a significant variation of the circular economy: “the lease society”, in which consumers’ belongings are all pretty much on loan instead of owned. ... This vision of the future evokes a fundamental discussion. A “lease society” is a desirable thing for some people, while for others it is an unrealistic and undesirable vision of the future’.” (Bastein, et al. 2013, p.76)
A few empirical studies have recently attempted to fill this gap in knowledge by exploring consumer acceptance of PSSs (e.g. Antikainen, et al. 2015; Lidenhammar 2015) and refurbished products (e.g. van Weelden, et al. 2016). The latter, in particular, analysed the factors influencing consumer acceptance of refurbished mobile phones at each phase of the consumer decision-making process (i.e. pre-purchase, orientation, evaluation and postpurchase phase) and suggested some practical guidelines to increase consumer acceptance. The three-step approach proposed – ‘attract’, ‘convince’ and ‘involve’ – aims at purposefully changing consumer behaviour through design.
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4.2 Design for behaviour change Design for Behaviour Change – an emerging field of design research and practice that focuses on the influence of design on human behaviour – has some untapped potential to be applied in the context of a circular economy. This section provides a brief overview of DfBC (for a literature review see Bhamra and Lilley 2015; Niedderer, et al. 2014; Wever 2012) and how it could contribute to a wider acceptance of circular business models. DfBC draws from different theories in the behavioural and social sciences in order to understand human behaviour and how this can be changed by and through design in key areas such as sustainability, health and wellbeing, safety and social design. DfBC strategies and approaches are as diverse as the theories that inform them. Some theories address behaviour by looking at the cognition of the individual, others by accounting for the context in which the behaviour takes place, and others again mediate the middle ground between individual and contextual understandings of human behaviour (Niedderer, et al. 2014) (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Niedderer et al.’s (2014, p.52) categorisation of Design for Behaviour Change approaches in relation to behavioural theories. Reproduced with permission from Prof Kristina Niedderer.
For example, the approach proposed by van Weelden et al. (2016) to increase consumer acceptance of refurbished products is informed by behavioural economics theories and falls under the category of Design for Sustainable Behaviour strategies (see also Lilley and Wilson 2013). Aimed at reducing the negative environmental and social impacts of products by moderating users’ interaction with them, these strategies usually draw on mechanisms such as feedback, constraints and affordances as well as persuasive technology (i.e. technology that is intentionally designed to change a person’s attitude or behaviour). However, the effectiveness of ‘attract-convince-involve’ interventions in practice still needs to be tested
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and it is not yet known whether they could also be applied to other circular business models (e.g. PSSs, collaborative consumption). More generally, Design for Sustainable Behaviour approaches have been criticised by proponents of Practice-oriented design (informed by social practice theory) for: their focus on incremental savings that tend to disappear in larger trends (e.g. in the case of refurbished mobile phones, material savings achieved can be reduced or nullified by the trend of shortening lifespans of mobile phones); a risk of failing to achieve the intended behaviour change or even attaining opposite effects of those aimed for (e.g. higher acceptance of cheaper refurbished mobile phones could eventually increase the frequency and number of mobile phones purchased by an individual); a strong rhetoric of right and wrong behaviours that is present in the Design for Sustainable Behaviour literature (e.g. it is inherently assumed that buying a refurbished mobile phone is more desirable than buying a new one); a risk to miss opportunities on larger scales of change due to a focus on the individual consumer level (Kuijer and Bakker 2015). Practice-oriented design is believed to overcome these limitations by looking at consumption as the result of more or less resource intensive social practices (e.g. eating, showering, driving) rather than individual consumer choice (Shove, et al. 2012). As such, opportunities for sustainable design arise from the possibility to modify or disrupt existing practices (as opposed to changing consumer behaviour) and establish new ones (Kuijer and de Jong 2012). This can be achieved by providing new material elements that can be integrated into novel practices (Kuijer and de Jong 2012) or challenging existing norms to create new ways of living and doing (Scott et al. 2012). Practice-oriented design is still in its infancy and there are only a few examples of its application in empirical studies. Moreover, these studies do not directly address consumer acceptance of novel practices, which is paramount in the context of a circular economy to ensure that circular business models (and their associated practices) are well received by the market. A promising way to account for consumer acceptance in developing circular business models, products and services is to look at the two-way relationship between consumers and meanings (i.e. cultural conventions and social expectations) that underlie their associated practices (e.g. buying refurbished products, sharing, repairing). Preliminary research in this direction suggests that the dynamics of the relationship – mediated by individual values and perceptions of value (i.e. the perceived convenience and practicality of a certain behaviour/practice) – is able to explain acceptance (or rejection) of some types of circular business models (e.g. collaborative consumption) (see also Piscicelli, et al. 2015).
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5. Conclusion: Setting the DfBC research agenda for a circular economy The circular economy aims at decoupling growth from the pressure of production and consumption on world’s finite resources and the environment (European Commission 2014a). The concept is gaining momentum and increasing recognition at international level, with the European Commission adopting it as part of both its resource efficiency and waste policy programmes (House of Commons 2014; European Commission 2011, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c). Based on the idea of eliminating waste from the industrial chain by creating ‘closedloops’ through which resources can be recovered to generate value, the circular economy promises significant savings on production costs and less dependence on virgin materials and scarce resources, thus reducing companies’ exposure to fluctuating commodity prices (House of Commons 2014). There are, however, few examples of circular business models in the market. This is mainly due to the existence of outstanding economic, political and cultural barriers hindering the transition to a circular economy. This paper focussed on the latter and suggested that consumer acceptance could be addressed by integrating DfBC knowledge in the development of circular business models, products and services. Design for Sustainable Behaviour and Practice-oriented design have been presented as two alternative approaches that could be applied in the context of the circular economy. The former offers insights on how to influence consumer decision making towards circular business models, whereas the latter has some untapped potential to address their consumer acceptance by capturing the interplay between individual values, perception of value and meanings underlying circular economy-related practices. Despite the existing differences between Design for Sustainable Behaviour and Practiceoriented design, integrating DfBC (and their underpinning theories from the social sciences) in the design for a circular economy could ensure a better understanding of consumer behaviour and the enabling conditions for achieving a more widespread consumer acceptance of circular business models. In particular, it could offer valuable insights on how to stimulate demand for remanufactured goods, second-hand products and leasing arrangements, how to support the sharing of consumer products, and how to encourage repairing and maintenance activities that could help to extend the product lifespan.
6. References Accenture (2014) Circular Advantage: Innovative Business Models and Technologies to Create Value in a World without Limits to Growth, http://tinyurl.com/p4s5a2f (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Antikainen, M., Lammi, M., Paloheimo, H., Rüppel, T., & Valkokari, K. (2015) Towards Circular Economy Business Models: Consumer Acceptance of Novel Services. Paper presented at the ISPIM Innovation Summit, Brisbane, Australia, 6-9 December 2015. Bakker, C., Wang, F., Huisman, J., & den Hollander, M. (2014a) Products That Go Round: Exploring Product Life Extension Through Design. Journal of Cleaner Production, 69, pp. 10-16.
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Bakker, C., Hollander, M., Hinte, E., & Zljlstra, Y. (2014b) Products That Last. Product Design for Circular Business Models. Delft: TU Delft Library. Bastein, T., Roelofs, E., Rietveld, E., & Hoogendoorn, A. (2013) Opportunities for a Circular Economy in The Netherlands. Delft: TNO. Benton, D., & Hazell, J. (2014) Wasted Opportunities: Smarter Systems for Resource Recovery. A Report from the Circular Economy Task Force, http://tinyurl.com/nvhllz7 (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Benton, D., & Hazell, J. (2013) Resource Resilient UK: A Report from the Circular Economy Task Force, http://tinyurl.com/pt6j7ob (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Bhamra, T. & Lilley, D. (2015) IJSE Special Issue: Design for Sustainable Behaviour. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 8(3), pp. 146-147. Cohen, M. J., Brown, H. S. & Vergragt, P. J. (2010) Individual Consumption and Systemic Societal Transformation: Introduction to the Special Issue. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, 6(2), pp. 6-12. Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012) Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition, http://tinyurl.com/pv7q7l4 (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Ellen MacArthur Foundation & McKinsey Center for Business and Environment (2015) Growth Within: A Circular Economy Vision for a Competitive Europe, http://tinyurl.com/znwx4ma (Accessed 29 February, 2016). ESA (Environmental Services Association) (2013) Going for Growth: A Practical Route to a Circular Economy, http://tinyurl.com/nlmukxc (Accessed 16 November, 2015). European Commission (2014a) European Resource Efficiency Platform (EREP): Manifesto & Policy Recommendations, http://tinyurl.com/otyhaud (Accessed 16 November, 2015). European Commission (2014b) Scoping Study to Identify Potential Circular Economy Actions, Priority Sectors, Material Flows and Value Chains, http://tinyurl.com/qb2fbyn (Accessed 16 November, 2015). European Commission (2014c) The Circular Economy: Connecting, Creating and Conserving Value, http://tinyurl.com/qj4law9 (Accessed 16 November, 2015). European Commission (2011) The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, http://tinyurl.com/pzca5mt (Accessed 16 November, 2015). European Environmental Bureau (2015) Circular Economy Package 2.0: Some Ideas to Complete the Circle, http://tinyurl.com/q6s6zu7 (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Gregson, N., Crang, M., Fuller, S., & Holmes, H. (2015) Interrogating the Circular Economy: The Moral Economy of Resource Recovery in the EU. Economy and Society, 44(2), pp. 218-243. Hislop, H., & Hill, J. (2011) Reinventing the Wheel: A Circular Economy for Resource Security, http://tinyurl.com/q5nhvro (Accessed 16 November, 2015). House of Commons (2014) Joint written evidence submitted by DEFRA, BIS, CLG, HMT, DfID, FCO AND DECC, http://tinyurl.com/owgmcjs (Accessed 16 November, 2015). JWT (JWTIntelligence) (2014) The Circular Economy, http://tinyurl.com/ppdr3vt (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Kiørboe, N., Sramkova, H., & Krarup, M. (2015) Moving Towards a Circular Economy – Successful Nordic business models, http://tinyurl.com/qxlryrj (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Krausmann, F., Gingrich, S., Eisenmenger, N., Erb, K. H., Haberl, H., & Fischer-Kowalski, M. (2009) Growth in Global Materials Use, GDP and Population During the 20th Century. Ecological Economics, 68(10), pp. 2696-2705.
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Kuijer, L., & Bakker, C. (2015) Of Chalk and Cheese: Behaviour Change and Practice Theory in Sustainable Design. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 8(3), pp. 219-230. Kuijer, L., & de Jong, A. (2012) Identifying Design Opportunities for Reduced Household Resource Consumption: Exploring Practices of Thermal Comfort. Journal of Design Research, 10(1-2), pp. 6785. Lidenhammar, R. (2015) Hopping on the Service Bandwagon Towards a Circular Economy: Consumer acceptance of Product-Service Systems for Home Furniture (Master’s Thesis). Available from: http://tinyurl.com/zjp7ohv (Accessed 15 March, 2016). Lilley, D. & Wilson, G. T. (2013) Integrating Ethics into Design for Sustainable Behaviour. Journal of Design Research, 11(3), pp. 278-299. McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002) Remaking the Way We Make Things: Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point Press. Moreno, M.A., Braithwaite, N. & Cooper, T. (2014) Moving Beyond the Circular Economy. Proceedings of Going Green - CARE Innovation 2014, Vienna, Austria, 17-20 November 2014. Niedderer, K., Cain, R., Clune, S., Lockton, D., Ludden, G., Mackrill, J. & Morris, A. (2014) Creating Sustainable Innovation Through Design for Behaviour Change. Full Project Report, http://tinyurl.com/nlro3h6 (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Pettersen, I.N., & Boks, C. (2008) The Ethics in Balancing Control and Freedom When Engineering Solutions for Sustainable Behaviour. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 1(4), pp. 287-297. Piscicelli, L., Cooper, T. & Fisher, T. (2015) Sharing Values: The Relationship Between Values and Meaning in Collaborative Consumption. In K. Thornton (Ed.), Unmaking Waste 2015, Conference Proceedings. Paper presented at the Unmaking Waste 2015 Conference, University of South Australia, Adelaide, 21-24 May (pp. 143-151). Adelaide, SA: Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour. REBUS (2015) What is a Resource Efficient Business Model? http://tinyurl.com/nfkgmst (Accessed 16 November, 2015). RLI (Council for the Environment and Infrastructure) (2015) Circular Economy: From Wish to Practice, http://tinyurl.com/pvutkku (Accessed 16 November, 2015). RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) (2013) Investigating the Role of Design in the Circular Economy, http://tinyurl.com/q2q43sg (Accessed 16 November, 2015). Scott, K., Bakker, C. & Quist, J. (2012) Designing Change by Living Change. Design Studies, 33(3), pp. 279-297. Shove, E., Pantzar, M. & Watson, M. (2012). The Dynamics of Social Practice. Everyday Life and How it Changes. London: Sage. Tukker, A. (2015) Product Services for a Resource-Efficient and Circular Economy – A Review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 97, pp. 76-91. Tukker, A., Cohen, M. J., De Zoysa, U., Hertwich, E., Hofstetter, P., Inaba, A., Lorek, S. & Stø, E. (2006) The Oslo Declaration on Sustainable Consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 10, pp. 9-14. van Weelden, E., Mugge, R., & Bakker, C. (2016) Paving the Way Towards Circular Consumption: Exploring Consumer Acceptance of Refurbished Mobile Phones in the Dutch Market. Journal of Cleaner Production, 113, pp. 743-754. Wallace, S., & Raingold, A. (2012) Resilience in the Round: Seizing the Growth Opportunities of a Circular Economy, http://tinyurl.com/z5hcheq (Accessed 29 February, 2016).
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Wallace, S., Fleming-Williams, V., & Mae De Leon, J. (2015) Resource Efficient Business Models: The Roadmap to Resilience and Prosperity, http://tinyurl.com/z5hcheq (Accessed 29 February, 2016). Wever, R. (2012) Editorial: Design Research for Sustainable Behaviour. Journal of Design Research, 10(1-2), pp. 1-6. About the Authors: Laura Piscicelli is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Twente (the Netherlands). She holds a PhD from Nottingham Trent University (UK). Laura’s research interests include sustainable production and consumption, consumer behaviour, design for behaviour change, collaborative consumption and the circular economy. Geke Ludden is assistant professor in the Interaction Design group at the University of Twente. Her work focuses on the (theoretically informed) development and evaluation of products and services that support healthy behaviour or that otherwise contribute to people’s wellbeing.
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Developing a theory-driven method to design for behaviour change: two case studies Anita Van Essena, Sander Hermsena* and Reint Jan Renesa,b a
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences Wageningen University * sander.hermsen@hu.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.71 b
Abstract: Behaviour change design has much to gain with the integration of insights from the behavioural sciences in the design process. However, this integration needs to be done without hampering the creative process. In two rich design cases aimed at health and safety behaviour change, we describe our efforts to develop a method for theory driven design based on the Double Diamond. Our method attempts to integrate insights from the Persuasive by Design-model (PbD) for behaviour change into the entire design process. Our case studies demonstrate that our method indeed augments the integration of theory and evidence in our designs, but only if the Double Diamond process model is complemented with an evaluation phase, and insights from the PbD-model are derived using rich, well-developed tools. Keywords: behaviour change; theory-driven design; design methods; safety behaviour; health behaviour
1. Introduction This paper describes our effort in coming up with a method for theory-driven (and where possible evidence-based) design that (on the one hand) does justice to the strengths of designerly practices, while (on the other hand) providing enough anchoring to make sure theoretical aims are kept throughout the design process. In two rich case studies aimed at health and safety behaviour change, we describe our design method and the integration of behavioural scientific insights in the design process, and we analyse the benefits it had on our designs for behaviour change. Also, we look at shortcomings and what went wrong, and review the lessons learned. When designs for behavioural change are based on relevant theories from the behavioural sciences, this greatly increases the potential of these designs to effectively support users in This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Anita Van Essen, Sander Hermsen and Reint Jan Renes
changing their behaviour (cf. Michie et al., 2009; Noar, Benac, and Harris, 2007; Taylor, Connor, and Lawton, 2011). Furthermore, a solid foundation in theory increases the decisional accountability for designers: it makes it easier to explain to commissioners why you’re doing what you're doing (Leeuwis and Aarts, 2011). Unfortunately, projects that ground their designs in theory are still an exception (Davies, Walker and Grimshaw, 2010; Prestwich et al., 2014). A disconnect remains between design research on the one hand, and the behavioural sciences on the other. Designers often see psychological research as 'impenetrable' (Pettersen and Boks, 2008), and those models and theories that do make it into design practice tend to suffer from limitations in applicability (Hermsen, Renes, and Frost, 2014). When integrating evidence and theory from the behavioural sciences in design research, one issue that regularly crops up is that insights from theory are often presented in a way that is too prescriptive for creative use (e.g. as 'design patterns'). When, for instance, a very well known theoretic framework such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) is used to inform a design process, this tends to limit designers to using the components of this theoretical model, i.e. intentions, attitudes, social norms, and perceived self-efficacy; designers using this model could easily neglect aspects of behavioural change not covered by the TPB, such as habitual behaviour, impulsive behaviour, resistance to change, and many others. In other words, the fine detail of design 'patterns' and theoretical frameworks limit the designers' ability to 'drift'. This drifting, the utilization of creativity, freedom and unpredictability to come to unforeseen results, is generally seen as the largest advantage of the designerly approach (Gall Krogh, Markussen, and Bång, 2015). As a consequence, although better grounding of design process in theory and evidence from behavioural science is necessary, this has to be done in a way that gives structure to designerly drifting without limiting the design process. Design research needs to be informed by its own, specific methodology (Bång, Gall Krogh, Ludvigssen, and Markussen, 2012), to make sure it retains its strengths, such as a ‘first person perspective’ and a reflexive mode of inquiry that helps make practices explicit (Sevaldson, 2010). In recent years, a range of efforts has been launched to facilitate the integration of knowledge from the behavioural sciences in designerly practice. One such effort is the Persuasive by Design-model (Hermsen, Renes, and Frost, 2014; Hermsen, 2015). This model aims to provide an evidence-based framework by which designers gain access to relevant theoretical insights (Hermsen, Mulder, Renes, and Van der Lugt, 2015). The model offers designers possibilities to enhance user research or concept development by taking the notion into account that most of our behaviours are executed in one of two modes: either automatically or with reflection; the latter being most reminiscent of a thermostat in which we compare our behaviour to our goals and adjust accordingly, if enough motivation, opportunity and skills are present. Previous research has shown the PbD-model is helpful in integrating behavioural insights in the design process, but too complex to use as is.
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Therefore tools and methods have been developed within different research projects (Hermsen et al., 2014, 2015).
Figure 1 The Persuasive by Design-mode
Our starting point is the Double Diamond process model of design (Design Council, 2015) and similar approaches (Howard, Culley, and Dekoninck, 2008). This serial approach to designerly drifting (Gall Krogh, Markussen, and BĂĽng, 2015) divides the design process into roughly four steps or phases, usually labelled discover, define, develop, and deliver. We selected the Double Diamond model to inform our design process because of its similarities with well-known design process models used for setting up interventions in the behavioural sciences, such as the Person Based Approach (Yardley, Morrison, Bradbury, and Muller, 2015). During the design process we reflected on how we implemented this design method and where we adapted the Double Diamond to better fit our needs. Within the structure provided by the Double Diamond approach, we anchored the design processes in theoretic insights through constantly evaluating our design efforts with tools informed by the PbDmodel. To assess how we can keep the fine line between theory-driven design and creative freedom, we used our design method in two design cases aimed at health behaviour change. In the first case, we worked on interventions to improve the safety of elderly cyclists. In the
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second case, we developed designs aimed at parents to increase water drinking in very young children. In both cases, we used a serial design approach based upon the Double Diamond model, in which we used tools based upon the PbD-model to inform our designs behavioural scientific insights. During the design projects, we logged the use of the PbDmodel and its tools during each phase of the design process. For each case study, we first describe the project; subsequently, we present the design process, the way the PbD-model and its tools were used in the process, and our conclusions from the project.
2. Case 1: Improving safety of elderly cyclists in the communities of Amersfoort and Dronten 2.1 Introduction The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment commissioned this case, together with the municipalities of Amersfoort and Dronten. Amersfoort is a mid-size city situated in the centre of the Netherlands, with about 150.00 inhabitants. Dronten is a small town near Amersfoort, and has about 30.000 inhabitants. The Research Group Cross-media Communication in the Public Domain of the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, together with service design agency Ideate, were asked to design evidence-based interventions that would encourage elderly people (50+) to undertake actions to improve their bicycle safety.
2.2 Method and Results Our design process roughly followed the phases of the Double Diamond model: Discover, define, develop and deliver. During the first phase (discover), we assessed the scientific literature on moderators of safe cycling behaviour and aging. Subsequently, we performed structured contextual interviews with elderly cyclists and local stakeholders, and gathered information by visiting activities for elderly target groups, and collecting current materials used to encourage safe cycling behaviour. A key finding in this stage was a mismatch between the current approach used by many cycling interventions and insights from literature. Current interventions attempt to increase cycling skills by providing lessons for motivated elderly cyclists, whereas insights from aging and safe behaviour literature show that a crucial factor in improving safe behaviour is that elderly people are often unaware of their changing status (e.g. in responding to the potential danger of a situation) and therefore feel little motivation to change their behaviour. Both literature and user research revealed a large variation in elderly cyclists' capabilities to reflect on the effects of aging and subsequently adapt their behaviour. This finding, together with four other factors that transpired in the literature study and the user research (attitude towards cycling, attitude towards aging, relationship between cycling and identity, and reliance on cycling for daily life activities), led us to describe four distinctive personas that informed the development of our interventions.
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In the next phase, define, we held a 'pressure cooker' co-creation session in which researchers from the Research Group Cross-media Communication in the Public Domain were joined by the project commissioners and designers from three service design agencies to develop intervention concepts. In the session, we developed thirteen concept ideas, which were then critically reviewed using a question set based on the PbD-model. This evaluation showed that most of the interventions were badly focused, with overly large or ambiguous behavioural goals, and sometimes did not solve the target group's problem. This initial critical review led to the formulation of four key behaviour change goals, which could be matched with the personas developed in the previous phase. Finally, we selected the most promising persona, Carla, and the associated behavioural goal (optimizing unsafe cycling routines) as the focus for the intervention. In the next phases, develop and deliver, we plotted our concepts for the selected behaviour change goal of the persona using a customer journey-mapping tool. This comprised a chronological overview of the interaction between the persona’s daily life and the intervention activities. We evaluated the resulting customer journey map using the question set tool based on the PbD-model. A crucial finding from this review was that our intervention was once again aimed at highly motivated participants and too many deliberate steps had to be taken by the elderly to take part in the intervention. Consequently, the intervention was adapted towards a more socially embedded approach that required less motivation and relied more on the social pressure of already existing social networks.
Figure 2 Participants in a pilot workshop use an intervention to identify personal cycling risks
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We developed a service blueprint to map the different activities of the intervention on the daily routines and goals of the persona. Then we developed three final intervention concepts: firstly, an interactive workshop session in which elderly cyclists learn to reflect on their own behaviour, identify personal cycling risks, and formulate safe cycling intentions; secondly, a bicycle tour to help cyclists practice safe cycling, adjusting to identified risks with the help of a special coach; and lastly, a mobile version of the interactive workshop in which elderly cyclists could reflect on their behaviour and receive motivational and practical advice about their cycling behaviour.
Figure 3 Participants in a pilot workshop set safe cycling goals
To test the efficacy of our interventions, we added another phase to the design process. In this evaluation phase, the three interventions where tested in pilot-settings. The first pilot took place in Dronten, where 58 elderly people participated in an interactive workshop. The second pilot was a cycling tour with 15 elderly participants trough Dronten. And in the third pilot we tested the mobile version of the workshop in which 15 people participated on a ferry starting from Amersfoort. After the second pilot, we interviewed 20 participants (both from the workshop and cycling tour) about their experiences and cycling behaviour. The materials used in the workshop were coded and analysed. Preliminary results show that the workshop was positively evaluated by the participants and motivated them to participate in the following pilot, the cycling tour. The conversion from the workshop to the cycling tour
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was 24%, which is substantially higher than the average conversion of these kinds of activities in the past, which is 3% (VVN, 2015).
2.3 Discussion During the design process we directly noticed that the Double Diamond approach lacks a proper evaluation phase to assess the achieved behaviour change. The existing four phases may be sufficient in product design or service design, where the end result of the design process is the designed artefact itself; but in behaviour change design, the final goal is not a tangible prototype, but measurable behaviour change, which needs to be assessed in a structured way. Although some sort of evaluation already takes place at the end of each subphase of the Double Diamond model, the current process model does not provide a separate evaluation phase as a final stage of the design process. Therefore, we added a final phase to the design process, in which we developed and implemented an evaluation plan to assess the intervention's effect on our behaviour goals. Furthermore, during the design process we experienced that the develop- and deliver phases, the second diamond, overlap greatly. Therefore, splitting these phases up in two separate stages seemed artificial and counterproductive. As a consequence, these phases were joined in one stage.
Figure 4 The bicycle tour in Dronten with the bicycle coach
2.4 PbD-model use in design process In the initial discover phase, designers struggled to use the PbD-model to analyse the data from literature and fieldwork because of the model's complexity. Instead, they opted to use more familiar design tools such as customer journey mapping tools. In the following definephase, using the question set tool based on the PbD-model triggered the designers to
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recognize shortcomings of the behavioural goals defined in the previous phase, which led to re-formulating them into more specific behavioural goals and linking them to personas with a personalized customer journey map. In the develop- and deliver phase, designers used the PbD-model as a review instrument, to critically evaluate the intervention. One of the team members took the role of 'guardian' of the model's insights, by bringing the model-questions and its elements into the discussion. This enhanced the connection between the intervention and the behavioural goals, helping the designers to fine-tune the interventions to insights from literature and field study. Furthermore, the model's distinction between automatic and reflective behaviours led the designers to shift their efforts away from designing an intervention that heavily relied on knowledge, self-monitoring and motivation, towards a more socially embedded program. This social approach matched the finding that many elderly people are unwilling to talk about the effects aging on cycling and (therefore) less motivated to join cycling safety interventions of their own accord.
2.5 Conclusion From our findings in this case study, we conclude that general 'serial' design process models such as the Double Diamond are not inherently suitable for behaviour change designs because they lack an evaluation phase to assess the impact of the design on behaviour. Furthermore, the Double Diamond's distinction between develop and deliver was not helpful. The PbD-model aided the designers to critically review the creative process, especially to target the intervention means to behavioural goals. Furthermore, the model triggered the designers to consider intervention strategies that they would not normally take into account; their work automatically tended towards individual, reflective solutions, whereas the model helped them to consider a more social approach. However, as in previous studies (Hermsen et al., 2014, 2015), the model proved too complex for some stages of the design process, and the accompanying tools did not help to alleviate this complexity. This limited the designers' ability to use theory and evidence to inform their designs. The model was used mainly as a critical reflection tool.
3. Case 2: Stimulating the daily water intake of young children in the municipality of Breda 3.1 Introduction The municipality of Breda commissioned the second case study, as part of its Youth on Healthy Weight (JOGG) programme. Breda is a mid-size city in the south of the Netherlands, with 175.000 inhabitants. JOGG is an interdisciplinary public-private consortium to establish healthy behaviour in young people. In cooperation with the city's health service department, a mineral water producer, and a social marketing agency, MarkC, researchers from the
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Research Group Cross-media Communication in the Public Domain of the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, and service design agency Ideate, researched and developed an intervention to stimulate water intake among 0 to 4-year-old children from families with a low socio-economic status.
3.2 Method and Results Similar to the first case, we used the Double Diamond model to structure the design process; however, we amended the design process with our findings from the previous case. A final evaluation phase was added, and the deliver/develop-phases were integrated into one phase. To deal with the inherent complexity of grounding design research in findings from the behavioural sciences, we made use of a newly developed, rich tool based on the PbDmodel, called the Behavioural Lenses. These lenses invite designers to consider different sets of determinants that play a role in changing behaviour, to whit: habits and impulses; knowing and believing; wanting and being able to; seeing and realizing; and doing and persisting (sustaining behaviour change). The lenses are presented in a booklet in which each lens is accompanied by a subset of behaviour related questions, references to relevant literature, and recommended persuasive strategies. The lenses can be used both to inform user research, and to evaluate design concepts.
Figure 5 The five behavioural lenses
In the first phase of the design process, discover, we performed a literature study into the determinants of drinking water instead of sugar-rich beverages amongst children (0-4) and their parents. Based on this literature review, contextual generative interviews were held
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with 9 parents. Furthermore, we interviewed 10 nutrition- and health-promotion professionals. During the define phase, using the Behavioural Lenses, we integrated these three sources of information into three main themes: an early (at 6 months after birth) formation of new drinking and eating habits, facilitating parents' ability to implement such habits, and supporting parents in challenging situations. These themes corresponded with the three lenses 'wanting and being able to', 'habits and impulses', and 'doing and persisting'.
Figure 6 Using the behavioural lenses, in this case the lens Habits and Impulses (in Dutch)
In the develop/deliver phase, we organized a design pressure cooker in which the commissioners and the designers jointly developed intervention concepts based upon the three main themes. We then combined these three concepts into one intervention, using a customer journey-mapping tool to describe the target behaviour goals and place the intervention-parts into the daily context of the parents. We then once again used the Behavioural Lenses to further increase the focus of the intervention. As a result, we developed an intervention called the Waterbox, with an accompanying intervention plan. The Waterbox is a set of instruments (e.g. a special cup and a bib) to help parents integrate water-drinking moments in their daily life. In addition to this, a Facebook group was set up
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to support the parents in their daily experiences with the Waterbox and teaching their baby to drink water. Subsequently, we designed a series of activities to test the Waterbox. To design the intervention implementation process, we engaged the Breda municipal health service. In cocreation with health workers, we developed a protocol for handing out the boxes through the districts' clinics. Next, the assistants where briefed to hand out the boxes and motivate parents to participate in the pilot project. At the same time, a mother living in the district was engaged to setup the Facebook-group and to moderate this group during the pilot.
Figure 7 The Waterbox intervention set
To evaluate the impact of the pilot intervention, we will test the effect of using the Waterbox on 20 mothers. Participants will receive the Waterbox from a health care worker during a regular visit to the municipality health service infant clinic. Participants will take part in two interviews, one week and at three weeks after receiving the box. The interviews are structured using the Behavioural Lenses tool in combination with our predefined behavioural goals. At the moment of going to press, preliminary results are not yet available yet as the pilot is still running.
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3.3 Discussion Our evaluation of the design process in this case study substantiated our findings in the previous case. The addition of an evaluation phase enabled us to evaluate the efficacy of our designed intervention in changing the target behaviour. To do so, an evaluation plan was developed, consisting of interview guidelines and an observation scheme to assess the usage of the Facebook group. The Behavioural Lenses helped inform the design of these evaluation tools. Furthermore, this second case confirmed our notion that the develop and deliver phases of the Double Diamond model are intertwined. Developing an intervention means going back and forth in adapting the intervention to user-behavioural goals and evaluating our intervention ideas.
3.4 PbD-model use in design process The utilization of a new tool based on the PbD-model, the Behavioural Lenses, meant that the applicability of the model throughout the design process was greatly enhanced. In the initial discover phase, the tool proved easy to understand and apply for all parties involved, be it designers, behavioural scientists and social workers. In jointly analysing the research results with the lenses tool, we created a shared reference frame to interpret the research findings. In the define phase, the tool was used to prioritize the behavioural goals for the intervention. To support this selection process, we developed a tool derived from the Behavioural Lenses. Each lens was summarized in a poster on which participants could add their perceived strengths and weaknesses, chances and challenges for the intervention. This helped all stakeholders to weigh their options and make grounded choices for behavioural goals. In the develop- and delivery phase, the tool was used to review and fine-tune the creative concepts. Initially, the intervention was built upon insights from only three of the lenses, but in this phase, a factsheet about water and a quiz to enhance knowledge of drinking behaviour were added. Using the lenses helped the designers to critically look at the coherence of the intervention and redesign the intervention towards the original behaviour goals. In the final evaluation phase, we used the lenses to assess the efficacy of the intervention. When designing evaluation tools and protocols, the designers looked back at earlier results from using the lenses to indicate what they wanted to measure in relation to the behavioural goals. By making a schematic overview of the behavioural goals, the associated intervention means and the expected hypotheses, they could easily identify which evaluation means and measures would be appropriate.
3.5 Conclusions This second case confirms our notion that the Double Diamond design process model is only appropriate for behaviour change design when an evaluation phase is added. Furthermore, once again the distinction between a develop- and a deliver-phase proved of little use.
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Furthermore, this case study not only demonstrates the necessity of rich, well-developed design tools to make insights from the behavioural sciences accessible for designers, but also shows the beneficial effects of these tools when they become available. Contrary to findings from the first study and previous, similar studies (Hermsen et al., 2014, 2015), the use of the design tool Behavioural Lenses proved fruitful for the designers involved in every stage of the design process. To make full use of the tool's possibilities, additional methods were developed during the process, such as the ‘chances and challenges canvas’ and the evaluation phase set-up.
4 Discussion In this work, we analysed two rich design case studies to answer the following question: how can we embed theories and evidence from behavioural sciences in a design method in such a way that this does not hinder creativity, but offers a theory-driven anchor to creative drifting? To do so, we adopted the Double Diamond model to structure the design process. However, we soon found out that much-used serial design process models as a rule do not offer an explicit evaluation/report phase. This may not be an issue in product design, service design, where often the artefact is the end result of the design process, but not in behaviour change designs, where the end result is the effect of the artefact on behaviour change. Therefore, in both cases, an extra evaluation phase was added to assess the efficacy of the developed interventions on behaviour change. Furthermore, we found that in our cases, the develop/deliver phases are greatly intertwined. This could be a unique feat of behaviour change design processes, or, more likely, a shortcoming of serial design models in general. As a result, we produced our own behaviour change design process model, which can be represented in a double-diamond-one-dot model: discover / define, develop / deliver, and evaluate.
Figure 8 Double-Diamond-One-Dot process model for designing behaviour change interventions
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These case studies show that the PbD-model in general is useful in using theory to inform designs, although the first case study proved once more that the inherent complexity of behaviour change theory hampers its integration into design research. However, the second case not only showed that rich, well-developed tools such as the Behavioural Lenses tool are needed to help designers apply the insights from behaviour models such as the PbD-model into their creative process, but also that such tools can indeed support the propagation of insights from initial phases in later design phases such as the develop and deliver phase, and give designers a framework to use theory to inform their designs in all phases of the design process. The efficacy of this tool in the design process needs further scrutiny in the form of structured testing in design cases, in order to evaluate the generalizability of its potential for other designs aimed at behaviour change. From our case studies, it transpired that one notable shortcoming of the PbD-model, difficulties in bridging the gap between behavioural insights and a viable, evidence-based intervention strategy, was not alleviated by the Behavioural Lenses tool. The tool mainly helped to focus the intervention on behavioural goals. Although this implies that this tool is not restrictive for the creative process, as design patterns would be, this shows there is still a gap between developing empathy for the user and coming up with a successful behaviour change concept. This, on the one hand, provides room for designerly drifting, but, on the other hand, we need tools and methods to anchor this drifting in evidence; for instance by developing a structured overview of possible intervention strategies, with regard to their respective strengths and shortcomings, and circumstances in which their efficacy has been proven. Our design process builds upon the Double Diamond process model. However, in current design practice, more agile and iterative design processes such as Scrum are increasingly preferred over more classic, serial processes. How our insights, and the models and tools we used, translate to more agile design processes is as yet unclear. Further research will be needed to shed light on this issue. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the commissioners of the design cases and the design project partners: Ideate (http://www.ideate.nl), and MarkC (http://www.markc.nl).
5. References Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior (pp. 11-39). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Davies, P., Walker, A. E., & Grimshaw, J. M. (2010). A systematic review of the use of theory in the design of guideline dissemination and implementation strategies and interpretation of the results of rigorous evaluations. Implementation Science, 5, 14. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-5-14 Design Council, (2015). Double diamond design process. Retrieved on 22 september 2015 from http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/design-process-what-double-diamond. Hermsen, S. (2015, May 21). How Can We Support Designers to Create Theory-Driven Designs for Behaviour Change? [Web log post]. Retrieved 2016, March 7, from
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https://medium.com/@sanderhermsen/how-can-we-support-designers-to-create-theory-drivendesigns-for-behaviour-change-the-persuasive-a8e3f5a5f6de#.py20ba5t4. Hermsen, S., Mulder, S., Renes, R.J., & Van der Lugt, R. (2015): Using the Persuasive by Design Model to inform the design of complex behaviour change concepts: two case studies. In: Proceedings, 11th Conference of the European Academy of Design. Paris, Université Paris René Descartes. Hermsen, S., Renes, R.J., & Frost, J.H. (2014). Persuasive by Design: a Model and Toolkit for Designing Evidence-Based Interventions. In: Making the Difference. Proceedings, CHI Sparks 2014. The Hague, Netherlands: The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Howard, T. J., Culley, S. J., & Dekoninck, E. (2008). Describing the creative design process by the integration of engineering design and cognitive psychology literature. Design studies, 29(2), 160180. Leeuwis, C., & Aarts, N. (2011). Rethinking communication in innovation processes: creating space for change in complex systems. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 17(1), 21-36. Michie, S., Abraham, C., Whittington, C., McAteer, J., & Gupta, S. (2009). Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: a meta-regression. Health Psychology, 28(6), 690. Noar, S. M., Benac, C. N., & Harris, M. S. (2007). Does tailoring matter? Meta-analytic review of tailored print health behaviour change interventions. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 673–693. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.4.673 Prestwich, A., Sniehotta, F. F., Whittington, C., Dombrowski, S. U., Rogers, L., & Michie, S. (2014). Does theory influence the effectiveness of health behaviour interventions? Meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 33(5), 465. doi: 10.1037/a0032853. Sevaldson, B. (2010). Discussions & movements in design research. FORMakademisk, 3(1). Taylor, N., Conner, M., & Lawton, R. (2011). The impact of theory on the effectiveness of worksite physical activity interventions: A meta-analysis and meta-regression. Health Psychology Review, 6, 33–73. doi:10.1080/17437199.2010.533441 Yardley, L., Morrison, L., Bradbury, K., & Muller, I. (2015). The person-based approach to intervention development: Application to digital health-related behavior change interventions. Journal of medical Internet research, 17(1).
About the Authors: Anita van Essen is a lecturer and researcher at the Research Group Cross-media Communication in the Public Domain. Her research focuses on designs for behavioural change in applied contexts such as health and safety. Sander Hermsen is a researcher at the same research group; his work focuses on evaluating designs for behavioural change and increasing their efficacy, and on developing models and toolkits that make insights from the behavioural sciences available for designers. Reint Jan Renes is professor (lector) of cross-media communication in the public domain. He specializes in research into (health) communication and behavioural change.
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What a designer can change: a proposal for a categorisation of artefact-related aspects Anneli Selvefors*, Helena Strömberg and Sara Renström Chalmers University of Technology * anneli.selvefors@chalmers.se DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.344
Abstract: This paper proposes a categorisation of artefact-related aspects that in different ways set people’s preconditions for acting with technology. The categorisation can serve as a starting point for discussing which aspects are relevant to consider from a Design for Sustainable Behaviour perspective. The categorisation sorts these aspects into different layers: from the over-arching layer of enabled activity, through artefact type(s), operative functions, interactive functions, and finally communicative functions. Using examples from research studies, and a selection of theory and methods, we argue for an increased focus on all artefactrelated aspects. Moreover, it is essential to move between layers to ensure a consistent design that in every layer provides preconditions for sustainable behaviour. The paper also discusses benefits of redesigning the artefacts people use in their everyday activities, instead of designing artefacts that stimulate new types of conservation activities. Keywords: Design for Sustainable Behaviour; Behaviour change; Interaction Design; Design for Sustainability
1. Introduction Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) has emerged as an important field of research and practice. DfSB addresses sustainability challenges related to people’s use of products, services, and systems (Bhamra and Lilley 2015). In DfSB, design is used to encourage and enable new ways of doing and interacting with the world that in turn contribute to a sustainable society (Clune 2010; Lilley 2007; Lockton, Harrison and Stanton 2008). The number of articles and research projects exploring DfSB has exploded and now includes new topics and addresses gaps in the current state (Bhamra and Lilley 2015). In a review of 70 DfSB papers published between 2002 and 2014, Coskun and colleagues (2015) identified a
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Anneli Selvefors, Helena Strömberg and Sara Renström
number of common topics: choice and effectiveness of behaviour change strategies, development of tools for idea generation, the contribution of different theoretical directions from other fields to the DfSB field. Based on their review, they recommend future studies to identify areas where better design can have significant impact, as well as which behaviour change strategies that have the most profound and lasting impact on people’s behaviour. We believe that to follow these recommendations, DfSB research first needs to focus on the artefacts. We reason that it is not possible to assess the effectiveness or impact of strategies without basing the discussion on an artefact, its intended use, and how specific strategies have been implemented in the design of the artefact. Therefore, we suggest moving away from the appropriated tradition of designing interventions to trigger certain behaviour changes, towards designing everyday products that mediate sustainable activities. It is vital to remember that one cannot design behaviour, one can only influence people’s preconditions for acting with technology by (re-)designing artefacts; designing for behaviour. When designing such everyday products, it is necessary to consider several aspects, as different aspects influence preconditions for interaction in different ways. For instance, the introduction of a gearshift indicator on the dashboard of a car sets different preconditions for mobility compared to the introduction of a car-sharing service. Similarly, the preconditions for less water-intensive body washing can be provided in different ways: a new concept like Splashing presents a new alternative to showering (Kuijer 2014), a technical concept with closed water cycles enables savings without behaviour change (Orbital Systems 2015), and different feedback functions in the shower enable water use tracking, such as the Shower Calender (Laschke, et al 2011), or disappearing pattern tiles (Backlund, et al 2006). To address the different aspects that set preconditions it is relevant to first question what purpose a particular artefact may serve. Next, designers should consider the artefact’s functionality and how it is to be designed, covering everything from main technical principle to details in the form. A system perspective on people’s interaction with artefacts would help designers to both question the purpose of a particular artefact and consider all aspects. For instance, a systematic overview of artefact-related aspects would be valuable in the DfSB design process. Such an overview should provide a breakdown of the full range of artefact-related aspects that influence people’s preconditions to reduce their resource consumption in distinctly different ways. As the aspects together form one whole – the artefact – it is also valuable to clarify the interconnection between the different aspects as the parts all have interdependent effects on the whole (cf. Ackoff 1981). Finally, to be practically applicable, the overview should be simple yet theoretically sound (cf. Bødker and Klokmose 2011). To start a discussion about which aspects that are relevant to consider from a DfSB perspective, this paper proposes a tentative categorisation of artefact-related aspects. The objective of the categorisation is to describe in what ways a designer can influence people’s preconditions for acting with technology. The paper will first discuss current classifications for describing artefacts and then introduce the new categorisation. Subsequently, we will relate the categorisation to theories,
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methods, and tools used in design processes. The paper concludes by discussing the value of the proposed categorisation for the DfSB community.
2. Proposed categorisation of artefact-related aspects A search for an overview of design related aspects affecting people’s preconditions for acting with technology was conducted. The search uncovered a range of different system models and functional classifications of artefacts. Models and classifications were selected for further review, see Figure 1, based on whether or not they contained a system description of artefacts, included a hierarchical structure, and to some degree included the users in the system. While the existing classifications were found to be useful for their respective purposes, they fail to meet all the demands set up in the introduction; a model that is simple yet theoretical sound, provides a breakdown of the full range of artefact-related aspects, as well as clarifies the interconnection between the different aspects. Primarily, neither of the surveyed classifications covers the full range of artefact-related aspects. Some contain the detailing necessary in the lower layers, such as Warell (2001) and Muller (2001), whereas others cover the top layers, including Roozenburg and Eekels (1995) and Brezet and colleagues (2001). Additionally, several classifications focus solely on form aspects – only a few, Bødker and Klokmose (2011) and Hekkert and van Dijk (2011), focus on use or interaction, which is central to DfSB. Since none of the existing classifications met the demands, a new categorisation was developed with appropriate detailing on all relevant layers and with focus on use and interaction. The limit for the lower levels was chosen to equal the most detailed of the reviewed classifications, that is the levels proposed by Muller (2001) and Warell (2001). The limit upwards in the hierarchy was set, not only to include the complete artefact, but also to include the main reason for the artefact’s existence, i.e. the need it should help fulfil. Unless the purpose of the artefact is clarified, it is impossible to appropriately decide on its form or functions. In the development of the new categorisation, the range of reviewed classifications served as inspiration for organising and structuring relevant concepts. Some concepts, such as Warell’s interactive and communicative functions and Muller’s practical functions, were adopted into the proposed classifications, while others were adapted into new categories to cover the wider range of aspects necessary to be useful to DfSB, see Figure 1. The proposed categorisation presents artefact-related aspects that set preconditions for acting with technology, according to the structure depicted in Figure 2. We imagine the aspects as different layers of influence in the design of the artefact. The layers of design are in order of increasing detail: enabled activity, artefact type(s), operative functions, interactive functions, and communicative functions. An expanded explanation of the layers follows.
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Figure 1 Reviewed system models and functional classifications compared to each other and to the proposed categorisation. Note: approximations of layer boundaries and overlaps have been made based on the intended use of the proposed categorisation.
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Figure 1 continued.
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Figure 2 The proposed categorisation of different artefact-related aspects that affect people’s preconditions for acting with technology.
2.1 Enabled activity As mentioned, the top layer of the categorisation concerns the key question of why the artefact is designed in the first place (cf. Bødker and Klokmose 2011), that is, which motives or needs that the artefact should support. In the illustrated example in Figure 3, which exemplifies the layers using the example of a freight bicycle, the enabled activity – transporting oneself between places – addresses the need for mobility. Design decisions at this layer steer which activities people can perform with the artefact. Depending on which artefacts are made available in society, preconditions are set for which activities that are possible to engage in. Moreover it determines whether there are one or more artefacts available that allow people to accomplish their goals. To address this layer, a designer could ask: “which needs are relevant to address?” and “which activity should be enabled?”.
2.2 Artefact type(s) The second layer addresses the key question of what type of artefact to design. In the illustrated example, the artefact type is a freight bicycle but the activity could equally have been enabled by a car or an innovative mobility-as-a-service. The layer concerns making types of artefacts available that enable different ways of performing an activity, so that people can find ways that suit them and their requirements. In relation to sustainability, that means whether there is an artefact available that would allow for the activity to be carried out with less environmental impact. For the designer, relevant questions are “what type of artefact can mediate the activity?” and “which types allow for less resource intensive mediation?”.
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Figure 3 Examples of design features for the different layers.
2.3 Operative functions The third layer concerns an artefact’s operative functions. It addresses what should be designed, but in more detail than artefact type. This layer has been divided into two sublayers, operating concept and practical functions, in order to highlight two complementary aspects of the artefact's design at this level. The operating concept addresses how the artefact should deliver its main function(s), i.e. which technical approach is taken to provide the function. An example of different operating concepts in the same artefact type is whether a car is powered by electricity or petrol. Another example is induction cooktops versus regular electric cooktops. The operating concept sets preconditions for resource consumption, in relation to both type and amount of resources and pollution. It also affects preconditions for use. For example, an electric car can be charged at home instead of being fuelled at a gas station and the “fuel” is paid for through the electricity bill. Looking instead at cooktops, induction cooktops use the same resource as conventional ones but the amount needed is reduced and the preconditions for use are slightly different as not all kinds of pots and pans can be utilised. The practical functions determine what the user should be able to do with an artefact. Here, the target is to deliberately set the preconditions for use, contrary to operating concept where the preconditions for use follow from the operating concept selected. Practical functions include all things the artefact may be used for, from the main functionality (e.g. carry people from A to B), to necessary support functions (e.g. the ability to stop the vehicle using for example brakes), to delighters (e.g. a cheerful sounding bell). Here a designer asks “what should the user be able to do with the artefact?”, “what does the user need to be able
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to benefit fully from the main functionality?”, and “what does the user need for the artefact to fit the activity?”. Asking such questions from a DfSB perspective may provide inspiration to, for example, add eco-feedback to make users aware of their behaviour (Lilley, Lofthouse and Bhamra 2005; Wever, Kuijk and Boks 2008) or offer compartmentalised cold storage to decrease energy use and food waste compared to ordinary refrigerators (Selvefors, et al 2012). It is often practical functions that determine if people are able and willing to use an artefact, as the fit between functionality and user needs is what makes the product possible to adopt into everyday life (Strömberg 2015).
2.4 Interactive functions The fourth layer, interactive functions, concerns users' possibilities for physically interacting with the artefact. This layer deals with the key question of how the artefact should be designed so that the user can access the functionality. To address this layer a designer could ask “how should the user interact with and control the artefact?” or “how should the user be given access to the functions?”. For the user, the design of interactive functions sets the preconditions for how easy it is to use the artefact and gain full benefit of its functions – whether the user is able to control and interact with the product in less resource intensive ways. Examples of design decisions connected to this layer include how interaction sequences should be structured, which level of user control to apply, which types of interaction elements to provide (e.g. buttons, displays, or sensors), and their placement. A woodstove case can exemplify how a redesign with improved interactive functions can support more sustainable use (Daae 2014). Users had problems working the stove’s two separate levers in a correct way according to recommendations for a clean burn. When the two levers for controlling air intake were combined into one lever with three positions, it became easier for users to achieve good burning.
2.5 Communicative functions The last layer, the artefact’s communicative functions, includes both semantic and syntactic functions. Semantic functions comprise functions that describe purpose and mode of operation, express properties, exhort reactions, and identify a product, its origin, kinship, location, nature or category (Monö 1997). Syntactic functions include the ordering of product form, and how to compose perceptual element to form a whole (cf. Muller 2001). The communicative functions set the preconditions for the users’ perception of the artefact, including the perception of the interaction, such as understanding its purpose and how to use it, perceiving its properties, as well as reactions to interaction (“it’s comfortable”, “it’s heavy”). It also concerns the perception of the artefact as such, of wanting and having the artefact and time-related aspects such as emotional bonds with the artefact. At this layer, the designer asks “how should the user perceive the artefact?” or “how do I want the user to feel when using the artefact?”.
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3. Design theories and methods in relation to the layers Many different theoretical frameworks, methods and practical tools have been highlighted in literature for their contribution to the DfSB field and the possibilities they provide for supporting the design of everyday products. They originate from various research fields with different theoretical backgrounds and they all contribute with different perspectives. For instance, some theories are useful for understanding human behaviour and the use of technology, while others discuss, and present tools for, the concretization of artefacts. Thus, one framework, method, or tool rarely supports design work on all layers. Instead, they are often relevant to consider in relation to one or a couple of layers. If looking at the multitude of different frameworks, methods, and tools presented in literature, it is evident that there exist plenty of contributions which combined have the potential to support design work on all layers. However, while some are frequently discussed and applied in DfSB literature, some are rarely mentioned even though they contribute with important perspectives essential for design. As the theories, methods, and tools are different in character, and address different layers, they may inspire different types of solutions that change people’s preconditions for acting with technology in different ways. This section will therefore briefly highlight a selection of theories, methods, and tools, in relation to the different layers, that could be beneficial to make use of when aiming to design for sustainable behaviour. Turning first to the layer enabled activity. To identify opportunities for new innovative products that may enable people to go about their everyday activities in a less resource intensive way, it is essential to try to understand what people want to achieve in their everyday lives, and why. There are several theories that can provide a fuller understanding of people’s needs and doings in everyday life. For instance, Activity Theory provides a framework for understanding the dialectical development between human needs and artefacts and highlights artefacts’ mediating role in relation to human action. By taking activities as a unit of analysis, one may gain an understanding of how people’s motives and goals during everyday activities influence their actions and use of artefacts (Bødker and Klokmose 2011; Kaptelinin and Nardi 2006). Moreover, Social Practice Theory can be adopted in a design perspective to explore opportunities for changes in practices by taking practices as a unit of analysis. By studying how people currently perform a particular practice, how the practice has evolved historically, and if similar but less resource intensive practices exist, designers may gain an understanding of which opportunities for desirable change that exist and identify which element configurations that work (Kuijer 2014). Regardless of what theoretical direction is favoured, it is essential to acquire user insights from potential users in order to identify what motives and needs to support. When dealing with the actual design of the artefact it is relevant to first determine the artefact type(s) as this choice determines which operating concepts and functions that can be considered. Aspects such as users’ needs, the potential for significant changes in resource consumption, and the business model can be considered when deciding on a suitable artefact type. To guide this work, methods and tools from the two related fields of ProductService System (PSS) and Service Design can be used. (See Tukker (2015) for an overview of
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PSS literature and Stickdorn and Schneider (2011) for service design thinking and tools.) When choosing operating concepts and establishing an artefact’s functionality, many of the traditional engineering and design methods are essential. Methods such as Concept Classification Tree (Ulrich and Eppinger 2003, p. 112), Product Function Analysis (Baxter 1995, p. 210; Cross 2008, p. 78; Ulrich and Eppinger 2003, p. 102), and Concept Combination Tree (Ulrich and Eppinger 2003, p. 114) are very useful for identifying independent solutions to the problem and managing the choice between possible alternatives. Once the operative functions have been established, the interactive and communicative functions can be decided on. A multitude of theories can be considered to form an understanding of which functions that would be suitable to both enable and support less resource intensive interaction. For instance, behavioural and environmental psychology provides a broad theoretical basis for discussing factors that influence how people behave in different contextual and social settings (Jackson 2005; Steg and Vlek 2009). It can, for example, inform different DfSB strategies related to an artefact’s interactive and communicative functions (Zachrisson and Boks 2012). Knowledge gained from these types of theories is essential when aiming to design artefacts that are to be easily understood and intuitive to use in a less resource intensive way. The usability of artefacts is also vital in order to design user-friendly products that can be used in an efficient, effective, and satisfying way (Jordan 1998; Nielsen 1994). Jordan (1998) highlights important components such as guessability and learnability and describes several principles of usable design such as consistency, consideration of user resources, visual clarity, and explicitness that are relevant to take into consideration when deciding on an artefact’s interactive and communicative qualities. Norman’s Affordances (1999, 2013) highlight real and perceived affordances and discusses how artefacts can be designed in such a way that the user perceives possible actions to be meaningful, be useful, and result in known outcomes. Moreover, Norman (1999) highlights the concept of constraints and argues that artefacts can be design to be physically restricting, logically guiding, or fit with culturally learnt ways of interacting. Similarly, the concept of scripting has been discussed in DfSB literature as a way of designing products that trigger sustainable use by either creating obstacles for unsustainable use or by making sustainable use easy and intuitive (Jelsma and Knot 2002; Lilley, Lofthouse and Bhamra 2005; Wever, Kuijk and Boks 2008). Another theory that is relevant to address when deciding on interactive and communicative functions is semiotics, the study of meaning formation, signification and communication (Monö 1997). It can provide deeper insights about people’s interpretation of product characteristics and how material artefacts interact with humans (Vihma 2010). Theories of cognitive psychology (e.g. Levitin 2002) and theories of visual perception (see overview by Gordon, 1989), such as information processing (e.g. Wickens and Carswell 2012), gestalt theory (Koffka 1935), and perceptual constancy (Walsh and Kulikowski 1998), can also aid in the understanding of how people perceive and understand information, objects and visual forms. In their Design with Intent toolkit, Lockton, Harrison, and Stanton (2010a) have compiled a set of patterns with inspiration from, among others, semantics, semiotics, and
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gestalt theory to provide designers with practical examples of how they may influence how users perceive patterns and meanings as they interact with artefacts. Depending on the project scope and aim, it might not always be possible to address all layers during a specific product development process. If the aim is to re-design existing products to make incremental improvements, there is often not room for questioning decisions related to the higher layers (Roozenburg and Eekels 1995). There is however a risk of sub-optimizing when focussing too narrowly on designing a function on a particular layer, when it might be better to make changes on a higher layer of generality (cf. Cross 2008). Both Jones (1992) and Cross (2008) argue that if aiming for radical new design, capable of creating new patterns of behaviour and demand, one must question the artefact and its essential functions in order to identify favourable alternatives. We agree with this perspective and believe that it is essential to address all layers from a DfSB perspective as the artefactrelated layers influence preconditions for acting with technology in different ways. In addition, decisions on all layers influence people’s use and adoption of the artefact and thus the potential to support less resource intensive activities. If some of the layers are left unaddressed, DfSB designers risk both limiting the potential solution space and failing to create artefacts that have potential for supporting radical yet accepted changes.
4. Discussion As was stated in the introduction, this paper proposes a tentative categorisation of artefactrelated aspects a designer can change to influence people’s preconditions for acting with technology. The categorisation implies a stronger artefact focus which highlights the design part of “Design for Sustainable Behaviour”, shifting the debate away from sustainable behaviour and which theoretical frameworks on behaviour to use.
4.1 Mediating sustainable activities? In many research studies, including our own, the goal of fulfilling of everyday needs has been overshadowed by the ambition to change behaviour. This behaviour change intention has resulted in products that in different ways enable the activity “be sustainable”, instead of products that support everyday needs. However, people use products, services, and systems to fulfil everyday needs – not solely to “be sustainable”. Designing for the activity of being sustainable often results in the user engaging in a new, additional activity and therefore does not fundamentally change the environmental impact of other everyday activities. This phenomenon was evident in the case of the energy feedback system Eliq Online (Selvefors, Karlsson and Rahe 2013), which supported the activity of “reducing domestic energy use”. As a result, the active users of Eliq Online introduced a short-lived new conservation activity, but did not change their everyday behaviours in other activities to any higher extent. Similarly, an evaluation of the Power-Aware Cord (Löfström 2008) showed that the cord invited people to experiment, thus engaging in a new activity of “playful learning about appliances’ electricity use”. Unfortunately, the interest for engaging in such learning and conservation activities often fade with time (Selvefors 2014). Thus, we argue
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the need to design products that mediate people’s activities in less resource intensive ways while still allowing them to fulfil everyday goals. This option of mediating activities in new ways appears to have slightly slipped away from attention within the field of DfSB.
4.2 Working on each and all of the layers of design The categorisation highlights the necessity of working through all layers of an artefact. Going upwards ensures the effectiveness of the chosen solution. The higher up, the higher the potential for resource savings (Brezet, et al 2001). Going downwards helps to create one coherent whole where the layers reinforce each other and facilitate comprehension and adoption. The importance of reinforcement was demonstrated by a subscription based mobility-as-a-service concept, UbiGo, through which users were provided access to a wide range of transport modes through a smartphone app. When opening the app to purchase a trip, the user was presented with a list of transport options – all at the same level of readiness. Thus, the users considered more options before deciding on the most appropriate one (Strömberg 2015). The communicative functions of the artefact, i.e. the design of the list in the app, reinforced the artefact type, i.e. mobility-as-a-service. For adoption, the significance of lower layers was seen in an evaluative study of a plastic measuring cup for washing detergent. Inside the measuring cup, a frog sat on a stone and the frog’s feet represented a suitable dose for most washes (Lidman and Renström 2011). The users that evaluated the frog cup all appreciated the practical functions it offered, i.e. dosing of detergent. Some users found the frog cute, while others disapproved of the frog because it was in the way when dosing. Thus, the communicative functions contributed to adoption for some, while the interactive functions of the frog ran the risk of contributing to rejection for others. It is noteworthy that if any layer is designed without intent there will be risks for rejections or weakening of other layers. Preconditions for behaviour are always designed, whether intended or not (Lockton, Harrison and Stanton 2010b).
4.3 Beyond the theoretical standpoints The research regarding how design could be used for affecting sustainable ways of acting is currently characterised by a debate about which theoretical approach should be taken (Boks, Lilley and Pettersen 2015). A more established interaction-oriented approach, which includes the use of behaviour change strategies to alter well-defined interaction behaviours, is challenged by a social practice-oriented approach, which involves the creation of new material elements to reconfigure practices (Kuijer and Bakker 2015; Pettersen, Boks and Tukker 2013). The proposed categorisation and this discussion bring to light the role both approaches have in relation to the generality of the design problem and their relation to the different layers. The categorisation is able to open up the debate by opting for a different angle on the issue. That is, by focusing on the artefact's design, instead of which theory of behaviour that should serve as the starting point for the design. The new angle clarifies that the link between artefact-aspect and behaviour goes via the preconditions for acting that the design of the artefact affords. It is only the preconditions for behaviour that can be
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designed, and not the behaviour (or practice) itself. Thus, as a designer you can work to make it easier or harder to act in certain ways, or make entirely new ways possible. In that work, different theories of understanding users can structure the gathering of insight in relation to the layers, i.e. serve as a unit of analysis. Artefacts can then be designed with the hope that they will affect behaviour in a certain direction, re-mediate an activity, or reconfigure the performances of social practices. Nevertheless, a certain outcome cannot be guaranteed, as people will act in ways the designer can neither foresee or control when they appropriate the artefact into their everyday lives, if they are willing to use it at all. When viewed from the angle of artefacts, the debate regarding theoretical standpoints starts to dissipate. It has been shown that in the pragmatic context of the creation of solutions, the tensions between the two perspectives become less apparent (Kurz, et al 2015). The two approaches are needed at different layers. Depending on your starting point in terms of freedom to define the scope of your design, or the level of problem to be addressed, you may need to focus on one or the other. In practice, any single perspective becomes limited in addressing sustainable behaviour (cf. Lopes, Antunes and Martins 2015). The design of a consistent artefact requires a range of theories and methods to be realised. Nevertheless, we do not argue for the debate to cease, as it is needed to advance the field. The debate also spurs discussion on important issues such as with whom responsibility for society’s sustainability lies and which behaviours and practices are considered sustainable enough.
4.4 Future work The categorisation is, as noted, tentative and has not been tested in practical cases. Currently, studies are being undertaken in which the categorisation serves as a tool for analysis and design, which may lead to a confirmation of the layers as well as elaboration of sub-aspects. Furthermore, we plan to undertake comparative studies to explore the effects of design decisions related to the different layers. If these studies show significant differences in environmental impact relating to the layers, the necessity of systematically considering each aspect when designing for sustainable behaviour will be enforced. Moreover, the proposed categorisation only covers one main enabled activity and one main artefact. Future work could relate the categorisation to what aspects are relevant when artefacts are used in combinations of activities, or in combination with other artefacts.
5. Concluding remarks This paper proposes a categorisation of artefact-related aspects that is tailored for DfSB designers. With the categorisation, we argue for a strengthened focus on artefacts and their role in setting preconditions for acting with technology. Different layers in the categorisation outline essential design considerations: from the lowest level of perceptual influence, through the implementation of sustainable interaction strategies, supportive functions, different operating concepts, and artefact type(s) up to the introduction of new ways of mediating activities.
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When designing everyday artefacts, DfSB designers need to more systematically address all layers, as is common in traditional design practice. By moving upwards through the layers the potential for resource savings can be increased and radical changes are made possible. In contrast, moving downwards increases the potential for a consistent design that may facilitate user adoption and provide preconditions for sustainable behaviour in every layer. The coupling of the categorisation with methods and theories shows that designers have means to address all layers. A range of theories and methods will be needed to support the design work as no theoretical framework covers all layers. Hopefully, the categorisation’s coupling with methods and theories can facilitate exploration of design possibilities on all layers. Acknowledgements: This work was funded in part by the International Energy Agency – District Heating and Cooling including Combined Heat and Power [Reference Number XI-03] and the Building Technologies Accelerator Flagship of the Climate KIC.
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Zachrisson, J., & Boks, C. (2012) Exploring behavioural psychology to support design for sustainable behaviour research, Journal of Design Research, 10(1-2), pp 50-66.
About the Authors: Anneli Selvefors explores the interplay between people, technology and sustainability. In her research, she specifically explores how the design of domestic appliances influences people’s use of energy during everyday activities. Helena Strömberg has a PhD in the topic Human–Technology– Design. Her research concerns sustainable human-technology interaction, and facilitating the adoption of sustainable innovations and activities, specifically with application in personal transport. Sara Renström is interested in how people’s everyday activities can be mediated in less resource intensive ways. Specifically, she investigates how people interact with district heating and explores how different design solutions influence people’s understanding and use of heating.
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Exploring and communicating user diversity for behavioural change Aykut Coskuna* and Cigdem Erbugb a
MKoc University Middle East Technical University * aykutcoskun@ku.edu.tr DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.73 b
Abstract: We emphasize the importance of user diversity for behavioural change. We propose a method, user orientation maps, for exploring the user diversity for behavioural change and communicating this diversity to designers. In order to assess its applicability to different behavioural change contexts, we conducted two case studies. The first study explored the diversity in users’ orientations towards adapting an environmentally friendly driving style. The second study explored user diversity towards adapting the usage of a smart urinal system which allows patients learn their risk of having Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) without visiting a hospital. In this paper, we present the results of the second study and conclude that the proposed method has enough flexibility to be applied in different behavioural change contexts. We end the paper with a discussion on the potential implications of using the method in behavioural change projects. Keywords: Design for behavioural change; user diversity; health; sustainability
1. Introduction Behavioural change is an emerging area of interest in design research and practice. Researchers have been exploring the potential of design to encourage behavioural change for almost a decade. Today, designers are more engaged in proposing solutions that motivate behaviours such as helping people exercise regularly, have a healthy diet and a sustainable lifestyle, and make better financial decisions. Despite its popularity in design research literature, changing behaviour is not a trivial task for designers. This is because user behaviour is influenced by diverse personal, social and contextual factors like knowledge, intention, attitude, belief, skill, norm, behavioural control, availability of solutions and technological constraints and so on. As these factors may vary This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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from individual to individual and designers usually work with target user groups that have such a variety, one size fit all solutions often entail the risk of being unsuccessful in changing user behaviour. Thus, for designers of products aiming to change user behaviour, it is important to understand the diversity in factors influencing the performance of a desired user behaviour (or stopping an undesired behaviour). Such an understanding could help them uncover various behavioural change possibilities that can create the biggest impact for a target user group. Although there are several studies exploring user diversity for behavioural change, there is no systematic method for exploring the diversity and communicating it to the designers during idea generation. In our previous work (Coskun, 2015), we proposed a method for this exploration and communication, namely user orientation maps. We applied this method to two different behavioural domains: sustainability and health. Our purpose was to assess its applicability to behavioural change problems across different behavioural contexts. First, we explored the diversity in users’ orientations towards adapting an environmentally friendly driving style (Coskun & Erbug, in press). Second, we explored the diversity in users’ orientations towards adapting the usage of a smart urinal system which can detect one’s risk of having Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)1 without visiting a hospital. In this paper, we present the results of this study which indicate that the method has enough flexibility to be applied to different behavioural change contexts.
2. Related work Although there is no specific method for design researchers to explore and communicate user diversity, there are several studies examining user diversity for behavioural change. One approach is creating user groups by using psycho-social variables. For example, in the context of sustainability, Coskun and Erbug (2014) identified four personas by utilizing Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) as a framework. These personas, namely enthusiastic, worried, undecided and irresponsible, were based on behavioural intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, environmental concern and personality traits. In another study focusing on sustainability, Cor and Zwolinski (2014) identified two user groups based on questionnaires measuring environmental knowledge, habits and environmental concern. The groups they identified were eco-sensitive and noneco-sensitive users. In the context of product repair of small household appliances, Lilley, Bailey and Charnley (2013) created three personas based on questionnaires measuring demographics and consumers’ self-repair behaviour along with some lifestyle questions. The personas they identified were fixers, sometimes and non-fixers. In a study on mobile health promoting mobile applications, Halko and Kientz (2010) used Big Five Inventory (John, Naumann & Soto, 2008) in order to explore the diversity in users’ personality types and their relation to behavioural change techniques. The five personality types they used were
1
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition in men in which the prostate gland is enlarged and not cancerous (NIDDK, 2014).
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extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to change (see Table 1). The second approach to address user diversity for behavioural change is creating user groups by measuring people’s susceptibility to behavioural change. Applying such an approach in the case of promoting healthy behaviours, Kaptein, Lacroix, and Saini (2010) offered persuasion profiles: the collection of the anticipated effects of different behavioural change strategies for a specific individual, how he or she would respond to a behavioural change attempt. By developing a scale to measure people’s susceptibility levels for behavioural change, they identified two groups as low persuadable and high persuadable users. Another approach is categorizing users according to the stage they are in when changing their behaviour. He, Greenberg and Huang (2010) used Trans-theoretical Model of Behavioural change (TTM) (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997) as a theoretical framework in order to discuss how people with different stages of readiness, willingness and ability to change can be persuaded by different feedback technologies. The stages identified were precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. The last approach that we will discuss here is creating user groups by using designers’ assumptions about user behaviour. In the context of product use, Lockton, Harrison and Stanton (2012) proposed three different user models based on users’ involvement level in the decision-making process when using a product. The user models they identified were pinball, shortcut and thoughtful. The following table presents these studies in terms of the behavioural domain they focus on, the dimensions used to explore diversity and the definitions of user groups identified in each study.
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Table 1 Studies exploring user diversity for behavioural change Behavioural domain Environmentally responsible behaviours (Coskun & Erbug, 2014)
Dimensions of user diversity intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, environmental concern and personality traits
Environmentally responsible behaviours (Cor & Zwolinski, 2014) Environmentally responsible behaviours, product repair (Lilley et al., 2013) Environmentally responsible behaviours (He et al., 2010)
Environmental knowledge, habits and environmental concern
Healthy behaviours (Halko and Kientz, 2010)
Personality traits
Healthy behaviours (Kaptein et al., (2010) User behaviour in relation to product use (Lockton et al., 2012)
Susceptibility to behavioural change
User groups Enthusiastic: sensitive of environmental issues and usually engaged in environmentally responsible behaviours Worried: reluctant to change due to a lack of motivation and lack of control over behaviour despite their intention and high concern for the environment Undecided: reluctant to act on environmental issues due to a lack of knowledge and a lack of social support, despite their concern for the environment Irresponsible: has low environmental concern and no intention to engage in environmentally responsible behaviours Eco-conscious: high environmental knowledge and concern, and environmental habits. Non eco-conscious: low environmental knowledge and concern, no environmental habits
Demographics, selfrepair behaviour, and lifestyle questions
Fixers: always attempted repair Sometimers: attempted repairs, but not for all products Non-fixers: did not attempt repair in the past
Stages of change (TTM)
Pre-contemplation: unware of the desired behaviour and unwilling to change the current behaviour Contemplation: aware of the need to change the behaviour, and have intention to do so Preparation: ready to take immediate action Action: Performs the desired behaviour Maintenance: Sustains behavioural change Termination: Habitual behaviour Extraversion: socially active, full of energy, outgoing and enjoying interacting with others Agreeableness: considerate, kind, generous, helpful and trustworthy Conscientiousness: self-disciplined, organized, and acting dutifully Neuroticism: Tends to feel negative emotions such as anxiety, stress and anger Openness to change: open to new experiences, emotion and creative ideas Low persuadable: low levels of susceptibility to behavioural change techniques High persuadable: high levels of susceptibility to behavioural change techniques Pinball: performs the same actions repeatedly without thinking about any decisions at all beyond basic reflex responses Shortcut: interested in performing certain actions in the easiest way possible through the use of behavioural heuristics, and make choices in favour of the options that require the least energy and cognitive costs Thoughtful: thinks carefully about their actions and the consequences of them
Designers’ model of the users when users are interacting with a product
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Although these studies used different methods for exploring user diversity for behavioural change, all of them proposed behavioural change techniques that can be suitable to change the behaviour of different user groups. For instance, He et al (2010) recommended that when people are in pre-contemplation stage, designers should inform them about the positive consequences of the desired behaviour and negative consequences of undesired behaviour. When people are in preparation stage, they suggest allowing them to set specific goals in relation to a desired behaviour. This observation indicates the importance of user diversity for design research on behavioural change as well as the importance of selecting the suitable behavioural change techniques when designing for a diverse user group. Noting this importance and the lack of a systematic method for exploring and communicating user diversity for behavioural change, we offered such a method in our previous work and applied this method to the case of environmentally friendly driving (Coskun & Erbug, in press). Here in this paper, after briefly summarizing our previous work, we report the results of another study in which we applied the same method to the case of using a smart urinal system. This paper contributes to the design research literature on behavioural change by evaluating the applicability of this method across different behavioural domains, as well as providing directions for design researchers or designers who might want to use the method in future behavioural change studies.
3. User orientation maps In this section, we present an overview of user orientation maps, the proposed method for addressing user diversity for behavioural change. In our previous work, we used this method to explore and represent the diversity in users’ orientations towards adapting an environmentally friendly lifestyle (Coskun & Erbug, in press). The dimensions of user diversity in this study were psychosocial variables including intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, environmental concern and five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness). Based on these dimensions, we identified five different orientations and four different personalities in relation to environmentally friendly driving. Then, we created a map to represent these user groups (Figure 1).
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Figure 1. User orientation map for environmentally friendly driving, adapted from Coskun & Erbug (in press)
As seen from the Figure 1, a user orientation map describes each orientation and each personality type in a target user group with a quotation so that designers can have an empathy with their users and gain inspiration for idea generation. It also shows their distribution in the sample and their relationship to each other. The strength of this relationship is represented through line thickness between two groups, and the appearance of a group is represented through the size of colourful circles. The map also includes some design recommendations tailored to each user orientation and personality to provide more
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guidance on selecting the appropriate behavioural change technique, similar to the studies that we discussed in related work section. In order to construct a user orientation map, designers or design researchers should follow five steps (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The method for exploring user diversity for behavioural change, adapted from Coskun & Erbug (in press)
The process for exploring user diversity begins with either selecting a target behaviour or a target user. After this selection, the research team determines the dimensions of user diversity for the selected behaviour. For this step, we suggest using TPB (Ajzen, 1991), because it is a well-known theory of human behaviour that has been applied across diverse behavioural domains including those related to sustainability, health, addiction, purchasing, and so forth. It remains as a valid theory for understanding human behaviour (Ajzen, 2014) despite recent criticism (Sniehotta, Presseau & AraĂşjo-Soares, 2014). Furthermore, it allows for the prediction of intentions by measuring attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control with considerable predictive validity (Ajzen, 2011), and provides a guideline for the development of scales to measure these determinants. A survey is designed to measure the user diversity in terms of these dimensions. Optionally, a pilot test can be conducted to test the reliability of these measures prior to the data collection. For the data collection, it is important to access large samples to achieve desired amount of user diversity. So, we suggest using questionnaire as the data collection
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technique because they can be delivered to many participants easily within a short time. Data is analysed by using cluster analysis to find the significant user clusters. Here, we suggest using hierarchical cluster analysis as it does not require the number of clusters to be determined prior to analysis by the researcher; rather it represents the clusters within a hierarchical structure, which is more informative than other clustering methods such as kmeans (Kaufman & Rousseeuw, 2005). Lastly, these clusters are turned into user groups by using the dimensions derived from the theory.
4. Exploring user diversity for adapting the usage of a smart urinal system After exploring the user diversity in their orientation towards environmentally friendly driving, we directed our attention towards healthcare technologies that allow patients track their health status and manage their health. The purpose was to evaluate the applicability of the method for another behavioural context. We examined a smart urinal system that allows patients track their risk of having Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) without visiting a hospital. We selected this case because such technologies have the potential to create time and cost savings for governments, hospitals and insurance companies, and to increase people’s self-awareness of their health status and the accessibility of health care services. Furthermore, as user adaptation of such technologies is critical in fully exploiting this potential, this case could provide a relevant design challenge for behavioural change, i.e. how we can encourage users to use a smart urinal system for tracking the risk of having BPH instead of making routine hospital visits. To learn more about how this adaptation process can be facilitated through behavioural change, we explored the diversity in users’ orientation towards adapting the usage of the system. As a result, we identified nine user groups and made several recommendations for behavioural change.
4.1 Smart urinal system The smart urinal system was designed by ORUBA, a medical device company in Turkey1. At the time when the research was conducted, the system was in development stage. As it has not been commercialized yet, here in this paper, we could not provide detailed information about the system or present a picture of it due to copyright issues. Considered to be placed in public environments such as shopping malls and stations, the company developed this system in order to increase people’s awareness of the BPH and encouraged them to routinely check their risk of having the disease. When a user uses the system, it measures users’ values with the help of electronic sensors and deliver a report indicating the risk of having BPH and recommend the user to see a doctor if there is a risk.
1
The research presented here is the continuation of the first author’s PhD project; it was not commercial. The role of the company in this study was only to provide the conceptual images of the smart urinal system in order to facilitate the data collection procedure. Our purpose was to evaluate the proposed method, not the system itself. We also would like to clarify that any part of the information gained through this research was not shared with the company.
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4.2 Participants
Age
Educational level
More than 5000
4000-5000
3000-4000
2000-3000
1000-2000
Less than 1000
Masters or Ph.D
College or undergrad.
High School
Secondary School
Primary School
65 +
50-65
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
40-50
80 Turkish male users older than 40 participated in the study. We selected this participant group because first the system targets male users, and second the risk of having BPH rapidly increases after 40 (NIDDK, 2014). We used quota sampling method for participant recruitment. The quota variables were age, educational level and income. Although we could not find the desired number of participants for each quota, our sample represented a quite diverse group of people (Figure 3).
Monthly Income (TL)
Figure 3. Sample characteristics
4.3 Target variables We used intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control as core variables for exploring user diversity. In addition to these variables, we included personality traits (McCrae & John, 1992), as previous research indicated a relationship between personality traits and acceptance of healthcare technologies (Halko and Kientz, 2010). Also, we included technology readiness (Parasuraman, 2000) as an additional variable since people’s prior experience to technology and their tendency to use new technologies have been commonly explored in acceptance of healthcare technologies (Or & Karsh, 2009). Lastly, we added healthcare knowledge because it is identified as an influential variable on people’s acceptance of such technologies (Or et al., 2010). Table 2 presents the definitions of each variable used in this study.
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Table 2. Target variables and their definitions Type of the variable Core variables
Variable name
Definition
Intention
Readiness to perform a behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) Positive or negative evaluation of the behaviour to be performed (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) Perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform a behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) The perception of ability to perform a behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) Being socially active, full of energy, outgoing and enjoying interacting with others (McCrae & John, 1992) Being self-disciplined and organized, and acting dutifully (McCrae & John, 1992) Being considerate, kind, generous, helpful and trustworthy (McCrae & John, 1992) The tendency to feel negative emotions, such as anxiety, stress and anger (McCrae & John, 1992) Being open to new experiences, ideas and appreciating art, emotion and creative ideas (McCrae & John, 1992 The amount of knowledge people feel they have regarding their health condition and care for their disease (Or et al., 2010) People’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies for accomplishing goals in home life and at work (Parasuraman, 2000)
Attitude
Subjective norm
Additional variables
Perceived behavioural control Extraversion
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness to change
Healthcare knowledge
Technology readiness
4.4. Data collection and measures We used questionnaires for data collection. To construct the part measuring the core variables we used the guidelines proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen (2010). We prepared 12 items measuring intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. For measuring personality traits, we used 10 item version of Big Five Inventory developed by
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Rammstedt and John (2007). For measuring health care knowledge, we adapted two items from Wilson and Lanckton (2004). For measuring technology readiness, we adapted 10 item version of the Technology Readiness Index proposed by Parasuraman (2000). The participants stated their agreement or disagreement with the items based on a 5-point scale (1=strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neither agree nor disagree, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree). At the beginning of each questionnaire, we showed a picture of the system and explain how it works. Right after each participant finished filling up the questionnaire, we also probed the reasons for their answers. For instance, if a participant indicated a low intention to use the product, we asked “why you gave this point?” or “why did you indicate a low intention to use the product?”. This helped us describe the orientations with more detail compared to previous study; in the first case study we had only quantitative information.
4.5. Data analysis To find significant clusters in the sample, we performed hierarchical cluster analysis by including the entire variable set. Additionally, we transformed the mean values for each variable from numerical to categorical. For instance, if a cluster had a mean value of higher than 3 for intention, it was coded as high intention, and vice versa. A specific set of criteria was used to determine the significant clusters, according to which the minimum distance between two clusters should be 2, significant differences should exist between clusters (for at least one variable) but should remain at the categorical level, and finally the population of a cluster should be more than one user. This method led to the identification of eleven significant clusters (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Hierarchical cluster tree
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5. Results After identifying the significant clusters, we grouped them according to four set of variables included in the study: core variables (intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control), personality traits, healthcare knowledge and technology readiness. For this grouping, we used the categorical values (high and low) created by splitting the 5-point scale in half. As each cluster belong to four variable sets, we constructed a map showing the relationship between different user groups. For example, the orientation ‘ready’ also contains people have different personality types including introvert, not open to change, balanced, unconscientious and neurotic. As a result, we identified five user orientations and four user personalities varying in terms of their healthcare knowledge and technology readiness. After constructing the map, we suggested behavioural change techniques for each group (Figure 6). Note that these techniques are recommendations, not rules. Designers can freely decide which one to use or even they might use a totally different technique not listed here.
Figure 5. User orientation map for adapting the usage of the smart urinal system
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5.1. Ready users The biggest portion of the sample is ‘ready’ user orientation consisting of people who feel ready to use the system, and those who find the system easy to use, useful and trustworthy (n: 63). Given their willingness to use the system, we advise reminding them to use the system regularly so that their intention can turn into action (e.g. sending text messages reminding system use and showing the places that they can access the system), or supporting their continued use through incentives (e.g. a discount coupon for a doctoral examination). This orientation is the most diverse user group in the sample; it involves people with different personality types, different levels of healthcare knowledge and different levels of technology readiness. The personality type ‘balanced’ was the most common type among them which includes people who are extravert, agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable and open to change (n: 23). These people have high health care knowledge, and they have either low or high technology readiness levels. Especially for the ‘balanced’ users with high technological readiness, we suggest integrating mobile phone use with the system (e.g. controlling the system with a mobile phone and storing the results in the phone). We also advise using a medium to encourage social facilitation (e.g. an application allowing users to share their results with friends, family and doctors). ‘Neurotic’ is the second biggest personality type which involves people who are extravert, agreeable, conscientious, and open to change but emotionally unstable (n: 15). They have high health care knowledge, and have either high and low technology readiness levels. As they can be emotionally stressed sometimes and may see the negative sides of things, we advise the use of techniques that show them the negative consequences of their actions to elicit such negative emotions as guilt, stress and anxiety, which will make them feel responsible and act accordingly (e.g. a display providing feedback on the negative consequences of BPH and the importance of pre-diagnosis for its cure). However, this recommendation should be approached with care. The probe questions that we asked during data collection indicates that users in this personality type avoid using the product due to stress, they are afraid of seeing a bad result (e.g. risk of having BPH). Thus, we suggest reminding that the system does not give definite results, and that the final decision will be made after a thorough doctoral examination. This can be achieved by an introductory screen explaining this issue. ‘Close-minded’ is the third biggest personality type in this orientation that includes people who are extravert, agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable but not open to change (n:10). People belonging to this personality type have high levels of health care knowledge but low levels of technology readiness. Thus, we suggest using traditional and familiar ways of interacting with the system (e.g. starting the system with a tangible button and receiving the results as a print report). ‘Unconscientious’ is the fifth personality type which involves people who are extravert, agreeable, emotionally stable, open to change but unconscientious (n: 9). The people in this
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group have high levels of healthcare knowledge and high technology readiness. The main problem for this group as their inclination to lose their attention easily and give up easily. So, we suggest using affordances and constraints in order to reduce their cognitive effort (e.g. reduce the number of steps need to be performed to use the product to the minimum).
5.2. Peer pressure Although the people in this orientation (n: 10) find the system useful and easy to use, they lack social support for using the system. The probe questions revealed that a doctor’s support and approval especially important for them to have an intention to use the system. The people in this group have high levels of healthcare knowledge and high levels of technology readiness. However, all of the participants in this group are not open to using new devices in their health care, they prefer to go through a routine examination where they can interact with the doctor face to face. So, we suggest informing these users about the number of people using the system and the number of people fought with the disease through pre-diagnosis in order to raise their awareness and create a social motivation (e.g. an introduction screen showing such information along with the info indicating that the system is suggested by doctors and trustworthy institutors).
5.3. See no benefit This orientation consists of people who do not see any benefit for themselves in using the system (n: 4). They do not find the system useful, do not trust the results given by it (whether the user has a risk of having BPH), they are reluctant to replace doctoral examination with a pre-diagnosis system. The people in this group have high healthcare knowledge but low levels of technology readiness. We advise using techniques informing them about the positive consequences of using the system (e.g. a display showing the percentages of the people who fought the diseases successfully and the role of pre-diagnosis in this success). In addition to that, we suggest clarifying that this system is not replacing doctors, it is just a facilitator or a self-control mechanism not so different than a personal blood pressure measuring device.
5.4. Do not care The people in this group do not have any intention to use the system at all (n: 3). They do not regard the system useful and trustworthy. Similar to ‘see no benefit’ orientation, they prefer a routine doctoral examination over using the system. The people in this orientation have low healthcare knowledge and low technology readiness. Although there are very few people in this group, they are perhaps the hardest to persuade. So, our first suggestion is to place the system at a hospital and make using the system a required activity for a BPH examination. Our second suggestion would be informing users about the risk of having BPH, the severity of the disease, the importance of pre-diagnosis in curing the disease through various media channels in order to increase their awareness.
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6. Discussion Our aim in writing this paper is to examine the potential application of user orientation maps to health behaviour domain, and thus to assess its applicability to different behavioural change domains. It appears that user orientation maps is a flexible method that can be applied across different behaviours for exploring and communicating user diversity for behavioural change. Design researchers and practitioners can use this method in order to understand the diversity in their target user group and explore various solutions that can create the biggest behavioural change impact for that group. But, there are several important issues for them to consider when using the method. First, one of the most critical steps in the exploration process is selecting the dimensions of user diversity. There are two types of variables for this selection. Core variables represent the direct determinants of a behaviour including intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. These variables are common to different behavioural domains, as it can be seen in two studies we conducted. The second type, additional variables, are those selected according to the nature of a behavioural change project. For instance, while in the first study we selected personality traits and environmental concern as additional variables, we selected personality traits, healthcare knowledge and technology readiness for the second study. These two studies showed that although core variables led to similar user orientations for two different behaviours, the inclusion of additional variables contributed to the exploration of greater diversity. Thus, selection of additional variables is highly essential and critical for the proposed method. Second, using qualitative data could contribute to detailed user orientations and recommendations. One of the differences between two studies is that besides quantitative answers, we also probed the reasons of these answers in the second study. For instance, we discovered that some participants have low intention to use the product due to lack of trust in technology. Such details could help designers better empathize with their users and tailored their solution better for different user orientations. However, using qualitative data could increase the time required to reach a greater number of participants (e.g. 200 attended the first study, 80 attended the second study). So, a balance between qualitative and quantitative data is required to achieve the desired amount of diversity and detail within a preferred time span. Third, and related with the previous point, depending on the time constraints of a design project, designers and researchers may choose constructing user orientations either with or without user research data. We illustrated the construction of orientations with data in this paper and in Coskun and Erbug (in press). We illustrated their construction without the data in Coskun and Erbug (2014). Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, constructing orientations with data is a time intensive work while creating predetermined user orientations saves time. This seems to be advantageous at first, but unlike the former, this approach usually does not provide sufficient information used to justify
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design decisions, e.g. which orientation is more important for the design brief. Thus, we suggest choosing the desired method according to project constraints and design goals. Fourth, it is as equally important to represent the user diversity in an inspirational and useful format for designers as exploring this diversity. This paper and our previous study showed that the exploration method appears to be working well. In both cases, we managed to construct two different user orientation maps. In an attempt to evaluate to what extent the proposed representation method is useful and inspirational for designers, we conducted series of idea generation workshops with design students and found promising results (Coskun, 2015).
7. Conclusion Behavioural change has become a popular area of interest for design. As this area is still growing, it creates new challenges for design researchers and practitioners. One of these challenges is developing behavioural change concepts for a diverse target user group that includes people with different orientations towards performing a desired behaviour. Aiming to help designers overcome this challenge, we proposed a method for exploring and communicating user diversity for behavioural change. We applied this method to a case study on people’s orientations towards a smart urinal system. Discussing these results along with a previous case study in which we applied the method to environmentally friendly driving style, we illustrated that user orientation maps has enough flexibility to be applied different behavioural change contexts. In the future, we intend to extend the application domains of user orientation maps, compare two different approaches for constructing it and evaluate its usefulness and inspirational qualities for designers. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank ORUBA for providing the concept pictures of the smart urinal system. We also would like to thank Utku Ulusahin for his help during data collection.
8. References `Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. Ajzen, I. (2011). The theory of planned behaviour: reactions and reflections. Psychology & Health, 26(9), 1113-1127. doi:10.1080/08870446.2011.613995 Ajzen, I. (2014). The theory of planned behaviour is alive and well, and not ready to retire: a commentary on Sniehotta, Presseau, and Araújo-Soares. Health Psychology Review (ahead-ofprint), 1-7. Cor, E., & Zwolinski, P. (2014). A procedure to define the best design intervention strategy on a product for a sustainable behaviour of the user. Procedia CIRP, (15), 425-430. Coskun, A., & Erbug, C. (2014). User diversity in design for behaviour change. In Lim, Y.-K., Niedderer, K., Redström, J., Stolterman, E., & Valtonen, A. (Eds.), Proceedings of DRS 2014: Design's Big Debates (pp.546-559). Umea, Sweden. Umea: Umeå Institute of Design.
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Coskun, A. (2015). Exploring and communicating user diversity to inform the design of products promoting sustainable behaviours (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Coskun, A., & Erbug, C. (In press). User orientation maps: an approach to address user diversity in design for sustainable behaviour. The Design Journal. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behaviour: the reasoned action approach. New York: Taylor & Francis. Halko, S., & Kientz, J. A. (2010). Personality and persuasive technology: An exploratory study on health-promoting mobile applications. In T. Ploug, P. Hasle & H. Oinas-Kukkonen (Eds). Proceedings of Persuasive 2010, 5th International Conference on Persuasive Technology (pp. 150161). Copenhagen, Denmark. Berlin: Springer. He, H. A., Greenberg, S., & Huang, E. M. (2010). One size does not fit all: applying the Trans theoretical model to energy feedback technology design. In M. Elizabeth (Ed.). Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 927-936). New York: NY, ACM Press. John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five Trait Taxonomy. In O. John, R.W. Robins & L.A. Pervin (Eds.). Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (pp. 114-158). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Kaptein, M., Lacroix, J. & Saini, P. (2010). Individual differences in persuadability in the health promotion domain’. In T. Ploug, P. Hasle & H. Oinas-Kukkonen (Eds). Proceedings of Persuasive 2010, 5th International Conference on Persuasive Technology (pp. 94-105). Copenhagen, Denmark. Berlin: Springer. Kaufman, L. & Rousseeuw, P. J. (2005). Finding groups in data: an introduction to cluster analysis. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Lilley, D., Bailey, V., & Charnley, F. (2013). Design for sustainable behaviour: a quick fix for slower consumption? Paper presented at the 16th Conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) & 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) (ERSCP-EMSU 2013), 4-7 June 2013, Istanbul, Turkey. Retrieved June 14, 2014 from https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/12514 Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N. A. (2012). Models of the user: designers' perspectives on influencing sustainable behaviour. Journal of Design Research, 10(1), 7-27. doi:10.1504/jdr.2012.046137 McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the fiveÂfactor model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60(2), 175-215. NIDDK (2014). Prostate Enlargement: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Retrieved September 3, 2015 from http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/urologic-disease/benignprostatic-hyperplasia-bph/Pages/facts.aspx Or. C. K., & Karsh, B. T. (2009). A systematic review of patient acceptance of consumer health information technology. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 16(4), 550-560. Or, C. K., Karsh, B. T., Severtson, D. J., Burke, L. J., Brown, R. L., & Brennan, P. F. (2011). Factors affecting home care patients' acceptance of a web-based interactive self-management technology. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18(1), 51-59. Parasuraman, A. (2000). Technology Readiness Index (TRI) a multiple-item scale to measure readiness to embrace new technologies. Journal of service research, 2(4), 307-320. Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The Trans-theoretical model of health behavioural change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12(1), 38-48.
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Rammstedt, B., & John, O. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German. Journal of research in Personality, 41(1), 203-212. Sniehotta, F. F., Presseau, J., & Araújo-Soares, V. (2014). Time to retire the theory of planned behaviour. Health Psychology Review, 8(1), 1-7. Wilson, E. V., & Lankton, N. K. (2004). Modeling patients' acceptance of provider-delivered ehealth. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 11(4), 241-248.
About the Authors: Aykut Coskun, PhD. Assist. Prof. Dr. in Koc University Media and Visual Arts Department. Holds a BSc. MSc. and PhD. in industrial design from Middle East Technical University. Research interests are design for behaviour change, design for sustainability, design for healthy living. Cigdem Erbug, PhD. Assoc. Prof. Dr. responsible of supervising Ph.D. students at Middle East Technical University. Holds a BSc. İn industrial design and MSc. and PhD. in Building Science from Middle East Technical Unıversity. Experienced in user research, experience design and design for innovation.
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How I learned to appreciate our tame social scientist: experiences in integrating design research and the behavioural sciences Sander Hermsena*, Remko van der Lugta, Sander Mulderb and Reint Jan Renesa,c a
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences Eindhoven University of Technology c Wageningen University * sander.hermsen@hu.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.17 b
Abstract: Designing solutions for complex behaviour change processes can be greatly aided by integrating insights from the behavioural sciences into design practice. However, this integration is hampered by the relative inaccessibility of behavioural scientific knowledge. Working in a multidisciplinary of design researchers and behavioural scientists may bridge the gap between the two fields. This paper shares our experiences in working as such a multidisciplinary group on a large project, amongst others consisting of the design of interventions for workplace safety. Our cooperation was fruitful, both for design researchers – being able to better structure the messiness of the design process –, behavioural scientists – gaining in ecological validity of their methods –, and commissioners – increased trust in potential outcomes of the design process. However, difficulties preventing synergy also transpired. Keywords: behaviour change; theory-driven design; multidisciplinary design
1. Introduction Using insights from behavioural sciences to inform designs for behaviour change is known to increase both the efficacy of the designs (e.g. Michie et al., 2009), and the decisional accountability of the designer (Van Woerkum & Aarts, 2012). However, designers and design researchers see the state of the art behavioural scientific debate as relatively impenetrable (Pettersen & Boks, 2008) and find it difficult to appreciate the merits and usefulness of different behaviour change theories and strategies (Klasnja, Consolvo, & Pratt, 2011).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Sander Hermsen, Remko van der Lugt, Sander Mulder and Reint Jan Renes
Working in multidisciplinary teams consisting of both behavioural scientists and design researchers might offer a solution to the problem of integrating these two fields. The objective of this paper is to share our experiences of working together as a multidisciplinary group of behavioural scientists and design researchers, to identify areas in which we found synergy as well as barriers and thresholds that hindered seamless cooperation. To do so, we start out by contemplating differences in approach, methods and underlying assumptions in the fields of design and behavioural science, and then continue with introducing a design case from our collaborative project as an attempt to overcome these differences. We will discuss when and how the interaction of methods from design and science complement and augment each other, and present our experiences on the value of using designerly methods in the social sciences and vice versa.
1.1 A gap between the fields Given the benefits of basing designs for behaviour change on theories and evidence from the behavioural sciences, it is not surprising that there has been a great increase in publications covering behaviour change in design research literature (Hekler, Klasnja, Froehlich, and Buman, 2013). A range of projects exists to integrate findings from the behavioural sciences in design research, (e.g. Oinas-Kukkonen, 2010; Lockton, Harrison, and Stanton, 2010a; Hermsen, Renes, and Frost, 2014). Similarly, the field of health psychology has seen a surge of behaviour change intervention projects that involve some degree of design1. However, a disconnect remains between the two fields that appears difficult to abridge. Findings remain largely siloed within the two communities, with substantial obstacles preventing synergy. Besides the practical level (paywalls, limited access, field-specific terminology), three reasons can be identified for this disconnect. Firstly, design researchers find it hard to appreciate the trustworthiness of the theory used, or of its applicability in the present situation, choosing to base their work on theories that are relatively well-known and appealing, but have been all but discredited in their fields of origin; such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour2, e.g. in Coskun & Erbug (2014), and the Trans-Theoretical Model3, e.g. in Consolvo, McDonald, & Landay (2009); Nakajima & Lehdonvirta (2013); and Ludden & Hekkert (2014). Secondly, we encountered that designers and design researchers are often unaware of their implicit views on how the users of their designs are going to use them (cf. Lockton, Harrison, & Stanton, 2010b). These implicit user theories more often than not see the user as either overly rational, capable of motivating behaviour change at the presentation of a single fact, or overly naive and easy to manipulate. Based on these implicit theories, designers tend to 1
E.g. Brown et al. (2014), on the design of a website to support smoking cessation; Direito, Jiang, Whittaker, and Maddison (2015) on the design of apps to increase physical activity; Horne-Moyer, Moyer, Messer, and Messer (2014) on the role of video games in therapeutic settings. 2 Cf. Sniehotta, Pressau, and AraĂşjo-Soares (2014) for an extensive critique on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. 3 Cf. West (2005) for an overview of critique on the Trans-Theoretical Model, with additional points made by Adams and White (2005) on the general lack of ecological validity in stage-based models of human behaviour)
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select existing theories that fit their purposes best, regardless of conflicting evidence – a process known as 'cherry picking'. Finally, it is not at all uncommon in design projects that insights from desk-, literature- and user research are used only in a preliminary, ideation phase, as a source of inspiration (Hermsen, Mulder, Renes, & Van der Lugt, 2015). Later on in the design process, this knowledge tends to get cluttered by ideas, concepts and other design materials, which leads to designers relying solely on their 'gut feelings', which may very well contradict earlier findings from research. This problem, of selecting an appropriate theoretical framework as a vantage point for design research projects and using this theoretical groundwork as an anchoring mechanism in the design process, might be overcome by working in a multi-disciplinary team, in which design researchers and behavioural scientists cooperate. Ideally, including behavioural scientists in a design research project could shed light on the merits and relevance of theories for the task at hand, and avoid cherry picking. However, such cooperation is not without difficulty. Differences in approach, methodology, and view on what constitutes truth, hinder mutual understanding. For designers and design researchers, the starting point of an investigation into the desirability and feasibility of a behaviour change process is typically a holistic appreciation of the richness of a person's experience and acts (Cross, 1982; Sevaldson, 2010). The approach of behavioural scientists appears diametrically opposed to the designer's methods. Behavioural science is essentially reductionist in nature, attempting to establish the influence of single factors in controlled circumstances. This scientific method is especially powerful in falsifying invalid assumptions, i.e. knowing 'what does not cause what' (Cross, 1982). Designers might feel that scientific modelling, the breaking down of complex situations in controllable sub-problems, is elusive. This approach might help the design process forward by providing a sense of grip on the problem by means of (over)simplification. Unfortunately, simplifications more often than not fail to do justice to the richness of real peoples' lives. Interestingly, behavioural scientists too are slowly becoming aware of the value of the context in experimental interventions (Tarquinio et al., 2015).
1.2 A multidisciplinary approach Given the differences in methodology and ideas about truth finding, it is not self-evident that multidisciplinary teams can overcome these obstacles and come to a fruitful cooperation in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In design research literature and elsewhere, there have, as yet, not been many attempts to investigate cooperative projects consisting of design researchers and behavioural scientists. This paper attempts to add to by reporting on our cooperation in a recent project. In the past two years, we have been working together in a project that brings together participants from both academia – classical universities, technical universities and universities of applied sciences – and praxis – designers of products, services, interaction
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and visuals. The aim of the project, aptly named Touchpoints!, is to open up recent insights from behavioural sciences to designers for sustainable and healthy living. Our endeavour distinguishes itself from most other efforts to integrate design and behavioural science, in that it is based upon a synthesis of meta-analyses of scientific behaviour change literature on basic principles for behaviour change. A second difference is that we attempt to deliver this knowledge in such a way, that it is not only usable in initial inspirational phases, but throughout the entire design process. We worked in a mixed team consisting of service designers, design researchers from theory and praxis, behavioural scientists and visual designers. This means that the team is not grounded in a single discipline, be it behavioural sciences or design research, but we have had to find a collective grounding by means of bridging the gap between the two disciplines. The project's first outcomes came in the form of theoretical groundwork: an extensive, evidence-based behaviour change model – the Persuasive by Design model (PbD, Hermsen, Renes, & Frost, 2014; Hermsen, 2015; Hermsen, Mulder, Renes, & Van der Lugt 2015; see figure 1). The model inspires designers to consider the distinction between automatic (impulse, habitual) behaviour and controlled behaviour; the former takes the form of a simple cue-response-chain, whereas the latter is more reminiscent of a thermostat, in which a person compares their own behaviour with a set goal, and given enough motivation, opportunity, and capabilities, regulates their behaviour. Early versions of the PbD-model utilized differently coloured layers to aid designers in informing their designs on various aspects of behaviour change theory; in the latest version of the model this relatively cluttered layer-based approach is translated into five key areas or 'lenses' (for an overview of the different versions of the model, see Hermsen, 2015). These five behavioural lenses offer insights into individual and social aspects of behaviour change. The five themes covered by the lenses are habits and impulses; knowledge, attitudes, and resistance; selfmonitoring skills; motivation, capabilities, and opportunity; and persistently acting out the desired behaviour.
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Figure 1: The latest rendition of the Persuasive by Design model
To open up the model's strengths to designers, we used it to inform the design of a suite of tools, ranging from a canvas to determine target behaviours for the change process, tools that allow for thinking about behaviour change in terms of the customer journey, to tools that provide links to much-used business building tools such as the Value Proposition Canvas (Osterwalder, Pigneur, Bernarda, & Smith, 2015). In developing these tools, we sought for ways that allow designers to develop behaviour change interventions that are scientifically informed. This theory-driven approach ideally leads to an enhanced decisional accountability, increasingly required by clients in both business and the public domain.
2. Design case ‘safety behaviour at a gas plant’, the intertwining of design and behavioural science We will now present a brief design case as an additional way to convey what we have learned. This allows us to embed our findings in the practice of designing an intervention. The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (Netherlands Oil Company, NAM) commissioned the Dutch service design bureau Mindmeeting to think of new interventions to encourage safe behaviour during maintenance work at a natural gas winning plant. During yearly overhauls the plant is temporarily taken out of order and NAM-workers and subcontractors do their maintenance jobs. NAM managers have taken measures such as signage to enhance the
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safety of own personnel and that of subcontractors. Yet the NAM felt a fresh approach may lead to even higher standards of safe behaviour. Mindmeeting specialises in creating learning processes for professionals. Given the opportunity to take a novel approach, they engaged behavioural scientists of the Research Group Cross-media Communication in the Public Domain of the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences to research and develop evidence-based interventions. The behavioural scientists, in turn, invited senior designers from three design agencies into the process. To gain insight on the context, behavioural scientific researchers used a question set based on the PbD-model to set up structured interviews and meetings with stakeholders, to determine the needs and characteristics of plant workers and their managers. They documented current safety measures, e.g. existing signage at various NAM plants, and conducted literature research on safety behaviour. A crucial finding in this stage was a mismatch between NAM's current approach to encourage safe behaviour – providing knowledge – and insights from the behavioural sciences on factors that most aid such safe behaviour, such as safety motivation, job attitudes, stewardship, and the willingness to perform whistleblowing behaviour (Christian, Bradley, Wallace, & Burke, 2012). In other words, safety should be something ‘owned and lived’ by the workers themselves, rather than being imposed by an outside authority issuing rules the workers have to submit to. Findings from this stage were used as input in a design pressure cooker meeting, where researchers of both denominations developed interventions to be implemented in a large plant maintenance overhaul (figure 2). The aim of the meeting was to come up with concepts for interventions to be implemented in a large plant maintenance overhaul. The conceptual design revolved around safety participation, safety motivation and improving group safety culture. Question sets based upon the PbD-model were used for brainstorming and concepting, to obtain focus and to translate abstract behavioural goals into feasible, quantifiable behaviours.
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Figure 2: Design pressure cooker with design researchers, service designers, and behavioural scientists
Behavioural sciences' distinction between automatic and reflective aspects of behaviour proved useful in this phase. Much attention went into devising concepts that aimed at automatic behaviours such as habits and impulses. On the other hand, designerly techniques such as thinking in metaphors also proved fruitful. One example of such a metaphor is diving, where buddies take care of each other’s safety after heavy training on automatic behaviours and habits applied both under and outside of the water. The diving metaphor resulted in an experiential intervention shaped like a gate that emphasises the transition from the 'safe' changing rooms to the implicitly dangerous working zones at the gas plant (figure 3).
Figure 3: A gate emphasizing the transition between the relative safety of the changing area and the relative dangers of the working zones. The exit to the relative safety outside the building site is visible.
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Three interventions were developed. Firstly, as mentioned before, we designed a gate that makes the transition from the 'safe' changing rooms to the implicitly dangerous working zones tangible. Usually, this transition is passed through withouth noticing, which does not encourage taking the relative dangers of the workspace into account. The gate, which had to be passed in order to enter the building site, emphasized in its design exactly the relative dangers of the work space and the safety of the changing rooms. Secondly, we developed an intervention in which small groups of plant workers make a tour of the construction site and mark and report potentially dangerous issues on the building site, seen from their professional perspective, using a map derived from an aerial photograph (figure 4). These insights are then used for discussion in the next day's start-up meeting. Thirdly, we developed an intervention for plant safety trainings in which workers select a card containing a specific aspect of work safety from a deck. To encourage active responsibility for work safety, workers think through and discuss how this particular aspect of work safety relates to their work practices. Limitations of the social psychological perspective became clear in our work, for instance in attempts to design a concept to encourage whistleblowing behaviour (which resulted in our second intervention). Whistleblowing behaviour is often very hard to perform because of underlying systemic factors: whistleblowing might lead to delays, which is seen as undesirable by both management and workers. Furthermore, whistleblowing is often framed as an act of an individual against the behaviour of another individual. Often to the whistle-blower ends up being punished for his or her good behaviour. To overcome these systemic influences, we made sure our aforementioned intervention in which teams of plant workers mark and report potentially dangerous issues, encouraged stewardship and emphasized the professional role of the workers. Another intervention took place during training sessions, in which workers select one category of risks especially salient for their work from a set of potential risk areas and discuss possible prevention strategies (figure 5). This should encourage active responsibility for work safety.
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Figure 4: An aerial photograph of the plant was used for daily safety tours performed by plant workers to identify potential hazards
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Figure 5: Interactive training exercise, in which workers select a risk category that is particularly salient for their work, and talk about possible prevention strategies
To assess the efficacy of our interventions, we applied a range of assessment methods from the behavioural sciences. Not every assessment method proved effective. For instance, we used an attention-measuring paradigm often used in cognitive neuroscience: an oddball task, in which subjects have to detect, amongst a series of standard stimuli, an infrequent deviant one (Garcia-Larrea, Lukaszewicz, and Mauguière, 1992). To have workers participate in this oddball task, we constructed a booth outside and inside the gate, to compare response times in the task. We hypothesized that greater attention would increase reaction times inside the gate, but the distractions and the diversions of the real world on the workplace made this measurement infeasible. Similarly, an assessment of quality and quantity of various safety protocolling techniques, through which we hoped to assess a general increase of safety-related reports and a higher quality of safety-related feedback, was thwarted by the introduction mid-assessment of a new protocol registration form by management. Fortunately, a content analysis of safety meeting minutes, and feedback sessions from external safety quality assessment professionals, showed an increase in safety motivation behaviour, especially in participation in safety-related meetings.
3. Insights from our projects The project, but especially the translation of the Persuasive by Design-model into something that designers for behaviour change find use for in their work, gave us valuable insights into how to connect design and behavioural sciences, disciplines that are quite distinct in methodology and underlying assumptions. These lessons did not come easy; the differences between the disciplines sometimes made it hard to understand and appreciate the other's viewpoints. In hindsight however, this
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cooperation proved very fruitful. Participants from both disciplines – (participatory) design research and behavioural sciences – indicate that they have learned a great deal from each other’s research methods and worldviews. The knowledge gained came from working gradually towards shared understanding about designing for behaviour change. As an added bonus, we found that the collaboration opened doors for design professionals into the offices of (mostly) governmental clients that hitherto were only opened for communication agencies, offering campaigns. Adapting a structured procedure of informing their designs by insights from behavioural sciences, helped designers overcome potential commissioners' insecurity about the uncertain results of the design process.
3.1 Similarities and differences Our cooperation gave us insights in both differences and similarities between our fields. Similarities sometimes cropped up in unexpected form, when we found that similar concepts were used under different names in both fields. One such similarity is the use of sensitization in participatory design and user research. Sensitizing users to the occurrence and effect of undesired behaviours increases the richness of the information users can provide in contextual interviews and other information gathering techniques. This use of prior stimulation to increase the availability of knowledge and behaviour is also widely used in the behavioural sciences. This technique is known as 'priming' and mostly applied in settings where automatic, often unconscious, behaviours are activated. Such findings of similarity lead to initial confusion, followed by increased understanding. However, differences also occurred. Designers often adopt a pragmatic approach that is hard to accept for behavioural scientists. This focus on whether an intervention works, versus the focus on a concept's inherent truthfulness that is adopted by behavioural scientists, is a major cause of misunderstanding and lack of appreciation between the two disciplines. This difference in focus can be illustrated by looking at how designers use personas (Pruitt & Grudin, 2003) to inform their design process. At first glance, the practice of constructing and utilizing personas appears to resemble the use of target groups in behavioural sciences. However, the primary use of individual information to the behavioural scientist is as a potential moderator of expected outcomes, i.e. to split target groups into subgroups. The usability of single person narratives to inspire the design of a concept is hard to grasp for behavioural scientist. Oftentimes they will question how large a target group each persona represents, while personas are not meant to be a representation of a group but meant to provide a reality check to see whether design moves make sense for at least some (more-orless) real users.
3.2 The value of one discipline to the other When applying insights from behavioural sciences has a valuable contribution to design, this value lies providing structure and grip on the inherent messiness of the situation that is to
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be improved. Utilizing a behaviour model has much to offer to add to the validity of design concepts, the extent to which the design achieves its initial purpose. In the NAM-case described above, the PbD-model from our project functioned as a scaffold that prescribed the various stages of the design process. Using the model and the tools derived from it, enabled and eased the sometimes-difficult step from desk and user research to intervention design. Furthermore, it increased the internal consistency in the entire design process, which not only prevented cherry picking of seemingly practical chunks of scientific insight whilst ignoring inconvenient findings, but also meant a single line of reasoning – the notion that safe behaviour depends more on motivation and participation than on knowledge – could be held up and tracked from initial findings through operationalization of these findings to the evaluation of intervention effects. Perhaps this means the design process had less unexpected turns and less loose ends than is usual for a project of this scale. Most of all, it gave the client a sense of trust that these creatives ‘knew what they were doing’, and were more inclined to join them in this journey into the unknown. Contrastingly, the value of insights from design for the behavioural sciences are invariably in the connection of theory and the real world, for instance in using visualisations and prototypes to move forward with incomplete or very complex information. Designing a prototype enables and structures thinking and discussing about complex realities, making it possible to envision the value of a theory in a rich context. Furthermore, adopting a behavioural science approach often entails focusing on the level of the individual. In a design process, this means the designer runs the risk of losing a systemic perspective, which oftentimes has a large influence on the behaviour. In the NAM-case, this might have led us to design a promotion campaign for whistleblowing behaviour without considering the system and intergroup dynamics that counteract such behaviour. Such an approach certainly would have failed. Finally, the case study showed that there is a need for practical, usable tools to evaluate the effect of designs for behavioural change in practice. Known measures from scientific laboratories are often too delicate and prone to disturbances when used in the field; current evaluation techniques from design research, however, are often not very rigorous and do not lead to valid and reliable measurements.
4. Conclusions In the design case presented in this paper, our multidisciplinary approach was certainly effective, and led to valuable results for both design researchers and behavioural scientists. The design researchers benefited from the possibilities for anchoring of the design process in theory and evidence the behavioural scientific approach offered; the behavioural scientists benefited from the increased ecological validity of the designerly perspective. If performed with care and consideration, a joint approach combining designerly methods with
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behavioural science can therefore greatly enhance the efficacy of the work of all parties involved. However, differences transpired that might hinder synergy. Differences in what constitutes evidence and how truth is found can easily lead to unbridgeable differences in approach, makes it hard to value other's contribution. When working in multidisciplinary teams, therefore, it is paramount that all team members are attentive to moments when conflicting worldviews cloud cooperation. The most surprising benefits of our cooperation were not for the design researchers or the behavioural scientists involved, but for their clients. Using an evidence base to evaluate insights from 'messy reality', and reflection of the internal validity and advancements of the design process, means that the integration of knowledge from science and user research does not stop at the ideation phase. The approach gives reluctant clients the much-needed confidence to engage in an open-ended process, which they might otherwise not be comfortable with. We have noticed that the combination of concrete concepts such as sketches and prototypes on the one hand, and the structuring scaffold of scientific theories and models on the other, reassures the client that the design process is well-structured and has a good chance of reaching depths of insight that were previously unattainable. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the commissioner of the design case, NAM, and the design project partners: Agnes Voorintholt and Eric de Groot (Mindmeeting), Onno van der Veen (Ideate), Fred Montijn (Sparckl) and Jeroen van Geel (Oak & Morrow). Parts of the research for this paper were made possible by a grant from SIA/RAAK.
5. References Adams, J., & White, M. (2005). Why don't stage-based activity promotion interventions work?. Health education research, 20(2), 237-243. Brown, J., Michie, S., Geraghty, A. W., Yardley, L., Gardner, B., Shahab, L., ... & West, R. (2014). Internet-based intervention for smoking cessation (StopAdvisor) in people with low and high socioeconomic status: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2(12), 9971006. Christian, M. S., Bradley, J. C., Wallace, J. C., & Burke, M. J. (2009). Workplace safety: a meta-analysis of the roles of person and situation factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1103. Consolvo, S., McDonald, D. W., & Landay, J. A. (2009). Theory-driven design strategies for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 405-414). ACM. Coskun, A., & Erbug, C. (2014). User Diversity in Design for Behavior Change. In: Lim, Y.-K., Niedderer, K., Redström, J., Stolterman, E., & Valtonen, A. (Eds.) Proceedings of DRS 2014: Design's Big Debates. Umeå, Sweden: Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University. Cross, N. (1982). Designerly Ways of Knowing. Design Studies, 3(4), 221 -227. London: Springer. Direito, A., Jiang, Y., Whittaker, R., & Maddison, R. (2015). Apps for IMproving FITness and Increasing Physical Activity Among Young People: The AIMFIT Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(8), e210.
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Garcia-Larrea, L., Lukaszewicz, A.-C., & Mauguière, F. (1992). Revisiting the oddball paradigm. Nontarget vs. neutral stimuli and the evaluation of ERP attentional effects. Neuropsychologia 30 (8), 723–741. Hekler, E. B., Klasnja, P., Froehlich, J. E., & Buman, M. P. (2013). Mind the theoretical gap: interpreting, using, and developing behavioral theory in HCI research. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p. 3307-3316. Hermsen, S. (2015, May 21). How Can We Support Designers to Create Theory-Driven Designs for Behaviour Change? [Web log post]. Retrieved 2016, March 7, from https://medium.com/@sanderhermsen/how-can-we-support-designers-to-create-theory-drivendesigns-for-behaviour-change-the-persuasive-a8e3f5a5f6de#.py20ba5t4. Hermsen, S., Mulder, S., Renes, R.J., & Van der Lugt, R. (2015): Using the Persuasive by Design Model to inform the design of complex behaviour change concepts: two case studies. In: Proceedings, 11th Conference of the European Academy of Design. Paris, Université Paris René Descartes. Hermsen, S., Renes, R.J., & Frost, J.H. (2014). Persuasive by Design: a Model and Toolkit for Designing Evidence-Based Interventions. In: Making the Difference. Proceedings, CHI Sparks 2014. The Hague, Netherlands: The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Horne-Moyer, H. L., Moyer, B. H., Messer, D. C., & Messer, E. S. (2014). The Use of Electronic Games in Therapy: a Review with Clinical Implications. Current Psychiatry reports, 16(12), 1-9. Klasnja, P., Consolvo, S., & Pratt, W. (2011). How to evaluate technologies for health behavior change in HCI research. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3063-3072). ACM. Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N. A. (2010a). The Design with Intent Method: A design tool for influencing user behaviour. Applied Ergonomics, 41(3), 382-392. Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N. A. (2010b). Modelling the user: how design for sustainable behaviour can reveal different stakeholder perspectives on human nature. Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation: 14th European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) conference and the 6th Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) conference, Delft, The Netherlands, October 25-29, 2010. Delft University of Technology; The Hague University of Applied Sciences; TNO. Ludden, G.D.S. & Hekkert, P.P.M. (2014). Design for healthy behavior. design interventions and stages of change. Proceedings, Ninth International Conference on Design and Emotion. Bogota, Colombia, October 6-9. Michie, S., Abraham, C., Whittington, C., McAteer, J., & Gupta, S. (2009). Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: a meta-regression. Health Psychology, 28(6), 690. Nakajima, T., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2013). Designing Motivation using Persuasive Ambient Mirrors. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 17(1), 107-126. Oinas-Kukkonen, H. (2010). Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda. Persuasive Technology Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 6137, 4-14. Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2015). Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want. John Wiley & Sons. Pettersen, I., & Boks, C. (2008). User-centred design strategies for sustainable patterns of consumption. In T. Geer Ken (Ed.), Proceedings: Sustainable Consumption and Production: Framework for action, Brussels, Belgium. Conference of the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange.
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Pruitt, J., & Grudin, J. (2003). Personas: practice and theory. Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on Designing for User Experiences (pp. 1-15). New York, NY: ACM. Sevaldson, B. (2010). Discussions & movements in design research. FORMakademisk, 3(1). Sniehotta, F. F., Presseau, J., & AraĂşjo-Soares, V. (2014). Time to retire the theory of planned behaviour. Health Psychology Review, 8(1), 1-7. Tarquinio, C., Kivits, J., Minary, L., Coste, J., & Alla, F. (2015). Evaluating complex interventions: Perspectives and issues for health behaviour change interventions. Psychology & Health, 30(1), 3551. Van Woerkum, M.A., & Aarts, N. (2012). Accountability: To broaden the scope. Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change, 9, 271-283 West, R. (2005). Time for a change: putting the Transtheoretical (Stages of Change) Model to rest. Addiction, 100(8), 1036-1039.
About the Authors: Sander Hermsen is a researcher at the same research group; his work focuses on evaluating designs for behavioural change and increasing their efficacy, and on developing models and toolkits that make insights from the behavioural sciences available for designers. Remko van der Lugt is professor (lector) of participatory design at the Research Group for Co-Design. His research focuses on developing and exploring new tools and techniques for stimulating creativity in design. Sander Mulder is a design researcher with Design Innovation Group (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and PhD-student in design theory at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Reint Jan Renes is professor (lector) of cross-media communication in the public domain. He specializes in research into (health) communication and behavioural change.
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A Design Approach for Risk Communication, the Case of Type 2 Diabetes Farzaneh Eftekhari* and Tsai Lu Liu North Carolina State University * feftekh@ncsu.edu DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.194
Abstract: Type 2 diabetes continues to grow significantly around the world as a result of nutrition transition and obesity. Prevention methods depends on how well individuals at risk adapt to a healthy nutritional lifestyle and increase their physical exercise. It is an emergent situation for diabetes risk communication and education programs specifically in vulnerable societies. This study leverages an interactive platform for diabetes risk communication using human-object interaction. The approach is based on an ‘object-based learning’ method for communicating risk. The designed object has elements to motivate and support the community toward an increase in physical activity and a healthy diet. Furthermore, this research looks at risk perceptions and stakeholder engagement of lay people from vulnerable communities. Understanding risk perception and misconception is important to provide diabetes educational services in accordance to local demands.
Keywords: Risk Communication, Design for Behaviour Change, Human-Object Interaction, Mental Model
1. Introduction The spread of diabetes has emerged as a major health concern around the world. It is estimated that there will be 592 million people with Type 2 diabetes by 2035 compared to 382 million in 2013 (Guariguata, et al 2014). Diabetes is a long-term disease that has significant impact on an individual’s lifestyle; for instance, in order to manage this disease, it is vital for individuals to control their blood sugar, possibly by taking medicine such as insulin, and by changing their eating habits. Studies have emphasized that awareness is an important component of the control and prevention of diabetes. Prevention of diseases such as diabetes is connected to the social This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
A Design Approach for Risk Communication, the Case of Type 2 Diabetes
awareness and level of education in each community (Feinstein 2006). Education is a powerful tool, proven to effect healthcare, both directly by increasing awareness of disease prevention (Hammond 2002) and indirectly by influencing people’s behavior and actions toward their health (Hammond 2004; Ross & Mirowski 1999). Preventive education can be effective “if designed and delivered appropriately to address particular notions about health and illness” (Feinstein 2006) A designed risk communication and educational platform can facilitate informational transformation in society. In the process of risk communication for diabetes awareness, critical questions are recommended for applied researchers to address. This study addressed: 1.) how risks of diabetes are understood in the community and typically communicated, 2.) what are the perceptions and important misconceptions about diabetes in the targeted society; and 3.) promote healthy eating and weight control as well as physical activity at the individual level.
1.1 Perception and Mental Model Alongside awareness, perception and misconceptions were shown to influence disease preventative action. It is very important to understand these perceptions as they will likely impact a patient’s decision to take action or not regarding their disease (Noë 2004). “Lay people bring to any risk a web of beliefs, called mental models, that reflects some mix of knowledge, misinformation, and ignorance” (Fisher, et al 2002). The mental model reveals individuals’ thoughts about their surroundings and how something works. The personal perceptive recognition of the risk event will create the mental model about that specific risk. Information needs to be tailored based on the community’s mental model to help advance individuals' understanding of risk (Fisher, et al 2002).
1.2 Feeling and Emotion Effective risk communications can help people adapt to preventative and in-advance community action (Fischhoff, Bostrom, and Quadrel 1993). The way people behave and perform during a risk event is not completely a cognitive process and it may not be fully in accordance with the individual’s knowledge. Emotions and social processes play a significant role in this reaction process (Fischhoff, Bostrom, Quadrel 1993). There are different models that explain how people perceive risks. A popular approach suggests that people perceive risk based on how they feel about the risk more than what they know about the risk (Epstein 1994; Slovic, et al 2004). Risk managers, however, paid less attention to how people felt about the risk; instead, they exclusively provided risk-related knowledge to the vulnerable population. Conversely, the public ignored important messages in several instances and tended to emphasize their feelings about the risk; and their behavior was based on their perception of risk. Overall feeling and experience of participants play an important role for the success and effect of risk communication strategy. According to Slovic, et al (2004), an individual assimilates risk based on two fundamental systems: “Analytical system” and “experimental
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system” (Table 1). Analytic system uses normative rules and formal rules and participants receive the knowledge and information through analytical system. Table 1
Experimental System Vs. Analytical System (Slovic, et al 2004)
Experimental System
Analytical System
Holistic
Analytic
Emotion and affect
Logical
Rapid processing and immediate action
Thinking and slower action
It is valid because of self belief or experience
It is valid because of evidence and logic
This system acts on a highly conscious and rational process. Conversely, the “experimental system” is intuitive, a mostly automatic and relatively subconscious process. The experimental system relies heavily on images and associations linked by experience to emotion (Slovic, et al 2004). These two systems should rely on each other to be effective. However, the difference of the two systems in risk communication is important to be recognized. Although analytic system is certainly important, emotion in experimental system has a quicker, easier effect on decision-making and a more efficient way to navigate in a complex, uncertain and dangerous world (Slovic, et al 2004). As a result, the important question in risk communication is how do we apply ‘reason’ to trigger ‘emotional appraisal’ to manage risk?
2. Hypothesis The hypothesis of the object-based experiment in this research was associated with the idea of "indwelling" in terms of learning through processes of knowing, playing and making (Garber 2013). In designing the educational platform for risk communication, this study looked at the indwelling theory to understand how knowledge is transferred to a learning stage in which people take preventative action to avoid risks such as diabetes. “We only truly learn when we indwell what we want to learn” (Garber 2013). Standing outside an event will rarely foster learning; rather, individuals learn when they step in to explore and learn about the risk themselves. This project proposed an experimental and object-based method providing an environment in which people interact physically with a mechanically powered blender to make smoothies (pedaling on bicycle to power a blender). The system was designed with attention to the core diabetes preventative actions, including physical exercise and a healthy diet. According to Fogg Behavior Model (FBM) (Figure 1), “behavior is a product of three factors: motivation, ability, and triggers” (Fogg 2009). Learning alone cannot guarantee a participant’s decision to take diabetes preventative action and make behavioral change. Fogg suggests that individuals might decide to change behavior if they are sufficiently motivated, have the ability to perform the behavior, and are triggered to perform the behavior.
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High Motivation
Core Motivators
Target Behavior
Simplicity Factors
Low Motivation Low Ability
High Ability
Figure 1 Fogg Behavior Model (FBM), (Fogg 2009)
The Kinzie (2005) model is also a five-stage instructional strategy that provides a general guideline and instruction for applying a method of communication for behavioral change. The model is designed for field researchers to communicate health information to a community. The model in table 2 suggests starting the program with an attractive announcement to gain people’s attention. In the second stage, people are ready to receive the stimulus service and materials. Transferring information in the third stage is the challenge and the significant stage in the process for behavioral change. The learning guidance should be simple, clear and effective for the audiences. The fourth note in the Kinzie (2005) model suggests conducting observational and qualitative research in parallel with analyzing an individual’s reactions. It is important to receive feedback of the targeted community about the designed educational platform. Finally, encourage retention strengthens the program’s impact for behavioral change and thus support the future stages in the study.
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Table 2 Five-Stage Instructional Strategy for Behaviour Change (Kinzie 2005)
Step
Stage
Gain attention
1
Present stimulus material
2
Provide Learning guidance
3
Elicit performance and provide feedback
4
Enhance retention and transfer
5
Figure 2 D-Pedal Test
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2.1 D-Pedal Diabetes Educational Platform Some studies suggest combining techniques for behavioral change communication. As an example, Brisco and Aboud (2012) suggest that due to the complexity of behavior change process, an effective intervention in a community would depend on a platform of education to integrate techniques at four levels: behavior level (performance techniques), social level (social support, interpersonal media), sensory level (materials, media), and cognitive level (problem solving, information). We centered our study in the multinational neighborhood of Mouraria in Lisbon and gave our project the code name D-Pedal. We worked in collaboration with Technical University of Lisbon, IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research. D-Pedal was designed to be a core object in our educational platform to be tested in Mouraria neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal. Mouraria is the neighborhood in the historical part of Lisbon, with immigrants from China, India, Africa, Pakistan and other Arab countries who live alongside elderly Portuguese citizens. This neighborhood is considered a vulnerable and multi-national neighborhood in Lisbon. The D-Pedal brand name was developed to embed the main components of Diabetes (D) Prevention (P), Education (E), Design (D), and an Active (A) Lifestyle (L). D-Pedal focuses on Diabetes and Pedal (as the verb) in order to magnify the cycling action by promoting an active lifestyle. Based on the Kinzie (2005) model, gaining attention should be the first stage of the communication strategy for behavior change. In this experimental educational platform, the first goal was to collect qualitative data on emotional impacts of the D-Pedal experience and to observe participants’ reactions and analyze the appraised emotions in the study. We were interested in understanding how the emotions of D-Pedal experiences might influence the process of communication and the participants’ engagement, and to understand how object-interaction might be applied for creating a conducive environment for risk communication. Our second goal was to look at knowledge/information transformation in the D-Pedal experiment. An open conversation about diabetes could provide information about the community’s perceptions and misconceptions about the disease, as well as how the D-Pedal platform might effectively create a community network and information transfer system in vulnerable societies.
2.2 Appraisal Emotion - Emotion Theory Emotions are associated with specific appraisals. According to appraisal theory, each emotion can cause a specific reaction or decision in people. “Emotions predispose individuals to appraise the environment in specific ways toward similar functional ends. Each emotion activates a predisposition to appraise future events in line with the central appraisal dimensions that triggered the emotion” (Lerner, Keltner 2001). To further analyze the impact of appraisal emotions in the D-Pedal experience, this study explored emotion and affect theories. Lerner & Keltner (2000; 2001) illustrated the
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appraisal-tendency framework and suggested a model of emotion-specific influences on judgment and choice. This model was used to analyze the impact of D-Pedal in appraising emotions of ‘surprise’ and ‘pride’ and reduce the emotion of ‘fear’ and how this might influence our communication process. According to “Emotion appraisal tendency model” by Learner and Keltner (2000; 2001), fear has the potential to generate a negative perception that the risk is unpredictable and beyond one’s control. As long as fear is dominant in the environment, risk communication for health prevention, management and control becomes beyond access. However, appraisal emotions will support the conductivity, trust and social network tie in DPedal experiment which is the first essential stage for communicating diabetes risk in a community. This early stage does not relate to behavioral change but sets the right conditions that instill an optimistic and motivational mood in people, opening them up to acquire new information. According to experimental system, emotions accelerate actions and effect how people decide; however, it is important to analyze the correlation of emotion and reactions of individuals in the experiment. D-Pedal brings ‘surprise’ and ‘excitement’ to the targeted society (with unexpected elements) by integrating bicycle and blender. It therefore has the potential to attract individuals to explore the system by pedaling on the bicycle while powering the blender. The system is designed to be experimental, playful and exploratory. Participants need to pedal for a few minutes to make a smoothie and then receive a cup of the drink as their reward. The diabetes risk communication platform of D-Pedal was designed to engage two important aspects: Hypothesis 1. during the knowledge transformation or risk communication, DPedal applies a playful and explorative mechanism to fully engage participants and transfer information to the community. Hypothesis 2. In the second stage, D-Pedal can also provide a conductive environment to share information. This design provides researchers in D-Pedal testing with significant information about diabetes misconceptions and perceptions in the targeted society.
3. Method This study implemented an ethnographic field research. Testing sessions were held in different settings with various ages and groups in Mouraria, Portugal. In collaboration with IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research in Lisbon, D-Pedal was built and tested. In each session, observational research and interviews were done by a psychologist and a designer in the field. Observations, video and picture analysis and interviews were conducted with residents of all ages, NGOs, the diabetes association of Lisbon and two nurses who were in our focus group. In this multinational community, a group of four researchers in the field might have to speak Portuguese, English, Arabic, Italian or Romanian
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with residents. In order to build communication in this multi-lingual context, we identified the five clusters as the sampling zones for the interviews and testing D-Pedal. Table 3
Four different locations for testing D-Pedal
Settings in Mouraria
Cluster
In front of the medical van
1
In front of the local shopping center
2
In the main street of Mouraria (Local Bazaar)
3
Dia Center (center for elder Portuguese)
4
Prior to testing D-Pedal, the research group conducted a pilot study in the community by randomly choosing 11 community members and asking semi-structured questions about diabetes. Figure 3 is the demography of the participants. We included Portuguese and non Portuguese in the study in order to provide a realistic sample of the community.
Lisbon Semi-Structure Interview D-Pedal Diabetes risk factors in Mouraria 1- Do you know diabetes? 2-What is diabetes for you? 3-Does anyone in your family or friends have diabetes? 8-What kind of problem does your friend face to manage diabetes? 9-Where is the closet clinic in this area? 11-What do you think are the main risk factors of diabetes in your neighborhood? Figure 3 the demographics of the participants of pilot study (11 individuals) in clockwise order: a) Age b) Nationality c) Gender d) Semi structured interview, list list of questions
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For D-Pedal test, D-Pedal research group developed collaborative research with Associação Protectora dos Diabéticos de Portugal (APDP)1 (diabetes association of Portugal) to conduct field research in the neighborhood and get their feedback on the D-Pedal device. Together with APDP, a questionnaire was developed to collect general information about diabetes prevalence in Mouraria and to observe how the community would possibly react toward questions about diabetes.
Figure 4 Pilot study in Mouraria, Semi-Structured question interviews in the Field
To better understand the community’s reaction toward D- Pedal, this study used focus group, qualitative research and mixed methods of observation. Semi-structured interviews gave us the flexibility to interpret social interactions, culture, beliefs, age, ethnicity in the setting and dynamics of the community.
1
http://www.apdp.pt/
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Figure 5 The demographics of the participants of D-Pedal’s study (46 individuals) in clockwise order: a) Age b) Gender c) Nationality
This study used focus group method to have open discussions in a social and group context and using a fundamental degree of flexibility (Robson 2011). As Robson points out, the advantage of focus groups is that it encourages all people to not only participate and talk about a problem together but it also builds a communication session. These sessions allow those people who usually are reluctant to speak to share their opinions. “This technique is highly efficient for qualitative data collection since the amount and range of data is increased by collecting from several people at the same time” (Robson 2011, p. 294). In fact, D-Pedal support the creation of group and building trust in the study. Figure 5 is demographic of D-Pedal participants. The 46 participants were in different age group including children and elders. Participants were from diverse nationalities. The excitement of D-Pedal experience motivated the community members to create D-Pedal group to share their experience.
3. Outcomes This study was designed in two stages: pilot study and D-Pedal test. The D-Pedal test demonstrated a high level interaction of individual in different ages with D-Pedal, and its impact on level of engagement, trust and confident of participants in the study. Thereby, we collected data on individual’s perception about diabetes risk. During the pilot study we did not introduce participants to D-Pedal. we presumed that open conversation about the disease would be a difficult challenge in our study. After spending
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considerable time in Mouraria to find random volunteers for interviews and open conversation about diabetes with them, we could only conduct interviews with 11 people of which two individuals decided not to continue the conversation. In terms of social groups, e.g. families, genders and nationalities, we were not successful to include diversity in our pilot research in terms of nationalities, the number of male Bangladeshis and adult Portuguese (25-65) were dominant. The outcome of the pilot study suggests that three out of 11 interviewed individuals had radical perceptions about the diabetes risk, such as “diabetes is a cause of death” or “blindness” or “losing a leg.” Based on these extreme perceptions, people mentioned diabetes risk as an uncontrollable and unmanageable disease. The community was also conservative in discussing diabetes healthcare problems. People seemed not confident to talk about their own healthcare issue and ignored the diabetes risk problems. Those who named a diabetic case in the interviews referenced the case to a person in their family or among their friends. The pilot test in Mouraria indicated that although people have some knowledge about diabetes, they have noticeable misconceptions about this disease as well.
3.1 Emotion and Action Results from the D-Pedal tests demonstrated ‘surprise’ and different stages of ‘pride’ in the participants. The unexpected combination and association of blender and bicycle disrupted perception and caused surprise. On the other hand, accomplishing the pedaling task and receiving smoothies as a reward generated different stages of pride in the D-Pedal social group. Lerner and Keltner (2000; 2001) explained pride in their model as an emotion that can increase the level of control people feel. Lerner and Keltner (2000; 2001) highlighted the unique effects of pride on helping behavior and sticking to a task. People with pride perceive a positive event as something they created and the individual’s own responsibility. Pride emotion and feeling of responsibility could potentially support individuals to make decision in accordance to a healthier life.
Figure 6 D-Pedal Test and emotional effect
Adults demonstrated pride as a sense of power and ability in cycling very fast and making a better smoothie in less time. For the elder participants, D-Pedal is familiar, as they know how to ride a bicycle. as opposed to more technical tools that are not familiar and they cannot interact with easily. ‘Pride’ showed on their faces when they persistently made an
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effort to mount the bicycle and start pedaling. Even though the exercise was difficult, they were persistent. In some cases, the D-Pedal team helped them to keep seated and even operate the pedal with them. Children became proud when they competed with other children. When they could not even reach the pedal, they stood up so they could run the blender. These accomplishments induced a state of pride for the participants. In order to reduce fear and create an environment of support, the research team used positive motivators of pride and surprise in the object experience. The “emotion appraisal tendency model” suggests that surprise increases enjoyment and therefore, people perceive the event as positive. However, according to the model, since the sense of control is medium regarding “surprise,” people would likely still perceive a positive event beyond their control and something controlled by others. To surprise people, D-Pedal team designed a bikeblender, a blender powered by pedaling. Surprise in the communication environment became a place to motivate and engage participants.
Figure 7 Testing D-Pedal in different locations, pedalling on bicycle and after the exercise
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Figure 8 Testing D-Pedal in different locations, pedaling on bicycle and after the exercise
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Figure 9 Testing D-Pedal in different locations, pedaling on bicycle and after the exercise
3.2 Transforming Information and creation of D-Pedal Community The unexpected benefit of D-Pedal was the excitement and fun it brought to the community. Because of this generated excitement, the goal was reached to effectively engage individuals, to transfer diabetes information. D-Pedal research team recorded and analyzed videos and pictures of the participants’ actions in D-Pedal tests to find out and report a meaningful definition of the actors in the field. This study applied the affect theory to demonstrate different actions of participants in relation to D-Pedal experience. According to Russell (1980), the experience of core affect is a
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single integral blend of two dimensions: valence (from unpleasant to pleasant), and the vertical axis representing arousal (from calm to excitement)” (Figure 10) “The various positions on the core affect figure are illustrated with examples of affective responses that can be experienced in the user-product interaction.” DISGUST ALARM
EAGERNESS CURIOSITY Activ ated
LOVE DESIRE INSPIRATION
FASCINATION Pleasant ADMIRATION JOYFULNESS
JEALOUSY Unpleasant CONTEMPT DISAPPOINTMENT Calm
BOREDOM SADNESS ISOLATION
AWAITING CALM
RELAXED SOFTENED
Figure 10 Circumflex model of core affect with product relevant emotions (Desmet, Hekkert 2007; Adapted from Russell 1980)
Forty-six individuals participated in the D-Pedal experiments in four different locations in Mouraria (table 4). D-Pedal was set up in four locations as denoted in Table 3. D-Pedal researchers observed and recorded all the stages of the experiment. Looking at the core affect model, we designed Ax4 biaxial map (Figure 11) to illustrate participants’ action in the experiment. Individual reactions to D-Pedal categorized in terms of their level of participation (pedal on D-Pedal or not) and their level of curiosity in exploring information and receiving knowledge in regards to diabetes.
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Explo ring Infor matio n
Browsers Not using D-Pedal
Experience D-Pedal
Negle cting
Passerby
Figure 11
Adventurers
Enthusiastic Socializers
Infor matio n Biaxial Map, observational research results, community groups categorized in reaction to
D-Pedal education program
Browsers
Adventurers
Passerby
Enthusiastic Socializers
Figure 12 Adventurers
Adventurers These individuals accounted for 67% in our D-Pedal study, actively experienced D-Pedal and spent a considerable time with the research group to ask questions about diabetes and the goal of D-Pedal program in their neighborhood. The impact of object experience was substantial in developing the sense of confidence among participants. The role of adventurers proved to be fundamentally important in urging the community to join the experience. They were accurate and fully focused on details in order to spread a factual
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message about diabetes education within their neighborhood. D-Pedal research team recognized adventurers as potential candidates for transferring knowledge in their society. The outcome of the study suggests that social elements such as dress code, religious beliefs and familiar signs, language, etc. are important factors in creating better communication with people.
Browsers
Adventurers
Passerby
Enthusiastic Socializers
Figure 12 Enthusiastic Socializers
Enthusiastic Socializers Few participants accounted for 9% of participants engaged with D-Pedal but additionally demonstrated interesting capabilities in promoting social communication. They brought humor, excitement, and motivation to the community and encouraged others to participate in the program. Enthusiastic Socializers gradually became members of the research group and supported the study by convincing other locals to consider the program and join in. The Enthusiastic Socializers can bring an exceptional competence into building community if the field-testing program is designed for open participatory engagement. Recruited Enthusiastic Socializers can act as research members. Browsers
Adventurers
Passerby
Enthusiastic Socializers
Figure 13 Browsers
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Browsers This group, accounted for 24% of participants did not engage in the bike-blender exercises. This group was curious and interested to observe, read the flyers and sometimes join other participants to form a group. Browsers sometimes asked questions of the researchers in the field to gain comprehensive information about the D-Pedal program in their community. This group made comments and suggestions; also, they shared their concerns about diabetes with the research group. Browsers
Adventurers
Passerby
Enthusiastic Socializers
Passersby The passersby were residents who did not participate in any of the D-Pedal program and exercises in the community. The context, as well as cultural factors, are important factors in building trust. The Chinese society, for example, was a group who did not agree to participate in the D-Pedal program. Generally, the Chinese community was conservative, and in our field research, we did not enhance the context of D-Pedal with Chinese cultural signs and language to promote their participation. In addition to the Chinese, we observed other pedestrians who were not motivated to participate in D-Pedal program. The catalogs and flyers could possibly transfer part of the diabetes information to the passersby group.
4. Conclusion The salient problem of diabetes is recognized as one of the main contemporary health concerns around the world. Nutrition transition plays a key role in the prevalence of diabetes especially in disadvantaged communities. It is strongly suggested that increased physical inactivity also contributes to widespread obesity and diabetes. Diabetes organizations, such as American Diabetes Association, and many pilot studies have made clear that education, prevention and the final impact on behavior change is the most important system approach to support, manage, and control the spread of diabetes. Although all the studies and organizations confirm the significance of diabetes education for society, the challenge appears when the objective is to have impact on behavioral change. Even in the first stage of education and transferring knowledge in a society, the process is critical and demanding. This necessitates careful research to uncover misconceptions of
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residents about diabetes, as well as prevailing attitudes of the culture and the community setting. The initial studies in Mouraria recognized the generic and incipient information held by residents about diabetes. Residents heard about healthy diet and the effects of genetic heritage in diabetes, but they usually did not have precise information to explain what exactly these terms mean. Residents mentioned healthy diet and healthy food in the interviews, but people did not generally have the knowledge of the exact foods and vegetables that are helpful. Some interviewees thought that diabetes cannot be prevented and saw it as a sudden and unpreventable disease. Prevention, as studies suggest, has a very significant correlation with diabetes. As a result of our research, the D-Pedal team suggests that it is critical for the concept of diabetes prevention through physical exercise and healthy nutrition be spread in the community. Accurate information with effective knowledge transferring systems could potentially address these misconceptions and enhance the level of awareness in society. Although the interviews in pilot stage demonstrated the extreme reticence of some residents to explain their own problems of diabetes, D-Pedal demonstrated that it can increase individual’s confidence and trust to share and discuss more personal issues with the disease. This study had a short-term impact based on qualitative research in the field. Evaluating the impact of the educational systems, such as D-Pedal, on behavior change needs long-term research in the community to gather self-reported information coupled with clinical reports about changes in the status of diabetes in the neighborhood. This study therefore suggests a further stage to test D-Pedal in a control study environment to report the impact of the system in learning or behavior change. Theories of behavior change were reviewed in this study and it suggested a positive potential of D-Pedal platform for risk communication and behavior change. D-Pedal’s educational strategy was a design-based approach with emotional impact that measured surprise and pride effects on participants. Integration of bicycle and blender disrupted perceptions to trigger the participant’s memory about diabetes and associate a new memory with meaningful preventative physical exercise and a healthy diet. D-Pedal was designed not just to motivate but to have an indirect, simple and precise message through participatory action for possible diabetes prevention alternatives. We observed a gradual creation of social network and community around the system. DPedal created an environment of trust and confidence for knowledge transformation. Some participants felt confident enough to initiate the conversation, share diabetes problems, and explore diabetes information in our flyers. In the risk communication process, beginning the conversation is critical and will be a big challenge to achieve a level of confidence that allows individuals to share their personal issues with the risk. This study also explored characteristics of the D-Pedal community to discover the most effective systems to transfer diabetes information in the local setting. Four groups, identified
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as the key players and characters in the program, were passersby, enthusiastic socializers, adventurers, and browsers. Our observations suggest diverse strategies are needed to deliver diabetes prevention messages to the four groups as well as encourage them to spread the message in their community. The children networks and curiosity, the community-building power of enthusiastic socializers, and the careful attention of adventurers and browsers proved to be significant deliverers of diabetes information. The research group suggests the children network as a powerful and quick system for transferring diabetes educational messages to their neighborhoods. For instance, children in the experiment were excited to take their smoothie cup to their parents and share their experience with them. This outcome suggests that in a future design the team could recruit children to deliver educational packages to their neighborhoods. Acknowledgements: We thank our colleagues from IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research at Technical University of Lisbon, specifically Prof. Manuel Heitor director of the center, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research, and for his assistance with developing D-Pedal prototype and testing the model in Mouraria neighbourhoods. We also thank Prof. John Takamura at Arizona State University for his support for developing the concept of D-Pedal.
5. References Briscoe,C., Aboud,F. (2012) Behavior change communication targeting four health behaviors in developing countries: A review of change techniques, Social Science & Medicine, 75, 612-621 Epstein, S. (1994) Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American psychologist, 49(8), 709. Desmet, P., & Hekkert, P. (2007) Framework of product experience.International journal of design, 1 (1) 2007. Feinstein, L., Sabates, R., Anderson, T.M., Sorhaindo, A., Hammond, C. (2006). What are the effects of education on health, Proceedings of the Copenhagen Symposium (OECD) Institiute of EducationUniversity of London, 171-352 Fisher, E. B., Walker, E. A., Bostrom, A., Fischhoff, B., Haire-Joshu, D., & Johnson, S. B. (2002). Behavioral Science Research in the Prevention of Diabetes Status and opportunities. Diabetes Care, 25(3), 599-606. Fischhoff,B., Bostrom,A., Quadrel,M,J., (1993) Risk perception and communication, Annual Review of Public Health, 14, 183–203 Fogg, B. J. (2009, April) A behavior model for persuasive design. Proceedings of the 4th international Conference on Persuasive Technology. p. 40-47. ACM. Garber,S. (2013) Learning by Indwelling. The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and culture Guariguata, L., Whiting, D. R., Hambleton, I., Beagley, J., Linnenkamp, U., & Shaw, J. E. (2014) Global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2013 and projections for 2035. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 103(2), 137-149. Hammond, C. (2002) Learning to be healthy. The Wider Benefits of Learning Papers No. 3. London: Institute of Education. Hammond, C. (2004) Impacts of life-long learning upon emotional resilience, psychological and mental health: Field- work evidence. Oxford Review of Education, 30(4), 551–568.
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Honey, M., & Kanter, D. E. (Eds.). (2013) Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators. Routledge. Kinzie, M,B.(2005) Instructional design strategies for health behavior change, Patient Education and Counseling, 56, 3–15 Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2000) Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. Cognition & Emotion,14(4), 473-493. Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001) Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of personality and social psychology, 81(1), 146. Morgan, M. G., Fischhoff, B., Bostrom, A., & Atman, C. J. (2002) Risk communication: A mental models approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Noë, A. (2004) Action in perception. MIT press. Robson,C.(2011) Real World Research: a resources for users of social research methods in applied settings, A John Wiley and Sons (WILEY). Ross, C. E., & Mirowski, J. (1999) Refining the association between education and health: The effects of quantity, credential, and selectivity. Demography, 36(4), 445– 460. Slovic, P., Finucane, M. L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2004) Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: Some thoughts about affect, reason, risk, and rationality. Risk analysis, 24(2), 311-322. Russell, J. A. (1980) A circumplex model of affect. Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(6), 1161-1178. Watkins, M. D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2003) Predictable surprises: The disasters you should have seen coming. Harvard business review, 81(3), 72-85.
About the Authors: Farzaneh Eftekhari is a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University. Her background is in product development and design research. Prior to PhD, she completed MDes degree at Harvard and Master of Science at Arizona State University’s in Design. Tsai Lu Liu is a professor of Industrial Design and the Head of Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design at NC State University. Previously, he managed new product/service design and marketing for 12 years in the toy, healthcare, gaming, semiconductor, and communication industries.
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Metadesigning Design Research – How can designers collaboratively grow a research platform? Mathilda Thama,b*, Anna-Karin Arvidssonb, Mikael Blomqvistb, Susanne Bonjab, Sara HylténCavalliusb, Lena Håkanssonb, Miguel Salinasb, Marie Sterteb, Ola Ståhlb, Tobias Svensénb and Ole Victorb a
Goldsmiths, University of London Linnaeus University * Mathilda.tham@lnu.se DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.375 b
Abstract: ‘How can we design a meaningful and relevant research platform that will support futures of sustainability?’ was the question guiding the two-and-a-half-yearlong, co-creative and emergent metadesign process of establishing a new research platform at the Department of Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden. The meta focus on developing a whole research environment, as a design practice and design research endeavour, should be valuable for the design research community. Findings concern the viability of co-creative approaches in such a remit, negotiations of artistic/scientific research conventions, and the design institution’s position in the multi-disciplined university. The research has identified tensions and conflicts between the academic institution and construct, and the application of ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies deemed auspicious for sustainability endeavours. The paper itself is a collaborative effort between eleven of the researchers involved in developing the research platform. Keywords: sustainability; metadesign; research environment; co-creative processes
1. Introduction “The day of the death of a spruce and the beginning of its future life as a vessel for explorative research projects at the Department of Design. We started early in the morning, the smell of fall was strong as the forest was changing or should I say; preparing for a long winter. Leaves already in a decomposing phase. A bit misty, light rain from the previous night, a sun rises and the forest inhabitants are in full operatic mood. (Birds, birds and an occasional howling from dogs.) Light, camera and action.” (Co-author Mikael Blomqvist)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Metadesigning Design Research – How can designers collaboratively grow a research platfor
This paper describes the development of a new design research platform at the Department of Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden. The work was set up as an inquiry in itself, guided by the overarching question ‘How can we design a meaningful and relevant research platform that will support futures of sustainability?’. The process has been co-creative and emergent, informed by a metadesign framework. The work described here took place between March 2013 and October 2015. The contribution of this paper lies in: The meta focus – a synthesis of creative-critical perspectives into the practical application of building a new research platform; The identification of pragmatics and paradigmatics of co-creative design research processes in this remit; The articulation of paradigmatic challenges to the academic institution and construct, in terms of its fit to promote futures of sustainability. All members of staff at the Department of Design were invited to contribute to this paper. They were offered the choice to reflect on the process using an evaluation template or to contribute in any form they felt interesting, useful and possible, and to comment on work in progress. The views expressed in the piece are not necessarily shared by all co-authors. The theoretical/methodological underpinnings of the research are manifold, for reasons of scope and clarity mainly addressed through the lens of metadesign. After a brief practical and theoretical contextualisation, the paper is organised in: A) descriptions of milestones in the process of growing the research platform; B) reflections on the process’s viability in delivering a research platform, its viability as a metadesign process, and how it sits in the wider academic context. The conclusion summarises key points and questions for a wider research community, and outlines steps ahead for the particular research platform.
2. Contexts 2.1 Practical context The Department of Design, Linnaeus University, is distributed across three locations in Småland, a Swedish county of forests, lakes, potatoes, entrepreneurship and craftsmanship. When this story began, in spring 2013, it is fair to say that the department was an underdog on the Swedish design map. Whilst populated by knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, it was falling behind design institutions of longer standing, situated in bigger cities. Design research was taking place, but without a coherent narrative and without formal or informal research environment. Overall, the confidence in the staff body in this remit was low; no permanent member of staff possessed a doctorate. The development of the research platform formed part of a larger agenda to consolidate the design department’s offer, give it a clearer identity – internally and externally, raise its reputation, and to live up to the university’s overarching strategy of complete academic environments. The initiative to dedicate efforts to building a research platform came from the head of department, but was cautiously welcomed by staff, weary from major transitions, not least the 2010 merge of two
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universities into one, with practical and cultural implications. A more general historical context is the transition of design education from a focus on vocational training and design industries’ needs, to becoming situated in the academic institution, with required adaptation to new formal frameworks, more paper work, new language, new culture. The Department of Design, Linnaeus University has twenty-nine members of staff, spanning textiles, industrial design, graphic design, furniture design, architecture, ceramics, glass, moving imagery, fine arts and cultural studies. The institution sits within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, in a university of five other faculties spanning a wide range of academic subjects.
2.2 Theoretical/methodological context I arrived at the department of design, from Goldsmiths, University of London with boundless enthusiasm, some real and some cultivated naivety, and an explicit suitcase of ontological, epistemological and methodological positions. My design research and teaching practice is situated in the understanding that: Creating futures of sustainability must be the ultimate framework for all human endeavours (see e.g. Rockström et al., 2008; IPCC, 2013); Sustainability is a creative opportunity for enhancing quality of life, including enhancing the quality of design and design research; The realisation of futures of sustainability depends on the mobilisation of a diverse range of knowledge holders, and the challenging of Western hegemonies and other power structures (see e.g. Sardar, 1999); This includes the challenging of power hierarchies in the understanding of valid routes to knowledge through the employment of “an extended epistemology”, synergising, at least, knowing through theory, practice, experience and articulation (Heron and Reason, 2006); Participatory and transdisciplinary research processes are best suited to responding to this brief; Because of the urgency of the sustainability imperative, research should be transformative as well as informative (see Action Research, e.g. Heron and Reason, 2006); The experience of agency is pivotal for acquiring knowledge, locating ourselves as problem causers and solutions holders, taking concrete steps, and well as spreading information and agency (Tham, 2008). The translation of these understandings into a coherent research framework took place during my doctoral research (Tham, 2008). The understandings have been enriched and found further form and agency through the metadesign research at Goldsmiths, University of London. Metadesign can be described as an overarching design, design of seeds for change; it involves interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary co-creative and emergent processes. (See e.g. Giaccardi, 2005; Wood, 2007)
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The metadesign principles presented in Figure 1 are key reference points for the paper and the journey it draws upon. So is the notion that iterative cycles “from me to we and back again” create auspicious conditions for processes of change (e.g. Jones and Lundebye, 2012), and that setting up a ‘safe space’ supports participants to cope with the uncertainty and complexity of co–creative, emergent processes (e.g. Tham, 2008; Jones and Lundebye, 2012.)
Figure 1 10 Principles of metadesign. (Wood, n.d.)
The positions, packaged as a vision statement, were the bridge to my new academic home, where I was appointed to lead the development of the research platform. I had experience of leading collaborative processes of change, participating in collaborative research processes, and evaluating collaborative research efforts – prospectively and retrospectively (as member of the board of a research council). I had no experience of developing a research platform.
3. The process This section of the paper presents key milestones in the process of growing the research platform. All the events did not take place as a sequence. Some unfolded over the whole time period, whereas others took place in one day.
3.1 Milestone 1: Futures worlds and design research manifesto The process kicked off with a one-day workshop with twelve members of staff at the Barbican, London, in March 2013. Gradually moving from the individual to the whole group, we sketched a map of a futures worlds context of design research. Scenarios similar to that which we made are of course readily available through a range of reports. The purpose here was to, from the very start, ascertain that a global futures perspective was part of our design
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research platform, to position all our co-researchers as valuable knowledge holders and designers of futures worlds, to root our shared notions of the world in personal values, interests and experiences. The exercise served to create initial scaffolding for more personal and therefore ‘scary’ explorations into design research, and to start getting to know each other as a research group. The day ended with an early manifesto for design research.
Figure 2 Homo Socialis and Homo Individualis. Our futures worlds – a context for design research.
Figure 3 Early manifesto for design research.
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3.2 Milestone 2: Internal survey & clustering of design research interests After this workshop, during April to June 2013, I conducted conversations in groups and individually with members of staff focused on their research interests. All members of staff were also invited to provide an image-led brief overview of past, present and future research (or artistic development work) interests. This material was used to create an initial map of research expertise and interests within the department, which was fed back to all members of staff in a meeting.
Figure 4 Early clustering of design research interests and expertise. The four key areas at this point were: Design for sustainability, Good lives/good homes, Design and education, Artistic expression.
3.3 Milestone 3: Design research in practice course Since 2011, approximately half of the members of staff had been enrolled in research training focused on scientific frameworks and academic writing, within a framework of competence development. It was clear from the dialogue I had with members of staff that while this had been enlightening, they still struggled to see the link to their own design/arts or education practice and had, generally, not found agency to do design research. We therefore put in place a continuation of this training, the course Design Research in Practice. The course, now in its second iteration and running at two levels, was designed specifically to offer orientation in practical manifestations of design research, to build knowledge and confidence, and to support the leap into active research. The purpose was also to establish a continuous space for research, a communal research environment, as well as an individual research space.1
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The course at each level constitutes ten half-day seminars and supervision in smaller groups. In the first level of the course, each individual conducts a small design research project and presents it in a small symposium. In the second iteration, the project is refined, further contextualised, and a particular aim of formal validation (such as external funding or publication) is pursued.
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3.4 Milestone 4: Sharpening the narrative in dialogue with an external community The growing of the research platform continuously took place in dialogue with an external world; generating feedback of increasing usefulness as our narrative achieved more texture and clarity. Simultaneous to the internal survey, a topic review/inventory of design research at the intersection of sustainability took place. Many conversations with the surrounding design and design research community nationally and internationally, as well as exposure to a general research community, in the faculty and wider university helped sharpen the narrative further. The faculty dean and the research funding office challenged us to think about identity and narrative in more strategic terms. After many iterations this resulted in the research platform Curious Design Change, with four key research areas: Metadesign, Home on Earth, Learning for Change, and Creative-Critical Expressions. The identity and language of the institution, the new programmes, and the research platform have been reciprocally informing. Exactly how we arrived at (the grammatically curious) Curious Design Change is not clear, but in hindsight I see that it answers to a tacit brief of: demystifying, deprofessionalising or claiming research by talking about ‘curiosity’, and re-energising sustainability by talking about ‘change’, as well as offering a name with a direction.
3.5 Milestone 5: The physical turn In spring 2014, we initiated a collaboration with London based design company Åbäke. We approached Åbäke1 for its visionary approaches and Sweden and Småland connections, to energise the work on the research platform with external perspectives and to give members of staff a confidence boost – validation by interest from someone we value outside us, whilst realising the practical goal of a website. All through the process, there had been a certain confusion and unease around the term ‘research platform’. In a meeting with members of Åbäke we started unpicking it. As I recall it, the conversation went: “What is a research platform?” “I think it’s a platform for generating and sharing knowledge and stimulating and spreading curiosity.” “Isn’t that a bit like a bookshelf?” “Yes, let’s make a shelf.”
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We collaborated with Kajsa Ståhl and Patrick Lacey, Åbäke, and Thomas Bush.
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Figure 5 Screenshots from the film about the felling and planking of the spruce. (Co-author Mikael Blomqvist, 2014)
Kalle Nuszkowski, Laboratory Technician, took charge of procuring a tree. He found a spruce, auspiciously born after a storm in 1968, on the grounds of Holger Karlsson’s farm in Eskås. Mikael Blomqvist documented the felling of the spruce and the process of planking it in a film. We used green wood processing, which means that the wood has not dried before use, resulting in it continuing to twist and turn. In October 2014, Åbäke and Thomas Bush facilitated a two-day workshop in the large wood workshop at the university, campus Växjö. All staff and students were invited. Åbäke gave an inspirational lecture on shelves and their use. All participants had been asked to bring in a series of objects that, in more or less direct ways, related to design research, curiosity and change. During the workshop, which took place literally on top of the planks from the tree, we explored the concepts of research, design, curiosity and change, and collaboratively designed and built the shelf.
Figure 6 Workshop with Åbäke and Thomas Bush. Collaborative exploration of ‘Curious design change’, designing and building the shelf.
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The physical turn, the shelf, was important in so many ways. The designing and making of the shelf prompted a re-negotiation of power, the most obvious example being that I, the leader of the development of the research platform, was the distinctly least knowledgeable when it came to building the shelf. Instead, expertise and interest from many other individuals came into play and forefront. The space of the workshop, the large laboratory hall, the designing and making allowed for so many other forms of knowledge and engagement to find their way into the research platform than the formal and academically prioritised. Craftsmanship, obviously: “How about a cabinet with a heart on the door to hold our manifesto?”; Care: “How about a pillow that someone tired can rest their head on while reading?”; Humour: “Let’s start a shelfie of the week, a new instagram effort!”; Design creativity: Let’s make some hanging shelves for such issues that hang; Vernacular practices/ingenuity: “If we rub the cut surfaces with boiled potatoes there will be fewer cracks.”; Fondness: “It’s true that the shelf is far from perfect but it has personality”. These are all examples of personal concerns, knowledge and skills finding a way into the research platform through the shelf. Those considerations are still embodied in the shelf and in the research platform. Through those days, and that shelf, the research platform acquired an identity. The shelf is situated at the heart of the Department of Design, campus Växjö, with representations planned for the other two locations. It is being curated to reflect the research efforts in the department, and our collaborations internally and externally. The shelf making and the shelf itself generated excitement in the faculty – staff from other departments dropped by and told colleagues to have a look.
Figure 7 Confidence and pride embedded in the shelf through a flag.
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3.6 Milestone 6 Branching out – growing into the world With the shelf, the research platform Curious Design Change existed. The shelf gave shape to thoughts, actions and articulations and confidence to stand in front of different audiences, other departments within the university, external partners, research councils and say: this is us, this is what we want to do, do you want to work with us? We are growing the website – its architecture based on the shelf. Visibility on the website is open to all staff and students, and led by projects. ‘News’ includes a variety of manifestations of curiosity that members of the department are actively involved in or curious about.
Figure 8 Early sketch web front page.
3.7 Milestone 7: Curious Design Change launch Throughout the process we have viewed all our activities towards building the research environment as research in their own right. This was also true of the launch event of Curious Design Change, which took place on 16 October, 2015. The location was the large laboratory hall. We gathered thirty participants: researchers from the department of design, researchers from other departments (literature, music, history, archaeology, economy and organisation, wood technology, informatics, gender studies), the faculty dean, representatives from communications, external relations and funding, as well as key local stakeholders (energy, entrepreneurship, culture). The question ‘What is the potential of our collaborations?’ guided the inquiry. The process took the transdisciplinary teams through
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three short workshops (with facilitators Anette Lundebye, the lead author, and chef Maja Söderberg). A Curiosity and a Change workshop took place in sequence. The first started from individual interests, moving to designing a common futures research field. In the second workshop, participants designed and made research tools to experience the now and here of the local context of Småland through the lens of the new research field. The potentials identified by the use of the new research tools were then packaged into new research project proposals. A Food for Thought workshop constituted of collaboratively making the lunch with organic produce from a local farm with a local chef.
Figure 9 Curious Design Change launch.
The purpose of the launch workshop was to give Curious Design Change visibility in the university and to establish us as a desirable research partner, by giving a sample of how we work, and setting up a process that would, in itself, generate seeds for research collaborations. The launch was also a time to celebrate all staff’s efforts to date, to close one stage and open a new one, and to build internal confidence by the validation of an external audience. The Curiosity and the Change workshops were designed to facilitate hands-on transdisciplinary research collaborations. The food workshop brought conviviality, connection with essential resources and seasons, as well as bridging the personal/domestic and the professional. Yellow aprons legitimised by the cooking helped participants to step into a shared space of inquiry, on equal terms, and to give the event an identity. The space, the laboratory hall, positioned the research at the heart of design, with the embedded epistemologies that the space affords, and that we had constructed in the previous shelf
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workshop. Concretely, the launch led to three promising embryos for transdisciplinary research, which are being developed with the interested partners1. It also generated energy in the department, and in participants generally: “My most fun and interesting day at work since I started two years ago.” “I’m not sure what happened, but it was fun, inspiring and it tasted good!” “Now I understand what design can be about. You have explained before, but now I get it.” “The process has been a journey for the Department of Design and not least for me. To participate in the whole process has made me understand both that I have lots of knowledge and that it has to be outspoken. In design, as in many other professions, lots of the knowledge is tacit, taken for granted and not very valued, not at least by us who have reached it by working as designers, not by researching. By participating in the process I have found tools and methods to use when teaching ‘practical knowledge’, both to pass the knowledge on and to inspire students to try and experiment in the practical field of design.” (Co-author Lena Håkansson)
4. Reflections on the process of growing Curious Design Change It is clear, we hope, that this process has been fun and meaningful to us. However, has it been ultimately useful in achieving its aim of growing a research platform? It is it a valid example of metadesign? “Design as a topic being young and fresh compared to other university disciplines and the fact that we are on artistic as opposed to scientific basis set traces in the work process. It has sometimes been somewhat confused and methods have been experimental and sometimes inefficient in a traditional sense. As a whole, though, it has been reflecting design thinking and design methodology. It is unclear, so far, if it has lead to a well-defined result constituting a work path or a design research platform, but there is definitely hope!” (Co-author Ole Victor)
4.1 Reflections on the process’s validity in terms of growing a research platform “I’ve learned so many things. Before, I didn’t see myself as a design researcher, but now I’ve taken my first baby steps towards a design space that I want to explore.” (Co-author Tobias Svensén)
The goals of developing a ‘research platform’ was interpreted as an interplay of growing: A) knowledge and expertise; B) culture, confidence, pride and commitment; C) a coherent and clear narrative, identity and vision; D) collaboration internally, and networks and collaboration with other research communities and stakeholders outside academia. I believed that growing these entangled remits should set up conditions to reach formal targets, such as: E) publications/bibliometrical success; F) external funding of research projects; G) securing doctoral students; and H) attracting strong researchers to the environment. Most importantly, I believed such growing would lead to meaningful research
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One of these has subsequently led to the establishment of Småland Living Lab, that has been granted funding, and mobilised a transdisciplinary regional working group.
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of high value and relevance to the surrounding society, contributing through the culture of collaboration as well as the explicit focus on sustainability. At the time of writing, two and a half years since we started this work, Curious Design Change is a holder of promise, rather than a fully-fledged research environment. There are, however, some distinctly positive developments. Since the start of the Design Research in Practice course in autumn 2013, twelve small research projects have been initiated. So far these have resulted in four publications, other submissions awaiting review, and plans for exhibitions and funding applications. We have managed to establish a regional transdisciplinary research consortium, and as host institution submitted two proposals for external funding from national research councils, participated in an additional two, and submitted one application for a centre between ourselves and another department. On the strength of our narrative and strategy, we have secured two doctoral positions within The Bridge, a collaboration between IKEA and Linnaeus University, and one postdoctoral position. We have submitted a proposal for a faculty transcending doctoral programme. I think it is fair to say that our department, because of qualities in our effort of growing the research platform and our new visibility, has also become a more desirable employer - we have secured two new members of staff with doctorates. The clarity we now have in terms of our profile has allowed us to start a process to secure external funding to recruit additional expertise. In more informal terms, we have started to grow a research culture. The research course meant that at least a portion of the staff started meeting regularly as a research group. This has spilt into other conversations and research is now an integrated topic. Staff are now confidently attending research activities organised by the faculty. The course’s focus on taking the leap to doing research has meant that many members of staff today identify themselves as researchers, alongside being educators and practitioners, and that they see the roles as mutually reinforcing.
4.2 Reflections on the process’s success and validity as an example of metadesign “Building a research platform literally and theoretically together with your department is blood, sweat and tears. The work was quite easy and happy in the beginning, but as the framework became clearer so did the differences. The goal to keep everyone included is not always easy as we put different values in the word. As an architect you are used to teamwork, but as an artist you are more used to working on your own. To keep everyone involved it is absolutely crucial to create forms for a little bit of both.” (Co-author Sara Hyltén-Cavallius)
The process of developing the research platform has been inclusive, in the sense that all staff, and in some stages all students, have been actively invited to participate. All meetings have been scheduled far in advance and under the framework of competence development, making it (at least in theory) possible for staff to contribute within their salaried working hours. However, in practice it has not always been possible or a priority to dedicate time to a collaborative process. Overall, contributions from staff members have not been consistent over time, jeopardising the consistency of the collaboration. Some members of staff have
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been very generous in giving to the whole, but not developed any research ‘points’, some have been inactive for long periods of time and then made significant contributions. It is clear, though, that contribution generates a sense of ownership, which spurs more contribution. In open space technology, a rule of engagement is that ‘Whoever comes are the right people’. (See e.g. Owen, 2008) This has been an important motto for me in this process, to avoid feelings of sorrow or irritation about individuals who are not present, to keep the focus on the valuable contributions of those that are present, to keep in mind that the ‘right’ people at different points of time will be different (including the potential future absence of myself). It has taught me to strive to keep a continuous and genuine invitation open, and to have empathy for, and try to learn from silence and non-participation although sometimes painful. “My input to this is that I was trying to make a film that perhaps would show others a way of telling a story with small means. In hindsight I don't see it as my research - I see it as a group effort. The collaboration part was that I was trusted to do this visualisation. I did a part in a larger context.” (Co-author Mikael Blomqvist)
The process has been democratic in parts, such as at the design and making of the shelf workshop. Yet, on this occasion, and in terms of the setting of initial and overarching frameworks, the agenda was set by the lead author. While all members of staff were invited to respond to the evolving ideas at various points in time, it is clear that the territory of responses was therefore also set, and the inquiry not genuinely open. “The process to involve and include all members of our design institution and to allow them to participate in the work has been very inspiring to us. It has been, and I hope it will continue to be, a uniting force in a situation where there are many other forces risking to split the faculty, the department of design and the design topic.” (Co-author Ole Victor)
The process has certainly been multi-layered, joining up many understandings and traditions of design, approaches from artistic and scientific research, as well as an extended epistemology – and staff from three geographical locations. It is important to note that we have not ironed out all misunderstandings, or even conflicts. Curious Design Change as an emergent and co-creative space has been sufficiently safe and open to harbour, and thrive upon agonism (Mouffe, 2007). The co-creative and emergent process is by nature not neat and tidy. I think on the whole, we have managed to set up and maintain a safe space for exploration, but sometimes there have been gaps in the communication. “The creative process of the shelf was not functional in a conventional sense but exploratory and expressive in essence, and before I understood this, I felt uncomfortable. I negotiated with myself, and managed to contribute and not disturb the process.” (Co-author Miguel Salinas)
In shorthand, languaging refers to the reciprocal causality of wording, consciousness, perceptions, actions. (Maturana, 1975) Languaging has played an important part in this inquiry. I have sought to use language that should be accessible to a community sometimes new to (and sometimes frightened of) research, that transcends conventional hierarchies in
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knowledge production and knowledge holding, and that invites language about research that is rooted in the individual’s personal experiences. “[design research is about] wandering between being curious, exploratory, testing different questions and different answers. The goal is to chisel out a result that weaves together experiences and to create an expression for this. Most important of all is that there are some remaining unanswered questions, so that the excitement and curiosity doesn’t stop – there is no ‘the end’, but to keep the nerve and maybe some underlying secret.” (Co-author Susanne Bonja)
The name of the research platform, Curious Design Change, but also the languaging that has taken place through selection of workshop space (the big wood workshop), and of course the activity of designing the shelf, and the shelf itself1, have all served to challenge conventional hierarchies in research and academia, and to set up a generous and allowing, open, safe and creative space for inquiry. “I have become more aware of the importance of naming things and events – what name you decide on focuses the contribution to the outcome. Curious Design Change means to me that if we insist on being curious about design we can make a difference with our increasing knowledge and our actions.”(Co-author Marie Sterte)
4.3 Reflections on how Curious Design Change sits in a wider academic framework With the process of growing the research platform, we have challenged the academic institution and construct. The vision of a research endeavour that in culture, process and outcomes supports futures of sustainability has sometimes come into conflict with the formal framework it sits within – although sustainability is also part of the university’s agenda. Existing within a multidisciplinary academic environment has provided benchmarks, inspiration and opportunities for networks and learning, but also pressures on academic success in more conventional terms. “Of all the possibilities offered in the staging of the new research platform, the Design Research in Practice courses have been the most valuable to me. They have given me the confidence to trust that my own instinct, rooted in my own researcher situation, is ‘right’. At the same time I have felt frustration with the lack of time, sustained concentration to fully submerge myself in the new discoveries.” (Co-author Anna-Karin Arvidsson)
The inclusivity we have sought to foster is in conflict with, for example, only senior lecturers and ‘above’ having research time built into their contracts, and access for funding to go to conferences. Similarly, employees eager to pursue external research funding find out that most grants are only open to the PhDed. Yet currently, in Sweden, a lectureship awarded on artistic merits is supposed to be equal to that granted on scientific grounds and the requisite of a doctoral degree. One year we had to spend considerable time proving that the course Design Research in Practice was indeed practice led and practice creating, the next year the issue was the use of the word ‘research’ which, we learnt, in such documents amounts to a 1
See also e.g. Goodwin (1994) and Suchman (2002) for the integral role of artefacts in research.
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protected term – again reserved for the activities of the PhDed or those on a doctoral programme. In Sweden, there is strong polarisation between scientific and artistic research, perhaps especially awkward for the design field. In a university wide strategy discussion, I was once asked to give a prognosis of the percentage of artistic/scientific research in the research platform. This is, obviously, not about ‘difficult’ administrators, but about language use, policies, hierarchies deeply engrained in the academic system and society, and enforced by, for example, the Swedish Higher Education Authority. However, are the procedures, benchmarks, rules and purpose of this long-legacied system genuinely supportive of futures of sustainability? I think not, and that we therefore need to extend our efforts to intervene paradigmatically and challenge the overarching conditions in which our institutions sit, simultaneously as we grow examples of new ways of thinking and doing research. “Another way of looking at these [metadesign] methods in relation to change would be through the figure of transversality in Félix Guattari’s (1972) work. Guattari first uses the term to describe a therapeutical model by which to avoid purely vertical as well as purely horizontal forms of group organisation. What is significant, to Guattari, is rather multi-directional flows of communication between different levels of a group, institution or other organisation. Can we envisage forms of participatory research that operate precisely through such transversal flows of communication and information? Can we conceive of participatory pedagogical structures that do not reduce difference horizontally or turn difference into a vertical hierarchy but instead thrive from difference?” (Co-author Ola Ståhl)
We have invited Swedish design schools to join us in a discussion and practice to make explicit both informal and formal benchmarks of design (as practice, education and research), to chart their planned and emergent pathways across histories, cultures and structures. This is towards more holistic and systemic understandings and narratives (but by no means a mono-logic) within our design community and clarity as we continue discussions with, for example, the larger institution and education authorities. We see these discussions, ideally emergent practices, as natural extensions of the metadesign work of growing the research platform. Our extended community can facilitate processes that mobilise a diverse range of knowledge holders, such as policy-makers and industry representatives, towards seeding genuinely meaningful learning organisations.
5. Conclusions “When thinking of our research platform, I think the image of a new planted tree is what we have now. It needs support and help, there are some few tiny branches and the leaves show it thrives. Probably in some years ahead it might even have flowers and fruits, but it is important that we do not miss the whole and see how it grows and how the trunk will support the many branches growing in the future.” (Co-author Miguel Salinas)
We have enjoyed much freedom, due to management’s confidence in us, and the flexibility and speed that can come with being small. Being underdogs on the university and Swedish design community/research map has meant a lack of visibility and low risk – you can only
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improve. Yet, this can also mean that expectations are not always positive. When we now enter the next stage of growing the research platform, we will need to guard the integrity of the process and the platform as increased visibility also results in more external pressures, and increased size adds complexity, and more administration. The next steps for Curious Design Change constitute a further integration within our student body, and establishing and formalizing networks with our surrounding society. To this end we have scheduled a research day with all students and staff in April 2016. We will be in the large laboratory hall, and conduct short vertical research projects starting from potatoes – a local and humble resource, that helped the region out of starvation. In October 2016, we will host an event of regional scope, with stakeholders from private, public and not for profit sectors, as well a researchers, educators and students from a range of academic disciplines. The question guiding this will be: ‘What is the potential of our collaborations for futures of sustainability?’. In the next phase, we are intensifying the support for our researchers to publish and secure external funding, and for some of them to achieve doctorates. We will set up a Curious Design Change researcher in residency. We are in the process of building a larger international transdisciplinary consortium towards applying for EU funding. While design research is now a mature (if rapidly changing) field, the emphasis to date has been on discourses, methodologies, results – instead of the collective how and ultimate why of the academic research environment. The meta focus on developing a whole research environment, as a design practice and design research endeavour, should therefore be of value for the design research community, with findings concerning the viability of cocreative approaches in such a remit, negotiations of artistic/scientific research conventions, and the design institution’s position in the multi-disciplined university. In particular, the paper hopes to invite discussion on how the academic institution can be designed to best mobilise a range of knowing and knowledge holders within and outside the academy to meet the demands of the sustainability imperative. Acknowledgements: Thank you all members of staff at the Department of Design, Linnaeus University, as well as senior management for openness and tenacity. Thank you Kalle Nuszkowski and Holger Karlsson for offering us the spruce. Thank you Åbäke and Thomas Bush for supporting the physical turn.
8. References IPCC. (2013) Climate Change 2013, Cambridge University Press. Giaccardi, E. (2005) Metadesign as an Emergent Design Culture, Leonardo, 38 (4), pp 342-349. Goodwin, C. (1994) Professional Vision. American Anthropologist, 96(3), pp 606–633. Guattari, F. (2015) Psychoanalysis and Transversality: Texts and Interviews 1955–1971 (A. Hodges, Trans.). Semiotext(e)/MIT Press, Cambridge MA. Heron, J., and Reason, P. (2006) The Practice of Co-operative Inquiry: Research ʻwithʼ rather than ʻonʼ People, in Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (eds.), Handbook of Action Research, Sage Publications, pp. 144–154. Jones, H. and Lundebye, A. (2012) Metadesign: A dynamic framework for seeding socially responsive design. Proceedings of 8th International Conference on Design and Emotion.
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Maturana H. R. (1975) The Organization of the Living: A Theory of the Living Organization, International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 7, pp 313–332. Mouffe, C. (2007) Artistic Activism and Agonistic Spaces. Art & Research: A Journal of Ideas, Contexts and Methods, 1 (2), pp 1-5. Available online: www.artandresearch.org.uk/v1n2/pdfs/mouffe.pdf (accessed November 1, 2015). Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Chapin III, F. S., Lambin, E., Lenton, T. M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H., Nykvist, B., De Wit, C. A., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S. Rodhe, H., Sörlin, S., Snyder, P. K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U. Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R. W., Fabry, V. J., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P. & Foley, J. (2009) Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity, Ecology and Society, 14 (2). Available online: www. ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/ (accessed January 31, 2014). Sardar, Z., ed. (1999) Rescuing All Our Futures: The Future of Futures Studies, Adamantine Press. Tham, M. (2008) Lucky People Forecast – A systemic futures perspective on fashion and sustainability (Doctoral thesis) Goldsmiths, University of London. Available online: http://research.gold.ac.uk/11301/ Owen, H. (2008) Open Space Technology: A Users’s Guide, Berret-Koelher Publishers. Suchman, L. (2002) Located accountabilities in technology production. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 14(2). Available online: http://iris.cs.aau.dk/tl_files/volumes/volume14/no2/9_Suchman_ss.91-105_.pdf Wood, J. (2007) Design for Micro-utopias: Making the Unthinkable Possible, Design for Social Responsibility, Ashgate. Wood, J. (n.d.) 10 Principles of Metadesign, Attainable Utopias. Available online: http://attainable-utopias.org/tiki/10-Metadesign-Principles (accessed 10 October, 2015).
About the Authors: Mathilda Tham’s work sits in an activist, creative space between design, futures studies and sustainability. Her research uses collaborative, transdisciplinary workshops to intervene paradigmatically into socio-material relationships. She is professor in design, Linnaeus University, Sweden and metadesign researcher, Goldsmiths, University of London. Anna-Karin Arvidsson’s work is based in an arts and crafts tradition where materiality is an important aspect of exploring concerns of sustainability and identity. She is a ceramicist and senior lecturer in design at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Mikael Blomqvist’s work explores visual sustainability through the moving image. His research uses different texts (language, film, software) in explorative workshops to apply a democratic filter to archival footage. He is a senior lecturer in design, Linnaeus University. Susanne Bonja’s principal area is artistic interpretation. Her artistic work is characterised by the staging of the human being and her
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SECTION 9 DESIGN FOR HEALTH, WELLBEING AND HAPPINESS
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Introduction: Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness Rebecca Caina*, Noemi Bittermanb, Geke Luddenc, Jamie Mackrilld, Elif Ozcane, Ann Petermansf and Carolina Escobar-Tellog a
WMG, University of Warwick, UK Technion – Israel Institute of Technology c University of Twente, The Netherlands d Imperial College London, UK e TU Delft, The Netherlands f Hasselt University, Belgium g Loughborough University, UK * R.Cain.1@warwick.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.625 b
1. Introduction to SIGWELL SIGWELL is the Design Research Society’s Special Interest Group which focuses on Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness. The SIGWELL community has an interest in advancing knowledge, and the development and application of design research in the broadest sense to improve the personal and societal health, wellbeing and happiness of people. The remit of SIGWELL is wide-ranging; including the design of products, technologies, environments, services and experiences for health and wellbeing; developing understanding of how design impacts upon health, wellbeing and happiness (and other emotional states); and the development of new tools, methods and approaches for designing for health, wellbeing and happiness. The SIGWELL themed sessions at DRS2016 are an important opportunity to showcase the latest thinking and research from the international design community on design for health, wellbeing and happiness. We see emerging trends in designing care and spaces for older people, designing for behavior change to tackle unhealthy eating behavior in children, and the design of new technologies in a medical context. The paradigm of moving care out of the hospital and into the home, and the role for design in this is also addressed. Significantly, the body of work on subjective wellbeing - design for happiness, is increasing, and we see several examples of this – from the design of tools for designers, to designing This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Introduction: Design for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness
happy experiences in the home, and even car interiors. Methods and approaches for design research in the area of health well-being and happiness featured in the SIGWELL sessions, are highly user-centric, participatory and sometimes critical and speculative. The distilling of this design knowledge into frameworks and tools for designers is a popular output of the research.
2. The relevance of design for health, wellbeing and happiness People all over the world are living longer. There has been an unprecedented increase in average life expectancy during the last century, largely due to medical advances. But these extra years of life pose challenges – on the one hand they could mean longer to live independently in good health, or on the other hand, more years of living with chronic illnesses and being dependent upon others. Maintaining good health plays a key role in a person’s quality of life. The Constitution of the World Health Organisation (1946) defines good health as “a state of complete physical, social and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. It emphasises that people should enjoy the highest attainable standards of health, going on to say it is “one of the fundamental rights of every human being with distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition”. Wellbeing is harder to define. It is a broad term encompassing a number of concepts and can be defined in a multitude of ways. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (HM Government 2009) in the UK for example, defines wellbeing as “a positive physical, social and mental state; it is not just the absence of pain, discomfort and incapacity”. The term ‘wellbeing’ is increasingly being used together with ‘health’ to address what might formally have been known as ‘public health’. This approach sees an interdependency between health and wellbeing, where crucially, prevention is as important as cure. As one in four people are affected by mental health conditions, an important facet of wellbeing is subjective wellbeing – or happiness. It has become a multidisciplinary topic of interest for designers, psychologists, politicians and economists, and a movement also embraced by Western societies who are starting to place more importance on an experiential and goal-driven, rather than a material value-system. This change of focus from material to more personal and experiential opens up opportunities for design – where it is not only the design of physical products themselves which can bring happiness, rather it is the experiences that people can have from using the products which can bring happiness. In light of this societal context, design for health, wellbeing and happiness goes beyond designing products or environments which directly aim to improve health or wellbeing (such as medical products or hospitals), but it is to be embraced as a broader concept where design can enable positive experiences, which contribute to happiness, wellbeing, and therefore, ultimately, health.
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3. SIGWELL papers For DRS2016, authors were asked to contribute papers towards the SIGWELL theme of ‘Designing healthier and happier futures for all’. It was interesting and enlightening to see that there are clusters of trends emerging from the selected papers, in terms of the research applications, but also the methods and approaches used. Interestingly, we also see the relevance of these papers to other DRS Special Interest Groups, such as Design for Sustainability and Design for Behaviour Change. Many of the methods used by the authors in this theme also relate to wider current discussions within design research, including participatory design, and critical or speculative design. This demonstrates the complex interrelationships between health, wellbeing, happiness, sustainability and behaviour, and also the research methods by which to approach these areas. In particular, the selected papers for the SIGWELL theme address design challenges within the following four areas: People - designing for vulnerable groups where design for health and wellbeing can have the most impact. Designing for older people and those with dementia, and also children. Technology – designing devices and emergent technologies, to be used in the home or hospital. Spaces – designing the built environment in which people live and where healthcare is delivered. This includes moving from hospital to home, and the growing importance of the home as a healthcare environment. Positive design – designing to create positive experiences. The framework for Positive Design: pleasure, significance and virtue to promote human flourishing, developed by Desmet and Pohlmeyer (2013) has been used by several authors to underpin their research into design for wellbeing and happiness. In addition, in terms of design methods and approaches, we see multiple uses of the following in the SIGWELL theme papers: Frameworks and tools - the use of frameworks as a way of capturing and packaging the outcomes of design research, in order for it to be of use by designers. Also the development of tools, such as card-sets. Participatory design and co-design – user-centric ways to involve users in design for health, wellbeing and happiness. Speculative design and critical design - the emergence of critical design applied to health contexts whereby artefacts are produced which represent a possible future and ask questions rather than provide solutions.
3.1 People Design has the powerful potential to address some of the problems faced by the most vulnerable in our society, for example, our ageing population, including those suffering from
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and caring for those with dementia. Two papers in the SIGWELL sessions have focused on this. Firstly, in an exploration of a new approach to participatory design, the paper by Treadaway et al (2016) presents the LAUGH project which develops playful artefacts which contribute non-pharmacological personalised approaches to caring for people living with late-stage dementia in residential care. From a starting standpoint of Positive Design, they use an inclusive, participatory methodology– designing for pleasure, virtue and personal significance Continuing with the theme of using design to enhance the lives of older people, Ahmadpour and Keirnan (2016) visited the literature in their paper to clarify the factors which contributed to the wellbeing of older residents in Australian villages. Using field observation and in-depth interviews, they identified that identity, competence, relatedness and autonomy were the important factors which related to the older people’s wellbeing. They go on to link these factors to the built and social environment. Their resulting framework has value for designers responsible for creating these types of private housing for older people. Other authors of papers in the SIGWELL sessions have seen the value in presenting the outcomes of their research as frameworks to help designers. Looking at the other end of the demographic spectrum, and another vulnerable population group - children, Ludden and de Ruijter (2016) look at how a behaviour change approach can alter the unhealthy snacking habits of children. Through offering an alternative approach to traditional health interventions (such as promotional campaigns), they propose a design for healthy behaviour framework which can support designers in proposing new, more effective healthy behaviour concepts to parents.
3.2 Technology Moving on to consider the role of technology in terms of artefacts and devices, Page and Richardson (2016) and Chamberlain (2016) look at medical device design in their research. Page and Richardson take a discursive approach to look at the design of interactive medical devices. They explore the common discourse in phenomenological research in the fields of medicine, HCI and design fields and introduce a transdisciplinary foundation (which stops short of a framework, they claim). This is relevant to other researchers and designers working at the intersection of these fields. They go on to report on a co-creation design practice between the designer and the user, using speculative design probes. Macdonald et al (2016) describe a participative approach to developing a prototype tabletbased digital training tool using dynamic visualisation-led techniques to raise awareness and understanding of Infection Prevention and Control and Healthcare-Associated Infections for hospital-based staff. An evidence-based and iterative visualisation prototyping process was used to engage staff and invite contributions from across a number of roles within the National Health Service in the UK. Findings suggest that the visualisation-led approach was helpful in articulating the behaviours of pathogens and staff and their interactions within the
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complex setting and service ecology of the National Health Service, and in making infection prevention and control training materials clearer and more engaging.
3.3 Spaces In response to a major new health paradigm, Chamberlain (2016) explores the implications in the shift of traditional care in the hospital, to that of care in the home. In particular, the paper probes what happens when the culture and practice of health interventions which have previously resided in the hospital, infiltrate the private space of the home. He observes the increasing migration of devices and emergent technologies into the home setting and the challenges that this poses. The author unpicks the complexities of how the hospital and domestic environment can become a hybrid space and highlight the importance of engaging users to both understand and collaboratively develop solutions. Applying a critical artefact methodology, they show the need for collaborative approaches between design and health to be critical to understanding these two disparate environments, and that careful consideration is needed when developing new paradigms of care. This paradigm of the ‘home’ as the new environment for healthcare is evident in other papers within the SIGWELL sessions, showing particular importance the notion of ‘happiness’. For instance, Doyle et al (2016) explore how design for happiness in the home can lead to future sustainable, more fulfilling and happier domestic life-styles. The authors used photo-elicitation and interviews with participants from home-owning families to locate happiness triggers in the home. From this, the needs and motivations for home life activities were conceptualised and connections were drawn to those of happy and sustainable societies. The work contributes to awareness on design for happiness, equipping designers with knowledge on the types of activities and behaviours in the home, which make people, ultimately, happier.
3.4 Positive design and design for happiness Happiness and subjective wellbeing are growing in importance, and can be seen to have a growing influence in design research. Several authors have used this approach as a starting point for their research, including Treadaway et al (2016) discussed above. In a similar vein, Casais et al (2016) make a contribution to the growing field of positive design through making use of the symbolic meaning that design can have to bolster human happiness. The authors developed a card set for designers to inspire design for happiness and tested it with design professionals, educators and students. Duste et al (2016) present a design case-study in which pleasure, personal significance and virtue can be understood in the context of design practice, and how to integrate these in a meaningful way. This work attempts to move on Desmet and Pohlmeyer’s (2013) existing design for wellbeing framework from that of analysing existing designs, to being of use in design projects. The reported case study developed a car interior for a car-sharing service and introduced the idea of experiences which evolve over time.
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Finally, in a demonstration of the cross-cutting nature of design for wellbeing, and its relationship to other design domains such as design for sustainability, Boess and Pohlmeyer (2016) draw together the interlinked themes of wellbeing and sustainability. Driven by an initial insight that design students thought that wellbeing and sustainability was an ‘either or’, they chose to focus on subjective wellbeing as an essential part of designing for sustainability, not as an alternative or as an optional extra. Using a post-hoc case-study approach, they looked at student projects from two studios – one working on sustainability and one working on wellbeing. They examined aspects of the studio work where design for sustainability promoted wellbeing, and vice-versa. Four themes were proposed, which act as approaches to bridge design for sustainability and design for wellbeing: open reflection, pathway activities, resource and material preservation as side effect, and broader insights.
4. Looking to the future The papers contained within this SIGWELL theme demonstrate the progress that is being made towards developing new design research approaches for addressing the challenges facing the health and wellbeing of society – from ageing, diet, healthcare, infection, and sustainability. As ever, the difficulty is in translating this academic knowledge into practical and useful tools for practicing designers. If society is to see the benefit of designing a better quality of life, the design research community needs to ensure that practicing designers can access and learn from this growing body of academic knowledge to embed these principles into their work in the real-world.
5. References Ahmadpur, N. & Keirnan, A. (2016) Design for ageing in place: evidence from Australia: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Boess, S. & Pohlmeyer, A. (2016) Designs with benefits: hearth fire nights and bittersweet chores: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Casais, M., Mugge, R. & Desmet, P.M.A. (2016) Using symbolic meaning as a means to design for happiness: The development of a card set for designers: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Chamberlain, P.M. (2016) A design primer for the domestication of health technologies: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Corrigan Doyle, E.M., Escobar-Tello, C. & Lo, K.P.Y (2016) Exploring design for happiness in the home and implications for future domestic living: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Craib, D.C. & Imbesi, L. (2016) Design methods for meaning discovery: a patient-oriented health research case study: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Desmet, P.M.A. & Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2013) Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-being: In International Journal of Design, Vol.7, No.3, pp5-19
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Rebecca Cain, Noemi Bitterman, Geke Ludden, Jamie Mackrill, Elif Ozcan, Ann Petermans and Carolina Escobar-Tello Duste, T.F., Desmet, P.M.A., van Grondelle, E.D. (2016) Happy moments: A well-being driven design fo a Car2Go: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 2730th June, Brighton, UK HM Government (2009): Sustainable Development: Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world [online] Ludden, G. & de Ruijter, L. (2016) Supporting healthy behaviour. A stages of change perspective on changing snacking habits of children: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Macdonald, A.S., Loudon, D., Wan, S. & Macduff, C. (2016) Disentangling complexity: a visualisationled tool for healthcare associated infection training: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Page, R.C. & Richardson, M. (2016) Co-creating naratives: a phenomenologically informed approach to the design of interactive medical devices: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK Treadaway, C., Prytherch, D., Kenning, G., Fennell, J. (2016) In the moment: designing for late stage dementia: In Proceedings of the 2016 Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference, 27-30th June, Brighton, UK World Health Organisation (1946) Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organisation as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June 1946.
About the Authors: Rebecca Cain is Associate Professor and Head of the Experiential Engineering Research Group in WMG, University of Warwick. She is the lead convenor of DRS SIGWELL and an elected council member of the Design Research Society. Noemi Bitterman is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at Technion, Israel. Her research interests include design and human factors in healthcare, smart technologies, inclusive design and evidence-based design. Geke Ludden is Assistant Professor in the Interaction Design group at the University of Twente. Her interests lie in the design of products and services that support healthy behaviour. Geke is member of the board of the Design & Emotion Society. Jamie Mackrill is Lecturer in the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. With a background in human factors, his research interests concern how people experience their surroundings to improve wellbeing, health and productivity. Elif Ozcan is Assistant Professor in Industrial Design at TU Delft. Her main research interests include the influence of multisensory interactions with products on product meaning and user behaviour and the optimisation of the process of multisensory design.
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Ann Petermans is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Hasselt University (Belgium). Her research interests include design for subjective wellbeing and design for experience, in a wide range of environments and for diverse user groups. Carolina Escobar-Tello is Lecturer in Industrial/Product Design at the Loughborough Design School. Her specialism is sustainable design practice that contributes to people’s happiness and sustainable lifestyles.
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In the moment: designing for late stage dementia Cathy Treadawaya*, David Prytherchb, Gail Kenningc and Jac Fennella a
Cardiff Metropolitan University Birmingham City University c University of Technology * ctreadaway@cardiffmet.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.107 b
Abstract: This paper presents international multidisciplinary design research to support the wellbeing of people living with dementia. The LAUGH1 project aims to develop playful artefacts that will contribute to non-pharmacological personalised approaches to caring for people living with late stage dementia in residential care. This paper presents the context for this research and explains the initial stages of the work currently in progress. An inclusive participatory methodology is described in which key experts including: health professionals, technologists, materials scientists and carers of people living with dementia are informing the development of design concepts. A positive design approach in which designing for pleasure, personal significance and virtue underpin the work. The initial stages of the research have identified the significance of: playfulness, sensory stimulation, hand use and emotional memory. This paper contends that designs should aim to promote ‘in the moment’ living in order to support subjective wellbeing of people living with late stage dementia. Keywords: Inclusive design, dementia, wellbeing
1. Introduction The World Health organisation has identified dementia as one of the greatest health challenges facing the world today (WHO, 2012). By 2050 it estimates there will be 115.4 million people with a diagnosis of dementia in the world. The rapid increase in numbers of people living with the disease will have a significant impact on individuals, families and society as a whole. There are currently very few products designed specifically to support the care of people living with late stage dementia who are often amongst the most marginalised and neglected members of our communities. New approaches to the design of 1
LAUGH is an acronym for Ludic Artefacts Using Gesture and Haptics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
In the moment: designing for late stage dementia
care services and ways of supporting their wellbeing are urgently needed (Zeisel, 2013; Design Council, 2012; Treadaway & Kenning, 2015; Treadaway, Kenning, & Coleman, 2015). Dementia is a syndrome that encompasses a range of neurodegenerative diseases (including Alzheimer’s) for which there is currently no cure. Caring for people with late stage dementia is demanding due to their complex needs and often what are perceived as challenging behaviours. Additionally, there can be great variation in the way the disease presents itself, and it is widely known that ‘one person’s journey through dementia is one person’s journey through dementia’; there can be no ‘one size fits all’ when considering how to design for this demographic. Seeing the individual living with the disease and being mindful of their personhood and life experiences is vital when they can no longer communicate their identity for themselves (Zeisel, 2011). There are both economic and social benefits to be gained from designing specifically to support the wellbeing of people living with dementia. According to a report by the King's Fund, total UK annual spending on dementia is projected to reach £35 billion in 2026 1. The cost to families is both economic and emotional; unrecognised informal carers looking after a family member with dementia shoulder the majority of care responsibilities. In residential care many residents are given expensive anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs in order to manage perceived challenging behaviour however, according to Alzheimer’s Society, the use of these drugs as a first resort, for two thirds of these people, is inappropriate2. Research shows that happy people take less medication, suffer fewer falls and hospital admissions (Huppert, Baylis, & Keverne, 2005). There are therefore, significant economic advantages to increasing subjective wellbeing3 for people living with dementia and designing specifically to promote their positive emotions. Fredrickson (2004) identifies the ten most common positive emotions as joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love. Positive emotions have been shown to have enormous health benefits; laughter can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, decrease pain, boost the immune system and is better than any anti depressant (Sternberg, 2009). The brain’s emotional systems have evolved to ensure human survival (Damasio, 2000; Goleman, 2004). Negative emotions such as fear and hate automatically stimulate the body’s flight or fight response. The impact is felt via changes in the body such as quickened heart rate, sweaty palms etc. and is capable of hijacking conscious rational thought (Damasio, 2000). Positive emotions such as happiness, joy and peace have evolved to help us seek opportunity, be creative and connect with each other (Fredrickson, 2004). Laughter is contagious and smiles often elicit smiles from others: they are socially connecting mechanisms with a universally understood language that does not rely on spoken words or rational thought. Fredrickson’s research has shown that the natural bias of
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human emotion is more negative than positive and that in order to flourish there is a need to experience more positive emotions than negative ones. There are, therefore, good reasons to investigate ways to develop and sustain positive emotion, particularly for people living with dementia for whom life is limited, often sedentary and lacking in hope. As the disease progresses it affects explicit memory (recall of experiences and information) and perception, resulting in confusion, altered sense of self and relationships with others. New approaches are needed to create opportunities for ‘in the moment experience’ in which the senses are stimulated and savoured. Playful activities that draw on a lifetime’s accrued procedural memory have the potential to bring ludic pleasure and fun. New ways to tap into emotional memories through personalisation are needed to stimulate a sense of ‘self’ and retain a person’s identity. These are the challenges that the LAUGH research is addressing in order to develop new types of playful objects (ludic artefacts) to support the wellbeing of people with late stage dementia.
2. Memory and emotion 2.1 The brain and dementia Dementia is caused by a range of progressive neurodegenerative diseases of the brain resulting in memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. The disease causes the brain to shrink; the hippocampus, the primary region of the brain associated with memory, is significantly affected and reduces in size1. The result is the gradual loss of autobiographical or episodic memory of the experiences that punctuate life. The biological purpose of memory is to inform present and future action and so it is not surprising that impaired memory leads not only to amnesia but also confusion and frustration in the present. Recent research in neuroscience imaging is illuminating ways in which the hippocampus is instrumental in making and remembering memories. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, have found that damage to the hippocampus affects ‘spatial coherence’: the way in which the world is perceived and remembered in ‘scenes’. Without this function the brain is unable to recall spatial memories such as locations or sets of objects within a scenario. It is also impossible to imagine, dream, predict or navigate spatial scenes (Zeidman, Mullally, & Maguire, 2015). Nevertheless, other types of memories are able to persist into the later stages of the disease; these include emotional (affective) memories and procedural memories (learnt physical activities that have become automatic i.e. tacit or muscle memory)(Zeisel, 2011). Examples of these include the ability to sing and remember the words of songs when the facility to construct sentences in everyday language is lost and the ability to knit, although not the ability to follow a printed pattern. Neither of these memory systems seems to be affected by spatial fragmentation as a result of hippocampal damage.
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2.2 Emotional memory Emotions are hugely significant in the laying down of memory. According to LeDoux, there is no one emotional system in the brain but a series of systems which give rise to different kinds of emotions (LeDoux, 1998). These have developed for specific evolutionary purposes and control the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, dominance, care of offspring). Since they have developed to ensure human survival they are low level, preconscious response mechanisms that affect and control the physiology of the body. For example fear stimulates the fight or flight response preempting action through the release of chemicals, raising heart rate and focusing attention in the brain. It is only after the body has entered the ‘alert’ state that it is possible to reflect on the biofeedback and consciously become aware of the resulting ‘feeling’. Memories of emotion are therefore experienced pre-consciously and only subsequently reflected upon and rationalized as feelings. The brain has two regions that have been shown to be significant in the processing of memories: the hippocampus and the amygdala. As explained in the previous section 5.1, the hippocampus is concerned with the episodic memories that punctuate experience. These explicit memories involve events and facts, logic and reason. By contrast the amygdala is concerned with implicit emotional memories. In traumatic events, both memory systems function in parallel (LeDoux, 1998). This accounts for the rekindling of the emotional feelings and sometimes also bodily responses, such as increased heart rate, when these memories are consciously remembered. In the later stages of dementia both logical and emotional memory systems are damaged, however emotional memories remain intact for much longer and are used to help make sense of the world. Consequently a person may not remember who someone is, but they will remember how they feel about them. This also applies to objects and situations encountered in daily living. Objects may retain important emotional significance and stimulate moments of clarity when past memories are revived. Attachment to personal possessions, clothing, pieces of furniture and places, result from their emotional value and significance to the person living with dementia. The heightened sensitivity to emotions of people with dementia can lead to communication that is largely receptive and dependent on the moods of others (Logsdon, McCurry, & Teri, 2007). Although emotions are felt, there is difficulty in expressing them verbally. The design implications from this include the need for alternative forms of communication and interpretation that encourage non-verbal emotional expression as a way of sharing, understanding and building on positive feelings of happiness and comfort.
2.3 Procedural memory Another implicit memory system linked with the amygdala is procedural memory. This can be described as hard-wired body knowledge that is tacit resulting from years of repetitive action. Skills that have been practiced consistently until they have become automatic such as playing a musical instrument, practicing a craft or folding a napkin are retained as implicit procedural memories. According to Sennett it takes 10,000 hours of practice for a skill to
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become automatic (Sennett, 2008) but once it becomes implicit, the skill can provide pleasure by inducing states of flow, competence and absorption. Designs for people with late stage dementia need to focus on ways of rekindling implicit memories, both emotional and procedural, and avoid placing cognitive demands on the user. By understanding a person’s lived experience and focusing on their attachments to objects and activities, it is possible to enable pleasurable ‘in the moment’ experiences that reinforce positive emotions. Dexterous skills learnt throughout life by a person with dementia may provide insights into developing new ways of interacting with playful objects, building on procedural competencies using gesture and haptic touch.
3. Hand use and Haptics Recent studies of hand-based activities with people in the later stages of dementia show that whilst their cognitive capabilities may decline, tactual sensory input remains effective and rewarding, (Ballesteros & Reales, 2000). Engagement in the physical activities of daily living develops tactual skills and emotional preferences that are hard wired into brain structures and neurological pathways from birth (Csikzentmihaly, M, 2001; Duchaine, Cosmides and Tooby, 2001; Wilcock, A., 1993). Evidence has shown that tactual hand based motor control remains ‘comparatively spared’, even in advanced cases of dementia, (Thompson et al, 2003) subject to other medical conditions that may be present. Motivation and the ability to perform activities are interconnected (Kielhofner & Burke, 1980). White’s ‘Competence Theory’ (White, 1959) states that “an intrinsic need to deal with the environment seems to exist and satisfaction (the feeling of efficacy) is derived from it”. Ryan & Deci’s (2000) ‘Self-determination Theory’, states that every person has an innate drive i.e. an internal or self-motivation to become good (competent) at something, which when achieved, enhances our subjective wellbeing and increases the intrinsic motivation to repeat this task. This is further enhanced when a person’s “human tendency towards learning and creativity” is capitalised (Ryan & Deci, 2000). As ability/competence to successfully complete a particular task/activity decreases, there is a need to strive to become good at another activity. Therefore, to ensure the psychological wellbeing of people with advanced dementia, activities that are achievable and appropriate for them are needed. Those that foster and utilise these fundamental biological drives of motivation and reward have the potential to re-channel the negative agitated behaviour frequently seen in people with dementia into a more positive, emotionally rewarding and playful activity (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000). A meditative approach that focuses the person living with dementia’s attention on the immediate moment of haptic experience and tactual sensation are more appropriate than those that involve cognitive stimulation. Previous studies have observed improving feelings of wellbeing through haptic experiential pleasure, which appears to foster increased attentional focus (Prytherch, D. & Jerrard, R. 2003) and in particular for people living with dementia (Treadaway and Kenning 2015). If the activity is shared, this may also assist the
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development of a deeper person centred relationship between people living with dementia and their carers, and peers. Agitated behaviour exhibited by people living with dementia is often a consequence of a lack of stimulation and meaningful activity (Brooker & Duce, 2000). Kong, Evans & Guevara (2009) carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia who have agitated behaviours. This review included data from sensory interventions, social contact, activities, environmental modification, caregiver training, combination therapy and behavioural therapy and found that only sensory interventions had a statistically significant effect on reducing agitation. Woods, Beck & Sinha (2009), suggested that therapeutic touch was beneficial both for symptoms of motor-restlessness and for stress reduction. Woods et al (2009) were unable to suggest a mechanism to explain why therapeutic touch was beneficial. It is evident however, that therapies that tap into sensory and motor functioning are most effective, and indicative of a biological basis. A study by Thompson et al. (2003) monitored the loss of grey matter in the brain as Alzheimer’s disease progresses. Their findings reveal losses occur in the temporal and parietal regions and limbic cortices, spreading to the frontal cortex as the disease advances. Findings from the study indicate that primary motor and sensory areas are “comparatively spared” even in advanced Alzheimer’s disease. This suggests that therapies/activities for people with advanced dementia are more likely to be beneficial if they utilise motor and sensory functions of the brain. In summary, well-designed products for people with late stage dementia require limited cognitive effort, provide: fun, playfulness and surprises, the facility to easily choose whether or not to engage in the activity, and if so for how long. A repetitive touch activity incorporated into designs, in order to channel motor-restlessness behaviour, would encourage and reward ‘in the moment’ activity thereby fulfilling the innate need for occupation, self-determination and competence via play.
4. Playfulness and sensory stimulation Activities that stimulate positive emotions are creative, open and playful. They bring pleasure by reducing stress; they are without fixed goals or rewards and encourage ‘in the moment living’. It is ‘playful’ or ‘ludic’ playing that is open ended and fun-filled, that stimulates positive emotion and enhances subjective wellbeing (Woodyer, 2012). Playful play, however, is all too often considered to be the preserve of children and as life progresses, both the opportunities to play and the self-granting of permission to play diminish (Rogerson et al 2013). When ludic play stimulates positive emotion it is evidenced extrinsically in behaviours that contribute to sociability, such as smiling and laughter. These acts of reciprocity are hardwired in the brain for the purpose of establishing social connectedness, affiliation and friendship (Dissanayake, 2000).
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Opportunities for socially acceptable ludic play can be limited in adult life. Play is often viewed negatively as ‘larking around’ and ‘childish’ and adults who engage in silly or frivolous behaviours are often considered socially irresponsible (Kane, 2005). This negative bias towards adult playfulness is reflected in the reluctance to accept the notion of ‘play’ or concept of ‘toys’ for people with dementia. The use of the term ‘toy’ may be contentious due to its association with childhood, or considered infantilizing and detrimental to the dignity of a person with dementia. Despite the negative connotations, there is a growing body of research evidence to indicate that playful objects, such as dolls and soft toys, bring much pleasure and are able to comfort and soothe people living with late stage dementia (Mitchell & O'Donnell, 2013). All too frequently it is the carers and family members who are most resistant to the idea of play and the use of toys in residential care. This attitude is beginning to change as their therapeutic benefits are recognised by those working in the sector. Nevertheless, there is little published empirical data to support those carers who have witnessed the positive affect of playful objects on people living with dementia, including reduction in the need for medication, fewer falls and less agitated behaviour. There are also currently no published guidelines endorsed by government (Mitchell 2015). The LAUGH research discussed in this paper aims to contribute new playful objects and evaluate their potential to provide a non-pharmacological approach to the care of people with late stage dementia. Previous research by the authors has already identified the benefits of playful textile artefacts in the care of people with late stage dementia (Treadaway et al., 2015). These textiles have been designed specifically to encourage ‘in the moment’ haptic experience with interesting textures, fabrics and threads, as well as buttons, zips and poppers designed specifically for ludic fiddling and fidgeting (Fig. 1). Each textile is bespoke, designed around an individual person with dementia’s life history and personal preferences. The addition of embedded electronics has enabled further personalisation, for example the inclusion of an embedded MP3 player containing favourite music. Simple intuitive haptic electronic interfaces also facilitate extended sensory functions. For example, in one of the textiles simple metal (clothes) buttons function as controllers to playfully select a variety of birdsong audio files which are played through a small speaker embedded in the textile.
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Figure 1 Textile for ‘in the moment’ tactile stimulation designed to support the wellbeing of a person with late stage dementia.
Evaluation of the textiles indicates that they are able to reduce stress, promote positive emotion and encourage social play (Treadaway & Kenning, 2015). The significant aspect of these objects is that they are concerned with ‘in the moment’ experience. No cognitive skill is required to activate them and their carefully designed material properties stimulate a variety of senses including sight, touch, sound and smell. As objects to share, they are able to broker non-verbal interaction and emotional communications between people living with dementia and their carers when verbal communication is difficult or has been lost due to the progression of the disease.
5. Methodology Over the last three years a series of funded research projects - ‘Making a Difference’, ‘Dementia Aprons’ and ‘Sensor e-Textiles’ - have been undertaken by CARIAD1 researchers in order to scope the need for the LAUGH research and to develop networks of experts to participate in it (Treadaway, Kenning, & Coleman, 2014). Partnered by Gwalia Cyf, one of the leading providers in South Wales of residential care for people living with dementia, and supported by three leading charities: Alzheimer’s Society, Age Cymru and Dementia Positive, the LAUGH project now has a database of over 90 participants including health professionals, carers, family members of people living with dementia, materials experts, computer scientists, designers and engineers who are contributing their time and expertise to the project. The CARIAD team is joined by academics from University of Technology
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Sydney and Birmingham City University with expertise in creativity, craft, technology and haptics. The research methodology is largely qualitative, participatory and inclusive (Blessing & Chakrabarti, 2009; Krippendorff, 2006). Data is gathered from a series of case studies, semi structured interviews, practical participatory workshops and post-hoc expert review. Participants include researchers who observe, journal and reflect on their experiences and the experiences of the other participants. The workshops are video and audio recorded simultaneously on four video cameras in the User Centred Design Lab at the National Centre for Product Design in Cardiff, UK. Video material is later analysed using Noldus Observer XT software and aligned to themes identified from previous research and current literature in the field. In addition, the recordings are analysed for emergent themes arising from each workshop. This paper focuses on one component of the broader research reporting on findings from one of three participatory workshops that will inform the design development stage of the work. The subsequent iterative prototyping and ‘live lab’ evaluation phases of the research will include people living with dementia in Gwalia residential care.
5.1 Person centred and positive design The approach to the design of highly customised ludic artefacts for people with dementia in this work aligns with the person-centred approaches prevalent in the theory and practice of care for persons with dementia (Chenoweth et al., 2014; Chenoweth et al., 2009). These approaches recognise the personhood of each individual (Kitwood, 1997), as social beings to be treated with dignity and respect, and the need to design to promote positive emotion. Importantly, such approaches recognise that to be effective, designing for the individual must also take into account the community of stakeholders involved in the care; family members, caregivers, health care staff. By taking a participatory and inclusive approach each participant can make a valuable contribution to inform the design of artefacts for people with late-stage dementia (Hughes, 2014). Positive Design, an approach that focuses specifically on designing to promote positive emotions, underpins the LAUGH research (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013). This design methodology, rooted in Positive Psychology, identifies three key constituents when designing to support positive emotion: pleasure, personal significance and virtue.
5.2 Data collection and analysis A total of 25 participants comprising: experts in dementia care, occupational therapists, managers, dementia nurses, representatives from Alzheimer’s Society and Age Cymru, designers, and technologists were brought together for a participatory workshop to explore hand use and playfulness in relation to dementia (Fig. 2). The three-hour workshop was divided into three one-hour sessions, each with a practical activity followed by a group discussion. Activities including bread making, clapping games and simple crafts were used to stimulate discussion around the themes and enabled participants to share their expert
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knowledge in caring for people with late stage dementia. These particular activities were selected in order to focus participants’ attention on manual dexterity, haptic responses and playfulness as these had been identified as significant areas for interrogation from the authors’ previous research and contextual review (Treadaway and Kenning 2015; Treadaway et al 2014; Killick, 2013). A different member of the research team led each part of the workshop and participants were encouraged to share their thoughts whilst engaging in the practical activities. The discussions were video recorded and participants were also given simple digital cube cameras to document the session themselves. From this data, recurrent themes were identified and tagged to provide a framework used later for thematic analysis of the audio transcription.
Figure 2 Bread making, LAUGH Workshop 1
6. LAUGH workshop The participatory workshop provided insights and practical knowledge about dementia care through an experiential reflective process of involvement in practical activities. Participants were experts who either work directly with people with late stage dementia or are closely connected with their care. Activities (bread making, clapping games and making simple toys) were selected for their potential to reveal insights about manual dexterity, haptic touch and the implications of memory impairment on hand use for people living with late stage dementia, who are often sedentary or bed bound. Participants’ reflections on the activities took place during and after each session in a round table discussion.
6.1 Bread making The participants were guided through the practical activity of making bread in order to elicit personal reflections on hand use and haptics (Fig. 2). The feel of the flour in the bowl, the smell of the dough once the water had been added, the warmth experienced during the kneading process all contributed to a feeling of pleasure from the sensory experience. The kneading process quickly became repetitive and rhythmic as participants stopped chatting
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and became absorbed in the task. Comments from the participants during the activity highlighted the ways in which the activity stimulated pleasurable memories – some long past. Others commented on how the kneading process was a tacit skill and they were able to continue happily whilst thinking about other things. Researchers observed that the activity became more energetic once participants had their own piece of dough and became intrinsically motivated to complete the activity. Key findings from this workshop session indicate the importance of designing for immersive1 occupation, self-determination in the choice of activity and competence in undertaking the playful experience. Dexterous activities provide rhythmic, calming and soothing engagement that is absorbing and distracting; the senses are stimulated and the focus of attention is ‘in the moment’. During the discussion participants contributed anecdotes concerning their positive experiences of undertaking cooking activities with people living with dementia.
6.2 Clapping Games During this part of the workshop music was played and participants were encouraged to respond with clapping games (Fig. 3). Some participants consciously drew on their memories of games played as children with associated rules of engagement (e.g. who should take the lead); most instinctively began clapping and moving to the rhythms co-operatively with their partners, drawing on memories through doing the activity rather than thinking about it. Although there was some discussion, most people simply got involved in the activity. There was a great deal of laughter and smiling amongst the majority of those involved. One participant was reluctant to participate and removed himself from the group. Gender differences were observed in the approaches taken to the activity. The male participants were slower to engage, maintaining that only girls played clapping games as children. Nevertheless, they began to play a more aggressive and competitive clapping game remembered from childhood called ‘Crocodiles’. The music played during the activity was found to be energizing and helped to stimulate a sense of immersion and flow. Physical movements inspired childhood memories and the need to follow a partner produced bodily attunement resulting in social connection that was evidenced in smiling and laughter. This activity highlighted several important design considerations including: the potential for both inclusivity and exclusion, the significance of music and rhythm and the role of pre-defined rules in shortcutting access to fun and play.
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Figure 3 Clapping games
6.3 Simple toy making The final part of the workshop was devoted to making simple toys: a paper fortune-teller, a whizzy disk and simple card-weaving spiral. The crafting process required basic skills of folding and cutting and everyday familiar materials: paper, wool and cardboard (Fig. 4). Participants immediately began to reminisce about childhood games and, although they were unable to remember the names, they were able to describe the activities using hand gestures. Memories of how to construct the toys evolved through the making process - by doing rather than thinking and planning. Participants also expressed particular enjoyment derived from the combined activity of making the object then playing with it. Discussion following this session indicated the need to consider designing for the social aspects of play. The activity highlighted the intrinsic reward gained from making a toy individually and then being able to share the game socially and enjoy the ‘in the moment experience’ of play. Hand use, gesture and haptics were again shown to be significant in this activity and memories were rekindled through procedural rather than semantic memory.
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Figure 4 A fortune-teller paper toy
7. Discussion and future work The key findings from this workshop were that participants:
Were able to recognise what ‘in the moment’ fun and joy felt like as a result of personally engaging in activities that were fun and involved hand-use;
Recognised the importance of ‘in the moment’ activities that are playful and engage the senses;
Were able to translate their own experiences of exploring memory, hand-use and playfulness through their knowledge of working with people with dementia into information that can directly inform design considerations when designing for people living with late stage dementia.
Workshop participants’ personal and professional experiences confirmed that ‘in the moment’ activities that are: playful, involve hand use and engage the senses, contribute to building positive emotions. The round table discussion - following the activities, confirmed the theory that the three key themes: memory, hand-use and playfulness, are significant design considerations when designing for people living with late stage dementia. Subsequent planned participatory research will examine positive emotion and emotional memory in greater depth. This will help to inform ways of designing to personalise designs in order to stimulate a stronger sense of ‘self’ for a person living with late stage dementia and communicate their personhood to others. Focus on emotional memory, which is retained even in the later stages of the disease, may provide significant design opportunities. A greater understanding of how to stimulate emotional memories that are positive and engaging for a person living with late stage dementia will be required.
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Fun, pleasure and playfulness in relation to emotional memory, and crafting and making in relation to procedural memory, will be explored in the next stage of the research via two further participatory workshops. This will be followed by a series of iterative design development workshops that will explore appropriate forms, materials and technologies. People living with dementia will be involved in the development and evaluation of the design prototypes through a series of ‘live labs’ involving residents in the project partner’s care homes. Due to the vulnerability and communication challenges of people living with late stage dementia, care staff, health professionals and family members will contribute their expertise throughout the design development and evaluation phases of the research. Acknowledgements: This research is supported by an AHRC Standard Grant Ref: AH/M005607/1; we would like to acknowledge our project partner Gwalia Cyf and are grateful for the support and participation of Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia Positive and Age Cymru in this research.
8. References Blessing, L.T.M., & Chakrabarti, A. (2009). DRM, a Design Research Methodology: Springer. Brooker, D, & Duce, L. (2000). Wellbeing and activity in dementia: A comparison of group reminiscence therapy, structured goal-directed group activity and unstructured time. Ageing and Mental Health, 4, 354-358. Chenoweth, Lynn, Forbes, Ian, Fleming, Richard, King, Madeleine, Stein-Parbury, Jane, Luscombe, Georgina, . . . Brodaty, Henry. (2014). PerCEN: a cluster randomized controlled trial of personcentred residential care and environment for people with dementia. International Psychogeriatrics. Chenoweth, Lynn, King, Madeleine, Jeon, Yun-Hee, Brodaty, Henry, Stein-Parbury, Jane, Norman, Richard, . . . Luscombe, Georgina. (2009). Caring for aged dementia care resident study (CADRES) of person-centred care, dementia-care mapping and usual care. Lancet Neural, 8, 317-325. Cosmides L, Tooby J. (2000) Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones JM, eds. Handbook of Emotions. 2nd ed. NY: Guilford; 2000:91 – 115. Csikszentmihalyi, M., (2001) Motivation and creativity: Toward a synthesis of structural and energistic approaches to cognition. New Ideas in Psychology, 6,(2), pp 159-176 Damasio, A. R. (2000). The feeling of what happens: body and emotion in the making of consciousness. London: W.Heinemann. Design Council. (2012). Living well with dementia. London: Design Council UK. Desmet, P .M. A., & Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2013). Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being. International journal of design, 7, 5-19. Dissanayake, Ellen. (2000). Art and intimacy: how the arts began. Seattle, Wa: University of Washington Press. Duchaine, B., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J., (2001). Evolutionary psychology and the brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11, pp.225–230. Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden and build theory of positive emotions. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 359, 1367-1377. Goleman, Daniel. (2004). Emotional intelligence, why it can matter more than IQ & Working with emotional intelligence: [Omnibus]. London: Bloomsbury.
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Hughes, Julian C. (2014). How we think about dementia: personhood, rights, ethics, the arts and what they mean for care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Huppert, Felicia A., Baylis, N., & Keverne, B. (2005). The science of well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kane, Patrick. (2005). The play ethic: a manifesto for a different way of living. London: Pan. Kielhofner, G. & Burke, J.P., 1980. A Model of Human Occupation, Part 1. Conceptual Framework and Content. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 34(9), pp.572–581. Killick, J. (2013). Playfulness and dementia: a practice guide. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Kitwood, T. M. (1997). Dementia reconsidered: the person comes first. Buckingham England; Philadelphia: Open University Press. Krippendorff, Klaus. (2006). The semantic turn: a new foundation for design. Boca Raton: CRC/Taylor & Francis. LeDoux, Joseph E. (1998). The emotional brain: the mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Logsdon, R.G., McCurry, S.M. , & Teri, L. . (2007). Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Quality of Life for Individuals with Dementia. Alzheimers Care Today, 8(4), 309-318. Mitchell, G. & O'Donnell, H. (2013). The therapeutic use of doll therapy in dementia. British Journal of Nursing, 22(6), 329-334. Mitchell, G. 2015 Doll therapy in dementia care; Presentation at Dementia Congress, Telford, UK. 3-5 November 2015 Prytherch, D. & Jerrard, R., (2003). Haptics, the Secret Senses ; the covert nature of the haptic senses in creative tacit skills . In Eurohaptics 2003. Dublin: Trinity College, pp. 384–395. Rogerson, R., Treadaway, C., Lorimer, H., Billington, J., & Fyfe, H. (2013). Permission to Play: taking play seriously in adulthood AHRC Connected Communities Reports (pp. 11). Swindon: AHRC. Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L., (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. The American psychologist, 55(1), pp.68–78. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11392867 Sennett, Richard. (2008). The craftsman. London: Allen Lane. Sternberg, Esther M. (2009). Healing spaces : the science of place and well-being. Cambridge, Mass; London: Belknap. Thompson, P.M. et al., 2003. Dynamics of Gray Matter Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Neuroscience, 23(3), pp.994 –1005. Treadaway, C. & Kenning, G. (2015). Proceedings of the The Third International Conference on Design Creativity (3rd ICDC). Paper presented at the The Third International Conference on Design Creativity (3rd ICDC), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Treadaway, C. Kenning, G, & Coleman, S. (6-10th October 2014). Designing for Positive Emotion: ludic artefacts to support wellbeing for people with dementia. Paper presented at the Colors of Care: 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion, Bogota, Colombia. Treadaway, C, Kenning, G, & Coleman, S. (2015). Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Design4Health 2015, 13 – 16 July. Paper presented at the Design4Health European Conference 2015, Sheffield, UK. Wilcock, A., (1993). A Theory of the Human Need for Occupation. Occupational Science: Australia, 1(1), pp.17–24. White, R.W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66(5), pp.297–333.
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WHO. (2012). Dementia: A Public Health Priority. UK: World Health Organisation. Alzheimers Disease International. Woods, D.L., Beck, C. & Sinha, K. (2009). The effect of therapeutic touch on behavioral symptoms and cortisol in persons with dementia. Forsch Komplementmed, 16(3), pp.181–189. Woodyer, T. (2012). Ludic Geographies: not merely child's play. Geography Compass, 6(6), 313-326. Zeidman, P., Mullally, S. & Maguire, E. A. (2015). Constructing, Perceiving, and Maintaining Scenes: Hippocampal Activity and Connectivity. Cerebral Cortex, 25(10), 3836-3855. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu266 Zeisel, J. (2011). I'm Still Here: Creating a better life for a loved one living with Alzheimer's: Piatkus. Zeisel, J. (2013). Improving person-centred care through effective design. GENERATIONS – Journal of the American Society on Aging, 37(3), 45-52.
About the Authors: Cathy Treadaway is Professor of Creative Practice at Cardiff Metropolitan University and a founder member of the Centre for Applied Research in Inclusive Arts and Design (CARIAD). She is Principal Investigator on the AHRC LAUGH design for dementia research project. David Prytherch is Co-Investigator on the AHRC LAUGH design for dementia research project. He is a glass engraver/sculptor, Senior Researcher in Haptics at Birmingham City University and Course Director for the MA in Arts, Wellbeing and Mindfulness. Gail Kenning is International Co-Investigator on the AHRC LAUGH design for dementia research project. She is an artist, designer and researcher at University of Technology Sydney and Design United Visiting Research Scholar at University of Technology Eindhoven, Netherlands. Jac Fennell is Research Assistant on the AHRC LAUGH design for dementia research project, Cardiff Metropolitan University. She holds an MA in Interaction Design from the Royal College of Art and a PhD in Design from Goldsmiths, University of Londo
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Design for Ageing-in-place: Evidence from Australia Naseem Ahmadpour* and Alen Keirnan Swinburne University of Technology * nahmadpour@swin.edu.au DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.170
Abstract: A growing number of the Australian population choose to maintain their independence as they age, referred herein as ageing-in-place. In our study, we seek to clarify a number of factors, derived from the literature in the field, that contribute to well-being of that population in residential villages. Field observation and in-depth interviews were conducted with eleven participants living in three different residential villages in Victoria, Australia. Four factors, namely identity, competence, relatedness and autonomy were found relevant to the well-being of the participants in everyday life. Each factor was then further described in terms of the qualities of the built and social elements of the context. A framework was subsequently proposed for designers to consider when designing future experiences in these types of private housing. Keywords: Design, ageing-in-place, daily experience, well-being
1. Introduction According to Kelly and Sharp (2013), 92% of Australians above 65 years of age live in private dwellings. However, in Australia, there are many variants of private dwellings. In recent years, independent living units and manufactured dwellings in residential and retirement villages (see Figure 1) have gained popularity among this population in Australia as it provides an affordable alternative to traditional retirement housing (Gordon, 2015). Ageingin-place in residential villages has its evolutionary roots in Australian caravan parks. In the past, caravan parks have provided affordable holiday accommodation. However, as the industry has evolved to provide longer-term accommodation for permanent residents caravans were replaced by manufactured dwellings to reflect this style of living (Gordon, 2015). Consequently, while the evolution of temporary caravan parks has moved quickly into permanent accommodation, the governance structure surrounding this type of living has not progressed at the same rate. As a result, older models of governance of temporary accommodation affect many residents’ experiences and daily activities. In the study This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Design for ageing-in-place: Evidence from Australia
presented in this paper, the everyday experiences of residents in the abovementioned types of residencies are explored and their well-being is researched with a view pertaining to the theories of person-environment interchange (Wahl, Iwarson and Oswald, 2012; Oswald et al., 2006) and daily well-being (Reis et al., 2000).
Figure 1. Left: a manufactured dwelling in a residential park, right: a view of a residential village in Victoria, Australia.
Wahl (2006) described old age as a stage of adult life that is highly influenced by the environmental factors. The goal of this research is to explore those factors with respect to older Australians who pursue to age-in-place in residential villages. Our research contributes to the existing knowledge surrounding the relationship between well-being of people and their environment. On acknowledging the importance of this topic, De Botton (2006) accounted for the quality of individual’s surroundings and built environments as a cause of happiness and misery while Liu et al. (2009) highlighted the importance of a positive interaction with the built environment in later life for improving the ageing experience. Design characteristics may highly contribute to such experiences. For instance, Ulrich (1984) suggested that a room with a view of natural setting positively influences the recovery of hospital patients after surgery. In this paper, several studies were reviewed and a number of factors were found to be associated with well-being in everyday life, particularly for older adults as the result of their interaction with their surrounding. Four factors were proposed when describing the wellbeing associated with the interaction between older adults and housing in a personenvironment framework by Oswald et al. (2006) and further advanced by Wahl et al. (2012). The main constructs of the framework, not independent of each other in everyday life, include the ‘experience of belonging’ as a sense of positive connection to the environment, resulting in individuals forming an ‘identity’; a sense of attachment to the built environment and allocation of meanings to it e.g. home. Furthermore, ‘behaviour of agency’ is described as a proactive adaptation to the environment (i.e. its usability) in order to compensate for the reduced functional capacity as people age. Lastly, ‘autonomy’ is defined as maintaining one’s independence as they age at home. In a study of well-being in daily activities by Reis et al. (2000), three of the abovementioned factors were similarly found relevant. Those are autonomy, competence and relatedness.
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Reis and colleagues argued that contextual elements that facilitate these factors could enhance well-being; however detracting from their fulfilment may undermine well-being. Autonomy was described as performing desired activities congruent with self, similar to the definition of the same factor by Oswald et al. (2006). Competence here is comparable to the behaviour of agency and described as achieving desired outcomes while relatedness, defined as the perceived level of closeness to significant others, is similar to the experience of belonging although it pertains to a social relatedness rather than that of a place. It is therefore clear that research on the determinants of well-being of older people in relation to the contextual factors in residential villages should consider examining the relevance of four factors, namely autonomy, competence, relatedness and identity. In addition to the built environment, we seek to describe in further clarity the components of interaction with the social environment, i.e. the between-person interactions, for a number of reasons. First, Rioux (2005) deemed the social interactions with neighbours and family (e.g. spouses) important for the well-being of older adults above 72 years of age. Second, Rousseau and Dubé (1993) described well-being in relation to satisfaction with the home and neighbourhood, level of residential embeddedness or connections. Note that in this paper, we adopt Altman and Rogoff’s (1987) definition of home, which takes on a holistic approach and combines inter-related qualities of people, activities, settings and time. We also acknowledge the view of Rioux and Wener (2011) that homes are embedded in larger physical and social environments. Their research highlighted four dimensions corresponding to older adults residential satisfaction, namely, local area satisfaction, accessibility satisfaction with respect to the services in the local area, satisfaction with relationships with the neighbours, and home satisfaction. These areas are therefore incorporated in our study of the well-being of older people in residential villages in Australia. In the study presented in this paper, we focus on the impact of the built and social environment on resident’s lives due to the particular contextual characteristics of residential villages. The patterns of experiences with respect to design aspects and characteristics of the environment will be particularly explored. Furthermore, the applicability of four factors mentioned earlier, to the unique needs of resident’s living in residential villages and their definitions in relation to that context will be examined. We hypothesize these factors must be incorporated into designing built environments and the social systems surrounding the residential villages in Australia in order to effectively improve the lives of the elderly residents. Subsequently, the outcomes of the study in this paper present designers with an opportunity to enhance the quality of independent living, enabling better opportunities to age-in-place. While the impacts of the built environment on ageing-in-place has achieved serious research attention worldwide, the study presented in this paper bears two unique qualities; 1. It is the first of its kind to present a framework for designers that incorporates design considerations and unique needs of residents living in rapidly emerging residential villages across Victoria, Australia.
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2. It is the first of its kind in Australia to document the experiences of residents in residential villages from a design perspective.
1.1. Research approach Several techniques including visits to homes, observations and semi-structured field interviews were employed in this study. The aim was to achieve a holistic understanding of the experiences of residents (Wherton et al., 2015) in residential villages in Victoria, Australia. We strived to capture a representation of residents’ activities and their interactions with the built and social environment especially when design elements were present. The data obtained from these visits were analysed thematically (Pedell et al., 2010) and grouped based on commonalities and connection to the four pre-selected factors; identity, competence, relatedness and autonomy. Similar techniques were previously applied to studies of social care technologies for older adults (Prendergast, Somerville and Wherton, 2012), domestic technologies at home (Blythe and Monk, 2002), and resourcefulness of ordinary people as everyday designers (Wakkary and Maestri, 2007).
2. Study Residents in six households across three residential villages in the state of Victoria, Australia were contacted through Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG); a not-for-profit housing advocacy organization devoted to helping older Australians find affordable and secure housing in residential villages (among other types of living). Information about participants is presented in Table 1. Table 1. Information about participants and residential villages visited for the study Site
Households
Participants
HAAG members
Residential village A
Household 1 Household 2
1 male, 1 female 1 male, 1 female
1 HAAG member -
Residential village B
Household 3
1 male, 1 female
2 HAAG member
Residential village C
Household 4 Household 5 Household 6
1 male, 1 female 1 male, 1 female 1 female
1 HAAG member 1 HAAG member -
Total
6 Households
11 Participants
5 HAAG members
The residential villages in this study are repurposed caravan parks initially used for holiday accommodation and owned privately. Currently the owners lease land only to people above 50 years of age who then purchase the manufactured dwellings erected in place of caravans. Five residents were active members of HAAG who regularly gave feedback about their living conditions, which were then fed into recommendations for policy change regarding housing rights for older adults through HAAG. These members introduced the authors to other residents of their community who volunteered to participate in the study. Overall 11
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residents (six female) all aged above 70 years old, participated in the study. The sample consisted of five couples and one female who lived alone, accounting for six households. Our field study consisted of two phases. Phase 1- the authors established a relationship with the five members of HAAG by participating in two focus group meetings whereby the members discussed their lived experiences in the residential villages. Phase 2- visiting participants’ households, the authors spent between 3 to 5 hours with them for observation and semi structured interviews. Participants first introduced themselves and gave descriptions of their lives prior to moving to the residential village. They were asked to account for their motivations for moving to the residential villages and explain how the move has changed their lives. They were then asked to give the authors a tour of their house, talking about their daily activities, experiences and lifestyle. This was followed by a tour of the village and the public facilities such as gardens, communal spaces, pools and other recreational facilities. Participants described their feelings towards the environment and what they (dis) liked. They were asked about their relationship with their neighbours as well as the managers. They were then asked about things they would like to change or improve in their household and village. All participants lived in dwellings that were assembled on site. Dwellings were different sizes and residents were only allowed to make changes to the interior. Consequently, major changed were made to the interior of five households. The residents, based on their perceived needs after their relocation from previous housing, redesigned their living environment. In one case, a female resident who lived alone hired an architect to work with her for a complete remodelling of the interior. The changes included moving the walls to enlarge some rooms, making changes to the bathrooms and showers, adding an extra lavatory and changing laundry facilities. The analysis intended to first, identify the common design issues pertaining to participants’ lifestyle and age-related needs, and second, determine the relevance of the four preidentified factors that described their experiences with the built and social environment. The authors worked together to perform a content analysis, using the transcribed interview and observation notes, recurrent experiential elements and factors were then elicited. These are presented next.
2. The experiential factors The four selected factors exhibited a good fit to the data. Each factor was underlined by a number of qualities unique to residential parks and villages, summarising different aspects of the residents’ well-being in everyday life. The factors and their underlying qualities followed by a short definition are presented in Table 2. Examples related to each follow. Table 2 – A summary of factors and their underlying qualities relevant to the well-being of older people in residential villages
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Identity is described in relation to residents’ aesthetics expression and evocation of familiar experiences. For instance, in multiple cases aesthetic taste is expressed through displaying family members’ artworks or other collected artistic artefacts on the walls and shelves (Figure 2). In one case, the complete interior was painted white to exaggerate the artwork showcased in glass vanities (Figure 3). An example of the evocation quality is remodelling the interior floor plan to reflect previous experience in past homes. In many cases, when participants were asked to explain their rationale for a design decision within their home, such as the location of a master bedroom in relation to other rooms, they would reference their previous ‘homes’. One participant noted that in their previous home, the master bedroom was away from the main road and they liked that, therefore decided to replicate their previous situation in their current home. Participants also expressed desire for having plentiful storage to transport artefacts from previous homes, avoiding the need to dispose of them. Both aesthetics and evocation qualities are often linked to the interior elements and described in terms of creating a ‘home’ feeling in a new place.
Figure 2. Collected artefacts from travels and family are displayed on the shelves.
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Figure 3. The interior of the house is intentionally painted white so that artwork items stand out
Competence of the environment is connected to a sense of security and being prepared, accessibility to the environmental elements that provide affordances for daily activities, and anticipation as the ability to predict one’s future self. For instance, security qualities emerge due to concern for adequate space or support for emergency services to gain access into homes (e.g. main entrance, rooms, bathroom) with their equipment. On the village level, in one case the only emergency assembly point was located near the single entry to the village, making it difficult for residents to keep clear of emergency vehicles. Another security issue presents concern for individual’s private details becoming publicly known through circulated management emails. In one instance, two resident’s financial arrangement with the park owner was disclosed to the public. Accessibility qualities concern the minimal or unsuitable use of ramps throughout the village and public spaces (see Figure 4-left), unsuitable roads and lack of appropriation of paths to the needs of pedestrians and wheelchairs (see Figure 4right). Many residents felt that the previous layout of the roads that were in use preresidential village did not reflect the needs of residents in the present state.
Figure 4. Left: A make shift gravel ramp leading to public transport stop outside of the village. Right: Undulating road inherited from the village’s previous use as a landfill site.
The anticipation quality is exemplified in the design of interior of homes to cater for future needs. One of the residents who, relying on her previous experiences and that of a hired professional, re-designed the interior so that it may suit her older years (see also Figure 5):
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“You just cannot anticipate how much your capabilities may diminish over the course of only four years. I knew that I would shrink as I age, so I removed the top shelves when redesigning the kitchen, but I didn’t know that I would shrink so much. After only four years, I cannot reach the corners anymore ”
Figure 5. Cupboards are replaced by shelves on lower levels in the kitchen of an older resident to match her ‘anticipated’ needs
Relatedness factor describes experiences through which one is being socially included in the social functions or activities in their community, advocating for other individuals as an act of empathy in order to improve their social experiences, and the feeling of connectedness and belonging to a group. For instance inclusion in certain physical activities, e.g. swimming in the pool, may be prohibited for residents with certain accessibility needs resulting in their social isolation. The majority of interviewed participants stated their willingness to include the newcomers to their village and make them feel welcomed by organizing events that suits their characteristics, e.g. dance events that meets their generational taste in music. Empathy is exemplified in inter-personal relationships and acts of kindness such as collecting the mail of less mobile residents. Another example is moving parties or social gatherings to a resident’s home to avoid awkwardness for those with physical issues who need ramps or cannot climb too many stairs. On a larger scale, connectedness is diminished when group activities are dissolved due to poor management. In one instance, residents of a village formed a committee that actively made suggestions for improving the collective experience. One resident accounted for what followed: “We are all professionals with years of experience and we offered our services for free to improve the accessibility of a swimming pool that is currently not used by anyone due to the poor design of the steps. We sourced necessary quotes and documentation for the village owners, created a technical plan and calculated the cost, however our plan was ignored, we were branded as trouble makers and our suggestions were perceived as hostile, so we just stopped getting together for such purposes.”
Autonomy is described in relation to two qualities. Firstly, a feeling of control over events and the authority to make choices related to one’s life taking place at home and within residential villages, secondly, the recognition of privacy and personal space by others. Some examples of the contextual elements related to these qualities are discussed next.
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An example of the control quality is having the freedom to choose energy and insurance providers for resident’s dwellings. Often, village owners decide on behalf of their residents the preferred suppliers. As a result, many government subsidies relating to the energy supply of the residents homes are also evoked. Another example, often mentioned by participants, specified the dependency created by the management of the villages. In many cases, residents required permission to make changes to the exterior of their house. One common request made by residents was to have ramps installed to gain access to the front of their buildings as climbing the staircases (see Figure 6) was often found difficult for those with joint problems. Consistently, village owners would deny their request on the grounds that ramps are not ‘aesthetically pleasing’. The management however did not provide the definition of what constitutes aesthetically pleasing. An example of the privacy quality was residents’ concerns for recognition of their personal space in the dwelling that was not visible to others, such as neighbours, through various windows. Often, these issues were caused by a disregard to the context (by the manufacturers or management) that the dwelling was to be erected in. Similar issue arise due to the close proximity of communal walkways to residents’ windows and balconies. As a result some residents took measures to improve their privacy by creating a blanket of plants on their balconies and installing matt screens (see Figure 7).
Figure 6. Examples of dwellings with stair access
Figure 7. Left: A blanket of plants to increase privacy from street traffic. Right: a matt screen put on the side of the balcony to decrease the visibility to the neighbours.
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3. Discussion The study presented in this paper is the first of its kind to document the different aspects of well-being in daily experiences for older Australians living in residential villages. We presented factors and qualities that share relationships with the built environment and the social interactions of residents living in this growing housing industry. Older Australians leave their previous residences and opt for retirement living in residential villages in hope of a comfortable and peaceful life in a new ‘home’. However, as Rowles (2006, pp. 27) stated “a dwelling, in and of itself, can never be home, it can become a symbol of repository for home and provides cues to sustaining feeling of being at home”. Therefore, residential villages present opportunities for designers to create solutions that offer ‘home feeling’ and higher quality life experiences for residents who decide to age-in-place. To that end, we propose a four-factor framework (Figure 8) derived from our field study to support the design process. A discussion on the framework follows.
Figure 8. A framework describing the well-being of older people in Australian residential villages
It is argued that four factors of identity, competence, relatedness, and autonomy influence the quality of life in residential villages. The contextual elements of life in the residential village are described on three levels, namely dwelling, village, and social. A dwelling is described as a manufactured house owned by a resident or a family of residents. The village is described as the built environment surrounding the resident’s dwelling; communal spaces and recreational facilities fall under this category. Lastly, the social level is described as the interaction between an individual and other (or a group of) individuals inside a dwelling or village. The relationship between the factors and the contextual levels are discussed next. Based on the results of our study, identity is associated with the design (i.e. form and content) of the dwelling interior in residential villages. Example of those design aspects were displaying memorabilia inside the dwelling or replicating familiar physical references to previous ‘homes’. In their person-housing framework, Oswald et al. (2006), argued for the
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importance of this factor. Rowles (2006) distinguished this factor, as an experiential dimension of residents’ relationship to their home, from functional determinants such as competence qualities. He emphasized that a house is a location whereas home is a state of being. One challenge of researching this topic, Rowles (2006) stated, is recognizing the habitation patterns of the space by individuals over time. We argue overcoming such challenges presents opportunities for the design practice, to develop dwelling interiors (or even designed artefacts or technologies) that may be adjusted to residents’ identities in order to facilitate a home feeling. In addition, our field study highlighted a desire for codesigning the dwelling interior by the participants. As shown in Figure 8, competence in residential villages is experienced on all three different levels. Reis et al. (2000) described the essence of this factor as goal achievement in daily activities, while Oswald et al. (2006) used the term ‘behaviour of agency’ to render compatibility of the house environment to the physical capacity of older adults. However, we extended the definition of the competence factor beyond the dwelling level to include public places in the village (e.g. communal facilities, swimming pool, roads and paths) as well as the social levels (e.g. managements competence in protecting personal information contributes to residents’ security on a social level). The accessibility competency of the built environment is well known to the design and ergonomics community. However, enhancing the experience of built and social environments to residents’ future needs as they age while ensuring their security may require further research. Here again participants expressed interest in the possibility of co-designing their living space with professionals (e.g. architects), while collaborating with management of the village, to satisfy their concerns. Relatedness factor, as Figure 8 shows, is linked to social elements in residential villages. Our definition of this factor is somewhat broader than that of Reis et al. (2000) who described relatedness as relationships with ‘significant others’. We extended that relationship to individuals or groups in the community, arguing for qualities such as social inclusion, empathy, and connectedness. This is particularly important as the participants in our study recounted socializing with people of their own age and socio-economic status as a major attractiveness of residential villages. Facilitating social experiences through design may seem particularly challenging. However, the field study suggested clear need for better management of residential villages in order to improve facilitates relevant to social experiences, e.g. maintaining communal and recreational spaces in accordance to the variety of residents’ needs. In addition, feeling relevant and useful to the community and being involved in improving the life of oneself as well as others enhances the residents’ satisfaction. As many participants suggested, management should require training to better understand residents’ needs and overcome negative views towards retirement. Participants argued that the formation of residents’ committee as a social entity is one way of using their years of experience and overcoming management’s shortcomings. Finally, the autonomy factor is associated with all three levels, i.e. dwelling, village and social. The control aspect of this factor was previously discussed by Reis et al. (2000) as performing daily activities consistent with self. Oswald et al. (2006) described it as the ability
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to conduct oneself independently in interaction with various functions of the house. However, the village and social level proposed by our study broadens the scope of this factor. On the village level, dependency of participants to the management created a major control issue (e.g. liberty to choose energy supplier) whereas privacy issues often appeared on the social level (e.g. visibility of the neighbours’ house from the kitchen window). The former may be addressed through designing better means of communication with management or designing service packages that cater for this particular type of housing. The latter may be addressed through consideration of contextual elements in residential villages in manufacturing the dwellings, e.g. considering the layout of dwellings in a village. Participants in the study repeatedly mentioned that involving the residents in the design of this type of dwelling could potentially result in positive changes. Overall, the framework presented in Figure 8 takes on a holistic approach. Accounting for the built and social environments, the framework provides rigorous definitions on qualities pertaining to experiential factors in the context of residential villages in Australia. Research in relation to the well-being of older adults is heavily influenced by the assumption that one’s home is the predominantly important element of an older adults’ life, and that an emphasis must be put on the feeling and experiences of the elderly at home due to their little involvement in outside activities (Wahl et al., 2012; Rioux, 2005). However, the particular characteristics of life in residential villages require further attention to the elements of social life such as social inclusion, empathy and connectedness, as highlighted by this study. This is evidenced by empirical studies that link higher quality of social relationships (De Neve et al., 2013) and ties with friends and family (Diener and Seligman, 2003) to one’s happiness in life, while happiness is assumed to contribute to health and longevity (Diener and Chan, 2011). We argue that our framework provides opportunities for designing future user (or resident) experiences in the context of residential villages in Australia. While the person-housing framework (Oswald et al., 2006) presents factors related to well-being of older adults, it does not sufficiently reflect the unique needs of residents in Victorian residential villages that our framework aims to fulfil.
3.1. Implications for design According to Wahl (2006), research in the field of ageing with the person-environmental perspective in past decades often de-contextualized the ageing process from the environment where it takes place. Therefore the study presented in this paper contributes to this field by incorporating the contextual elements into the research on well-being of older adults’ daily experiences. The subjective factors proposed in our study provide an excellent opportunity to the design practice, in order to avoid misalignment between the needs of older adults in residential villages and the design aspects of the environmental and social systems surrounding them. The use of subjective factors in designing for older people is not uncommon. Stevens, Petermans and Vanrie (2014) successfully converted a set of five subjective factors of
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happiness (e.g. mindfulness and enjoyment, satisfying social needs, etc.) into several interior architectural design outcomes. The aim was to improve subjective well-being of older adults in residential care environments. They argued using subjective factors as the core of design activities gives room for designers’ creativity and caters for human-centered characteristics of the space. This was suggested to replace problem oriented design practices. Similarly we argue the four-factor framework in our study may be used to improve the design of residential villages. This type of living is growing in popularity and this framework could be highly beneficial to the future development of villages, built specifically for the older population. It must be noted that the framework is not intended to serve as a theoretical model in its current form but a support to both researching on and designing for older adults.
3.2. Limitations and future work In its infancy, our study proposes a unique model for designers seeking to develop future residential villages. However, its limitations must be addressed. Firstly, despite the in-depth nature of the inquiries, the number of participants and visited residential villages involved in this study may pose a limitation on the validity and representativeness of the proposed factors. Future work is required to validate these factors using a larger, more diverse sample. In addition the inter-relationship among the four factors and the level of impact on residents’ well-being must be examined through empirical studies. In addition, the application of the framework for the design practice and different design interventions through which the factors and qualities could be delivered, should also be examined.
4. Conclusion A set of factors relevant to daily well-being of older adults was identified based on literature study. Four factors were selected and hypothesized as contributors to ageing-in-place in residential villages in Australia. Those were identity, competence, relatedness and autonomy. The importance of those factors for the well-being of residents was confirmed through field studies involving observation and in-depth interviews. Each factor was then defined based on a number of qualities pertaining to particular contextual elements of residential villages. A framework was proposed for supporting the design of future experiences in these types of private dwellings. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) and its members for participating in our study.
5. References Altman, I., and Rogoff, B. (1987) World views in psychology: trait, interactional, organismic, and transactional perspectives, in Stokols, D. and Altman, I. (eds.), Handbook of Environmental Psychology, 1, Wiley, pp. 1–40.
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Blythe, M., and Monk, A. (2002) Notes towards an ethnography of domestic technology, in proceedings of DIS’02: Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, ACM Press, pp. 277–281,. De Botton, A. (2006) The architecture of happiness, Hamish Hamilton. De Neve, JE., Diener, E., Tay, L., and Xuereb, C. (2013) The Objective Benefits of Subjective WellBeing, in Helliwell, J., Layard,R. and Sachs, J. (eds.), World Happiness Report 2013, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Diener, E., and Chan, Y. (2011) Happy people live longer: subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity, Appied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 3(1), pp. 1–43. Diener, E., and Seligman, M.E.P. (2003) Very happy people, American Psychological Society, 13(1), pp. 81–84. Gordon, S. (2015) Retirement housing background paper (Report: Retirement Housing Information Worker), Melbourne: Housing for the Aged Action Group Inc. Kelly, J., and Sharp, D. (2013) Visioning modern home care, Deakin: Aged and Community Services Australia, (ACSA). Liu, C-W., Everingham, J-A., Warburton, J., Cuthill, M., and Bartlett, H. (2009) What makes a community age-friendly: a review of international literature, Australasian Journal on Ageing, 28(3), pp. 116–121. Oswald, F., Wahl, H-W., Naumann, D., Mollenkopf, H., and Hieber, A. (2006) The role of the home environment in moddle and late adulthood, in H-W. Wahl, Brenner, H., Mollenkopf, H., Rothenbacher, D., and Rott, C. (eds.), The many faces of health, competence and wellbeing in old age, Springer, pp. 7–24. Pedell, S., Vetere, F., Kulik, L., Ozanne, E., and Gruner, E. (2010) Social isolation of older people: the role of domestic technologies, in proceedings of OZCHI’10, ACM press, pp. 164–167. Prendergast, D., Somerville, C., and Wherton, J. (2012) Connecting communities: the role of design enthnogrpahy in developing social care technologies for isolated older adults, in Augusto, J.C., Huch, M., Kameas, A., Maitland, J., McCullagh, P., Roberts, J., Sixsmith, A. And Wichert, R. (eds.), Handbook of ambient assisted living: technology for healthcare, rehabilitation and wellbeing, IOS Press, pp. 791–804. Reis, H.T., Sheldon, K., Gable, S.L., Roscoe, J., and Ryan, R.M. (2000) Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 26, pp. 419–435. Rioux, L. (2005) The well-being of aging people living in their own homes, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25, pp. 231–243. Rioux, L., and Werner, C. (2011) Residential satisfaction among aging people living in place, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31, pp. 158–169. Rousseau, J., and Dube´, M. (1993) Déterminants personnels, relationnels et environnementaux du bien-être psychologique des personnes âge´es, Revue québécoise de psychologie, 14(3), pp. 3–29. Rowles, G. (2006) Commentary: a house is not a home but can it become one? in H-W. Wahl, Brenner, H., Mollenkopf, H., Rothenbacher, D. and Rott, C. (eds.), The many faces of health, competence and wellbeing in old age, Springer, pp. 25–33. Stevens, R., Petermans, A., Vanrie, J. (2014) Conversitng happiness theory into (interior) architechntual design missions: Designing for subjective well-being in residential care centers, in proceedinsg of Annual architectural research symposium: designing and planning the built environment for human well-being, pp. 53–67. Ulrich, R. S. (1984) View through a window may influence recovery from surgery, Science, 224(4647), pp. 420–421.
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Wahl, H-W. (2006) Introduction: the person-environment perspective in aging research, in Wahl, HW., Brenner, H., Mollenkopf, H., Rothenbacher, D. and Rott, C. (eds.), The many faces of health, competence and wellbeing in old age, Springer, pp. 3–7. Wahl, H-W., Iwarsson, S., and Oswald, F. (2012) Aging well and the environment: Toward and integrative model and research agenda for the future, The Gerontologist, 0, pp. 1–11. Wakkary, R., and Maestri, L. (2007) The resourcefulness of everyday design, in proceedings of C&C’07, ACM Press, pp. 163–172. Wherton, J. Sugarhood, P., Procter, R., and Greenhalgh, T. (2015) Designing technologies for social connection with older people, in Prendergast, D. and Garattini, C. (eds.), Aging and the digital life course, Berghan Books, pp. 107–125.
About the Authors: Naseem Ahmadpour is a research fellow at the Centre for Design Innovation and a member of Future Self and Design Living Lab. Her research mainly concerns human experiences as the result of interacting with artefacts, technologies and built environments. Currently, she is investigating design interventions that enhance wellbeing and quality of everyday life particularly for older adults. Alen Keirnan is a research fellow at the Centre for Design Innovation. His work gravitates around design of services and community infrastructures that enable older adults to age in place. Above all, Alen employs a strong user oriented focus in his work.
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Supporting healthy behaviour: A stages of change perspective on changing snacking habits of children Geke D.S. Ludden* and Laura H.J. de Ruijter University of Twente * g.d.s.ludden@utwente.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.303
Abstract: Many children today face an environment that presents them with an overabundance of high calorie foods. Combined with more sedentary lifestyles, this has led to increasing numbers of overweight children in many parts of the world. To counter this trend, we need new strategies that can positively alter health behaviours of children. In this paper, we demonstrate how taking a stages of change perspective can support designers in creating products and services that could serve as alternatives to more traditional health interventions such as promotional campaigns. Using the case of changing snacking habits of children, two ranges of product concepts were developed using the design for healthy behaviour framework. The two concept ranges were evaluated by parents of young children. From this study we tentatively conclude that using the design for healthy behaviour framework can lead to more innovative, supporting and effective health interventions. Keywords: design for behaviour change; health; obesity; lifestyle; children
1. Introduction Anyone who has ever gone grocery shopping with a child has probably experienced how successful the food industry currently is in creating attractive but not so healthy snacks for children by, for example, linking them to popular cartoon figures. Studies have suggested that commercials increase preferences of children aged 3-4 years for advertised foods and that children who are frequently exposed to television are more likely to have unhealthy ideas about nutrition (Signorielli & Staples, 1997). Recently, there has been a debate about snacks (‘in-between-meals’) raised by the Dutch Centre for Nutrition. They claimed that ‘snacks’ were merely invented by the food industry, adding to the growing problem of obesity by offering people an easy (and apparently normal) way to make it a habit to eat too many calories every day. In a study on the relation between dietary variety and body fatness This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Geke D.S. Ludden and Laura H.J. de Ruijter
in men and women, Mc Crory et al (1999) found that the number of new food products introduced to the US food market classified as condiments, candy, snacks and bakery foods parallels the increasing prevalence of obesity. Moreover, snacks especially targeted at children often contain too many calories and are often less healthy than could be expected based on the information provided on the package or in advertisements. For example, cookies for children are often packed per two or three, portions that are just too large for young children. Also, snacks such as yoghurt raisins may seem healthy but they contain unhealthy coatings made of oil and sugar and only contain 1% yoghurt powder. The developments sketched above describe an environment where children face an overabundance of high calorie foods and where learning how to live a healthy lifestyle is a growing challenge. In her review article on obesity prevention in children, Melinda Sothern (2004) advocates to involve both parents and schools to increase awareness and promote environments that encourage physical activity and healthy nutrition. Traditionally, raising awareness of health issues has taken the form of campaigns targeted at, for example, eating fruit and vegetables. Although these health interventions in some cases do raise awareness of the health issues that many people face, it is questionable if they will eventually help people to actively change their eating habits. In recent years, more innovative means of designing for healthy behaviour have been sought, that include monitoring and coaching systems that allow people to track their daily intake of food. We have argued before (Ludden & Hekkert, 2014) that such systems could offer valuable feedback but it generally is quite tiresome to use them for longer periods of time. Therefore, we have argued that designing for stages of change can support designers to guide people through a process of behaviour change in order to sustainably change their health behaviour. In this paper, we will apply the design for healthy behaviour framework that we have developed (Ludden & Hekkert, 2014) to the case of changing snacking habits of children and their parents. As such, this paper has two main aims. First, it will serve as a demonstration on how the design for healthy behaviour framework can be used as a design guideline. Secondly, we will evaluate to what extent the products and services that were designed are indeed particularly suitable for (and preferred by) people in specific stages of change. In the next section, we will explain the design for healthy behaviour framework in more detail. The paper will continue to discuss the design of two concept ranges designed to support children and their parents to acquire healthier snacking habits. Next, we will present an online study that evaluated the designed concepts. Results of this study will be presented and discussed in relation to the design for healthy behaviour framework.
2. Design for stages of change From their work on health behaviour change, Prochaska and colleagues (Prochaska et al., 1992; 1997) developed the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behaviour Change (TTM). Prochaska et al. suggest that to make a durable health change, whether it is to quit smoking or to eat a healthier diet, people pass through five stages: precontemplation, contemplation,
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preparation, action and maintenance. In the first three stages people built motivation to change and in the last two stages people act. Following this theory, health interventions should have different goals for people who are in different stages of change. While interventions aimed at early stages of change should aim to raise awareness, interventions in later stages should be more focused on acting out and sustaining new behaviour. Following a study of existing health interventions in the product and service domain (Ludden & Hekkert, 2014), we have proposed the design for healthy behaviour framework that combines processes of change and stages of change with design strategies. Figure 1 shows the relationships between these concepts. In the design for healthy behaviour framework four types of design strategies have been defined that correspond with four different (design) aims: ‘raising awareness’, ‘enabling’, ‘motivating’ and ‘fading out’. These design strategies spread over multiple stages. For the present study, this framework was the starting point for the design of products and services that support children and their parents to adopt healthier snacking behaviour.
2.1 Design of stage-matched health interventions Two concept ranges were designed that each consisted of four separate products. For each of the concept ranges, one concept was designed that would serve as the trigger (first encounter in a public environment, see also Ludden & Offringa (2015)) for a range, one of the products was designed following the design strategy ‘raising awareness’ (addressing the earlier stages of change pre-contemplation and contemplation), one was designed following the strategy ‘enabling’ (addressing the middle stages of change preparation and into action) and one was designed following the strategy of motivation (addressing the later stages of change action and maintenance). For this study, we did not design interventions following the ‘fading out’ strategy. Educating parents on child nutrition has been identified as an effective strategy to adopt healthy eating habits (Schonfeld-Warden & Warden, 1997). Alternatively, interventions aimed at children have often tried to implement elements of fun and gaming to motivate children to use them. To be able to explore the benefits of each of these approaches, we decided to develop one of the concept ranges with a focus on providing knowledge and information on healthy snacking, while the other concept range was focused on making healthy snacking more fun.
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Figure 1. The ‘design for healthy behaviour framework’ connecting processes and stages of change to design strategies To make sure the products within one range were coherent, they were based on similar stories and also the graphic representation was consistent. Figure 2 shows the two ranges of
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products that were designed for this study. Because the purpose of these concepts was to evaluate them in an online survey the designs were made into annotated sketches that could explain how the product would be used (see Figure 3 to 6). In the following sections we will elaborate on the design of the two concept ranges.
Figure 2 Two ranges of products were designed that each included a trigger for a public environment and three products that spanned the stages of change from (pre-) contemplation to maintenance. Within the concept ranges, products were based on the same theme, the two themes were: ‘My body as a factory’ and ‘Healthy food made fun’.
2.2 Concept range 1: My body is a factory Concept range 1 introduces the story of seeing the body as a factory that can only work well when healthy food enters. The first product is a game that children can play at school (see Figure 3). The game board resembles a child’s body that needs healthy food to light the lamps. By placing the display parts of a factory on the body and by connecting pawns that display various types of snacks in the holes, LEDs shaping a mouth for the figure will start glowing. When healthy food is placed on the body the figure smiles, but when unhealthy food enters the factory the figure looks sad. The second product in the ‘My body as a factory’ range is a mobile application in which a child-like figure can be seen (See Figure 3). The child can reconfigure the virtual figure to his or her liking and give the figure the same snacks as the child itself has eaten during the day. The figure then shows the influence that the snack has on him/her: if the figure ‘eats’ healthy snacks it will have enough energy and be happy. If the figure has been eating too many unhealthy snacks, it will be less energetic and sad. The child will be reminded that maybe the figure needs to be more active.
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Figure 3 The trigger product (left) in the theme ‘My body is a factory’ is an educational game children play at school. The product targeting the first strategy raising awareness is a mobile application.
The third concept in the ‘My body as a factory’ range consists of a book and a plate (see Figure 4). The book describes the adventures of little workers that clean up in the factory that is the child’s body. The general message in these stories is that the child’s body needs healthy nutrition to be able to play. The plate combines a small bowl for chopped, healthy snacks with the representation of a factory. The child can play with the food in the factory while listening to the story and, of course, enjoy eating the snack. In this way, eating a healthy snack is enabled and can be a more enjoyable experience.
Figure 4 The third product in the theme ‘My body is a factory’ (left hand image) is a book with stories that is combined with a plate designed to enable healthy snacking. The fourth and last product in this theme (right hand image) is a tower where parents can store healthy snacks.
The fourth and last concept in this range is a tower to store and make available healthy snacks (See Figure 4). The child is free to take food from the lower sections of the tower and has to ask permission to take food from the upper parts of the tower.
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2.3 Range 2: Healthy food made fun The first product in this concept range, which can serve as a trigger, is a carton box (placed in or handed out in a supermarket) containing different pieces of fruit that can be used to create fruit-art birthday treats (see Figure 5). This box is attractive for children because it displays colourful drawings, and it is attractive for parents because it offers them an easy way to make a healthy birthday treat. On the box, there is a code that unlocks the first level of the second product in the sequence: a mobile application that shows parents information about healthy snacking, offers them they opportunity to track what snacks the family eats and offers new ways to make eating fruit more fun (see Figure 5). The parent can use other codes from separate fruit boxes to unlock new levels in the application.
Figure 5 The first product, the trigger, in the ‘Healthy food made fun’ range (left hand image) is a carton box that contains tools and fruit or vegetables to create food art. The second product in this range (right hand image) combines physical products (fruit boxes) with a mobile application.
Higher levels in the application give parents access to the third product in the sequence which is a series of rubber tools that come in different shapes (for example a palm tree or a peacock, as displayed in Figure 6) and that enable the parents to quickly and easily make attractive fruit art for their children to bring to school. The fourth concept in this range was designed to motivate when eating fruit and vegetables already is part of the normal daily routine of children and parents (see Figure 6). It is a mobile application for tablet or smart phone that has multiple functions: first of all, the child can fill in the snacks it has eaten on a specific day and feedback will be displayed on how healthy the combination was by the representation of a healthy or not so healthy flower. Next to this, the application contains stories that explain the origin of certain fruits and vegetables. In addition, it provides examples of how fruit or vegetables can attractively be presented to a child. Figure 6 shows the example of a story about the orange of carrots related to the Dutch royal family.
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Figure 6 The third product in the theme ‘Healthy food made fun’ (left hand image) is a series of rubber tools that parents can use to create fruit art. The fourth and last product in this series (right hand image) is a mobile application that can provide feedback on daily food intake and that relates informative stories to attractive display of fruit and vegetables.
3. Evaluative study The individual concepts of the two ranges were included in an explorative online study. The aim of this study was to determine how positive parents of young children were about the various concepts. Next to this, we wanted to get an idea on how parents think their children would evaluate the concepts. In addition, we were interested to find whether the parents think the products will influence the snack preference of their children and/or have a positive effect on their awareness of the importance of healthy eating and snacking.
3.1 Method Participants were recruited via email and were asked whether they had children in the age range of 2-7 years old. If they responded positively, they were directed to an online survey that was made available through Google forms. In total, 18 participants responded to the survey, (1 male, ages ranged between 28-42). The online survey started by giving an explanation on healthy snacks for young children giving some examples that were taken from the Dutch Centre for Nutrition. Consecutively, the participants answered a questionnaire that consisted of two parts. The first part of the questionnaire was designed to be able to classify the respondents in one of two groups to indicate the stage of change that they were in. A similar approach was suggested by Rhee et al (2014). The second part of the questionnaire was aimed at evaluation of the designed concepts. In the first part of the questionnaire, two questions were asked from the Processes of Change Questionnaire (‘I give my child a maximum of two unhealthy snacks per week.’ Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’) and ‘I am planning to give my child less unhealthy snacks in the coming 6 months.’ Answer: ‘not likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ or ‘very likely’)) The survey continued to ask participants to rate four questions about self-efficacy on a 5 point scale with endpoints ‘not at all confident’ and ‘extremely confident’: ‘How confident are you that you will give your child a healthy snack in each of the following situations...’ (When I feel tired; When I feel I do not have time; When
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my child asks for candy or salty snacks; When other children do get an unhealthy snack). Next, participants were asked to rate five statements on decisional balance on 5 point scales with end points ‘do not agree at all’ and ‘completely agree’ (‘My child would feel better if he or she would only eat healthy snacks’; ‘It would make me feel good to give my child something healthy every day’; ‘Giving my child only healthy snacks is a lot of work’; ‘My child would be physically healthier when he/she would eat healthy snacks rather than unhealthy snacks’ ‘My life is too rushed to give my child healthy snacks’. In the second part of the questionnaire, participants evaluated the different concepts by rating 4 or 5 statements that generally asked about whether the parent and his or her child(ren) would enjoy using the concept (liking) and if they thought it would support them to eat or give healthier snacks (effect). These statements were slightly different for each of the concepts, depending on their intended use, but were all asked on five point scales with end points ‘do not agree at all’ and ‘agree completely’ (see Table 1 and 2). Additionally, participants were asked to give comments or suggestions. Each of the participants evaluated the concepts for one of the concept ranges. Eventually, the concepts in the ‘My body is a factory’ range were evaluated by 11 participants and the concepts in the ‘Healthy food made fun’ range were evaluated by 7 participants. The questionnaire ended with 9 demographic questions about the participant and his or her children.
3.2 Results The questions in the first part of the questionnaire were used to categorize participants into one of two groups: they were either categorized as being in earlier stages of change ((pre-) contemplation) or in middle stages of change (preparation/action). This categorization was done as follows: for every aspect of the first part of the questionnaire (self-efficacy, decisional balance and Processes of Change questionnaire), we determined to which group the participants would belong. A participant was assigned to the group that matched best (confirming at least 2 of the 3 questionnaire parts). Following this procedure, 3 participants that were assigned to the ‘My body as a factory concept range’ were categorized as being in earlier stages of change and 8 were categorized as being in middle stages of change. All 7 participants that were assigned to the ‘Healthy food made fun’ concept range were categorized in middle stages of change. Because of the low number of participants that was assigned to lower stages of change it will not be very insightful to compare between the groups in different stages of change. However, this analysis has informed us about the stages of change that our participants were in overall, which was mostly at least beyond contemplation and into preparation and action. Using this information as a starting point, we can evaluate the ratings of participants for the concepts that were developed for different stages of change. To do this, we calculated mean ratings of the questions in the second part of the questionnaire per concept, Table 1 shows the results of this analysis for the concept range ‘My body as a factory’.
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Table 1. Mean ratings on liking and expected effect for the different concepts in the ‘My body as a factory’ range. Concept aimed at
triggering
awareness
enabling
motivation
Statement
m (n=11)
My child will better understand the importance of healthy snacks after playing this game
4.0
My child would rather eat healthy snacks after playing this game
2.9
It would be easier for me to give healthy snacks if my child would play this game
3.5
My child would enjoy playing this game
4.0
I would like it if my child would play this game
3.6
It would be easier for me to give healthy snacks if my child would play this game
2.5
After playing this game my child will better understand what healthy snacks are
3.7
If my child would use this app it would rather eat healthy snacks
3.5
My child would enjoy playing this game
3.9
I would let my child play this game
3.7
It will not take me much time to read a story to my child during snack time
1.9
Using this product will increase my child's awareness of the importance of healthy snacks
3.6
Reading this book together will stimulate me to give healthy snacks more often
2.6
Because of these stories my child will prefer fruit and vegetables as snacks
2.7
My child would enjoy listening to these stories
3.8
If this tower is on the table my child will have less need for unhealthy snacks
3.4
Using this product my child will ask for unhealthy snacks less often
3.7
The tower will help me to only give healthy snacks to my child
3.5
It will cost me little time to make healthy snacks for my child(ren) in this way
3.6
From Table 1, it can be seen that in general, participants were quite positive about the concepts that were created; many of the scores are above the median of 3. A more detailed look at the responses also shows that although participants reported that their children would enjoy (playing with) the concepts that were created, they are less positive about the actual effects on snacking behaviour that they will have. This is especially the case for the concepts that were created for lower stages of change such as the story book and plate that was aimed at enabling. This concept scores relatively high on questions asking about if the child would enjoy it (m = 3.8) and if the concept would raise awareness of the issue (m = 3.6) but lower on questions asking about the actual effect on behaviour of parent and child (m = 2.7 and m = 2.6). The product that was aimed at motivation, the snacking tower, did receive higher scores on both liking and effect on behaviour.
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Table 2 shows the mean scores for the concept range ‘Healthy food made fun’. From Table 2 the image arises that in general, the score for the concepts in the range ‘Healthy food made fun’ are somewhat lower than those for the range ‘My body is a factory’. Similar to what was found for the ‘My body as a factory’ concept range, scores for liking of the concepts are somewhat higher than scores for statements about the actual effects on behaviour. Interestingly, for this concept range, this is not only true for the concepts that were developed for earlier stages of change but also for the concept that was designed for the motivation stage. We will come back to these findings in the discussion. Table 2. Mean ratings on liking and expected effect for the different concepts in the ‘Healthy food made fun’ range. Concept aimed at
triggering
awareness
enabling
motivation
Statement
m (n=7 )
With this product, my child will like to eat fruit as a treat
4.0
My child would enjoy handing out fruit treats using this product
4.1
I myself would like to hand out healthy treats using this product
3.7
It is not too much work to make healthy treats for my child in this way
3.6
After using this product, my child would more often want to eat fruit and vegetables
2.3
This way of packaging fruit motivates me to make a healthy snack for my child
2.3
I do not think it is too much work to make a healthy snack for my child in this way
3.1
The application is useful to get more tips on making fun snacks
3.4
Because of this packaging my child would prefer to eat fruit over an unhealthy snack
2.1
I would enjoy using this box to make healthy snacks
2.7
My child would like to take the fruit box to school
3.3
Because of this product, my child would enjoy eating fruit and vegetables more
2.9
The fruit box gives me a fast and easy way to make a correct portion of fruit
2.6
I would save for different rubber shapes
2.0
Because of this application my child will be motivated to eat healthy snacks
2.4
The new ideas for fruit figures that the application provides are fun
3.3
Using this application, my child would have less need for unhealthy snacks
2.4
The application helps me to determine the correct portion size for my child
2.4
The application would motivate me to give less unhealthy snacks to my child
1.4
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As a final remark for this section we would like to point out that it seems that the amount of time that parents need to spend on making the snacks or are required to play a role in using the intervention limits their expected adoption.
3.3 Discussion Generally, it seems that our participants favoured the products in the ‘My body as a factory’ concept range over the ‘Healthy food made fun’ concept range. The reason for this could possibly be traced back to the difference in approach of both concepts. Whereas the concept range ‘My body as a factory’ focusses on teaching about healthy eating, the concept range ‘Healthy food made fun’ only aims at making eating heathy snacks more fun and attractive. As we have discussed, most of our participants (15 out of the total of 18) were in middle or later stages of change. People in these stages of change highly value learning about good behaviour rather than just a fun and enjoyable product. Moreover, the same 15 out of 18 respondents had a higher education diploma, this may also have had an effect on the results obtained here. Several studies have found that in general, people with higher levels of education are generally less prone to unhealthy behaviour (Devaux et al., 2011). Possibly, the concepts in the ‘Healthy food made fun range’ would be more attractive to a different audience that is in earlier stages of change. Another reason for the higher scores that participants gave to concepts in the ‘My body as a factory’ range could be that the concepts that were developed for later stages of change in this range were more aimed at activating and providing support (and actual physical tools) in action. We tried to do the same for the ‘healthy food made fun’ concept range but were probably less successful here, the concepts developed for this range still relied on providing information quite a bit. Another important conclusion to draw is that although parents value healthy snacking and learning about healthy eating behaviour, they are not willing or capable of investing a considerable amount of time in that.
4. General discussion The design case presented in this paper has provided an example of how the Design for healthy behaviour Framework may aid designers in developing interventions that are targeted at multiple stages of change. From the evaluative online study we found that participants expected that some of these examples would have an influence on their (and their children’s) awareness of the importance of healthy snacking. Furthermore, they expected a few of these examples to have an effect on their actual snacking behaviour. Further studies, that include the actual use of new products and services, could be aimed at providing evidence that designing for various stages of change can result in products and services that are able to change people’s eating behaviour. It is, however, important to note here that in our society, people constantly face an environment that persuades them towards unhealthy behaviour. Think, for example of standing in line at a cash register and being confronted with unhealthy snacks. Or, think of the many cities in which it is almost impossible to use other forms of transportation than a
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bike. See in this light, supporting healthier behaviour through products and services may seem like a mere drop in the ocean. It is only fair to say that any kind of change is extremely difficult to accomplish and as of yet, we have no experimental evidence that following the proposed design framework will make it any easier. However, targeting design interventions to people’s motivational state and, thereby, addressing how ready and willing to change people really are, seems like a logical approach. Moreover, there is evidence that changing our environment through design can have positive effects on healthy behaviour. For example, Wansink and colleagues have showed how many elements in the design of our environments, including the size of our plates (Wansink & van Ittersum, 2013) and the shapes of our glasses (Wansink & van Ittersum, 2007) influence food and drink intake in both adults and children. Moreover, much in line with what Lambrick et al (2014) advocate, we would like to argue that especially in the health challenging environment that we face today, all possible efforts to support the vulnerable but also promising group that children are, are desperately needed.
5. References Devaux, M., Sassi, F., Church, J., Cecchini, M., & Borgonovi, F. (2011). Exploring the relationship between education and obesity. OECD Journal: Economic Studies, 5(1), pp. 1-40. Lambrick, D. M., Stoner, L., Faulkner, J., & Hamlin, M. J. (2014). Preventive Medicine Needs to Begin with Our Children. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 5(1), pp. 129-131. Ludden, G.D.S. & Hekkert, P. (2014) Design for healthy behavior. Design interventions and stages of change. Proceedings of the Colors of Care: The 9th International Conference on Design & Emotion. BogotaĚ , Colombia, October 6-10, pp. 482-488. Ludden, G.D.S. & Offringa, M. (2015) Triggers in the environment. Increasing reach of Behavior Change Support Systems by connecting to the offline world. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Behaviour Change Support Systems co-located with the 10th International Conference on Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2015), Chicago, IL, USA, June 4-5, pp. 7-16. McCrory, M. A., Fuss, P. J., McCallum, J. E., Yao, M., Vinken, A. G., Hays, N. P., & Roberts, S. B. (1999). Dietary variety within food groups: association with energy intake and body fatness in men and women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69(3), pp. 440-447. Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., & Norcross, J. C. (1992). In Search of the Structure of Change. In Y. Klar, J. D. Fisher, J. M. Chinsky & A. Nadler (Eds.), Self Change - Social Psychological and Clinical Perspectives (pp. 87-114 ). New York: Springer - Verlag. Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12(1), pp. 38-48. Rhee, K., McEachern, R., & Jelalian, E. (2014). Parent readiness to change differs for overweight child dietary and physical activity behaviors. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(10), pp. 1601-1610. Schonfeld-Warden, N., & Warden, C. H. (1997). Pediatric obesity. An overview of etiology and treatment. Pediatr Clin North Am, 44, pp. 339-361. Signorielli, N., & Staples, J. (1997). Television and children's conceptions of nutrition. Health Communications, 9(289).
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Sothern, M. S. (2004). Obesity prevetion in children: physical activity and nutrition. Nutrition, 20, pp. 704-708. Wansink , B., & van Ittersum, K. (2007). Do children really prefer large portions? Visual illusion bias their estimates and intake. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(7), pp. 1107-1110. Wansink, B., & van Ittersum, K. (2013). Portion size me: plate-size induced consumption norms and win-win solutions for reducing food intake and waste. J Exp Psychol Appl., 19(4), pp. 320-332. About the Authors: Geke Ludden is assistant professor in the Interaction Design group at the University of Twente. Her work focuses on the (theoretically informed) development and evaluation of products and services that support healthy behaviour or that otherwise contribute to people’s wellbeing. Laura de Ruijter received her masters’ degree in industrial design engineering in 2016. She is interested in developing products and services that influence people’s behavior. Her latest work investigated the impact of consumer behaviour on the success of new developments in the circular economy.
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Co-creating narratives: an approach to the design of interactive medical devices, informed by phenomenology Rowan Page* and Mark Richardson Monash University * rowan.page@monash.edu DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.146
Abstract: This paper attempts to articulate a philosophical underpinning, an attitude, with which to approach the design of interactive medical devices. This exploration is undertaken through drawing upon and connecting ideas from relevant discourses within the; medical, human computer interaction (HCI), and design fields. Through exploring the common discourse of phenomenological research in these three fields, this paper seeks to provide an introduction to a transdisciplinary foundation relevant to researchers working within the intersection of these fields. In my own design practice, this is explored through the co-creation of an intersubjective feedback cycle between designer and design recipient through a combination of co-design sessions and speculative design probes. Stopping short of suggesting a framework, this paper proposes that adopting a phenomenological attitude to research might benefit design researchers working in the medical field, providing a transdisciplinary common ground for working within, and communicating across; design, HCI, and medicine. Keywords: phenomenology; medical device design; co-design; interaction
1. Introduction Designing interactive medical products is a task that sits at the intersection of the fields of; medicine, human computer interaction (HCI) and design. In addition to this, this practice also intersects with the people who receive and use these objects of design. In an attempt to establish a foundation to work within, and across, these three fields; this paper seeks to identify and connect common contemporary discourses within these three fields. And in doing so identify a transdisciplinary foundation and an epistemological stance, an attitude, for researchers working on interactive medical devices.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Rowan Page and Mark Richardson
Within the medical discourse, contemporary medical research and clinical practice is increasingly embracing the idea that the historically rational, cognitivist discourse of the medical model does not, and cannot, provide us with all of the answers to medical problems (Svenaeus, 2014). This realisation has lead to a new movement of patient centred medicine, and a greater patient participation within medical practice and research (Todres, Galvin, & Dahlberg, 2007). This patient centred movement can be seen as an attempt to augment and enrich the successes of the analytical, but impersonal, approach of traditional medicine. Pairing this approach, with a renewed focus on the patient’s complex, subjective, experience with illness; and through this, achieving patient centeredness through an active inclusion of the patient experience within the medical discourse (Dahlberg, Todres, & Galvin, 2009). Similarly the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and design have also acknowledged the limitations of their own, object focused, and rational cognitivist foundations (Dourish, 2004). Leading to a proliferation of user-focussed design thinking methods that attempt to situate an understanding of the user within the design process. This shift has occurred in addition to an increased interest in co-design and participatory design methods that actively include users, and their experiences, within the process of design (Bjögvinsson, Ehn, & Hillgren, 2012; E. B.-N. Sanders & Stappers, 2008). Central to understanding this transition within these three fields is an understanding of the philosophical foundation of phenomenology that underpins them. A philosophical discourse that also shifts focus from objective rational cognition, to the subjective appearance of phenomena. Built primarily on the work of post 1930’s philosophers, phenomenology is the study of the appearance of phenomena to consciousness (Merleau-Ponty & Smith, 1996). As a discourse, it is principally concerned with human experience and its embodiment within the world. In this way it contrasts with the scientific third-person approach, through focusing on an understanding of how phenomona are subjectively perceived in human consciousness, instead of an attempt to objectively understanding how they are. Striving not for scientific detachment, but rather embracing the richness and complexity of (inter)subjectivity (Finlay, 2012). This understanding is obtained with the goal of – and through the act of – richly articulating the complexity and fullness of subjective experiences (Todres et al., 2007). Interest in the application of phenomenological thought to professional practice and research has grown, as many disciplines attempt to explore the subjective experiences of people within their research (Carel, 2011; Van Manen, 2001). This type of research is often undertaken by researchers with strong background in their own disciplines but less grounding in philosophy, focusing more on everyday experience (Van Manen, 2001). Dourish’s concept of embodied interaction has built this application of everyday phenomenological inquiry into HCI research, placing the actions of embodied users at the centre of contemporary HCI research and practice (Dourish, 2004). Medical philosophy, through the work of Carel, Todres, Svenause, Thoombs and others, has advocated for patient centred, phenomenologically informed thought within modern medical practice and research (Carel, 2011; Dahlberg et al., 2009; Svenaeus, 2014; Todres et al., 2007; Toombs, 2013). Within design research, there is less of a strong discourse of phenomenological
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research, but several authors have proposed the usefulness of its application to design research (Ho, Ma, & Lee, 2011; Hussain & Sanders, 2012); and many contemporary design methods share elements of the phenomenological attitude, even if not explicitly informed by, or articulated within, the wider phenomenological discourse. This paper attempts to highlight, and connect, the discourses of phenomenological research within these three fields. It highlights the interactive medical device designer’s position, at the intersection of these three fields, and through this establishes a transdisciplinary research foundation for work across them. This foundation is something that has been explored, in part through my own, ongoing, practice based PhD research; exploring the design of cochlear implant systems with Cochlear Ltd – a leading manufacturer of implantable hearing solutions. This design project explores how intersubjectivity can be achieved, and used, in design practice. Firstly, through a series of generative co-design sessions, augmented with a phenomenological attitude. The device use narratives established in these sessions were then extended into the creation of future narratives, through the exploration, and co-creation, of a series of speculative design probes (Dunne & Raby, 2013). Endeavouring, through design practice, to create an intersubjective feedback loop between designer and design recipient, and establish ‘the user’, and their experiences, as the transdisciplinary common ground within the project. In order to achieve this common ground, it was important to simultaneously, understanding the position of ‘the user’ within these intersecting disciplines. Stopping short of suggesting a framework, this paper simply proposes to highlight the similarities in discourse within these fields, fields that are increasingly engaging with one another. This paper proposes that adopting a phenomenological 'attitude' might benefit other design researchers working in the medical industry, and provide a transdisciplinary common ground for designers working in interdisciplinary projects across HCI and medicine; that is, designers working on interactive medical devices.
2. Healthcare; from objectivity to patient centred The weaknesses of the traditional medical model have, over the last decade, become more apparent as the patient and their experiences are actively included, and more thoroughly considered in medical research and clinical practice (McWhinney, 2001; Todres et al., 2007). This approach of patient centeredness contrasts with the traditional medical model that views disease as having an objective existence of its own, separate from the patient. A model that has proven so successful at furthering medicine – and medical knowledge — that the weaknesses of its analytical and impersonal approach can seem insignificant when viewed against the strengths of its achievements (McWhinney, 2001). As such, modern patient centred medicine does not attempt to replace the successful system of scientific objectivity, but to enrich and augment it with an attempt to understand, and articulate, how illness is a function of the person as a whole (McWhinney, 2001). The patient centred method attempts to understand and acknowledge the complexity of “personhood, health and illness” (Todres et al., 2007) providing a “humanizing force” in healthcare (Dahlberg et
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al., 2009) by acknowledging the subjective experience of patients. Within this approach, illness is seen as embodied within the person’s world; this is in contrast to the Cartesian separation of mind and body, which sees the interest of the medical professional directed primarily at the ‘body’. The patient centred approach additionally includes the patient’s wider, experiential, “problems of living” (Toombs, 2013). Even if not explicitly acknowledged, the patient will always be at the centre of healthcare practice as – like design practice – clinical medicine is necessarily at the intersection of the sciences and humanities. It is a scientific practice that has at its centre the embodied human being (Toombs, 2013). This devaluing of, or lack of explicit attention to, the experience of patients, has lead those patients themselves to be the main drivers towards greater patient participation and awareness (McWhinney, 2001). Expressing their own subjective experiences through a ‘remarkable increase’ in the number books describing illness and patient experience (McWhinney, 2001; Van Manen, 2001), the rise of online, empowered patient (e-patient) communities, (Stanford Medicine X) and the increased involvement of patients in research design (Dahlberg et al., 2009). This could be seen as a reaction, by patients, against an oftentimes impersonal system. A system that can reduces patients feeling of autonomy/ agency, instead treating them as passive recipients (consumers) of care. This, according to Todres, can also be seen as a symptom of a system increasingly abstracted into esoteric specializations and complex medical technologies, specializations and technologies that patients don’t feel like they can understand (Todres et al., 2007). Through the act of expressing their experiences, patients have highlighted and exposed some of the limitations of the traditional, rational, medical system in addressing their experiential needs; and in turn have largely contributed to a drive toward more patient centred modes of care. In my own field of research interest and practice, designing cochlear implant systems, much of the published research is undertaken with a scientific approach. An approach in which the recipient of the cochlear implant is seen, and measured, largely in terms of their hearing performance (Clark et al., 2012; Finlay & Molano-Fisher, 2008). This performance is largely objectively measured in standardized and controlled tests; an approach, as previously outlined, that often fails to recognise; not only differing ‘real world’ performance issues, but also the complex interplay between hearing performance and the recipient’s wider experience and context. Thus, ignoring struggles that might arise in dealing with the complex life changes that come with implantation, but may not be directly related to clinically measurable outcomes (Finlay & Molano-Fisher, 2008). The need for further focus on these experiential, quality of life outcomes has been called for by researchers within this specific field (Clark et al., 2012; Nardo, Anzivino, Giannantonio, Schinaia, & Paludetti, 2014; Stinson & Buckley, 2013) and by cochlear implant recipients themselves. Linda Finlay's phenomenological study with a cochlear implant recipient (Finlay & Molano-Fisher, 2008) suggests the potential of using the phenomenological research approach to illuminate the wider context of cochlear implantation. Through this, suggesting the benefits that a phenominologially informed understanding could have to furthering
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clinical care practices for cochlear implant recipients. I propose that the insights, and benefits, of phenomenological research in this field could also be applied to the research, development, and design of cochlear implant devices in collaboration with cochlear implant recipients through co-design practices. And that in turn, that this approach may be relevant to other designers with practice centred around the design of similar interactive medical devices.
3. Phenomenology; articulating first person experience. The three movements towards a great focus on the richness and complexity of patient/user experience within the; medical, human computer interaction, and design fields, can all be viewed through an understanding of the descriptive philosophical method and practice of phenomenology. Built primarily on the work of philosophers Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merlau-Ponty; Phenomenology — from the Greek 'phainomenon' meaning 'appearance' — is the philosophical study of appearances rather than reality. As such, it is not a direct concern with the ‘things of the world’ directly, but rather how these things are experienced by our consciousness (Dourish, 2004). Phenomenological research focuses on speaking, or letting speak, the things of our everyday world, as we encounter them, that is; see, feel, touch, hear and sense them (Van Manen, 2001). Through this articulation, the researcher attempts to understand not only the discrete, objective, sensory input, but rather the subjective context in which that input is perceived and interpreted. Understanding that every input is subjective and embedded within the culture, context, actions and relationships, that in turn gives it meaning. In practice, we experience not acoustic sensations or sounds of the phenomena, but the meaning as it is meaningful to us – for example, we hear the door shut. For the phenomenological researcher to understand these subjective experiences, they must embrace understanding and articulating them within an awareness of these contexts and influences; embracing the complexity and unique nature of subjective experience. This explicitly first person approach contrasts with the rational scientific third-person approach, in that it is concerned with understanding how things, phenomena, are perceived in human consciousness. Rather than aiming to obtain only objective understanding of how they are. This approach aims to allay scientific detachment and embrace the richness and complexity of subjective experience (Finlay, 2012). Recently, interest in phenomenology has grown in professional practice across a diverse range of disciplines outside of philosophy; from nursing, to pedagogy, to human ecology (Carel, 2011; Van Manen, 2001). Professional practitioners of phenomenological research focus on ‘everyday concerns and practice’, often using phenomenological research as a way to establish a shared transdisciplinary perspective — oriented to the realities of reallife/first-person experience — within the context of interdisciplinary professional practices and projects (Van Manen, 2001). This constitutes a useful philosophical framework through
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which to view, understand, and take into account, the subjective experiences of people within research. Qualitative methodologies are often difficult to explain objectively, the phenomenological method in particular is difficult to explain and is open to subjective interpretation by the researcher and participant. Rather than trying to articulate it as a traditional method, the philosopher Merlau-Ponty refers to it as something that "can be practiced and identified as a manner and style of thinking" (Merleau-Ponty & Smith, 1996; Van Manen, 2001). Referred to here as a phenomenological attitude. Within this attitude, the central concern is to focus on ‘meanings’ and subjectivity, with the aim of obtaining fresh, complex and rich descriptions of phenomenon. In this light, the phenomenological attitude is more of a way of being — an openness — on behalf of the researcher to ‘see with fresh eyes’ (Finlay, 2012). This attitude can be adopted and used in conjunction with any number of traditional formal or informal qualitative research methods (Van Manen, 2001) most commonly, the qualitative in-depth interview (Lopez & Willis, 2004). For practitioners working within phenomenological research it is the adoption of this attitude that is required. The application of this form of phenomenological thought to medicine has contributed to both a more thorough understanding of a philosophy of illness (Carel, 2011), providing a guideline for understanding how to approach research and clinical care in a patient centred way, a way that acknowledges the complexity and subjectivity of individual experience (Dahlberg et al., 2009). Todres builds on this, calling for a model of ‘life world’ centred healthcare (Dahlberg et al., 2009; Todres et al., 2007) that addresses patients holistically, allowing them to live not as mere consumers of health, but rather as ‘storied humans’ who occasionally consult others for their specialist expertise. An ‘existential partnership model’ that acknowledges the differences in expertise, and understanding, between patient and professional without privileging one viewpoint over the other. The patient is regarded, at minimum, as an expert in their individual journey and context (Dahlberg et al., 2009). This approach draws obvious parallels to participatory design practice, which also includes individuals in the design process and does not privilege the ‘expert’ designer (E. B.-N. Sanders, 2002). Carel similarly suggests that this way of thinking/ attitude could be applicable to many facets of medicine; from clinical care to research, from trial design to ways of measuring outcomes (Carel, 2011). I propose that this idea is equally applicable to researchers, engineers and designers working in the medical device design field. It can be applied not only as a way of understanding, and communicating, the wider impact of the disease or impairment on the patient’s lives. But also, understanding the impact, or potential impacts, of the medical devices themselves on the patient’s wider ‘life-world’.
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4. Human Computer Interaction (HCI); from cognition to user experience The interest in adopting phenomenology as a philosophical research framework in professional practice has been also advocated in the HCI field. Dourish's concept of embodied interactions reflects the embodied perspective of phenomonological philosophy, placing the actions of embodied agents (users) at the centre of Human Computer Interaction research (Dourish, 2004). This focus on the experience of these embodied agents and their contexts is influencing contemporary HCI theory and practice in; user experience design (UX design) (Svanæs, 2013), social computing, and tangible interactions (Dourish, 2004). Similar to the medical field, this can be seen as a reaction to a discourse that was built on — and has similarly benefited from — a foundation of pre-1930's rational cognitivist discourse (Dourish, 2004). Like medicine and design practice, HCI also sits necessarily at the intersection of the sciences and humanities; it is a scientific, engineering practice, which has at its centre the actions and interactions of an embodied human being. This understanding has lead to a new wave of HCI research and practice that embraces integrating usability with, fun, culture, and the total user experience (Svanæs, 2013). It embraces the idea of embodiment, provides a comprehensive understanding of the context of use and recognises the role of the body in interaction. Dourish builds on Heidegger’s idea of embodiment, taking it to be central to the designed phenomenon (Dourish, 2004). Heidegger separates tools that we use into two categories, the ready-at-hand and the present-at-hand — depending on their embodiment at particular points in time. Dourish explains this through an interaction design example: when using a mouse to control a computer we primarily act through the mouse. It becomes an extension of our hand, a tool through which we accomplish a task. In this way the mouse as an object/ technology disappears from our immediate consciousness as we are caught up in performing our onscreen intention. The mouse – as object – fades into the background, becoming part of our sense of self, embodied, ready-at-hand. When this seamless interaction is broken — such as when the mouse hits another object — our consciousness is directed to the object of the mouse. When we are reminded of the mouse as an object, it looses its embodiment, it becomes present-at-hand. When performing a task we focus our intentionality on that task, when our tools can’t be embodied, we must consider them consciously, separate from our task, undesirably redirecting our intentionality away from the task (Dourish, 2004). This notion of embodied interaction is particularly interesting to consider in regard to interactive medical devices such as cochlear implants. As a device that is continuously in use throughout the day, the cochlear implant system — and indeed most medical prosthesis — ideally exist in a state of readiness-to-hand. Transparent to us in use, getting out of the way of us accomplishing of the daily tasks of our intention. It is only when devices stop working seamlessly, or when we consciously choose to reflect on them, that they emerge from the background as an object (Dourish, 2004). As such, I propose that we need to approach the design of interactive medical prosthesis with an understanding of how these objects become
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embodied. Drawing upon the work of Dourish, and phenomenological philosophers, to understand this notion. In addition to developing a rich intersubjective understanding of the users of our designs through the involvement of these users within the design process. An understanding that is explicitly centred on the patients, their experiences, and their wider ‘life-worlds’.
5. Applying the phenomenological attitude to industrial design research In parallel with the medical and human computer interaction fields, industrial/ product design has similarly felt the strain of its rational cognitivist discourse, leading to a proliferation of newer user oriented design thinking frameworks and methods (E. B.-N. Sanders, 2002). Within the object-oriented paradigm of design, the perception of the product can be seen as entirely dependent on the physical properties of the product and their objective perception. This idea of objects having objective qualities implies that there is a correct, singular interpretation of the product, and thus that a designer can control how the user experiences this product through the design of these objective properties (Hussain & Sanders, 2012). In many cases this has proven to be untrue, with users interpreting and using products in ways that the designers could never have imagined. Instead, in co-design and participatory design frameworks the user is empowered and given greater agency within the design process (Ho et al., 2011). The user’s perspective is also better addressed through the designer themselves being aware of — and designing for — the variety of interpretations and uses of their products. This awareness of subjectivity can be achieved through adopting a phenomenological attitude. Hummels and Overbeeke describe the earlier state of design as ‘lost in abstraction and procedure’ in calling for designers to embrace a phenomonological stance that values the 'primacy of experience" and intuition over abstraction (Hummels & Overbeeke, 2010). This call for a privileging of the experience of users echoes the movements in the medical and human computer interaction fields discussed above. The application of this phenomenological stance, or attitude, has been explored by several other design researchers and practitioners (Ho et al., 2011; Hummels & Overbeeke, 2010; Hussain & Sanders, 2012). In addition to this explicit research, many other practitioners and researchers are exploring approaches such as co-design and participatory design that are phenomenological in feel or attitude even if this foundation is not explicitly stated, acknowledged, or drawn upon (L. Sanders & Stappers, 2012). These methodologies privilege the primacy of the subjective first person experience and do not see the designer as the exclusive expert. Hence, they can be usefully augmented with an explicit understanding of the phenomenological attitude discussed above, and thus used within a phenomenological research design (Van Manen, 2001).
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6. Phenomenological design in practice; a brief overview Earlier, I referred to Todres' call for a greater philosophical discourse around patient led/ informed care as a strategy to avoid the consumerisation of health (Todres et al., 2007). In a similar vein, greater philosophical depth around user centred design methodology could help designers avoid the pitfalls of focussing on users as potential consumers only. Or as ‘passive information providers’ in a paradigm that sees designers as the sole expert creator (Ho et al., 2011). Similar to Todres call for a life-world led care framework to extend and replace current patient-led care, I propose that a life-world led framework could be a relevant extension of user-centered design frameworks; life-world led design. And would align designers working in this field with researchers exploring life-world led healthcare. Similar to Todres life-world led care; an authentically person centred design approach would include a similar focus on; the philosophy of the person, their wellbeing, and their values beyond their problems. And would also require a design philosophy consistent with this. The goal here is not just empathy, or to 'see through their eyes', instead, Hussain and Sanders suggest that the goal is to work together to reach a shared understanding or ‘fusion of horizons’ (Hussain & Sanders, 2012). Ho et al also express the danger of the identity of the real user being caricatured into a fragmented 'user', an abstract user that is ‘removed from the experiences that disclosed it’. An abstract, conceptual 'user', inspired by, but irrelevant, to the particular users involved in the design research (Ho et al., 2011). Adopting the attitude of the phenomenological researcher enables us to instead embrace the rich, complex, understanding that phenomenological research strives for. These cautions suggest that good phenomenological design research — or good design research in general — should embrace the idea of obtaining, and articulating, a rich and complex view of the user and their life-world. Further, by working together with users to obtain this view, and integrating them fully within the design process, users can be empowered to contribute to the construction of not only the designed object; but its underlying narrative of use, and nuanced subjective relationship to its context of use.My ongoing, project-grounded research, in collaboration with Cochlear Ltd explores improving the usability of cochlear implant systems. Due to the nature of the interactivity of the products involved, this project sits at the intersection of the three disciplines explored above; medicine, human computer interaction, and design. Through this exploration I have attempted to develop a research design consistent with the phenomenological attitude – or phenomenological discourse – discussed in this paper. To date, this in-progress research has focused on co-creating narratives with cochlear implant recipients, around the future and present of cochlear implant devices. The project has been structured in three main sections: first, a series of generative co-design workshops (L. Sanders & Stappers, 2012), qualitative interviews, and cultural probe activities (Gaver, Dunne, & Pacenti, 1999) between designer and recipients of cochlear implants. Secondly, designer-developed insights from these sessions were translated into a series of rapid prototyped, speculative design probes (both working (experiential) and non-functional (conceptual) prototypes (Dunne & Raby, 2013). Thirdly, a further round of co-design sessions with implant recipients to; interrogate the
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speculative design probes, co-create narratives around device use and allow cochlear implant recipients to participate in the developing, adapting and changing these devices and use narratives to suit their unique life-worlds. These activities will then be repeated, creating a cycle of intersubjective narrative construction between designer and design recipient. This reflective process has been designed to facilitate a shared understanding of phenomena, context and usability between designer (who can only vicariously understand the life-world of the recipient) and end-user. This model of design research practice echoes the model of life-world lead care referred to in the medical field (Dahlberg et al., 2009; Todres et al., 2007) in that it sees device recipients as ‘storied humans’ in need of assistance of specialist expertise, but not subservient to it. This is an ‘existential partnership model’ that acknowledges the differences in expertise – that is, acknowledging that the recipient/user is, at minimum, an expert in their own experience – and does not privilege one view point over the other. Instead, it works to achieve a blending of the two, mediating between the technical expertise of the designer (and their understanding of the project’s technical realities) and the experiential desires and needs of the recipient. In this way, the process co-creates a device design narrative with – not for – the people who will then use these interactive medical devices.
7. Conclusion This paper has attempted to contextualize my own ongoing research in the design of interactive medical devices, placing it within the larger fields of; medical research, human computer interaction, and practice-based design research. The concurrent exploration of these fields has identified a common transdisciplinary discourse in the philosophical framework — and practice — of phenomenology. This paper proposes that an understanding and application of phenomenology in design research can enrich practice through incorporating and articulating a rich and complex understanding of the patient/user experience. Arguing that this can be achieved through; adopting the open attitude of the phenomenological researcher, focussing on the first person subjective experiences of patients/users, and empowering patients/users to participate within the design and research process. By designing in this way, it is proposed that the designer can play a greater role in establishing a transdisciplinary common ground for projects that span design, HCI and medicine and establish an intersubjective understanding between designers and the recipients of their designs through design practice. Acknowledgements: the author wishes to acknowledge the support of his supervisors Arthur De Bono (Monash), Mark Armstrong (Monash) and colleague Jo Szczepanska . In addition to Cochlear Ltd for their collaboration with the project. This project is undertaken with the financial support of Cochlear Ltd.
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7. References Bjögvinsson, E., Ehn, P., & Hillgren, P.-A. (2012). Design things and design thinking: Contemporary participatory design challenges. Design Issues, 28(3), 101-116. Carel, H. (2011). Phenomenology and its application in medicine. Theoretical medicine and bioethics, 32(1), 33-46. Clark, J. H., Yeagle, J., Arbaje, A. I., Lin, F. R., Niparko, J. K., & Francis, H. W. (2012). Cochlear implant rehabilitation in older adults: literature review and proposal of a conceptual framework. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(10), 1936-1945. Dahlberg, K., Todres, L., & Galvin, K. (2009). Lifeworld-led healthcare is more than patient-led care: An existential view of well-being. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 12(3), 265-271. Dourish, P. (2004). Where the action is: the foundations of embodied interaction: MIT press. Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming: MIT Press. Finlay, L. (2012). Unfolding the phenomenological research process: Iterative stages of “seeing afresh”. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 0022167812453877. Finlay, L., & Molano-Fisher, P. (2008). ‘Transforming’self and world: a phenomenological study of a changing lifeworld following a cochlear implant. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 11(3), 255267. Gaver, B., Dunne, T., & Pacenti, E. (1999). Design: cultural probes. interactions, 6(1), 21-29. Ho, D. K.-l., Ma, J., & Lee, Y. (2011). Empathy@ design research: a phenomenological study on young people experiencing participatory design for social inclusion. CoDesign, 7(2), 95-106. Hummels, C., & Overbeeke, K. (2010). Special issue editorial: Aesthetics of interaction. International Journal of Design, 4(2), 1-2. Hussain, S., & Sanders, E. B.-N. (2012). Fusion of horizons: Co-designing with Cambodian children who have prosthetic legs, using generative design tools. CoDesign, 8(1), 43-79. Lopez, K. A., & Willis, D. G. (2004). Descriptive versus interpretive phenomenology: Their contributions to nursing knowledge. Qualitative health research, 14(5), 726-735. McWhinney, I. R. (2001). Focusing on lived experience: The evolution of clinical method in western medicine Handbook of phenomenology and medicine (pp. 331-350): Springer. Merleau-Ponty, M., & Smith, C. (1996). Phenomenology of perception: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. Nardo, W., Anzivino, R., Giannantonio, S., Schinaia, L., & Paludetti, G. (2014). The effects of cochlear implantation on quality of life in the elderly. and Head & Neck, 271(1), 65-73. doi: 10.1007/s00405-013-2396-1 Sanders, E. B.-N. (2002). From user-centered to participatory design approaches. Design and the social sciences: Making connections, 1-8. Sanders, E. B.-N., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. Co-design, 4(1), 5-18. Sanders, L., & Stappers, P. J. (2012). Convivial design toolbox: generative research for the front end of design: BIS. Stinson, M. S., & Buckley, G. (2013). New Beginnings: Acquiring and Living with a Cochlear Implant: RIT CARY GRAPHIC ARTS Press. Svanæs, D. (2013). Interaction design for and with the lived body: Some implications of merleauponty's phenomenology. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 20(1), 8. Svenaeus, F. (2014). The phenomenology of empathy in medicine: an introduction. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 17(2), 245-248.
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Todres, L., Galvin, K., & Dahlberg, K. (2007). Lifeworld-led healthcare: revisiting a humanising philosophy that integrates emerging trends. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 10(1), 53-63. Toombs, S. K. (2013). The meaning of illness: A phenomenological account of the different perspectives of physician and patient (Vol. 42): Springer Science & Business Media. Van Manen, M. (2001). Professional practice and ‘doing phenomenology’ Handbook of phenomenology and medicine (pp. 457-474): Springer.
About the Authors: Rowan Page is a PhD candidate at Monash University (Australia) in the Department of Design. Rowan’s PhD research explores designing for usability within the medical device field, in conjunction with Cochlear Ltd; the world’s leading manufacturer of implantable hearing solutions. Mark Richardson lectures in the Department of Design at Monash University in the Industrial Design stream. His research & supervision interests include Maker culture, Open Design, open source hardware development and design for reuse.
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A Design Primer for the Domestication of Health Technologies Paul Chamberlain* and Claire Craig Sheffield Hallam University * p.m.chamberlain@shu.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.431
Abstract: As the population ages and places increasing pressures on health services there is widespread acceptance that we have to radically rethink how care is delivered. There is a growing body of research that focuses on telehealth to support self-care and a shift of traditional care from hospital to the home environ. This paper explores the culture and practice of health interventions that have previously resided within the domain of the hospital and the implications of this shift when they infiltrate the private space of the home. Research undertaken by the authors using a critical artefact methodology highlights collaborative approaches between design and health are critical to both understand these two disparate environments and that careful consideration is required when developing appropriate new landscapes and paradigms for care. This presents opportunity for design both in developing solutions but also within creative research approaches to understand the complexity of the challenges. Keywords: Design methodology, Tele-health, Co-design, User-centred.
1. Introduction There is a significant body of research concerned with healthcare practices and services as well as technological developments to support. Much of this has been conducted and disseminated by academics within the field of health, engineering and HCI. While there has been growing interest in the potential of design and the relevant underpinning research, that can draw on a tradition of creative and divergent thinking to address these fundamental and yet practical challenges to our societies’ health, there is a need for more design focused research to realise this. This paper will present an overview of the context that is shaping change in healthcare practices. Providing a technological summary within healthcare it will highlight some of the This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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challenges as to why many of the technological developments to date have been rejected by potential users. This summary will begin to unpick the complexities of how the hospital and domestic environment can become a hybrid space and then notate the importance of engaging users to both understand and collaboratively develop solutions. The paper then shares research undertaken by the authors utilising a critical artefact methodology, sharing some of these findings and concludes with a summary of the key challenges for Designers within this field of research.
2. Context The dramatic increase in average life expectancy during the 20th century ranks as one of society’s greatest achievements. Increasing life expectancy is part of a major transition in human health spreading around the globe at different rates and along different pathways. However will this demographic shift be accompanied by a longer period of good health, a sustained sense of well-being, extended periods of social engagement and productivity, or will it be associated with more illness, disability, and dependency? According to the Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO) health is not the absence of disease but ‘a state of complete physical, social and mental well-being’’. Health is seen in its widest sense with an emphasis on an individual’s personal resources as well as physical capabilities. However Huber et el (2011) challenge the WHO definition of health as complete wellbeing that is no longer fit for purpose given the rise of chronic disease. They propose changing the emphasis towards the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges. All countries face major challenges to ensure that their health and social systems are ready to make the most of this demographic shift to support not just extended life but our future wellbeing. There has been growing recognition of the potential of design to transform healthcare drawing on a tradition of creative and divergent thinking to address these challenges. Challenges that are, by definition, ‘wicked problems’, where there is no single true answer and where design’s strength lies in creatively responding to the assimilation and responding complex interdependencies. Escalating costs of healthcare services and a shortage of personnel and facilities have put pressure on the health care system to deliver more support and treatments on an outpatient basis. While tending to health needs within the home has a long history, and a variety medical devices have been adopted in the home for many years, we are now witnessing an increasing migration of devices and emergent technologies into the home setting. However, most medical devices are designed for use by health professionals in formal healthcare settings rather than for autonomous domestic use. Consequently there are many challenges to be resolved to address the complexity demanded by the varied users within this environment. According to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) telehealth and telecare are relatively new eHealth services, the language used to describe them is still evolving and the terms used are
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interchangeable. Telehealth (also referred to as telemedicine) describes the remote monitoring of physiological data that can be used by health professionals for diagnosis or disease management. Examples of telehealth devices include blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, spirometers, weighing scales and blood glucometers. Telehealth also covers the use of information and communication technology for remote consultation between health professionals or between a health professional and a patient e.g. providing health advice by telephone, videoconferencing to discuss a diagnosis or capturing and sending images for diagnosis. Telecare uses a combination of alarms, sensors and a variety of other equipment, usually in the home environment, to help people live more independently by monitoring for changes, warning end users or to raise an alert at a monitoring control centre. Examples of telecare devices include personal alarms, fall detectors, temperature extremes sensors, carbon monoxide detectors, flood detectors and gas detectors. Telehealth is generally concerned with preventative approaches to healthcare while telemedicine tends to have a narrower scope more focused on curative health. Telehealth can be provided in real time 24/7 with and without feedback to the patient and this facility has generated interest in its use for people living remotely and difficult to access and older people who are high health service users. The interest in telehealth is largely economic prompted by the fact that the provision of current health services is unsustainable. The potential value of telehealth is broad and varied; for example it can offer the facility for the early detection of health problems, it can result in fewer face-to-face meetings between health professionals and patients and it has the potential environmental benefits to reduce the need for people to travel to access services. However successful implementation requires a fundamental culture change in how health services are delivered and received. The Whole Systems Demonstrator programme (gov.uk) represents one of the most significant studies of telehealth and telecare in the United Kingdom. This randomised controlled trial (RCT) engaged over 6000 participants. Where the technologies were adopted there was a 45% reduction in mortality, a 20% reduction in emergency admissions and a 15% reduction in accidents and emergencies. However, whilst on one level these results were extremely positive a growing number of researchers have been keen to highlight that the figures reflect only those who engaged with the intervention. This pattern of non-adoption is found elsewhere. Indeed, in-spite of the fact that there has been much interest from health professionals and health services, and numerous technological developments and trials, the adoption has been slow with no clear sign of how a telehealth service might be integrated by the community within our homes. While there is an established specialist strand of product design that has been integral to the development and innovation of medical devices within hospital settings there is much less evidence and guidance regards how design might contribute to telehealth. This paper will explore some of the challenges and opportunities for design within the context of telehealthcare within the domestic setting.
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3. Barriers to adoption Technological innovation in the context of health potentially offers users of this technology increased choice as to how and where health-care is delivered. However, as previously stated, successful implementation requires a fundamental culture change in how health services are delivered and received. The Whole Systems Demonstrator Programme is a good case in point. Whilst the potential of technology to positively impact on the lives of participants was clear, the main reason given by individuals for non-participation in the study was the perceived threat that this technology posed to identity. This is not an isolated example. Foster et al (2015) for instance reported that in their study of two linked telehealth trials that 82.9% of individuals did not accept the invitation to participate in the research. Such findings have prompted a number of authors to explore the reasons why people choose not to adopt telecare when it may be an appropriate intervention in their circumstances. For instance, Bentley et al (2014) identified several factors relating to the design and suitability of telecare that negatively impacted upon its perception and use. For example there was a sense among the participants that having telecare would be accepting the fact that they are ‘old’, a fact, which people described as trying to resist. In addition they found a high volume of accidental triggering (miss-use) can lead to abandonment of the technology or perceived intrusion of the technology in people’s daily lives. However one of the main conclusions emerging from the study was that design related barriers identified twenty years ago have yet to be addressed despite significant advances in technology. Lack of user involvement in the design process has been identified as a particular issue (Hanson et al., 2010). This has been particularly problematic when designing for older people. As mentioned ‘older’ people are frequently targeted as the core users of telehealth services. Perceptions persist that ‘older’ people are less likely to use digital technologies due to lack of previous early exposure to the technologies, but this will decrease over time. Older people are a wide and diverse group, associated by only their physical age; individuals may not hold the same values as another and each person’s abilities, motivations, aspirations and understandings can differ widely. Thus, not all older people have the same relationship with digital technology. Valentine et al (2011) propose that there are additional issues that result in a lack of use amongst older people; peer- opinion, cost and maintenance, previous negative experiences, lack of understanding and fundamentally a lack of perceived need. Greenhalgh et al (2013) present an interesting phenomenological analysis of the use and non-use of telehealth and telecare. They claim the things we use and make (technologies) are not neutral objects but embodiments of our selves and our cultural values. A familiar technology is ‘ready-to-hand’ and available to mediate between the individual and the world but if the technology does not ‘work’ as intended, it loses its phenomenological transparency and begins to interfere with the individual’s relationship to the world. The material features of technologies, dimensions, shape, colour, durability, size of buttons, brightness of screen and so on, have a powerful influence on whether and how technologies
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are used or not. Material features are key, since they affect what the person is capable of perceiving and doing with a technology in particular real-life situations. Phenomenology underpins the science of experience- based design, which takes the patient’s ‘ordinary experience’ as its starting point. They conclude in their study that technologies can thus be disabling as well as enabling, disempowering as well as empowering. That the illness experiences and assisted living needs of older people are diverse and unique, hence do not lend themselves to simple or standardised technological solutions.
4. Home and hospital If Greenhalgh’s (2013) argument is placed within the historical development of technology it is possible to see that IT and computer hardware emerged within the office environment and later filtered into the domestic environment and was promoted as the ‘home office’. However rather than being used for the same tasks undertaken within the work space people began to use the home computer for radically different activities (for example entertainment, music, films). IT technology was then responsible for a complete paradigm shift in the way we shop, bank, communicate and organise our travel. Technical innovation has enabled choice and flexibility and facility to access these services from the comfort of our homes. However the domestication of healthcare bring additional and more complex challenges aside from the more obvious fact that when we are ill we seek human comfort and contact. Building on ethnographical material, Dorish & Bell (2011) demonstrate how infrastructures, mobility, privacy and the domestic realm are indeed far messier than the ideal of homogeneous and orderly spheres that can be catered by seamless, calm technologies. They state it involves asking not what things people might want to use, but asking what people do and feel and how technologies then can play in a role in this. Home has different meanings for people but it is generally agreed to be a place of comfort, security and emotional well-being. It is a private place that reflects our identity with who we choose to share. It is where we live and where most people would prefer to die. The home and the hospital bring together very different cultural practices and environments. Architects and interior designers for some time have agreed that space has a very real impact on how we feel. More recently neuroscientists and psychologists have discussed the way aesthetics affect our decisions, emotional responses and the way we feel about ourselves. New fields are emerging such as embodied cognition, which looks specifically at the role the environment plays in developing cognitive capacity, and neuroaesthetics which examines the biological role of aesthetic experiences. In (Gardner 2000) conventional wisdom posits that the original hospitals were more akin to ‘a home’ set up by churches to provide sanctuary and comfort for the poor and sick (Dainton 1961, Friedman 1987). However contemporary historians suggest that social control has been the significant feature of hospitals throughout history (Granshaw 1989, Cavallo 1991). According to Foucault's (Foucault 1994) analysis, the modern hospital is the site for the authoritarianism of medical knowledge and the perceptual extension of medical discourse -
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the medical gaze. Within this framework the hospitalised individual becomes a patient, then an object, through the practices of medicine. Foucault argues that the hospital was organised as an ‘examining apparatus’ enabling almost constant observation of the patient. In this creation all extraneous variables such as the home environment, family, friends and usual activities were excluded, the hospital providing the ideal laboratory setting where the causes of symptoms could be isolated and the effects of treatment monitored. The authoritarian nature of the hospital domain inevitably creates a power relationship between the patient and health professional. This is set within a context where the patient is usually weak, unsure and infirm, undressed and vulnerable. However the power balance arguably shifts when the ‘patient’ re establishes control within the familiarity of their own domestic environs. If then the home is becoming a place for high tech 'hospital' care the domestication is contrasted with the notion of home as a place of sanctuary, familiarity and belonging. Liaschenko (1994) argued that while our modern sensibility recognises the bureaucratic power of hospitals this also renders us sensitive to a view of home as a private space, a haven from the demands of the world. The very word 'home' evokes feelings of familiarity, comfort, security, nurturance and peace. Mack (1991) claimed that home is the place where we can be ourselves, surrounded by familiar faces, furniture and sounds and the comforting rituals of everyday life. To 'go home' then is to go to a place that is different from other places. Delivery of healthcare at home is not new. Half a century ago in the USA, house calls made up 40% of all physician–patient encounters while, by 1980, this had shrunk to 0.6% of all encounters (Brickner et al. 1975). Anthony et al (1988) argue the decline of in-home primary care may well have hurt the doctor-patient relationship but telemedicine may be offering a way back to them and our family medicine roots. However Liaschenko reveals, ‘every nurse told me how being in someone’s home altered practice, how the simple rules and ways of conducting oneself that are taken for granted in hospitals were irrelevant, even wrong in someone’s home’. She presents the notion of moral geography and the idea of place to people’s lives and the relevance of this to home care practice. If ethics is about how we treat each other and geography is a given space in which people live, she takes the moral geography of home care to be the nature and quality of the relationships necessary to sustain the person in that particular place. Therefore we must acknowledge rules of behaviour, and values inherent in specific social spaces. ‘The geography’ of sickness is shifting as hospitals are losing their spatial pre-eminence and the home and other community structures are becoming central in caring for the sick". Gardener warns the ambience and safety of the home however can potentially be shattered by the invasion of illness-related technology. The invasion of the technology of acute care into the home has the potential to destroy the nurturing and therapeutic environment of home as a means of promoting health recovery. He states while care of the sick in their homes invariably and increasingly brings with it technology, this technology needs to fit into the home environment without dominating it and transferring the anti-therapeutic culture
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of the hospital environment into the home. He advocates a need to develop sensitivity to the space of the home as one of sanctuary with multiple social and emotional functions that serve to increase the well being of people in health and illness. Rudick (1995) goes as far to say that the 'domestication' of health care could be morally questionable in that illnesses and treatments can make familiar domestic settings alien and confuse family roles. Dorrestijn (2012) presents an ethics of technology to establish interactions and fusions with technologies in such a way that they are experienced as one’s own, not obstructing but becoming part of one’s experience and performance of freedom and agency
5. Developing a co-design methodology – what are the questions? Given the complexities described, participatory and collaborative approaches in the design of products and services which take into account the environments in which they are used is paramount. The importance of co-production in health-care contexts is increasingly being recognised. Bovaird (2007) for instance describes how services are no longer simply delivered by professional and managerial staff in public agencies but are coproduced. Traditional conceptions of service planning and management are now outdated and need to be revised to account for coproduction as an integrating mechanism and an incentive for resource mobilisation—a potential that is still greatly underestimated. Wherton et al (2015) support the notion that if ‘care closer to home’ is to be realised, then industry, health and social care providers must evolve ways to work with older people to co-produce useful and useable solutions. “Design Participation,” as the event was entitled, was the first international conference of the Design Research Society in 1966. In the decade preceding the conference, design participation had become a matter of mounting social and political concern with growing impact on the design disciplines. Cross suggested, ‘Involving in the design process those who will be affected by its outcome, may provide a means for eliminating many potential problems at their source,’ (Cross 1972). Since then there has been growing interest in participatory and collaborative design. More recently Von Hippel challenged the notion that innovations stem from manufacturers and suggests a shift from manufacturer centric to user centric design processes (Von Hippel 2005). Within the growing body of work claiming co-design approaches there is increasing debate as to the role of the designer in Co-design. Vardouli (2015) asks ‘Who Designs?’, The “empowered” users? The tools and/or techniques that facilitate the process? The designer of the tools and/or techniques?. Von Hippel & Katz (2002) suggest that in user centred design ‘Products are not designed by the users themselves, they contend, and move on to outline a set of principles that can be designed into an artefact in order to transfer design capability to the users’. So how can we develop methods and approaches to engage people in meaningful ways and elicit their understanding particularly when those individuals may be vulnerable or disenfranchised from society? The lead author has led a long-term programme of practice-
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based research adopting a life span approach recognising individuals may face potential challenges at any stage of life. Chamberlain and Roddis (2003) describe the development of vibro-acoustic furniture for therapeutic use, by children who are profoundly deaf, or both deaf and blind. Due to their circumstances, the end users (the children) could not actively participate in the research through familiar protocols such as interviews or questionnaires. Only when the design research team produced working physical prototypes could they interact and develop any meaningful sense of understanding. The prototypes allowed the children to control their own sensory experiences and establish a means of communication. The designer researchers found that the working prototypes acted as a bridge between themselves, the therapists and the children, revealing knowledge and understanding about the needs of the end user, and also as a catalyst for further research and investigation.
Figure 1 Tactile sounds system (Chamberlain) – a flexible modular vibro- acoustic system that conveys meaningful everyday sounds through vibration to people with profound sensory impairment. For recreational, therapeutic and educational use. Prototypes became the bridge to understanding user needs.
Chamberlain et al 2011, Chamberlain & Yoxall 2012 describe the challenge engaging users in familiar but what is generally considered ‘taboo’ subject matter. The bathroom is a space of private and intimate ritual and the research methods for developing an understanding of behaviour has to be carefully considered. Significant to the research was that older community researchers were formally recruited to the project from the outset and were engaged in every stage of the research and product development. The approach broke down the hierarchal relationship often created between designer and user, academic researcher and user and adopted a respect for the user as expert, designing ‘with’ these users and not just ‘for’ them. Secondly artefacts, prototypes, field labs and exhibition were key to the research and aided in accessing users tacit knowledge rather than them trying to verbalise the things they do intuitively.
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Figure 2 Future bathroom (Chamberlain) - Designing with users. Exhibition was utilised as the focus of user workshops. Objects defined and help understand bathroom use and behaviour.
Chamberlain, Craig (2013) again positioned older people as active participants central to research. Artefacts were developed and presented not as solutions, but as vehicles through which to engage people, promote discussion, to raise questions, challenge preconceptions and generate in-depth data.
Figure 3 A selection from the Stigmas series (Chamberlain) – right to left - ‘This is a chair to sit on’, ‘Rest of your life’, ‘adjustable chair’. Critical artefacts part of the engagingaging platform that present a landscape of later life posing questions not answers.
Ultimately they sought to further not just our understanding but also the understanding of all those who engaged with it. Objects and artefacts offered valuable ways to begin to understand the richness and complexity in people’s lives. Central to this was the notion of exhibition as a research tool that became a meeting space that enabled this to happen.
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Exhibition provided the theatre for conversation and became the medium and method for data collection and created the conduit, through which societal assumptions relating to ageing could be made visible, explored and challenged.
Figure 4 Engagingaging (Chamberlain & Craig) – Theatre for conversation – was a transnational research platform utilising exhibition as a research tool providing a forum to engage with large numbers of people across continents to explore issues of ageing
There is growing evidence of the designer shifting from a reactive product focused problem solver to that of a problem setting facilitator within co-production. Dunne & Raby (in Koskinen et al 2011) support the notion that ‘Design that asks carefully crafted questions and makes us think is just as important as design that solves problems or finds answers’. Mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincare is quoted to have declared, ‘‘The question is not, ‘What is the answer?’ The question is ‘What is the question?’’ (Licklider 1960). The challenge of participatory Design and Co-Design is developing creative and appropriate methods for meaningful engagement. Concepts such as ‘communicative space,’ ‘the counter public’ (Dentith et al, 2012) or ‘discursive approach’ (Cook, 2012) which are encountered in participatory methodology, underline the fact that the challenge of participation is fundamentally a challenge of communication. Although they draw on different concepts, authors continually stress how important it is that the research process opens up spaces that facilitate communication. They argue that it is crucial for research that a safe space is created in which openness; differences of opinion, conflicts, etc. are permitted. Research also shows that it is necessary to find ways of engaging with individuals and groups in ways that do not assume that individuals are able to verbally articulate and express their ideas. Rather than assuming that individuals are able to adapt and engage with the methods and experience of the researcher methods of data collection focus should build on the participants' everyday experiences. This makes it easier for individuals and groups to understand the concrete procedures, promotes confidence and encourages engagement as the research begins with what is familiar. However, it means that new methods of data collection must be developed and these should be appropriate to the concrete research situation and the research partners. In this context design and creative practice has much to be recommended. A growing body of research supports this approach and the many possibilities of using visual and performative methods of data collection have been discussed in qualitative social research with the emergence of performative social science (Jones et al.
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2008), visual methods (Knoblauch et al. 2008, Pink 2014) and visual arts research methods (Ball and Gilligan 2010). Ball and Gillingan (2010) suggest that these approaches are so successful because while many people from marginalised groups may have limited verbal communication skills, they have developed other communication strategies. Building on methods developed within engagingaging the principles of the traditional exhibition were translated into a format that was more flexible, accessible and inclusive. ‘Exhibition in a box’ (Chamberlain & Craig 2013) distilled the essence of the exhibition into a suitcase, a la Duchamp that could be transported to diverse environs including the home. In doing so the home was transformed into the research arena, providing individuals with a tangible prompt to scaffold conversation. Twelve boxes were produced and distributed for use with health specialists in collaboration with older users across Europe. These boxes comprised of everyday objects, photographs and textual material defined through the userworkshops undertaken in conjunction with the earlier large-scale exhibitions in ‘engagingaging’. The objects were carefully selected to code, represent and prompt further discussion on themes that had emerged from earlier research. Key themes included mobility, hygiene, relationships, identity, communication, technology, food, art, money, recreation, safety and work and these were represented through the set of found objects that included, keys, dice, soap, pencil, watch, stone, glove, post-card, spoon. The objects could and did combine to create objective correlatives prompting and enabling participants to express emotional responses. e.g. pencil and post card prompted discussion around travel, communication, technology (analogue vs digital). The objects have allowed different ways for participants to express their personal identity and in many cases their creativity prompting them to describe things they have made previously in their life and suggest new was of doing things. Working in partnership with older people has developed a set of principles that primarily position the older person as the expert and encourages choice and decision-making. Within the first phase of the research we identified and worked with four occupational therapy departments in Universities across Europe including the Hogeschool Zuyd in the Netherlands and the Zhaw Institute in Zurich. Exhibition in a box has been utilised and evaluated during the past two years as tool for occupational therapy students in support of their engagement with the community.
Figure 5 Exhibition in distilled into a box. Objects prompting meaningful insights into daily life.
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The current phase of this longitudinal enquiry is supported by the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care/Yorkshire & Humberside (CLARHC/YH) funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Exhibition in a box has been employed as a method to explore the inequalities in telehealth and care technologies and identify and creatively challenge cultural (e.g. language/rituals/socio economic) barriers to adoption. The research described in more detail in (Chamberlain & Craig 2016) investigates how technology (in general) is used by people in their everyday lives and how it can be used to support their health and wellbeing. The real strength of the approach is the objects, ‘things’ to which individuals can relate, no matter what the culture, language or age of participant. Whilst the objects in the box remain unchanging the associations they prompt and the stories they evoke are ever changing.
6. Conclusion The challenges society faces in providing future healthcare suggests radical changes to the way health services are delivered and the way we engage with them are inexorable. There is recognition that this is likely to demand more self-care and a shift of care from the hospital to our home. Teleheath is widely lauded as the solution and there has been significant investment in the development of these technologies to provide infrastructure and hardware. This paradigm shift may have the potential re-establish links between patient and doctor and reduce costs in healthcare delivery, however research suggests there is a significant challenge in achieving adoption of these technologies. The reasons are complex and to be accepted and work these healthcare ‘tele’ tools have to fit, enhance and work concurrently with our complex lives. The hospital is the traditional and familiar controlled domain where healthcare has and is defined and delivered. The move to a personal and private home space,’ brings with it significant challenges where both the individual and health care professionals will need to work together to bring sense, understanding and common trust to these diverse cultures of practices and environs. There is evident concern the medical gaze will infiltrate our homes, the place of privacy, sanctuary and familiarity which we understand and control - therefore we must consider the moral geography as presented by Liaschenko and must acknowledge rules of behaviour and values inherent in specific social spaces. Technology is well advanced to support the collection of health data that undoubtedly has potential to improve individuals health, for example early diagnosis. However, how this data is presented- what this data means - and who has access presents many challenges but with these opportunities. Participatory approaches and co-design are critical to overcome these challenges. If codesign and methods of data collection is fundamentally a challenge of communication then design and creative practice can importantly play a role in engaging diverse and disenfranchised users as in the case studies described. Considered objects, artefacts, prototypes and exhibition can provide a space to facilitate communication, reflection and
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ownership. Greenhalgh et al present a refreshing phenomenological perspective to technology and materials that presents rich opportunity for Design as opposed to just adopting science and engineering approaches to the challenge of telehealth. If we are to achieve higher adoption rates with potential users of telehealthcare then we must not simply develop solutions and focus research within the narrow boundaries of healthcare. Solutions will only be successful if they fit with the complexity of our lives therefore there is value in taking everyday experiences as a starting point. Design can bring a creative but focused lens to the challenge but it is not as simple as producing stylish desirable technological solutions. Delight is not just associated with the materiality and formal qualities of an object but the tasks and activities we engage with through objects. Can objects that concern ill health ever be desirable? Acknowledgements: This paper presents independent research. The paper refers to a project (inTaCT) that was in receipt of funding from the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Yorkshire and Humber (CLAHRC YH). CLAHRC YH acknowledges funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. CLAHRC for YH would also like to acknowledge the participation and resources of our partner organisations. Further details can be found at clahrc-yh.nihr.ac.uk.
7. References Ball, S and Gilligan, C (2010). Visualising migration and social division: Insights from social sciences & the visual arts. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 11(2) Bentley C.L, Powell L.A, Orell A, Mountain G.A. (2014) Addressing design and suitability barriers to Telecare use: Has anything changed? Technology and Disability 26 221–235 221 DOI 10.3233/TAD150421 ISSN 1055-4181/14 IOS Press Bovaird, T (2007) Beyond Engagement and Participation: User and Community Coproduction of Public Services, Public Administration Review. Volume 67, Issue 5, pages 846–860, September|October 2 Brickner P, Duque T, Kaufman A, (1975). The home-bound aged, a medically unreached group. Ann Intern Med; 82:1–6. Cavallo (1991) The motivations of benefactors. An overview of approaches to the study of charity. ln: Barry J, Jones C (ed) Medicine and Charily Before the Welfare Stale. Routledge, London Chamberlain, P, Roddis, J. (2003) - ‘Making sense’, The Design Journal, Volume 6, issue 1, Ashgate Publications Ltd. England. ISBN 0-7546-0910 Chamberlain, P, Reed, H, Burton, M, Mountain, G.A. (2011) ‘Future Bathroom’, What to make? Or How to Make? Challenges in meeting sustainable needs. SIM 2011 Polytechnic Institute of Leiria Portugal. IST Press ISBN 978-989-8481-03-0 Chamberlain, P, Yoxall, Y. (2012) Of Mice and Men. The Role of Interactive Exhibitions as Research Tools for Inclusive Design. Volume 15, Issue 1. pp 57-78. Ashgate Publications L Chamberlain, P, Craig, C (2013) Engagingdesign, Methods for Collective Creativity, Human-Computer Interaction. Human-Centred Design Approaches, Methods, Tools, and Environments. Volume 8004 of the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science pp 22-31
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Chamberlain, P. Craig, C. (2016) Insight into Telehealth and Care Technologies in Designing Around People. p.85-94. Ed. Langdon, P., Lazar, J., Heylighen, A., Dong, H. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-294988. Cook, T (2012). Where participatory approaches meet pragmatism in funded (health) research: The challenge of finding meaningful spaces. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(1), Art. 18 Coughlan P & Coghlan D (2002) Action research for operations management. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 22 (2) pp.220-240. Cross, N (1972) Here comes everyman. In: Cross N (ed) Design participation: proceedings of the Design Research Society’s conference. Academy Editions, London Dainton, C. (1961) The Story of England's Hospitals. Museum Press, London Dentith, A M, Measor, L & O'Malley, M P. (2012). The research imagination amid dilemmas of engaging young people in critical participatory work. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(1), Art. 17 Dorrestijn, S (2012) Technical Mediation and Subjectivation Tracing and Extending, Foucault’s Philosophy of Technology, June 2012, Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 221-241 Dourish, P, & Bell, G. (2011). Divining a digital future: Mess and mythology in ubiquitous computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Foucault, M (1994) The birth of the clinic. An archaeology of medical perception. Vintage Books, N.Y. Friedman, E (1987) Public hospitals: doing what everyone wants done but few others wish to do. Journal of American Medical Association 275: 1Gardner G, (2000) Hospital and home. Strange bed fellows of new partners? Collegian , Volume 7 issue 1 pages 9-15 Granshaw, L (1989) ’Fame and fortune by means of brick and mortar’: the medical profession and specialist hospitals in Britain, 1800-1948. In: Granshaw L, Porter R (eds) The Hospital in History. Routledge, London Greenhalgh, T, Wherton, J, Sugarhood, P, Hinder, S, Procter, R. N, Stones, R. (2013) What matters to older people with assisted living needs? A phenomenological analysis of the use and non-use of telehealth and telecare. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 93 . pp. 86-94. ISSN 0277-9536 Huber, M., Knottnerus, A., Green, L., Van der Horst, H., Jadad, A., Kromhout, D., Leonard, B., Lorig, K., Loureiro, M., Van der Meer, J., Schnabel, P., Smith, R., Van Weel, C., Smid, H., How should we define health. BMJ 2011;343:d4163 Jones, K; Gergen M and Guiney Y, John J.; Lopez de Vallejo, I; Roberts, B and Wright, P (Eds.) (2008). Performative social science. / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 9(2), Jerant, A.F, Schlachta, L, Epperly, T.D, and Barnes-Camp, J. (1998) Back to the future The telemedicine house call. Family Practice Management. Jan;5(1):18-28. Koskinen, I, Zimmerman J, Binder, T, Redstrom J, Wensveen S (2011) Design Research Through Practice from the lab, field and showroom ISBN 978 – 0 – 12-385502-2 Elsevier Knoblauch, H, Baer, A; Laurier, E; Petschke, S and Schnettler, B (Eds.) (2008). Visual methods. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 9(3) Liaschenko J (1994) The moral geography of home care. Advances in Nursing Science 17(2): 16-2 Licklider JCR (1960) Man-computer symbiosis. IRE Trans Hum Factors Electron 1:4–11 Mack, A (1991) Home: A place in the world., Social Research 58: 5-307 Mair F.S, Goldstein P, Shiels C, Roberts C, Angus R, O’Connor J. (2006) Recruitment difficulties in a home telecare trial. J Telemed and Telecare 2006, 12:26-8 R.C.N www.rcn.org.uk
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Pink, S. (2014) Advances in Visual Methodology. London: Sage. Ruddick, W (1995) Transforming homes and hospitals. In: Arras J (ed) Bringing the hospital home. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore Sanders C, Rogers A, Bowen R, Bower P, Hirani S, Cartwright M. (2012) Exploring barriers to participation and adoption of telehealth and telecare within the Whole System Demonstrator trial: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research; 12: 220. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-12-220. Thornton P, Mountain G. A (1992) Positive response: developing community alarm services for older people. Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Community Care: York: London. Valentine E, Bobrowicz A, Coleman G, Gibson L, Hanson V, Kundu S, McKay A, Holt R, (2011) Narrating Past to Present: Conveying the Needs and Values of Older People to Young Digital Technology, Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Users Diversity. Volume 6766 Lecture Notes in Computer Science pp 243-249 ISBN 978-3-642-21662-6, Springer Vardouli T, Who Designs? Technological mediation in Participatory design in Empowering Users through Design: Interdisciplinary Studies and Combined. Approaches for technological products and services edited by David Bihani, Springer ISBN 978-3-319-13017-0 2015 Von Hippel E (2005) Democratizing innovation. MIT Press, Cambridge Von Hippel E, Katz R (2002) Shifting innovation to users via toolkits. Social Science Research Network, Rochester Wherton, J, Sugarhood, P, Procter, R.N, Hinder, S, Greenhalgh, T. (2015) Co-production in practice : how people with assisted living needs can help design and evolve technologies and services. Implementation Science, Volume 10 (Number 1). Article number 75. ISSN 1748-590 www. gov.co.uk - Whole System Demonstrator. (accessed 5 April 2016) WHO - World Health Organisation www.who.int/ - (accessed 5 April 2016)
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About the Authors: Professor Paul Chamberlain, head of the Art & Design Research Centre and co-director of Lab4living (www.lab4living.org.uk/) at Sheffield Hallam University, develops tools and methods to engender social innovation and applies this with a focus on healthcare, disability and ageing. Dr Claire Craig is a senior researcher within the Art & Design Research Centre and co-director of Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University. Her research focuses on the role that creativity and creative practice play in supporting communication and promoting inclusion.
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Disentangling complexity: a visualisation-led tool for healthcare associated infection training Alastair S. Macdonalda*, David Loudona, Susan Wana and Colin Macduffb a
The Glasgow School of Art Robert Gordon University *a.macdonald@gsa.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.76 b
Abstract: Training in infection prevention and control (IPC) measures is crucial to minimise the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), a growing cause of patient illness and death in hospital. This paper describes a participative approach to developing a prototype tablet-based digital training tool using dynamic visualisationled techniques to raise awareness and understanding of IPC and HAIs for hospitalbased staff. An evidence-based and iterative visualisation prototyping process was used to engage staff and invite contributions from across a number of roles within the NHS, a typically hierarchical sector. Findings suggest the visualisation-led approach was helpful in articulating the behaviours of pathogens and staff and their interactions within the complex setting and service ecology of the NHS and in making IPC training materials clearer and more engaging. Keywords: infection prevention and control; service ecology; dynamic visualisation; prototyping; participative approach
1. Introduction Appropriate staff training in infection prevention and control (IPC) across hospital settings to reduce the incidence of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) is a particularly urgent issue given the rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The latter is recognised as one of the most important global issues for human and animal health due to the increasing numbers of resistant infections leading to many existing antimicrobials becoming less effective (ESRC, 2014; WHO, 2015). AMR is the subject of much current attention, e.g., from the UK crosscouncil AMR initiative (Medical Research Council, 2015) and via the EC AMR Road Map (European Commission, 2015). However, awareness of the need to address this issue is accompanied by a lack of significant innovation in antimicrobials and although the
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Alastair S. Macdonald, David Loudon, Susan Wan and Colin Macduff
development of new antimicrobials is an urgent priority, this requires substantial commercial investment and a relatively long-term strategy. While acknowledging the need for new antimicrobials, the work described here takes a complementary approach to tackling HAI through IPC, one which can be progressed and implemented in the shorter term, and is concerned with the participative cross-cohort approach taken for the development of a training tool using visualisation techniques for in-service IPC training for hospital staff.
2. The hospital setting as a complex service ecosystem For the purpose of this paper, the hospital setting can be described as a complex service ecosystem (Morelli & Tollestrup, 2007). At one level it has three principal categories of interacting actors: 1) people; 2) pathogens; and 3) the environment or setting. The first category involves the full spectrum of workers involved in delivering the healthcare service including clinical consultants, junior doctors, nursing and domestic cleaning staff, as well as visitors and - not least - the patient. Pathogens form the second category and take many forms - virus, bacterium, fungus, prion and parasite: norovirus, C. difficile (Clostridium difficile), and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) may be the names of pathogens associated with HAIs which are most familiar to the reader. The third category, the setting, comprises both ‘hard’ elements such as furniture, equipment and surfaces supporting the bioburden (i.e. the number of bacteria living on a surface) and ‘soft’ environmental elements such as temperature, humidity and air currents providing the conditions for the proliferation and distribution of pathogens.
2.1 Hierarchical but co-dependent The behaviours of people moving into and through the hospital setting as they perform their individual but overlapping roles form another aspect of this ecosystem. Individuals from across the different cohort groups (healthcare staff, cleaners, visitors and patients) form a complex web of action and interaction for potential transmission of HAIs. Within the hierarchical hospital organisation there are clearly differentiated roles from, e.g., the clinical consultant to the domestic cleaner. Domestic staff have their vital role, cleaning certain areas of the ward environment, e.g., floors and toilets, without necessarily having a clear understanding of the specific natures of different pathogens. Nursing staff may be regarded as carrying the most conspicuous burden of IPC through cleaning routines associated with the patient and on various surfaces within the ward environment particularly in and around the patient bedside. Junior doctors are required to handle patient notes as well as examine the patient. Visitors are another rogue element to consider while the patients themselves are also unwitting sources - as well as reluctant recipients of - infection. The behaviours of all these groups in terms of contact with people and surfaces have been studied through covert audits (e.g. Smith et al., 2012), often revealing poor hand hygiene compliance. To complicate matters further, there are also the complex behaviours of the various pathogens, each with its own preferred habitats and reservoirs in the setting, its various states of existence,
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degrees of persistence despite cleaning regimens with biocides, and preferred routes of transmission of infection. There is significant co-dependency in this setting. Individuals within all cohorts are required to observe IPC protocols: just one transgressor creates serious ramifications for others, most seriously for the patient.
2.2 Current IPC training Current practice in staff training for IPC varies across Scotland’s National Health Service (NHS) boards. The Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) manual is used for mandatory staff induction. E-learning courses such as Promoting Hand Hygiene in Healthcare are available. Online resources are available through NHS Education for Scotland (NES), such as a Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) e-learning course, mandatory at staff induction. Staff are also directed to online courses supplied by NES, such as the Scottish Cleanliness Champions educational training programme which has been influential in advocating an ‘all-workforce’ approach to educating for good IPC practice (West et al., 2006; Macduff et al., 2009). The content of these programmes is essentially text-based information supplemented by visual diagrams and photos, occasionally inviting some basic interaction. The issue here for the individual receiving training is how one is guided or elects to navigate through the considerable content. Different health boards will also develop and prepare their own IPC training resources locally in a variety of formats for face-to-face training, e.g., using tablets, slides, and handouts showing correct practice. One of the UK’s largest suppliers of hospital cleaning products, e.g., wipes and disinfectants containing biocides, provides digital tablet-based training packages to approximately 200 hospitals UK-wide. These include training videos demonstrating evidence-based procedures of how to clean, e.g., hospital ward surfaces using their cleaning products and also provide incentives to evaluate one’s learning through interactive questionnaires and games. However, there is little available which helps ‘visualise the invisible’ and which can influence ‘the mind’s eye’ (Macduff et al., 2013) with regard to pathogens and staff behaviours respectively in the above types of training resource, both online and tablet-based.
2.3 Recognising different learning needs There are limitations to what can be achieved from learning by rote: workers on the job have to recall correct procedures without perhaps having an adequate awareness or understanding of the nature of the pathogens likely to be present or the consequences if certain protocols are not observed. A significant training challenge within IPC is one of addressing phenomena which are fundamentally invisible, i.e., the occurrence of different kinds of pathogens, each with their preferred locations, relative abundance and degrees of persistence as well as their complex routes of transmission. Consider, then, the differing training needs of the different worker cohort groups. Cleaning staff may not be so comfortable with the more text-based norms of ‘educational’ materials such as those found in the online e-learning modules described above; indeed some individuals may have problems with literacy. Nursing staff have, as do junior doctors, a relentless schedule of
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individual tasks to conduct for each of their patients requiring any new routines to be normalised, along with countless others, in everyday practices and procedures. Visitors are part of the ‘world outside’ bringing with them unschooled behaviours and unpredictable reservoirs of pathogens. Each of these groups, it could be argued, requires to ‘see’ and understand the issue in their own particular way. So, does this imply bespoke training for each of the cohort groups, or could a more generic approach be accessible and useful to all?
3. Disentangling complexity? The authors have previously described findings from a programme of research exploring the use of prototype visual methods with hospital-based healthcare workers and patientfocused public representatives to help ‘see’ invisible pathogens in the hospital setting as a means of addressing the HAI issue (Macduff et al., 2013). A key outcome of this research was the recommendation that further development of the concept prototypes for staff training would be beneficial if the visualisations could be augmented with specific training information and scenarios centred around the prevention of HAIs. The current programme of work, originally outlined in Loudon et al. (2015), is driven by the hypothetical question ‘Could more HAIs be prevented if hospital staff could ‘see’ microscopic pathogens?’ However, the particular question explored in this paper refers to Schoffelen et al.’s ‘complex entanglement’ (2015: 180). Can we make this ‘complex entanglement’, i.e., of the co-dependency of all staff, of pathogen behaviours, and their interactions with the setting, i.e., with the hospital ecosystem described above, ‘more articulate, obvious, engaging or clear’ while being ‘transparent and readable’ (ibid) through these visualisations for these NHS staff in their interdependent roles?
4. Evidence-based, iterative visualisation prototyping method We deployed an evidence-based design (EBD) approach utilising data on staff behaviour, e.g., ‘who touches what?’ (Smith et al., 2012), and data obtained from studies by microbiologists on the location, abundance and persistence of different pathogens as a result of, e.g., transmission by various means (human and environmental) or as a consequence of cleaning regimens intended to eliminate or mitigate pathogen growth as the starting point for creating the dynamic visualisations. Visualisation prototypes were designed to convey key ‘learning points’ determined in consultation with the team’s NHS advisors. Using an iterative workshop-based approach, over three key stages, prototype visualisations developed by the team were presented in two NHS regions and used to interrogate understanding and awareness of four different hospital staff cohort groups: doctors, nurses, cleaners (domestics) and other (mixed) roles. Stages 1 and 2 were formative, interactive workshops, designed to elicit detailed feedback for the subsequent iteration of the visualisations. Stage 3 was evaluative: how well did the training tool convey the key learning points?
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One of the key challenges of working with NHS staff is reconciling their limited availability with a participatory design approach. The cross-cohort workshops in stages 1 and 2 had to be designed to conduct activities and capture responses within a short 2.5-hour window with staff who were at either end of their shift or on call. To orchestrate the required target numbers proved challenging, but was achieved through the assistance of one of team, an inhouse NHS microbiologist. Given the number of participants required for stage 3, designed to be a stand-alone evaluation of the training tool, bookable 1-hour slots for a 45-minute evaluation, convenient to staff’s individual time commitments, proved successful. Workbooks were designed for each stage for participating NHS staff inviting their critical comment on how well they thought these had been conveyed through each of the visualisations, suggestions for improvements, and for their relevance and appropriateness to individual roles.
4.1
Stage 1
Data as described in section 3 above were collated with assistance from the team’s microbiologist as the basis for developing mock-up visualisations for the stage 1 workshop. Participants (total N=30: domestic (n=10); nursing (n=12); doctors (n=4); and other (mixed) roles (n=4) were asked to individually record their normal routines through a simplified ward diagram (figure 1, left) in their workbook and to record their job role to help identify any cohort issues during desk analysis. These diagrammatic routines were subsequently projected in the workshop to illustrate the complex web of interaction which had been noted through a visualisation made of Smith et al.’s (2012) covert study of staff touch points (figure 1, right).
Figure 1 From the stage 1 workshop, ‘my role, my routine, my path’, comparisons of: (left) example of a hospital worker’s (cleaner’s) perception of their route through the ward and which elements they thought they usually touched, one of 30 collected during the workshop; and (right) a still from a dynamic visualisation of covert data from Smith et al.’s (2012) study of ‘Where do hands go?’ revealing the complex web of sequential touch-points from the halfhour ward routines of a junior doctor, auxiliary nurse, senior nurse and cleaner.
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Participants were then asked to record their responses on the worksheets to each of three projected visualisation sequences: i) my role, my routine, my path (figure 1); ii) a day in the life of a pathogen (figure 2); and iii) location and survival of pathogens in the healthcare environment. These visualisation themes were selected to be complementary and to help gradually reveal the different aspects of the ‘complex entanglement’ of actors and elements.
Figure 2 From the stage 1 workshop, ‘a day in the life of a pathogen’ sequences: (left) pathogen behaviour - MRSA dispersal; (centre) pathogen transmission - potential complexity of routes; (right) pathogen survival - norovirus and MRSA.
Figure 3 The stage 2 workshop evaluation, with a participant interacting with one of the visual prototypes in the tablet-based tool while working through the workbook questions, in this case relating to the location of the three different types of pathogens, norovirus, C. difficile and MRSA in the virtual hospital ward model.
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4.2
Stage 2
In developing the Stage 2 visualisations the detailed feedback from the stage 1 workshop was used to further develop the visualisations with specific training information. Here, significant technical development was also required: feedback had suggested that understanding would be enhanced if the visualisations were contextualised in a ward setting where the angle of view could be changed as well as the ability to ‘zoom in’ to the invisible. This required the development of a virtual ward model as a part of the tool in which the visualisation sequences would be contextualised and, as the intention was that the prototype tool was to be tablet-based, interactive tablet-based visualisations were developed requiring considerable software development and interaction design work. This workshop was conducted at the same NHS hospital as stage 1 but with different participants (N=18) including nurses (n=9), doctors (n=6) and cleaning supervisors (n=3). Rather than responding to projected mock-up visualisations as in stage 1, participants were provided with tablets loaded with the visualisations and interacted with these (figure 3). Participants’ responses were recorded individually through workbooks in the same manner as in stage 1. Here, four training theme visualisation sequences, 1) location of pathogens, 2) survival properties of pathogens, 3) cleaning/surface recontamination, and 4) transmission and spread were available to explore together with a more experimental augmented reality (AR) tool, enabling visualisations of ‘bugs’ to be viewed on the tops of existing surfaces through use of the tablet’s camera.
Figure 4 Stage 3 evaluation using the Pathogen Viewer in the training tool which uses the tablet camera, paper markers and augmented reality (AR) to simulate the presence of different pathogens on surfaces. The tablet shows MRSA (left) and C. difficile (right).
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4.3
Stage 3
For stage 3, again the detailed feedback in the workbooks from stage 2 guided the development of the final (within the time available for this work) iteration of the visualisation prototypes. Tablets were loaded with the updated prototype training tool which provided four dynamic and interactive visualisations for evaluation, 1) pathogen location, 2) pathogen survival, 3) pathogen transmission, and 4) pathogen viewer (AR) (figure 4). This was tested by 93 staff from a variety of different roles over 3 different hospital sites in an NHS board different to the one used in the first two stages plus 9 nursing lecturers and nursing students in one university site. The tablet tool was designed to be used in a stand-alone manner with a one-page information sheet as part of the workbook which was again self-completed by staff, as they worked through each of the visualisations using both free responses and Likert-scale evaluation.
5. Findings With reference again to Schoffelen et al.’s (2015) ‘complex entanglement’, and the question posed in 3 above, what progress did we make, through our visualisations, in untangling the inherent complexity of the hospital ecosystem, of the co-dependency of staff, of pathogen behaviours, and of their (i.e., both staff’s and pathogens’) interactions with the setting and to make this ‘more articulate, obvious, engaging or clear’ while being ‘transparent and readable’?
5.1 Verbal and workbook feedback In stages 1 and 2, the audio-recorded discussions between the team and participants following the visualisation sequences had been presented and workbooks completed proved valuable in revealing the level of engagement across and between the different cohorts. As stage 3 did not involve a workshop able to bring together everyone at the same time, only individually booked sessions, there was no opportunity for group discussion. Each workbook was designed specifically for its particular stage. Written feedback in the 150 workbooks completed across the 3 stages proved highly valuable and the great majority of staff appeared very keen to provide this. We exceeded our target numbers of participants for each stage indicating that HAIs was a subject of interest across the cohorts. This volume of feedback helped the team understand how successfully the visualisations had worked for each individual in their particular role. Thematic analysis, in three passes, of audio and written responses identified top-level and sub-themes for each stage. The team were able to identify potential issues in the way that information or sequences had been presented. This feedback was used to develop the next iteration of the visualisations in the training tool.
5.2 Stage 1 Desk analysis of the workbook responses revealed that participants from the different cohort groups generally responded positively to the potential use of visualisations of pathogens and behaviours in training, with relevance to a wide range of job roles and
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experience levels. Visualisation appeared to be an effective medium to engage staff with the information, and to help raise awareness and understanding of specific issues related to pathogens and infection control. The visualisation approach appeared to enhance the communication of key information from normally difficult-to-access research data, showing the potential of the visual approach to assist in learning new information or reinforcing current knowledge. As an example, with regards to the visualisations developed to convey the ‘transmission’ properties of pathogens, these elicited comments revealing raised awareness and understanding, for example: “Shock and surprise at the amount of contamination from what initially seems a minor spillage [norovirus]” (nurse); “How easy a virus can be spread” (cleaner)
In a further example, responses from across all cohorts revealed that the visualisations had helped convey ‘pathogen specific properties’: “It shows you just how airborne the virus is [norovirus]. Even though you wash your hands it will get in your clothes / in your hair” (cleaner); “Something I don’t really think much about it. Because you think the room is cleaned, its fine, the next patient that comes in will be fine…but then this highlights how long these things can hang around for” (doctor)
There were some examples of misunderstandings in the stage 1 visualisations (here, relating to the effectiveness of cleaning, a common misunderstanding due to the way this had been conveyed): "Shows that despite staff thinking they have cleaned up that spores still are present." (nurse) “Shocked! No matter how many times it’s cleaned and it’s still there.” (cleaner); "Even once the room was cleaned there is still pathogens in the room, on furniture and in the air. I was shocked at how long the pathogens live in a room even once the room has been cleaned" (cleaner)
5.3 Stage 2 The format for feedback in stage 2 was similar to stage 1. Both audio-recorded and written data were obtained. Analysis revealed the following: the visual training tool would be generally applicable to the job roles represented at the workshop although there was an indication that some content in the different prototypes would need to be tailored to different roles and levels of experience (our stage 3 feedback indicated that this would not need to be the case); there was potential for use in both informal and formal aspects of training in making education interesting and engaging and help raise awareness and understanding; the stand-alone visualisations proved largely effective in providing an understanding of the intended learning points without further explanation. However, as in stage 1, feedback indicated some inaccuracies, misunderstandings on our part and the need for further improvements. For example, in relation to one of the stage 2 visualisations intended to convey the following ‘learning points’ relating to the location of pathogens - 1) different pathogens have different properties; 2) due to these different
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properties, they are mainly found in specific locations; 3) there are a mix of micro-organisms present in the ward environment – not all of which cause risk to patients; and 4) pathogens are invisible to the naked eye – two of the doctors provided the following written comments: “Not ‘properties’ -> it is reservoir, potential transmission and survival that come over well” …” ‘properties’ means structure, virulence, disease mode, treatment, eradication. There is a bit of this with the coccal shape of the MRSA and the rod shape of C. difficile.“ (doctor); “I feel it showed pathogens can be in different locations but I don’t feel it highlighted this was due to different properties.” (doctor)
In a stage 2 visualisation concerned with the survival properties of pathogens before and after cleaning, one nurse wrote: “Did not know that the germs can last as long.” “That the germs last much longer than you would anticipate and are not resistant to disinfectant, so would need deep clean. But the visual does not say about cleaning” (nurse)
Again comments revealed examples of misunderstandings: "Hospitals are dirty even when they look clean" (doctor); "This shows very noticeably how pathogens are invisible to the naked eye but they grow very quickly even though they’re not seen" (cleaner).
One issue arising in team discussion about the nature of the visualisations during their development was if these should be tailored for each of the separate cohorts. As in workshop 1, the comments in workshop 2 indicated that the visual training tool on the whole would be generally applicable to all job roles present in the workshop. However, in workshop 2 there were some comments which indicated that some of the content in the prototypes was more suitable for different job roles (and different experience levels) and they may require different levels of information to be presented. There were some participants who found the information presented to be quite basic, yet others found the information useful. In the final discussion, it was suggested that information could be tailored to specific groups using layered information. In the discussion session, one of the nurses commented that having this on tablet would mean it could be used when convenient, e.g. during breaks. Through feedback of this nature, the team were able to understand what worked and identify potential errors, e.g., in terminology or lack of clarity and corrected through this iterative process.
5.4 Stage 3 Given the numbers to involved at this stage (N=102), the workbook was designed differently to those for stages 1 and 2 with two free response questions (In terms of your job role, what was most / least meaningful for you, and why?), four Likert-scale questions (the training information in this section is relevant for my job role; this section provided information at an appropriate level of detail; the information in this section was communicated clearly; and
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the use of visuals was helpful in understanding the facts and issues) with a final free response question for any other comments. From the stage 3 visualisations, in answer to the question “In terms of your job role, what was most meaningful for you, and why?” the visualisations were able to prompt responses from across the cohorts: “Being able to visually see where pathogens lie in the environment as this increases awareness of how easily it is to spread pathogens. Highlights places pathogens lie where people might not have realised before” (senior nurse); “Norovirus is more important for workers. A large range of surfaces not cleaned” (Domestic).
Additional comments from stage 3, revealed the power of the visualisation approach: “This will be useful to help staff visualise the reason for hand hygiene at WHO moment 5” (infection control nurse); “Good visual effects for all to take notice” (domestic assistant manager); “The visuals were ideal in retaining the information” (independent auditor).
As in the two previous stages, all cohorts were able to contribute to suggestions for improvement to the visualisations and training information in the tool as well as revealing some misunderstanding suggesting the need for an iterative development and evaluation process. Stage 3 represents the end of this particular stage of development, which has proven proven to be informative and engaging for staff. The feedback from this stage will inform further iterations in the next stage of this research.
6. Discussion The visualisation prototypes discussed here represent a synthesis - from an evidence base provided by microbiologists (e.g., data on pathogens and staff’s behaviours) and from the individual and collective feedback from all healthcare worker cohorts contextualised in a ward setting with the objective of imparting key learning points. Using the iterative prototyping and workshop-based process, each of the different cohorts contributing had input to the design of the visualisation tools while, in stages 1 and 2, simultaneously witnessing others’ public responses to the same materials. Taking an EBD and participative (within the limitations of NHS staff availability) design approach to the iterative development, adjustment and refinement of the visualisation prototypes has enabled these to become broadly readable and to communicate key information from normally difficult-to-access research data across the different cohorts, and demonstrated its potential to assist in raising awareness, learning new information or reinforcing current knowledge. Findings from the responses from the mixed cohort groups (doctors, nurses, cleaners and others) suggest that the visualisations were an effective means with which to collectively engage these different groups of healthcare workers, helping raise awareness and understanding of specific issues relating to IPC and HAIs. Here, again, Schoffelen et al.’s
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(2015: 181-182) work is useful, ‘encouraging people to engage with a visualisation’ (…) ‘encouraging making sense of the dynamic backstory of an issue’ (…) and ‘enabling reflective interpretation’. The process of developing these visual training tools reflects a collective design construction process, which avoids the reification of the prevailing medicalised hierarchical and authoritative structure within the healthcare system, enabling a more democratic form of discourse: here a cleaner’s input and views in shaping these tools is as vital as a clinical consultant’s.
7. Conclusion Within the time and resources available, the team was able to make progress developing visualisations for training in four areas: 1) pathogen location, 2) pathogen survival, 3) pathogen transmission, and 4) pathogen viewer. With this iterative and participative approach we suggest there is the opportunity for the further development of successful IPC and HAI training materials in a cross-cohort manner appropriate for the complex and dynamic service ecology model. This approach may have value in untangling complexity in other areas. Acknowledgements: The visionOn project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Follow-On Funding for Impact and Engagement (Grant Ref: AH/M00628X/1) and supported by NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire and GAMA Healthcare Ltd.
7. References ESRC. (2014) Anti-Microbial Resistance: Setting the Social Science Agenda. Report of an ESRC Working Group: July 2014. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/files/funding/funding-opportunities/amr/antimicrobial-resistance-setting-the-social-science-agenda/ (Accessed 2 November, 2015). European Commission. (2015) Road Map AMR http://ec.europa.eu/health/antimicrobial_resistance/docs/roadmap_amr_en.pdf (Accessed 2 November, 2015). Loudon, D., Macdonald, A.S. & Macduff, C. (2015) The design of a visual training tool for the prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections: using co-design to capture the training needs of doctors, nurses and cleaning staff. 3rd European Conference on Design4Health 2015, Sheffield Hallam University. Available at: http://research.shu.ac.uk/design4health/wpcontent/uploads/2015/07/D4H_Loudon_et_al.pdf/ (Accessed 15 July, 2015). Medical Research Council. (2015) Tackling AMR – A Cross Council Initiative. https://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/initiatives/antimicrobial-resistance/tackling-amr-a-cross-councilinitiative/ (Accessed 2 November, 2015). Macduff, C., Baguley, F., Gass, J., Tuckwell, M., West, B. (2009) An evaluation of the impact of the NHS Education for Scotland Cleanliness Champions Programme on clinical practice. Report for NHS Education for Scotland, Edinburgh. Macduff, C., Wood, F.K., Hackett, C., McGhee, J., Loudon, D., Macdonald, A.S., Dancer, S. & Karcher, A. (2013) Visualizing the invisible: applying an arts-based methodology to explore how healthcare
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workers and patient representatives envisage pathogens in the context of healthcare associated infections. Arts & Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 6(2): 117-131. Morelli, N. & Tollestrup, C. (2007) New representation techniques for designing in a systemic perspective. In Design Inquiries, Nordes 07 Conference. http://vbn.aau.dk/files/12648391/representation_techniques_for_design_in_a_systemic_perspec tive (Accessed 2 November, 2015). Schoffelen, J., Claes, S., Huybrechts, L., Martens, S., Chua, A. & Van de Moere, A. (2015) Visualising things. Perspectives on how to make things public through visualisation. CoDesign, 11(3-4): 179192. Smith, S.J., Young, V., Robertson, C. and Dancer S.J. (2012) Where do hands go? An audit of sequential hand-touch events on a hospital ward. The Journal of hospital infection, 80(3), 206–211. West, B.J.M., Macduff, C., McBain, M. & Gass, J. (2006) Evaluation of a national educational programme for healthcare workers on prevention and control of healthcare associated infections. Journal of Research in Nursing 11(6): 543-558. WHO. (2015). Antimicrobial resistance Fact sheet N°194 (April 2014). http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/ (Accessed 2 November, 2015).
About the Authors: Prof Alastair Macdonald, who led the visionOn project, has extensive experience of integrating design-led research methods into complex multi-disciplinary healthcare-related projects with a focus on mixed method participatory co-design, iterative prototyping and visualisation techniques. Dr David Loudon is a researcher working on the use of information visualisation to communicate complex information to different audiences. His interests include the technical and conceptual issues of designing and implementing visualisations, as well as methods for their evaluation. Susan Wan, research assistant on the visionOn project, has a background in anatomy and medical visualisation. Her research interests lie in the use of dynamic and interactive visualisations within healthcare training. Dr Colin Macduff is an experienced health services researcher with expertise in evaluation research methodologies. He has led studies of national developments in nursing, midwifery and allied health professions, and has particular interest in visualisation and healthcare associated infections.
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Exploring Design for Happiness in the Home and Implications for Future Domestic Living Emily Corrigan-Doyle*, Carolina Escobar-Tello and Kathy Pui Ying Lo Loughborough University *E.Corrigan-Doyle@lboro.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.167
Abstract: Home can influence our happiness through the activities it affords. Furthermore, previous research has indicated commonalities between happy, and sustainable societies but many of current home practices are unsustainable. This research aims to explore design for happiness as a means to future sustainable, and happier domestic lifestyles. This paper discusses the first study in which photo elicitation method was used with home-owning families to locate home happiness triggers. This method elicited photography of two representative days of the participants’ home life. Participants were then questioned in follow-up semistructured interviews. From this, happiness home needs were conceptualised and connections were drawn to happy sustainable societies. This paper discusses these results and identifies that strong family bonds, facilitated by time relaxing, socialising and pursuing interests together, are core contributors to happier, and sustainable homes. The implications for design for happiness in the home are also discussed and proposed for future work. Keywords: design for happiness, future homes, photo elicitation, future design
1. Introduction Our current way of life is unsustainable. Current GDP-based economies affect the environment, economy and society; they are reliant on high levels of material consumption, productivity, create excessive waste, and motivate neurosis. These lifestyles are not making us happier (Hofstetter, et al 2006; Diener and Seligman 2004) and have been linked to higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression (Kasser, et al 2014; ibid). Approximately 450 million people worldwide have mental health issues and 1 in 6 people are affected in the UK every year (WHO 2001). Designers, “perceived as mere stylists to a (rampant) consumer society� are responsible for many of the mechanisms (i.e. excessive material consumption) that have
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Emily Corrigan-Doyle, Carolina Escobar-Tello and Kathy Pui Ying Lo
led us to these current issues (Fuad-luke 2004). Design could, by the same course, influence a happier and more sustainable future (Manzini, et al 2006). This process could begin in the home as it can be seen to reflect and strengthen current society and lifestyles. For example, the UK’s current housing stock is one of the least efficient in Europe and accounts for approximately a quarter of all annual carbon emissions (UK Green Building Council 2015). Research in this field is already providing solutions that result in fewer impacts to the environment i.e. retrofitting current homes with energy saving technology (Horton 2005) and using more sustainably robust materials for future developments (Lazarus 2009). However, improvements to the social dimensions of this space might offer another viable avenue. Could design for happiness in the home provide an alternative means to future happy and sustainable living experiences? The following paper begins with a brief description of happiness, related social practices and their effects on home. Design’s role in happy and sustainable behaviours is then explained, followed by the influence of relational messages in service design and domestic social interactions. Subsequently, the home’s role in positive affect is posed, and later expanded using findings from a photo elicitation study. To conclude, areas for design for happiness in the home are suggested.
1.1. Concept of Happiness Happiness can be viewed as the central goal of life (Aristotle n.d./ 2004). It is a notoriously difficult concept to conceive of or measure as the meaning differs for every individual both culturally and personally. Seligman’s (2002) definition of ‘authentic happiness’, offers a rich and applicable description for the purposes of this research. He discusses three dimensions or criteria of happiness that tend to occur sequentially: the experience of raw subjective feeling – the pleasant life; engagement (embodiment of strength and virtues) – the good life; and satisfaction (meaning and purpose) – the meaningful life (Diener & Seligman 2004; Seligman and Royzman, 2003). In order to live a full and meaningful life, all three must be stimulated.
1.2. Current Basis of Wellbeing is Unsustainable Our current happiness and wellbeing is largely based on products. Originating during the Industrial Revolution, complex devices capable of carrying out previous human labour tasks became increasingly accessible and were expected to extend free time and leisure for all (Manzini, et al 2006). Consequentially, we continue to seek fulfilment through material consumption of things and this occurs excessively as they tend to only satisfy happiness in a raw subjective manner through instant gratification (Hamilton 2003). Contemporary designs tend to be associated with ‘disabling solutions’ where skills and knowledge are grouped into devices, reducing or removing user involvement (Manzini, et al 2006). They, in this manner, fail to facilitate meaning or purpose in life and create a vicious cycle of consumption and “unfulfilled desire” (Boundy 2004 cited in Hamilton 2010; Diener and Seligman 2004).
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1.3. Roles of Home Today’s homes and their contents mostly create contexts for convenience, speed and efficiency. However, lifestyles of high consumption and productivity do not necessarily correlate with long-term happiness (Hofstetter, et al 2006). Much of modern design tends to offer few opportunities for creative output or experience (Sander and Stappers, 2012) and many contemporary homes reflect this. The home, playing significant role in our everyday lives, can be influential in our happiness. It provides shelter and a place to rest. It can be used to express identity through personalisation, portraying our hopes and ideals (Cristoforetti, et al 2011; De Botton 2006). Evidently, design can be used to influence interactions and experiences in spaces (Hassenzahl, et al 2013; Stickdorn and Schneider, 2011), it could thus be used to influence happier lifestyles in the home.
2. Designing for Happiness (in the home) Design that contributes to happiness could create a healthier social context for sustainable behaviour to become the norm (Escobar-Tello and Bhamra, 2009). This is because designed objects, services and/or systems can be used to influence the type of interactions (sustainable or unsustainable) that take place in social environments, including in the home. This is particular to Service Design, where using tangible and intangible elements, it focuses on the holistic user experience and relies on positive exchanges for its value and success (Sangiorgi 2011; Stickdorn and Schneider, 2011). It could, hence, be used to promote sustainable interactions by encouraging happiness-enhancing activities in the domestic space. Home, created by on-going practices (Massey 2005; Ingold 2011; Dovey 1985), requires this systemic approach to facilitate and optimise positive experiences, and happiness. Furthermore, the characteristics of sustainable societies appear to closely align with those that are happy (Escobar-Tello and Bhamra, 2009; Escobar-Tello 2010) (see figure 1).
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Figure 1 Examples of happiness triggers and sustainable society characteristics and their overlapping relationships (Escobar-Tello, 2013). Please refer to descriptions contained within the same coloured box and then observe how they are connected to other sustainable society characteristics or happiness triggers by viewing them in the black outlined boxes above.
Positive psychology (i.e. a relatively new field of psychology, which explores mental wellness as opposed to illness) has located various happiness triggers, which can lead to a “full life� (Segliman 2002; Pursuit of Happiness 2015). These include setting personal goals, expressing gratitude for the good things in one’s life, exercising, connecting with others and undertaking acts of kindness (ibid; Escobar-Tello 2010). Characteristics of sustainable societies such as slow change, strong communities, basic needs satisfied and low material consumption can be seen to support happiness triggers and vice versa (Escobar-Tello 2010). For example, we build strong communities by sharing products and resources, interacting and undertaking acts of kindness. Happy individuals enjoy high levels of self-esteem and, once their basic needs are satisfied, they tend to consume less and are slow to change their belongings. However, this is a generalisation of what happy sustainable society characteristics could look like in many contexts. What are the corresponding practices for happy sustainable societies in the home and how could these be facilitated using design?
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3. Relational Aspects of Design Encouraging positive domestic social interactions could be a viable approach for design for happiness in this context. For example, designed objects and environments of a service provider can exchange both planned and unplanned messages to users (Lo, 2011b, p.5), and similar interactions occur in the home. These can be influential in determining whether the service or home will be experienced as positive or negative.
3.1. Relational Messages in Design The negative and positive emotions that people experience in everyday life can be strongly influenced by their interpretation of situations that confront them daily. According to appraisal theory (Roseman and Smith 2001) we have positive experiences – those judged as non-threatening, pleasant and/or a means to one’s goals – in which we experience corresponding pleasant emotions and respond positively (ibid). The reverse is true when we appraise a situation negatively. Arnold’s model (see figure 2) offers a linear simplification of how positive or negative emotions result from appraisals of an experience, sufficient for the purposes of this paper. A situation presents itself (situation box); the individual judges it to be of benefit or harm (appraisal box); this appraisal creates a corresponding positive or negative emotion (emotion box) that determines their subsequent action (action box).
Figure 2 A model of Arnold’s Theory of Appraisal Theory (from Reeve 2009).
These appraised emotional responses affect the interpretation of relational messages, which can be influential in the interactions taking place in design. For example, in service design, the design of a service or product-service system will have psychological impacts on the user upon contact through positive or negative appraisals (Lo 2011a), determining its future success (Cipolla and Manzini, 2009, p.46). This is controlled by the service evidence and the servicescape (i.e. the designed objects and/or surroundings of a service) that act as mediator between the consumer and provider (Lo, 2011b, p.5). Users can interpret both intended and unintended messages of the service providers’ perceptions about them through this exchange (ibid). Relational messages play an important role in the creation of positive experiences and emotion from the interaction of design products, services or systems.
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3.2. Relational Aspects of Home Similar interactions occur in the home. For instance, leaving dinner out for someone could be interpreted as a positive relational message by the viewer i.e. this person cares about me. However, if in the same instance a household member had left visual evidence that s/he had eaten the other’s food, this might create a negative relational message i.e. this person does not care about me. As these messages accumulate over time, they could influence future positive or negative interactions between occupants, deciphering whether a home will be experienced as happy and sustainable or the reverse. Furthermore, it could be theorised that certain happiness activities such as expressing gratitude, frequent social interaction and undertaking acts of kindness could encourage positive relational messages over negative. Accordingly, product service-systems could provide additional platforms for the promotion of domestic positive relational messages by facilitating these behaviours. With this consideration, design for happiness could foster and extend pleasant experiences.
4. Home as a Facilitator (or Inhibitor) of Happiness The home is dynamic, comprising of the many evolving dialectic practices of individuals, objects and society (Massey 2005; Ingold 2011; Dovey 1985). It is through these engagements that identity (Cristoforetti, et al 2011) and habits are made in the home. Domestic occurrences, in turn, strengthen these personal and social routines. Their alternation could thus lead to happy or unhappy experiences. Furthermore, 40% of the variance of happiness is said to be under our personal control through our daily interactions (Lyubomirsky, et al 2005 cited in Hofstetter, et al 2006), therefore it is essential that home becomes a facilitator of happiness activities.
4.1. Home as a Complex System The home, conceptualised by intricate interactions between occupants, artefacts and society (Massey 2005; Ingold 2011; Dovey 1985), is a complex system. However, recent initiatives to improve sustainability in this space have come from technological or built environment points of view where happiness aspects are neglected or collateral to the main results. For example, LEEDR (Low Effort Energy Demand Reduction) was a research project that looked at how people moved and interacted with technology in their homes (LEEDR 2014). Results from this included emotional rationales for these home practices i.e. to make home feel right (Pink 2013). However, technological use is just one way individuals facilitate sustainability in the home. Under a happiness perspective it is necessary to consider other aspects (i.e. happiness triggers) such as the nurturing of social relationships and acts of kindness, and how they are supported or inhibited in this context. Furthermore, previous built environment sustainable interventions have been met with heavy resistance. For example, Affinity Sutton (a social housing organisation) received a 50% refusal rate from UK households when it offered free retrofit packages ranging from ÂŁ6,500ÂŁ25,000 with reasons of disruption and inconvenience cited as the most common responses (Affinity Sutton 2011). Sustainable interventions must hence not only explore alternatives to
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current norms but also offer options that satisfy needs in a more fulfilling way (Hofstetter, et al 2006, p.110). This research thus intends to highlight the overlooked triggers of happiness in a domestic context, particularly the social aspects, and their implications for design for happiness in the home. This paper focuses on the first study, discussed in the following sections.
5. Exploring Design for Happiness in the Home The aim of this study was to identify important practices and corresponding needs for home life happiness and, on that account, locate potential design opportunities. The contemporary western home is a private space (Hareven 1991; Crabtree and Rodden 2004). Consequently, methods that would allow the collection of data in a semi-open, non-intrusive manner were chosen to understand the emic experiences of participants (Aldiabat and Le Navenec 2011). The particular focus of this was on the emotional aspects of home life. Notably, image making (for example, mood drawings) has been shown to activate the emotional centres of the brain relevant to that particular mood (Lusebrink and Alto 2004). Additionally, it has been suggested that we stuggle to engage in rational and emotional thinking simultaneously (Jack, et al 2012). Accordingly, a creative method using participant-generated imagery was chosen for this study.
5.1. Method – Eliciting Emotions through Photo Elicitation For this study, photo elicitation was used as both an interview and creative method to stimulate emotional contemplation over logical. Photo elicitation is a qualitative method that uses images either supplied by the researcher or generated by the participants to evoke more emotional and truthful responses during interview sessions (Harper 2002; Rose 2007). These images can serve as reference points for the initiation of conversation and aid in memory recollections (ibid). Participant-generated photography can be particularly useful when trying to encourage reflection on previously unconsidered topics (Rose 2007; Lo 2011b). In this case, it allowed participants to follow clear guidelines and capture specific visual aspects of home life with freedom and control, while engaging them on an emotional level.
5.2. Sampling Strategy This qualitative study used criterion sampling (Creswell, 2013, p.119) to obtain 13 volunteers from 10 U.K. home-owning families of similar socio-economic backgrounds. See table 1 for participant break down.
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Table 1 1st study sample breakdown (shaded boxes indicate those who took part in each household, F/M represents gender and the number stands for age) Household (H#)
Adult 1 (A1)
Adult 2 (A2)
1
F, 41
M, 40
2
F, 25
M, 52
3
F, 45
M, 45
4
M, 43
5
Adult 3 (A3)
F, 49
Adult 4 (A4)
F, 80
Child 1 (C1)
Child 2 (C2)
M, 6
F, 3
M, 12
M, 11
M, 10
F, 7
F, 37
F, 1
F, 34
M, 34
F, 1
6
F, 34
M, 34
M, 4
7
F, 34
M, 36
F, 2
8
M, 43
F, 42
M, 14
M, 10
9
M, 53
F, 48
F, 14
F, 12
10
M, 52
F, 49
F, 17
M, 15
Child 3 (C3)
M, 4
M, 12
This target group was chosen for several reasons. Homeowners tend to have more freedom in altering this environment when compared with non-homeowners. Therefore, their homes would offer a more honest reflection of their preferred lifestyles. Also, families, when compared to non-family households, arguably find it more challenging to maintain happy and sustainable lifestyles due to their hectic daily routines and responsibilities and would be more beneficial to the study.
5.3. Procedure The participants were asked to create a photographic narrative of two representative days at home – one working and one non-working day (see figure 3 for examples).
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Figure 3 Sample of images captured by participants during the study.
To prevent any a priori and/or external influence on participants, the specific goals of the study were not broadcasted to them prior to the task. Participants had the freedom to take as many or as few photographs as they wanted. Once the images were completed, they were sent by email for analysis, conducted through analytical memos. The results were then triangulated against those of follow-up semi-structured interviews. These interviews facilitated the live expression of feelings and the use of semi-structured questions, which could be adjusted in response to interesting replies or body language (Robson 2011). The questions were generated from the findings of a literature review on concepts of home (i.e. home is a reflection/extension of the self) (Cristoforetti, et al 2011; De Botton 2006) to evoke responses about happiness domestic practices (see table 2). Table 2 Sample Questions from Interview Schedule. 1. 2. 3.
What makes home feel like home for you? How does your home reflect/not reflect you? What do you need in a home?
The semi-structured interviews were kept under an hour and were mostly participant-led. All interviews were audio-recorded and body language was also noted. Session summary sheets were used to summarise main findings (i.e. suggested happiness enhancing home practices) for each interview (Robson, 2011, p.473).
5.4. Analysis Strategy The collective results from the photo-elicitation activities and following semi-structured interviews were analysed inductively using a thematic analysis (Corbin and Strauss, 2008) to locate happiness triggers in the home. This was done using open coding (ibid) by employing sensitising questions such as �What are people doing?� and �How does this enable
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happiness?� Theoretical questions and the flip-flop technique were used to axial code the data (ibid; Robson 2011). The constant comparative method was incorporated throughout to compare the arising concepts, locate commonalities and continuously rework the data into a sound initial theory (Corbin and Strauss 2008). Furthermore, as previous work has shown a correlation between happiness and sustainability cues (Escobar-Tello 2010) this analysis strategy attempted to situate this within the domestic space to establish how people’s happiness at home might correlate to sustainability. A deductive analysis was carried out on resulting themes and properties using Escobar-Tello’s (2010) a priori codes (see figure 4) for happy sustainable societies.
Figure 4 Example of the a priori codes for happy sustainable societies (Escobar-Tello 2010) used in the second phase of analysis to deductively analyse findings for the location of happy and sustainable practices in the home.
This allowed initial connections to be hypothesised between domestic happiness behaviours and sustainable lifestyles, and identify which areas held the most potential for later design for happiness interventions. The counting technique (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p.215) was then employed to establish which categories and properties appeared more or less often (see figure 5).
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Figure 5 Pie chart detailing the frequency each code for home happiness activities occurred in the data.
6. Findings and Discussion The results revealed possible areas for design for happiness in the home. These findings and their implications for future design for happiness in the home will be discussed in the following sections.
6.1. Effective Use of Photo Elicitation as a Creative Method The creative element of photo elicitation (i.e. participants told their domestic stories through self generated imagery) engaged participants successfully in the activity. Participants appeared to emotionally connect to their domestic routines. Furthermore, by deciding and editing what photos to include or remove, they reflected on how they wanted home to be represented. Consequently, this led them to consider what this inferred about their needs, experiences and happiness in the home (see figure 6).
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Figure 6 Examples of images captured by one participant who remarked, “I don't know why I ended up taking loads of pictures of the cat… I don't know what that says”. Later when asked what she needed in a home she responded; “I think you need a cat in the house… I think for me if you have a pet they become part of your life… it’s a companionship thing really.”
This sensitisation also allowed for more emotionally rich and honest discussions at the interview stage, which included both negative and positive aspects of home life. This was identified from (1) participant’s open commentary of situations or areas e.g. “…with the kids it would be chaos if we tried to sit in there” or (2) their reflections e.g. “…we’re working towards me getting my life back so I’m doing quite a lot of drawing and painting” and (3) what featured most frequently in the images.
6.2. Triggers of Negative and Positive Emotions in the Home Negative responses consistently occurred around imagery depicting household chores or when values of household members clashed i.e. different views on how things should be done in the space (see figure 7).
Figure 7 A selection of images captured by participants around negative topics such as household chores and conflicting ideals i.e. of how a space should be maintained.
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However, participants were often quick to reflect that this conflict resulted from different perspectives and were not created in malice. For example, one participant remarked, “I have to wrestle with my need to try and order things versus everybody else’s need to try and live their life”. This negative feedback was quickly deflated through a shown understanding and willingness to compromise. Household chores on the other hand were often described as work that detracted from leisure time. One participant commented that his ideal home would be one without maintenance after reflecting on the amount of time a recent DIY job had detracted from time with his children. Another participant remarked that she didn’t think that household chores should be part of her time/leisure time off, commenting, “I don’t like how it intrudes on your home”. This discussion of negative themes allowed for a deeper assessment of what led to positive experiences in the home i.e. the importance of family time and awareness of personal differences. Having said this, the majority of the imagery generated was of a positive nature and often depicted elements such as family members, pets, relaxation periods and hobbies (see figure 8).
Figure 8 A selection of images captured by participants around positive themes such as spending time with family, pets, relaxing and pursuing interests.
Discussions with participants around these topics revealed that positive periods were often supported and/or strengthened by others in the household through acts of cooperation, kindness or their presence. For instance, there was clear evidence of teamwork in all households interviewed where one parent performed one activity such as making the dinner while the other would put the children to bed. This would then be often preceded by a period of relaxation in each other’s company, sometimes in front of the television, other times engaged in different docile activities such as reading. For example one participant recalled a particularly pleasant day where after a “full-on evening” her husband rang for a take away while she read a story to their child and then later together they “… just had to
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wait for it to arrive” while they had a glass of wine and “…just watched Tele”. These cooperative relationships evidently encouraged healthy routines of work, play and rest, contributing to overall happiness in the home.
6.3. Relational Messages in the Home The imagery greatly aided the discussions of the sometimes-sensitive negative and positive subjects of domestic life. It enabled a relaxed atmosphere for conversation by taking the initial attention off the participant and providing a common ground between the interviewer and interviewee. These discussions also brought to light relational messages in the home and how previous pleasant experiences with family could encourage positive over negative. For example, one participant talked about how his partner’s jewellery tree was a positive encapsulation of the whole family. On this jewellery tree were gifts that he had previously bought his wife to say thanks for a number of different reasons. Additionally, the children chose the jewellery tree while the family were on holiday. Accordingly, it elicited positive relational messages by triggering memories of happy family experiences (see figure 9).
Figure 9 An image of a jewellery tree belonging to a participant’s partner that triggered positive relational messages for him i.e. the jewellery tree contained gifts that he had bought his partner as thank-you presents for previous acts of kindness she had done for him.
Furthermore, another participant stated that home feels like home because “It has lots of stuff that the kids have made and I’ve made, stuff that means something to us”. Artefacts in the home could hence be seen to play an additional role outside of function and domestic adornment by providing reminders of previous pleasant family experiences, encouraging positive relational messages and a happy home environment.
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6.4. Happiness-Needs and Motivations in the Home Through the collective analysis of the resulting negative and positive themes from the verbal and visual data, it was possible to identify activities associated with happiness in the home. These were initially divided into care for the self, family, community and home. Links to the characteristics of happy sustainable societies could then to be drawn using Escobar-Tello’s (2010) a priori codes (see table 1). Table 1 A sample of activities related to happiness in the home (blue section of table) that emerged during initial data analysis and links to happy sustainable society characteristics using Escobar-Tello’s (2010) a priori codes (pink section of table) (Original work by CorriganDoyle, Escobar-Tello and Lo).
Consequently, further analysis of these activities revealed underlying needs for happiness in the home (see table 2).
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Table 2 A sample of activities related to happiness in the home (blue section of table) and hypothesised implied needs for each (yellow section of table) (Original work by CorriganDoyle, Escobar-Tello and Lo).
For example, relaxing (under self-care) appeared to indicate the need for self-love, and also comfort, security and consistency as these needs afforded relaxation. Similarly, spending time with family (under family care) seemed to expose the need for reciprocal love and companionship. From this, home happiness activities (i.e. pursuing interests) were grouped with corresponding needs (i.e. self-love) (see table 3).
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Table 3 An example of the ten needs, in order of occurrence, that emerged from the data and their corresponding activities – located in the same colour adjacent sections of the table, also in order of frequency (Original work by Corrigan-Doyle, Escobar-Tello and Lo).
The importance of each need could then be determined by counting the number of instances its related actions occurred. This led to a tentative ranking system of ten psychological needs for home life happiness (see table 3). The results indicated that the need for love, firstly self-love and secondly reciprocal love, overwhelmingly dominated the motivation for home happiness activities. Participants indicated a need for self-love by openly stating the importance of spending time on personal interests (e.g. art making, running) (see figure 10) and socialising (e.g. attending a book club). For example, one
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participant quoted the following; “I’m not spending my time thinking of the family all the time. I am thinking of myself as well and doing my own thing. I think that is important”.
Figure 10 Two sample images portraying activities of self-love such as art making and exercising.
The need for reciprocal love was made evident from the extended periods participants reported spending with family and satisfying basic needs for each other such as cooking. The need for companionship was also often stressed. Many participants remarked that home did not feel like home when their partner or children were away. It was described as “really empty” and missing familiar sounds. Accordingly, this made the need for consistency evident. When asked what made home feel like home, many responded with “having the family around” and “laughter”. Another participant described the predictable domestic routines of his cat as “comforting”. Comfort (i.e. creating a relaxing atmosphere) also played a role in maintaining a happy home, which was often described as “warmth” in the home. Many agreed that home should be a “space to relax” but also a space with control and freedom to create a context suitable to personal preferences and needs. Evidently control and freedom also emerged as reoccurring needs. For example, one participant commented “functionality is important and the ability to get on and do things”. Furthermore, the personalisation of homes to reflect the values of their owners also appeared to play a role in facilitating their experienced happiness. One participant remarked he was proud of the alterations he made to his home because in his view he had given it greater “purpose and meaning”. Many participants also
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emphasised a need to maintain a separation between their work life and home life and in some instances from others in the household at particular times i.e. early mornings. Privacy was therefore identified as another need that corresponded to these responses. Finally, security was conceptualised as the final need to emerge from the data. For example, some participants talked about alterations or decisions they had made about their home to create a safer environment for their children. One participant remarked “It doesn’t feel like home if my son can’t get up the stairs”. The conceptualisation of these happiness-needs in relation to positive activities in the home allowed connections to be drawn between those for happy sustainable societies (see table 4). Table 4 This table, when read horizontally, shows connections made between activities for happiness in the home and those for happy sustainable societies relevant to this study (Original work by Corrigan-Doyle, Escobar-Tello and Lo).
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For instance, satisfying the need for companionship by knowing and socialising with one’s neighbours could be seen to potentially create stronger communities, and by fulfilling the need for self-love through pursing one’s interests, the maintenance of self-esteem and achievement of goals may also occur. Overall, the activity of being and socialising with family seemed to be the one that crossed over into many needs (i.e. self-love, reciprocal love, companionship) while also closely linking with characteristics of happy sustainable societies such as extraversion and sharing of products and resources. For example, self-love activities such as pursing interests, achieving goals and relaxing could be conducted with other family members, thus creating a context where needs for reciprocal love and companionship may also be met. Furthermore, previous positive experiences with family seemed to facilitate positive relational messages, aiding in times of stress, encouraging understanding and cooperation. Extending and supporting positive family interactions therefore appeared to exhibit the most promise for design for happiness in the home – for example, a design intervention that enables family members to synchronise their rest periods together, involving the use of a bread maker to bake fresh bread on their return.
7. Conclusions This study aimed to locate the characteristics of happy sustainable societies in a home context and thus identified potential areas for design for happiness in the home as a complex system. The use of photo elicitation in this creative manner helped participants to reflect and become better aware of the emotional significance of their daily activities and qualities in their home experiences. Furthermore, this allowed them to respond more honestly and openly during interview sessions. The resulting rich verbal and visual data detailing daily activities and opinions allowed for the conceptualisation of ten explanatory motivating needs for common domestic activities (see table 3). The need for love, divided into self-love and reciprocal love, overwhelmingly dominated all other motivations for activities in the home. It also appeared to be strongly assisted by supportive relationships with family members. Given the context of this study, it could be suggested that this need is particularly prevalent in family homes and its satisfaction a particularly strong indicator of happiness in this context. For example, in a work environment scenario, the strength of each identified need may shift around or be conceptualised differently. When considering positive family time, the need for love and companionship appeared to share a more predominant symbiotic relationship than all other identified needs. For example, the practices of self-love could be seen to overlap with those associated with reciprocal love and companionship and vice versa i.e. a participant could conduct an activity of interest with or while relaxing with his/her partner and children. The fulfilment of the need for self-love in this family context could thus simultaneously satisfy the need for
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reciprocal love and companionship at the same time. Positive family experiences together were therefore concluded to be necessary components of happy homes in these instances. The associated activities around family time also appeared to strongly resemble the overlapping characteristics of happy sustainable societies such as extraversion, sharing of products and resources, and low consumption (see table 4). For example, if one spends more time with one’s family in the same space, as suggested by the findings, family bonds are strengthened and hypothetically fewer resources are consumed or wasted. Expectedly, this behaviour encourages cooperation and better communication between family members through experiences that involve preparing and eating meals together or simply enjoying each other’s company. Hence, happy sustainable home experiences could be emphasised by encouraging positive family time together. In light of this, it appeared that expanding shared time with family showed the most promise for design for happiness in the home. Further consideration of the data led to the hypothesis that this could be achieved by design concepts, which, for example, extended family periods of rest and group activities together as these already occurred naturally in household dynamics. Furthermore, after discerning some relational qualities of home life from the data, it appeared that previous pleasant family experiences – symbolised through artefacts on display – also played a role in encouraging positive relational messages, strengthening a happy home dynamic. As indicated by the findings, household objects (e.g. jewellery tree) could serve as reminders of happy family memories and kindness, creating a more receptive social context for future positive family experiences. With this in mind, we might consider what shape design for happiness in the home could take, how it will be conceptualised, and what impact it will have on the transition towards happier sustainable homes in the future.
8. Future Work The next stages of this research will look to explore the concept of shared positive family time more deeply using creative methods. This will be conducted through workshops with UK households, and later with service designers. Service design is natural systemic and offers a viable approach to explore the home as a complex system. Accordingly, service design approaches will be employed to conceptualise design interventions for happier and more sustainable homes.
9. References Aristotle (2004). Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics). Edited by Hugh Treddenick, London: Penguin. Aldiabat, K. & Le Navenec, C. L. (2011). Clarification of the Blurred Boundaries between Grounded Theory and Ethnography: Differences and Similarities. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 2(3), 1–13. Cipolla, C. & Manzini, E. (2009). Relational Services. Knowledge, Technology & Policy 22 (1), 45–50.
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City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters (2012). City Plan 2030: Shaping Our Future (2012 Update). Retrieved from http://www.npsp.sa.gov.au/about_council/strategic_planning/cityplan_2030. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education. 7th Edition. Oxon: NewYork: Routledge. Corbin, J. & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of Qualitative Research. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Crabtree, A. & Rodden, T. (2004). Domestic Routines and Design for the Home. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 13(2), 191–220. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Cristoforetti, A., Gennai, F. & Rodeschini, G. (2011). Home Sweet Home: The Emotional Construction of Places. Journal of Aging Studies, 25(3), 225–232. De Botton, A. (2006). The Architecture Of Happiness. London: Penguin Group. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (2013). Environment Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/oorjjm2 Design Council (2014). Double Diamond Model. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/qyh5rhk Diener, E. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Beyond Money, Toward an Economy of Well-Being. American Psychology Society, 5(1), 1–31. Dovey, K. (1985). Home and Homelessness: Introduction. In I. Altman & C.M. Werner (eds), Home Environments (pp. 33–64). New York: Plenum Press. Escobar-Tello, C. (2010). Explorations on the Relationship between Happiness and Sustainable Design. (Unpublished PhD thesis). Loughborough University. Escobar-Tello, M.C. & Bhamra, T. (2013). Happiness as a Harmonising Path for Bringing Higher Education towards Sustainability. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 15(1), 177–197. Finnsson, P.T. (2006) Culture: The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability. Retrieved from http://nordicway.org/2014/06/culture-fourth-pillar-sustainability Hamilton, C. (2010). Consumerism, Self-Creation and Prospects for a New Ecological Consciousness. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18 (6), 571–575. Hamilton, C. (2003). Downshifting in Britain. A sea-change in the pursuit of happines, 2. Hareven, T. K. (1991). The Home and the Family in Historical Perspective. Social Research, 58(1), 253– 284. Harper, D. (2002). Talking about Pictures: A Case for Photo Elicitation. Visual Studies, 17(March), 13– 26. Hassenzahl, M., et al. (2013). Designing Moments of Meaning and Pleasure: Experience Design and Happiness, International Journal of Design, 7(3), 21–31. Henry, S.G. & Fetters, M.D. (2012). Research Method for Investigating Physician-Patient Interactions. Annals of Family Medicine, 10(2), 118–126. Hofstetter, P., Madjar, M. & Ozawa, T. (2006). Happiness and Sustainable Consumption: Psychological and Physical Rebound Effects at Work in a Tool for Sustainable Design. Int J LCA, 1(1), 105–115. Horton, B. (2005). Sustainable homes – the financial and environmental benefits. Retrieved from: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description. London: New York: Routlege.
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IPCC (2014). Summary for Policymakers. In C.B. Field et al. (eds), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaption, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspect Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1–32). Cambridge: New York: Cambridge University Press. Jack, A.I., Dawson, A.J., Begany, K.L., Leckie, R.L., Barry, K.P., Ciccia, A.H., et al. (2012). fMRI Reveals Reciprocal Inhibition between Social and Physical Cognitive Domains. NeuroImage, 66C, 385–401. Kasser, T., Rosenblum, K.L., Sameroff, A.J., Deci, E.L., Niemiec, C.P., Ryan, R.M., et al. (2014). Changes in Materialism, Changes in Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Longitudinal Studies and an Intervention Experiment. Motivation and Emotion, 38 (1), 1–22. Lazarus, N. (2009). Bedzed: Toolkit Part I: A Guide to Construction Materials for Carbon Neutral Developments. Retrieved from http://www.bioregional.com/bedzed-toolkit-part-i/ LEEDR: Low Effort Energy Demand Reduction (2014). LEEDR project. Retrieved from http://leedrproject.co.uk/ Lo, K.P.Y. (2011a). Relational Messages In Product Design. In C. Hooper, J. Martens & P. Markopoulos (eds), Proceedings of DESIRE’11: International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Design. Paper presented at Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 19-21 October (pp. 329-332). New York: ACM. Lo, K.P.Y. (2011b). Designing Service Evidence for Positive Relational Messages. International Journal of Design, 5(2), 5-13. Lusebrink, V.B. & Alto, P. (2004). Art Therapy and the Brain: An Attempt to Understand the Underlying Processes of Art Expression in Therapy. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21(3), 125–135. Massey, D.B. (2005). For Space. London: Los Angeles: Singapore: Washington DC: SAGE Publications. Manzini, E. (2006). Design, ethics and sustainability. Guidelines for a Transition Phase. University of Art and Design Helsinki (June), 9-15. Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded Sourcebook. 2nd Edition. California: SAGE Publications. Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). The Concept of Flow. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (eds), Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 89–105). Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. O’Brien, C. (2008). Sustainable Happiness: How Happiness Studies Can Contribute to a More Sustainable Future. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(4), 289–295. Pink, S. (2013). Saturated and Situated: Expanding the Meaning of Media in the Routines of Everyday Life, Media, Culture and Society, 35(6), 677–691. Pursuit of Happiness (2015). Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness. Retrieved from http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/science-of-happiness/ Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding Motivation and Emotion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Robson, C. (2011). Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner – Researchers. 3rd Edition, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers ltd. Rose, G. (2007). Visual Methodologies: An introduction to the interpretation of visual materials. London: Thousand Oaks: Cardiff: Sage. Roseman, I. J., Smith, C. A. (2001). Appraisal Theory. In: K. Scherer, A. Schorr, T. Johnstone (Eds.). Appraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sanders, L. (2001). Collective Creativity. LOOP: AIGA Journal of Interaction Design Education, 6(3), 1– 6.
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Sanders, E.B. N. & William, C.T. (2003). Harnessing People’s Creativity: Ideation and Expression Through Visual Communication. In J. Langford & D. McDonagh-Philp (eds), Focus Groups: Supporting Effective Product Development (pp.137–148). Taylor & Francis. Sanders, E. B. N. & Stappers, P. J. (2012). Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design. London: Bis Publisher. Sangiorgi, D. (2011). Transformative Services and Transformation Design. International Journal of Design, 5 (1), 29–40. Schachter, S. & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State. Psychological Review, 69(5), 379-399. Segliman, M. (2002). Authentic Happiness. New York: The Free Press. Seligman, B.M.E.P. & Royzman, E. (2003). Happiness: The Three Traditional Theories. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/q2ore75 Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J. (2011). This Is Service Design Thinking. Basics-Tools-Cases. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. The Office for National Statistics (2009). Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England - 2007, Results of a household survey. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/l9blxws UCLG (2015). Culture 21: Agenda 21 for Culture: Actions. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/nhsf8ex UCLG Committee on Culture (2004). Agenda 21 for Culture. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/on2ouao UK Green Building Council (2015). UK Green Building Council. Retrived from http://www.ukgbc.org/about-us World Health Organization (2001). The World Health Report 2001. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/whr/2001/en/whr01_en.pdf?ua=1
About the Authors: Emily Corrigan Doyle is a PhD researcher from Loughborough University. Her research looks at how design and creativity can be used to improve sustainability and happiness in the home, in particular, art therapy techniques within service design. Carolina Escobar-Tello is Lecturer in Design at Loughborough University. Her research interests include happiness and well-being, sustainability, social innovation, and systemic thinking. She has worldwide professional design experience, and her work has been published in journals and international conference proceedings. Kathy Pui Ying Lo is Academic Lead of Service Design Mini Centre for Doctoral Training and Lecturer in Visual Communication at Loughborough University. She’s an international scholar and educator in service design, experience design, emotional design, and visual communication.
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Using symbolic meaning as a means to design for happiness: The development of a card set for designers Mafalda Casais*, Ruth Mugge and Pieter M. A. Desmet Delft University of Technology *m.casais@tudelft.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.424
Abstract: Using design to improve the lives of people towards a positive flourishing state is the main premise of Positive Design. Our contribution to this growing field focuses on making use of the symbolic meaning that design can have to bolster human happiness. This paper presents the development of a card set for designers aiming to inspire design for happiness. The card set is explored in three sessions with groups of design educators, design students and design professionals respectively to collect diversified recommendations to improve its format and use. The resulting SIM toolkit for designers (‘Design with symbolic meaning for user happiness’), composed of a card set and a website, is disclosed and a workshop on how to use it is discussed. Keywords: symbolic meaning; positive design; happiness; design toolkit
1. Introduction Happiness is considered a universally desirable human goal. Positive Design, applying knowledge from Positive Psychology, focuses on design that enables positive experiences, in order to contribute to human flourishing (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013; Hassenzahl et al., 2013; Sääksjärvi & Hellén, 2013). Positive Design is possibility-driven, going beyond a traditional problem-focused approach. Instead, it focuses on opportunities to improve wellbeing of individuals and society. Desmet and Pohlmeyer (2013) proposed a model that describes three main components of Positive Design: Designing for pleasure, design for virtue, and design for personal significance. The authors sustain that all are fundamental in supporting a design that has a positive impact in people’s lives, offering different opportunities of focus. Furthermore, Positive Design should take into account these three components in a balanced way, consider the ‘personal fit’ of values and desires of users, and take into account the commitment of users to make the design successful. Design can have This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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different roles in happiness: it can be a direct source, a symbol, an enabler, or a support for happiness (Pohlmeyer, 2012). Our contribution to Positive Design focuses on understanding and exploring further the value of the symbolic meaning of design for encouraging happiness, and finding ways to operationalize it. Products with symbolic meaning provide the user with additional meaning besides the purely utilitarian: For example, they preserve memories (Belk, 1990; Folkman Curasi et al., 2004), remind of goals and aspirations, display accomplishments, help build and communicate identity (Csikszentmihalyi & RochbergHalton, 1981; Belk, 1988; Gentry et al., 1995), etc. Symbolically meaningful possessions have the ability to resist adaptation and remain relevant throughout their lives (Yang & Galak, 2015). As a consequence, these possessions represent an interesting opportunity for design: If designers are able to introduce happiness-related symbolic meaning in design interventions, products or services, then they can positively contribute to a person’s subjective well-being.
1.1 Sixteen design directions to support subjective well-being Previous research provided evidence of the link between products and happiness, and identified six happiness-related symbolic meanings in products (Casais, Mugge & Desmet, 2016), based on Ryff’s (1989) determinants of psychological well-being; namely, positive relations with others, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and self-acceptance. While these six types of happiness-related symbolic meanings can be interesting to analyse existing products, they are too abstract to be applied as a source of inspiration in design processes. As a result, in their research Casais, Mugge, and Desmet (2015) uncovered sixteen design directions (table 1), distributed over the six symbolic meanings. Using a set of product examples selected by four experts in Design for Emotion and Well-Being, that were believed to be related to the six symbolic meanings, sessions with designers and design researchers were conducted to identify relevant design directions. These design directions were aimed at supporting the ideation phase of the design process. Although these sixteen design directions are more concrete, it remains questionable whether they can be helpful for designers. It is anticipated that merely providing the design directions in the form of a list is not the most optimal and inspirational way to communicate and use them. Whether designers successfully use design directions strongly depends on how such information is provided. Past research on representing and displaying information for designers (Sleeswijk Visser, 2009) reported that providing inspiration is one of the key aspects to trigger designers in their design process. A balanced amount of information should be provided to allow for a quick scan and intuitive selection of the data; also taking into account that designers might appreciate the opportunity to deepen a topic. Furthermore, giving room and freedom to the designer is indicated as crucial, letting designers restructure the information and prioritize it according to their needs and context. Based on these insights, we believe that in order for designers to successfully use the sixteen design directions, these should be offered in a card set that provides optimal support for the design process.
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Table 1 Happiness-related symbolic meanings and respective design directions (Casais et al, 2015). Symbolic meaning Positive relations with others
Personal growth
Purpose in life
Environmental mastery
Autonomy
Self-acceptance
Design direction
Description
Support meaningful affiliations
by facilitating the practice of group/community activities
Embody characteristics of by using unique characteristics of groups the user a group belongs to (e.g. culture, profession) Support active personal development
by providing a platform for active reflection on lessons learned and future expectations
Embody personal growth
by focusing on adaptability to accommodate physical and psychological change
Support acceptance and growth from past experiences
by providing a tangible representation of the passage of time
Enhance memories
by offering a positive context or activity to reflect on memories of loved ones
Encourage positive change
by providing an external trigger that suggests beneficial activities or behaviours
Provide a sense of control
by allowing the user to manage personally significant goals, or to eliminate obstacles in their fulfilment
Keep track of progress
by providing visual feedback on progress towards personally significant goals
Support multi-sensorial communication
by translating messages into sensorial experiences (e.g., simulating physical behaviours or emotions)
Provide a context for meaningful interaction
by making use of the context or limitations as an advantage
Destigmatize
by enhancing the aesthetic qualities of physically enabling products
Design for mindfulness
by slowing down processes or disclosing the mechanisms behind products to promote a mindful living
Redirect the user's attention
by designing an intervention that requires attention from the user to distract from negative situations
Allow shared transformation
by providing tools for user input at aesthetic and functional level
Allow self-expression
by providing a tangible platform to wear, share, or display personally significant ideas
This paper presents the development of the SIM toolkit for designers (‘Design with symbolic meaning for user happiness’), focusing specifically on the SIM card set. This card set is aimed at communicating clearly each of the six happiness-related symbolic meaning categories and each of the sixteen design directions to designers. With it, we aim to contribute to the
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dissemination of Positive Design, and to facilitate the development of design interventions that shape people’s lives in more positive and meaningful ways. Considering that design education and practice have different concerns (Daalhuizen, 2014), and therefore are likely to have different ways of using the developed card set, we explored it in discussion sessions with design educators, design students, and design professionals respectively, to collect interesting and diverse recommendations to improve it.
2. Development of the card set Representing and displaying information for designers can be done in different ways. When considering a ‘Design with Symbolic Meaning’ tool for designers, two possibilities emerged: a digital format (e.g., an application for a smart device, website), and a printed tangible format (e.g., a poster, booklet, card set). The printed tangible format was chosen because it aligned with our view of the demands of design practice: In terms of navigation, the printed format allows for free interpretation on possible use and navigation which gives the designer freedom. Furthermore, a printed format allows an easy overview of the information, as well as the flexibility for evaluation, comparison, and pairing of different elements of the displayed information. More specifically, a card set was selected as the format for the tool. Some additional advantages of using a card set are pointed out based on prior research (e.g., Lucero & Arrasvuori, 2010; Bekker & Antle, 2011; Friedman & Hendry, 2012; Yoon, Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013). Namely, the same card set can be used in both design practice and research, as well as for communication and inspiration, both individually and in group settings. Furthermore, a card set can be a way to present different components of the same topic, such as eliciting conditions, personal anecdotes, physical or behavioural manifestations, analogous themes, application examples, etc.; allowing it to be used to understand a complex topic in a varied way. Some limitations of this format, however, can also be observed. For instance, a card set is a static format, which may suffer from lack of updateability and lack of dynamic interaction. Furthermore, an open use with none or few rules can be overwhelming or confusing, which may result in it being time consuming to figure out and put in practice. In addition, the card set format can oversimplify important information. Through an iterative process, several versions of the card set were developed and tested, keeping in mind the limitations of the format.
2.1 Criteria for the card set The initial card set (‘Design for Happiness with Symbolic Meaning’) was designed by the main researcher and discussed with the research team (Figure 1). It was composed of sixteen design direction cards, each containing an explanation of the respective symbolic meaning. Product examples were used to illustrate each design direction, which had been previously selected. The selection of product examples took place in a group session with four experts in Design for Emotion and Well-being, aiming to pick out products that were in some way open for symbolic meaning attribution, referring to the work of Casais et al. (2016). Following the discussions with the research team, the card set was tested in a small
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study with six design students, which resulted in some initial recommendations. From there, the main researcher redesigned the card set with input from the research team. The various iterations were made to design a more effective card set.
Figure 1 Initially, the card set was composed of sixteen cards. Each one-sided card (displayed here in real size of 10,5x15 cm) described a symbolic meaning illustrated by an inspirational image, and contained a related design direction illustrated by two product examples.
During the iterative process some considerations were added to the requirements of the card set. Specifically, the developed card set should allow the designer(s) to manage and structure the information. Furthermore, the organization of the information provided to the designer(s) should be facilitated by the use of icons or colours to cluster elements from the same group. A clarification of clusters should be provided in a manual. Furthermore, images of context, interactions or designs can help with random idea generation. In addition, it is important to have an introduction to the use of the card set for designers, suggesting ways to use it. Based on the mentioned recommendations, the card set was optimized (Figure 2 and 3).
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Figure 2 The introduction card added to the improved version (displayed here in real size of 10,5 x 15 cm). It contained a description of the card set and of the six symbolic meanings.
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Figure 3 Example of a design direction card (displayed here in real size of 10,5 x 15 cm). Each design direction card included a product example, and two or three eliciting questions.
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For the improved version, an introductory card summarizing the research that informs the card set and describing the six symbolic meanings was added. Furthermore, one distinctive product example was used for each design direction. Eliciting questions aimed to encourage users to further reflect on the design direction were also added. In this improved version of the card set, the design direction cards were colour coded according to the six symbolic meanings, in order to facilitate an easy structuring of the information.
3. Exploring the card set in design education and practice Following the development of the card set, an exploration of its use, format and content was conducted taking into account the different perspectives from design education and practice. Exploring the card set among different design-related perspectives enabled us to gain insight into varied possibilities of use and ways to arrange the content, in order to optimize it. In this section, we report the recommendations provided by three group sessions with design educators, design students, and designers. The sessions aimed to understand how different possible users of the card set could potentially apply it, and what challenges and limitations can be identified in the use of the card set.
3.1 Method This research aimed to gather rich and informed opinions on the card set, its use, and additional ways to improve it, and thus was designed as a qualitative research. Specifically, we conducted three group sessions with expert informants in order to obtain detailed insights to further improve the tool. Specifically, nine participants were recruited to take part in the group sessions (Table 2). Three groups were formed, each group participating in a separate group session, based on the three different design perspectives: In the session of group 1, two design educators participated, both with extensive experience in teaching at a faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, from two different departments. In the session of group 2, four final year Master students participated, from two different Master programs in the field of design. In the session with group 3, three design professionals participated, coming from different design practices. Specifically, participants from group 3 originated from a small start-up company, a medium-sized engineering company, and from a user research practice, respectively. In the sessions, participants were presented with the card set and asked to explore it; discussing legibility, applicability, and relevance of the design directions in multiple scenarios. In addition to the card set, participants were given an A4 sheet with a list of the design directions, and an A3 sheet with all the cards, for a quick overview. Each session took about one hour, and was recorded with an audio device. The participants were introduced to the card set and made aware of the importance of their specific role (as design educators, design students, and design professionals) to be able to comment based on this specific point of view, skill set, and experience. Next, participants were asked to observe, handle, and read the cards. A group interview followed: Firstly, participants were asked to predict possible uses for the card set, based on the questions: How do you envision applying the card set? In what type of projects, stages, and scenarios
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would you use it? What would be reasons to use it or not use it? For this set of questions, participants were asked to consider the specific nature of their work–different types of design practices, teaching in different design disciplines, following different design programmes. Secondly, participants were asked to focus on content, based on the questions: Do you understand the card set? What is not clear? Is the card set inspiring (why/why not)? Thirdly, participants were asked about the format of the card set, based on the question: What do you think of the card set format? Lastly, participants were asked about general improvements, with the question: What is missing? How can it be improved? Table 2 The profile of the participants that were recruited for the group sessions. Participants Design educator 1 (DE1)
Role
Design educator 2 (DE2)
Assistant Professor of Industrial Design
13 years
Design student 1 (DS1) Design student 2 (DS2) Design student 3 (DS3) Design student 4 (DS4)
Master of Strategic Product Design Master of Design for Interaction Master of Design for Interaction Master of Science Communication in collaboration with Master of Design for Interaction Industrial designer
2nd year student
Senior design engineer
7 years
Senior user researcher in customer experience
6 years
Design professional 1 (DP1) Design professional 2 (DP2)
Design professional 3 (DP3)
Associate Professor of Consumer Behaviour
Experience 10 years
2nd year student 2nd year student 2nd year student
6 years
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Expertise Strategic product design research methodology, consumer behaviour, statistical analysis Exploring interactions, design thinking and doing tools, meaning in everyday system use, health (ageing), mobility and ICT in urban environments Involving users in development of smart grid systems Energy saving and domestic comfort Engaging children with Cystic Fibrosis to exercise Dialogue on opportunities and impact of new technologies
Industrial design, IoT, embedded systems, UX and business development (small company) Consumer goods for outdoor (previous position in large company); small scale sustainable energy products and auxiliaries (small company) Market research; customer experience (medium sized company)
Mafalda Casais, Ruth Mugge and Pieter M. A. Desmet
3.1 Results The audio recordings of each group session were analysed and coded. This section reports the main opportunities, challenges and suggestions identified in the discussion of the card set for designers. Imagining opportunities: a design tool for information, communication, and evaluation The first point of discussion during the sessions was focused on understanding how different potential users of the card set envision applying it. In all groups, opportunities were identified. In general, designing with happiness-related symbolic meaning was considered a valuable approach, adding a layer of interest projects that involve people. Even in functionor problem-driven projects, the human component can be supported with this approach: “I do think as a designer you are obliged to integrate as much of these aspects as possible. There are some basic needs that the product needs to provide, and then complementary to that, it can benefit the emotion, the feeling of happiness” (DP2 = Design Professional 2, see table 2).
Overall, the card set was described as having potential to aid the communication with different stakeholders, and in generating a common design vision: “This can help to brainstorm as a team, to know that you are talking about the same thing. It’s creating a common language amongst a team that has very different ideas” (DS2); “This might also help when discussing with a client, to get a better hold on what they want to achieve with the project” (DP1). Focusing on more specific opportunities identified in the sessions, the design teachers stated that the card set represents a potential source of inspiration and a reference of scope for students: “Many of these can really help students to think in terms of what they want their products to achieve” (DE1). In that way, the card set can exemplify how far they need to go in their designs, helping students to define design goals and interaction qualities: “These could all be typical goals that students could have” (DE2). For the design students in particular, the main opportunities the card set presented were related to the categorization and validation of design concepts: “In the end it can be used to categorize and validate an idea” (DS1). Furthermore, the card set was considered a convenient way to understand a complex and potentially overwhelming topic: “If you are not really familiar with the topic and you dive into the literature it’s like… and if you have a card set, it summarizes the most important things, so it’s going to help” (DS3).
Anticipating limitations: complex language, a link to happiness, and the need for diversity The second point of discussion in the sessions concerned the challenges and difficulties of using the card set. The challenges that were identified generally overlapped in the three discussion sessions. In particular, the language was considered complex and resorting to jargon that could be simplified. Especially when using the card set with different stakeholders, it is important to consider the use of an uncomplicated language that communicates clearly the topic and method: “With consumers it would be difficult to use because they could have a hard time understanding” (DP3).
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Another challenge that was identified concerned the reduced emphasis on happiness. While the focus on happiness-related symbolic meaning is considered a valuable approach, the link to happiness was mentioned as needing to be made more evident: “I know these are all strategies for reaching happiness, but shouldn’t happiness also be here?” (DS1).
In addition, a limitation was identified concerning the use of only product examples in the cards, which leaves out other potentially inspiring and informative examples like brands, services, etc.: “I find a limitation in the examples because they are all objects. I would like to have less obvious examples, like interactions” (DE2). Both the design teachers and the design students pointed out that a lack of instructions could potentially hinder the use of the card set, due to inexperience in using design tools: “I would use them as in inspiration source, but I have no clue how to continue” (DS3).
This was also mentioned in the session with the design professionals: “It needs structure to use with someone who is not a designer, so that it doesn’t go off track” (DP1).
Another mentioned challenge referred to the categorization by symbolic meaning, communicated by the use of colour clusters. The pre-determined categorization by colour was regarded as expendable given that multiple design directions can be grouped in other diverse and context appropriate ways, without compromising the essence of the card set. Proposing improvements: illustrative examples, hierarchy, and flexibility The last discussion point concerned additional suggestions to the card set that were made based on the acknowledged opportunities and challenges. Firstly, participants suggested the use of more varied examples to convey the rich possibilities of how design can intervene in real-life contexts. This could include specific interactions, for example, “redesigning a handshake” (DE2), intangible digital products, etc. Relating to this idea, the participants suggested the use of a digital database in addition to the cards, to add variety of examples and information: “If you want to add something, some extra information or look for other examples, a website would be perfect for that, or an app” (DS2). This would allow the designers to go deeper into selected themes, not only with more and diversified examples, but also with access to literature. In addition, it could potentially be open for contributions, thus preventing it from becoming obsolete: “I think it’s okay to tell the students ‘you get access to all this but we expect you to contribute with three products’” (DE1). Another suggestion that was given especially by the design teachers and design students regarded a clear logic on how to prioritize and choose the cards to use, giving (more) emphasis on an introduction card or manual. An introductory element could also help contextualize the card set in a larger research agenda, point out directions for its use and navigation, and provide structure. In all groups, the suggestion to separate the different elements of the card set was made, to provide more flexibility in the use of the card set. Namely, the participants suggested the separation of the design directions, the design examples, and the eliciting
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questions, to allow the card set to be used in different stages of the design process and for different purposes: “The symbolic meaning combined with the design directions is really positioning—it’s a big influence. Maybe it should be a more open format that you can combine. If you presented like this, it feels like this is the right answer and that is the wrong answer” (DP1).
4. The SIM toolkit Design education and design practice have different concerns, which resulted in different recommendations. In order to build a card set that is comprehensive and holistic, but still effective in providing inspiration, a careful selection of the recommendations was made. In order to select the most fitting recommendations to implement, we considered the proposals from the three sessions that could assist the quality of the resulting card set, without making it overwhelming. Keeping that in mind, the selected recommendations were as follows: 1) Include an introduction to the topic of happiness in a separate card. This aims to convey more clearly the link to happiness and the potential impact of the design directions; 2) simplify the language used in the card set, especially in the design directions and their respective evocative questions. This aims to improve the clarity of the card set without compromising the essence of the text; 3) separate the different elements of the card set; namely, the design directions, the symbolic meanings and the design examples. By doing this, we can improve the card set’s flexibility and allow it to be used in diverse circumstances without compromising its core objective; 4) rethink the colour clustering of the design directions based on symbolic meanings. The symbolic meaning cards can be used to propose certain design directions, while allowing freedom to cluster the design directions based on other themes, like the user’s environment and needs; 5) include suggestions of use and navigation. Especially for the novice designer or design student, this addition can facilitate the generation of ideas in a more directed way; and 6) add a digital companion to the printed card set, in the form of a database of examples and theory. This complementary source allows the designer to dive deeper into each theme, and be inspired by diverse examples. Following the introduction of the recommendations, a more comprehensive and flexible card set resulted (Figure 4).
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Figure 4 Overview of the resulting SIM card set: (A) the three introduction cards, (B) six symbolic meaning cards and (C) sixteen design direction cards, and (D) the SIM website.
Namely, the optimized SIM card set (‘Designing with symbolic meaning for user happiness’)’ is composed of: A. Three introductions cards; focusing on the research of which the card set is part of, explaining the contents of the website companion, and describing the contents of the card set; B. Six symbolic meaning cards with a description of each symbolic meaning on the front side, and a list of relevant design directions on the back side; C. Sixteen design direction cards with the design direction on the front side, and a few eliciting questions about the user on the back side; D. A website containing diverse design examples and relevant literature.
4.1 Introduction cards The three introductions cards provide an entry point to the SIM toolkit (Figure 5). The first introduction card entitled ‘Positive Design’ provides a summary of the Positive Design framework (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013) and links it to the research on design with symbolic meaning. The second introduction card entitled ‘The SIM card set’ provides a small introduction about the research and summarizes the content of the card set, suggesting ways to use it. Specifically, it indicates that the card set is meant for the idea generation phase of design projects and suggests two ways of selecting design directions: by 1) selecting the most relevant symbolic meaning and considering the suggested directions, and 2) by clustering the most relevant design directions according to the designer’s own theme, selecting from that cluster, and discovering the symbolic meaning associated with it. The third introduction card, named ‘The SIM website’, describes the features of the companion platform that extends and illustrates the card set.
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Figure 5 Overview of the introduction cards of the SIM card set (the original size is 10,5 x 7,5 cm).
4.2 Symbolic meaning cards In addition to the three introductory cards, the optimized version of the card set includes six symbolic meaning cards. Each symbolic meaning is communicated with a distinct colour. Namely: ‘Purpose in life’ is blue, ‘personal growth’ is purple, ‘self-acceptance’ is pink, ‘autonomy’ is red, ‘environmental mastery’ is yellow, and ‘positive relations with others’ is green. The cards contain a description of each symbolic meaning on the front side, and a list of suggested design directions on the back side (Figure 6).
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Figure 6 The symbolic meaning cards of the ‘Design with Symbolic Meaning’ card set (the original size is 10,5 x 7,5 cm).
4.3 Design direction cards The design direction cards describe a design direction on the front side and contain questions about the user on the back side, to allow the design to go deeper into the topic. Although the design direction cards are not strictly grouped according to the respective symbolic meanings, we opted to use the corresponding colour in a predominant way to provide some degree of structure (Figure 7).
Figure 7 Example of design direction cards (the original size is 7,5 x 5,3 cm).
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4.4 Digital database (SIM website) The digital database (the SIM website) contains diverse design examples and relevant literature (http://www.designwithmeaning.org). It is linked to the printed cards by image recognition technology, specifically, QR codes. To address the limitations of the printed card set (see section 2 of this paper), the website provides a solution for issues of updateability and dynamic interaction, as well as the potential oversimplification of information. Specifically, the website was designed with an upload feature, through which users can contribute with new product examples, literature, or other interesting sources. The SIM website is managed by the main researcher with support from the research team, to ensure that it is up to date and relevant. Furthermore, the website serves as a dissemination platform for the research, allowing users to download the card set, which is provided as open source. A link to the SIM website will be provided in affiliated websites, such as the Delft Institute of Positive Design (http://www.diopd.org). Furthermore, a bookmarker was also created which contains the SIM website link and a QR code that directs to the SIM website, to disseminate the SIM toolkit on research and design events.
5. Conclusions and future research The main goal of this research was to produce a tangible design tool that can assist and inspire the development of design for happiness interventions. Through an iterative process several adjustments were made in order to come up with an inspirational resource for designers, in the form of a card set and a website (a toolkit). The exploration of the card set within different perspectives of design helped identify opportunities and challenges, enriching the resulting SIM card set and making it more complete and flexible. The limitations we found in the discussion of the card set are related to the depth with which participants explored the contents of the tool. On the one hand, participants did not apply the card set in their context, which might have brought up additional opportunities or concerns. On the other hand, the envisioning exercise might have reduced some constraints imposed by the participants’ context, thereby allowing more ideas to emerge. Furthermore, certain limitations in the research set up can be observed. Namely, all education informants were from the same faculty. Although we aimed at bringing together different departments and expertise, more variety in this group could bring other perspectives and distinct ways of teaching or studying design. Furthermore, the small size of the groups may also be considered a limitation. We decided to use a qualitative approach because this enabled us to provide in-depth insights with experienced informants, which allowed us to further improve the tool. Finally, the lack of a more specific strategy to ensure that the SIM toolkit remains relevant and enticing to use can be seen as a limitation. An addition to the current dissemination strategy could involve for example, the integration of the SIM toolkit in Design education to prepare future designers. The applications we foresee for the SIM toolkit (the SIM card set and the SIM website) are diverse. We believe that the SIM toolkit is potentially relevant for a diverse array of design projects, from consumer durables to services, connected products, etc. It can improve the
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quality of human-product interactions at different scales and provide a human element of personal significance in problem-driven projects. For example, it can be valuable to implement the card set in problem-driven projects that target especially vulnerable users, such as people requiring healthcare assistance, imprisoned, elderly, BoP, etc. Following the development and optimization of the SIM toolkit, we now aim to investigate the effects of using the card set and the website in varied projects. This is expected to occur in the form of a workshop with designers, and we anticipate that the resulting designs will provide a clearer illustration of the potential of the developed toolkit. An additional research direction that we are interested in is understanding the effects such products might have on consumers. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Lianne Siemensma for her contribution in testing the card set. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge all the participants for their availability and contribution. This research was supported by the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology), an organization within the Ministry of Education and Science of Portugal (grant number SFRH/BD/77337/2011).
5. References Bekker, T. & Antle, A. N. (2011) Developmentally situated design (DSD): Making theoretical knowledge accessible to designers of children's technology, Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11), New York: ACM, pp 2531–2540. Belk, R. W. (1988) Possessions and the extended self, Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), pp 139– 168. Belk, R. W. (1990) The role of possessions in constructing and maintaining a sense of past, in Goldberg, M. E., Gorn, G. and Pollay, R. W. (eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, 17, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, pp 669–676. Casais, M., Mugge, R. & Desmet, P. M. A. (2015) Extending product life by introducing symbolic meaning: An exploration of design strategies to support subjective well-being, in Cooper, T., Braithwaite, N., Moreno, M. and Salvia G. (eds.), Product Lifetimes And The Environment (PLATE) Conference Proceedings, Nottingham Trent University: CADBE, pp 44–51. Casais, M., Mugge, R. & Desmet, P. M. A. (2016) Stuff doesn’t make us happy. Or does it? The role of symbolic meanings of objects in subjective well-being. Working paper, Delft University of Technology. Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981) The meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Daalhuizen, J. (2014) Method usage in design: How methods function as mental tools for designers, Doctoral disseration, Delft University of Technology, Delft: The Netherlands. Desmet, P. M. A. & Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2013) Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being, International Journal of Design, 7(3), pp 5–19. Folkman Curasi, C., Price, L. L. & Arnould, E. J. (2004) How individuals’ cherished possessions become families’ inalienable wealth, Journal of Consumer Research, 31(3), pp 609–622. Friedman, B. & Hendry, D. G. (2012) The Envisioning cards: A toolkit for catalyzing humanistic and technical imaginations, Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '12), New York: ACM, pp 1145–1148.
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Gentry, J., Menzel Baker, S. & Kraft, F. B. (1995) The role of possessions in creating, maintaining, and preserving one's identity: Variation over the life course, in Kardes, F. R. and Sujan, M. (eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, 22, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, pp 413-418. Hassenzahl, M., Eckoldt, K., Diefenbach, S., Laschke, M., Lenz, E., & Kim, J. (2013) Designing moments of meaning and pleasure. Experience design and happiness, International Journal of Design, 7(3), pp 21–31. Lucero, A. & Arrasvuori, J. (2010) PLEX Cards: A source of inspiration when designing for playfulness, 3rd International Conference on Fun and Games (Fun and Games '10), New York, pp 28–37. Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2012) Design for Happiness. Interfaces, 92, pp 8–11. Ryff, C. D. (1989) Beyond Ponce de Leon: New directions in quest of successful ageing, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12(1), pp 35–55. Sääksjärvi, M., & Hellén, K. (2013) How designers and marketers can work together to support consumers’ happiness. International Journal of Design, 7(3), pp 33–44. Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2009) Bringing the everyday life of people into design, Doctoral disseration, Delft University of Technology, Delft: The Netherlands. Yang, Y. & Galak, J. (2015) Sentimental value and its influence on hedonic adaptation, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(5), pp 767–790. Yoon, J., Desmet, P.M.A., & Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2013) Embodied typology of positive emotions: The development of a tool to facilitate emotional granularity in design. 5th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research, Tokyo: Japan, pp 1195–1206.
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About the Authors: Mafalda Casais is a PhD candidate developing her research project in the research group ‘Delft Institute of Positive Design’, at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft (Delft University of Technology). Casais began her PhD research project at TU Delft in 2013, focusing on the symbolic meaning of material possessions and its contribution to the subjective well-being of the user. Ruth Mugge Ruth Mugge is an Associate Professor of Consumer Research at the department Product Innovation Management of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft (Delft University of Technology). After finishing her Master’s degree in Industrial Design Engineering, Mugge completed a PhD project on the topic of product attachment. Her current research focuses on investigating how product appearance influences consumer response to products. Mugge has published on these topics in such journals as Design Studies, Journal of Engineering Design, Applied Ergonomics, British Journal of Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Design, and the Design Journal. Prof.dr.ir. Pieter M.A. Desmet is full professor of ‘Design for Experience’ at the Department of Industrial Design of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft (Delft University of Technology). His main research interest is in understanding why and how design evokes emotion, and how design can contribute to the well-being of individual users and communities. He supervises a research group that studies various aspects of user experience, and chairs the ‘Delft Institute of Positive Design’ (see www.diopd.org). This institute aims to initiate and stimulate the development of knowledge that supports designers in their attempts to design for human flourishing. Desmet is board-member of the International Design and Emotion society (see www.designandemotion.org), and has published over 80 scientific (journal) papers and book chapters; edited three books, three special issues, and two conference proceedings on a variety of aspects of experience-driven design
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Designs with benefits: hearth fire nights and bittersweet chores Stella U. Boess* and Anna E. Pohlmeyer Delft University of Technology *S.U.Boess@tudelft.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.466
Abstract: This paper presents 'designs with benefits' by capitalising on the joint benefits of sustainability and wellbeing. Designs with benefits are proposed through four ‘in-between’ themes for design goals as a new direction in supporting sustainability through design. We conducted post-hoc case study research on student projects from two studios: a studio working on sustainability, and a studio working on wellbeing. We searched for aspects in the sustainable studio's work that would promote wellbeing, and, conversely, for aspects in the wellbeing studio's work that would promote sustainability. Looking at three student projects we selected from each studio resulted in four themes we propose as in-betweens to open the door towards crossover approaches. They are: open reflection, pathway activities, resource and material preservation as side effect, and broader insights. Examples of design work illustrating the themes are given and implications for sustainable design discussed. Keywords: design for sustainability; design for wellbeing; case study; crossover
1. Introduction This paper proposes a new direction for design for sustainability. We propose an alternative to encouraging a particular behaviour change: design should look more towards people’s motivations in relation to their lives in general and the interrelation of personal and ecological wellbeing. We tentatively call this new direction 'designs with benefits'. This door has already been opened a little by contributions of, for example, Niedderer (2007) on mindful design, and Boon, Wever and Quist (2015) on virtue ethics and character development that can support sustainability. We now want to push the door wide open. This paper explores possible links that can be made through design to people's wellbeing within the context of sustainable living. While these are usually presented as being in This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Stella U. Boess and Anna E. Pohlmeyer
conflict with one another, we want to investigate where they might overlap or strengthen each other. We firstly look at current approaches to the design goals of behaviour change, wellbeing and sustainable homes, before proposing the new direction of 'designs with benefits', reached through 'in-between' design goals. Six student projects from two design studios – one on sustainable homes and one on wellbeing, respectively – will demonstrate the potential overlap of the two and the open space to design for the in-between.
1.1 Behaviour Change Design for behaviour change seeks to address a multitude of application domains, e.g. sustainability, health and wellbeing, safety and social design (Niedderer et al., 2014). These goals are formulated in a way that is rather distant to people's own lives and motivations, and, in this vein, the logical next step seems to be to formulate some kind of preferred behaviour that is desirable to attain the goals. In fact, most design for behaviour change models have a preferred target behaviour in mind, as Niedderer et al.'s careful literature review shows (2014). It is then the aim of the designer to stimulate this behaviour and/or hinder ‘undesirable’ behaviour (Niedderer et al., 2014, for an exception see mindful design by Niedderer, 2007). While many designs try to persuade people of something that the designer believes is ‘right’ or ‘better’, people's own goal-setting and priorities come in second place. How much am I, as a person, as a consumer, involved in the attempts to change my behaviour? Do I have the opportunity to set priorities and make choices? And what is the link of behaviour change to a person’s wellbeing? Predominantely, wellbeing is discussed in the context of ‘health and wellbeing’, and hardly in terms of ‘subjective wellbeing’ (Niedderer et al., 2014). Wellbeing can, however, also be the main objective of a design (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013). We will explore this potential here.
1.2 Wellbeing In the same period that the approaches to behaviour change have emerged, much progress has also been made in the field of design for happiness and wellbeing (e.g. Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013; Pohlmeyer, 2012). Happiness is not a frivolous desire of those who have nothing else to worry about. In the 2011 UN resolution ‘Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development’, the general assembly agrees to be “conscious that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal, [and …] that happiness as a universal goal and aspiration embodies the spirit of the Millennium Development Goals […]”. Furthermore, empirical evidence also shows a number of happiness advantages such as that happy people are physically healthier, show more prosocial behaviour, and have more satisfying relationships (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). It thus seems reasonable that happiness and personal wellbeing should be factored into approaches promoting health and societal challenges in general. But what about sustainable home use? How can design contribute to people’s quality of life beyond short-lived, materialistic pleasures (Pohlmeyer, 2012)? Research has shown that gratitude and savouring the good things in life can have a substantial effect on people’s happiness (Wood et al., 2010). Thus, Pohlmeyer (2014)
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suggests as one starting point to design for happiness to support people in taking notice of, enhancing, and prolonging positive events and circumstances. This rather frugal approach to design for wellbeing by appreciating the existing stands in contrast to traditional consumption behaviour. The brief to the students in the wellbeing studio was to prolong and enhance the affective benefits of positive experiences by supporting people to actively pay attention to and appreciate the positive (and existing), i.e. to savour (Pohlmeyer, 2014).
1.3 Sustainable Homes The reality of climate change urgently requires changes in citizens' behaviour because their energy use is increasing, leading to CO2 emissions that contribute to irreversible climate change. However, doubts have been raised whether current Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) approaches actually succeed in promoting sustainability (e.g. Kuijer & Bakker, 2015). In a broader view, organisations tend to view residents as risks rather than partners in sustainable innovation (Lee, 2008). Energy savings after innovation measures often disappoint. This effect is often attributed to residents' lack of engagement in saving energy (Galvin, 2014). This thinking leads to seeing residents as more of an obstacle to, than the beneficiaries of drives to make homes more sustainable. The first author’s starting point is to involve people in the generation and consideration of their own futures. In that, Boess seeks to facilitate citizens' awareness in the process of acquiring or using technology or buildings, thus enabling them to understand and appropriate them (Boess, Pasman and Mulder, 2012; Boess, 2015). Initial research into such processes revealed that in eliciting citizens' participation in large-scale environmental measures such as building insulation, it is key to address concerns first that may be more immediate to them: a new kitchen or bathroom, or a safe playground for the children (e.g. Breukers, van Summeren & Mourik, 2014). The brief to the students in the sustainability studio was, accordingly, to design for citizens' needs and ability to participate in a process of sustainable renovation.
2. Designing for environmental sustainability and subjective wellbeing, without compromising on either Our reflection was sparked by an initial insight into the attitudes of the students in the sustainability studio. Early on in their project, some of them complained that they were asked to force people into sustainable behaviours, while this was explicitly not their brief. This seems to correspond to earlier findings that unfortunately, people tend to have a negative connotation of environmentally friendly behaviour in relation to hedonic goals and related costs (Corral Verdugo, 2012). When people hear sustainability they somehow assume a lack of wellbeing and humor as if it is a matter of ‘either or’. However, first research evidence supports the notion that environmental and personal wellbeing are compatible and even mutually reinforcing (Corral Verdugo, 2012; De Young, 1996; Kasser, 2009). We expand on this initial effort to combine sustainability with pleasurable and meaningful experiences by exploring ways that wellbeing could contribute to sustainability
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and the other way around. In the following, we focus on subjective wellbeing as an essential part of designing for sustainability, not as an alternative or as an optional extra.
2.1 Method Selecting design projects for closer analysis Following our goal to describe designing for environmental sustainability and subjective wellbeing without compromising either, we selected six projects (out of the ca. thirty projects in the two studios) in which we saw an overlap in the perspectives for closer analysis. We sought to identify the ways that the selected projects addressed both goals. Case study design We treat the six student projects as cases, contributing to our challenge of developing theory that innovates on existing knowledge on wellbeing and sustainable design to facilitate both. We used a multiple case study approach as Runeson and Höst (2009) formulated it for software engineering. Our research context is similar in that it is about a particular phenomenon, in our case the overlap between sustainability potential and wellbeing potential, and how it plays out in a number of design processes, in which we seek to find new and possibly improved approaches to that phenomenon. It involves "investigating contemporary phenomena in their context, using multiple sources of evidence, and information is gathered from few entities (people, groups, organizations) with a lack of experimental control." (Runeson and Höst, 2009, pp. 132133).
We conducted a qualitative data analysis of the six individual design cases and triangulated the data by combining two observer perspectives on the topic: the ones of the two authors. Hence, despite our involvement coaching and judging the students’ work, this was observational case study research (Runeson and Höst, p. 134) because we conducted the analysis after the projects had been finalised. We interpreted the student's choices and research findings according to our research challenge.
3. Results The six cases prompted a number of realisations in aligning sustainable design and design for wellbeing. These realisations are pinpointed as 'in-betweens'. The in-between design goal themes were identified by checking for instances in which the student projects addressed concepts from existing knowledge on wellbeing and sustainable design, respectively. To be included, these had to be integrated in one project. The students themselves had not always made this integration on purpose. It is shown here as our perspective and interpretation of their completed projects. With regard to each project's potential to facilitate wellbeing, we used a matrix developed by Pohlmeyer (2012), which proposes that products can be a source or resource (i.e. symbol, enablement or support) of wellbeing. With regard to each project's potential to facilitate sustainability, we matched the projects' content with a number of notions that have been
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put forward as facilitating sustainability: direct understanding and usability (e.g. Wever, Van Kuijk & Boks, 2008), active involvement (e.g. Boess, 2015; Mont, Neuvonen & Lähteenoja, 2014), and a social practice (e.g. Kuijer & Bakker, 2015). Table 1 Summary of each student project and the in-between that we found in them. The pale green (dotted) colour indicates that the student was in the studio indicated in the heading. The pale red (solid) colour indicates the potential the student's project had for the other goal. student project
student's design goal
wellbeing potential Products as ...
analysis of the in-between
sustainability potential
Colour pebble by Justus Kuijer
enable direct feedback to resemble an earlier experience, of a hearth fire
source and resource engaging, meaningful
Theme 1 open reflection the student found it has the sideeffect that people invent their own new practices they appropriate it
direct feedback provides understanding for residents that a delay-based system is responding, reducing overregulation (e.g. turning heating control up high)
Welcome Home by Staffan Till
create awareness of surroundings, invite to act on them and hence take care of them, turn heating or lights on or off more thoughtfully
enabling mindfulness and relationship with the home through accomplishment
Theme 2a individual pathway activities the student sought an indirect route to sustainability via an enabler of subjective wellbeing: mindfulness
active involvement and accomplishment of arranging one's own lamp leads to a new behaviour possibility for the resident: taking care of a new or temporary home
Smart Dwell by Sofia van Oord
design activities to generate critical mass to influence other stakeholders about sustainable energy options
source hedonic pleasure, symbolising and supporting collective meaning and future empowerment
Theme 2b collective pathway activities the student was inspired by her research to create an enjoyable way to work towards a future goal
devising for a joyful and normal social practice - a party - to convince others of the desirability and feasibility of sustainable renovation (e.g. solar panels)
Move Mind by
enrich daily routine by
habit-changing effort
Theme 3a resource
enabling transfer of a joyful habit from
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Kiki prolonging a Ottenhoff specific positive experience and invite new habits in the home context
supporting happiness-enhancing habits a symbolic representation of a meaningful activity
preservation we interpreted this as leading to sustainability by supporting happinessenhancing habits
outside to inside the home. As a side effect, this also saves energy because less heating is needed
ReLove your shoes by Felix Marschn er
facilitate emotional connection to re-appreciate the old, foster dedicated care of possessions
enabling an experience of emotional connection through dedicated care (bittersweet chores)
Theme 3b material preservation the student saw this as leading to sustainability by supporting attachment
direct material saving through preservation and non-replacement of material artifacts
Explordinary by Julia Mattaar
take notice of the environment you traverse daily to discover the beauty in ordinary things
source hedonic pleasure enabling directing our attention to our daily surroundings, fostering attachment and attentiveness symbolising the everyday as the extraordinary
Theme 4 we saw this as facilitating broader insights. Awareness of surroundings is preparation for sustainable ideas and responsibility
active involvement and accomplishment of taking note of the surroundings of the home enhances caring and engagement with it, inspiring to tend to it
In the sustainability studio, the three featured students made the realisation themselves that they could 'cross over' into subjective wellbeing, whereas in the wellbeing studio only one of the three purposely made this crossover. The other two students developed designs in which the user is not actively or primarily concerned with sustainability, and instead reduces resource or material consumption indirectly or gains broader insights through personally desirable activities. This has also been previously identified as a strategy of facilitating sustainability (e.g. Lorek & Vergragt, 2015). The projects are presented in the following per 'in-between' theme.
3.1 THEME 1 Open reflection: a hearth fire night Justus Kuijer designed for people's life with new technologies in a renovated home, e.g. a new floor heating system. It is pleasant to the touch of the foot and you don't need to turn it up much to feel warm. But there is no radiator anymore; the control becomes a small box on the wall with numbers on it.
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Figure 1 Justus Kuijer’s project Colour pebble. A focal point in the home, like a hearth fire.
In this design (Figure 1), people can directly influence the warming up or cooling down of their new floor heating from anywhere in the house. It enables people to see and feel what the heating is doing. When warming up, the pebble glows red, when cooling down, blue, and when holding the temperature, green. This way, you not only understand that it will be nice and cosy very shortly, you also have a tangible presence of the heating, just like people have a tangible presence with a fire in a hearth. When testing a prototype of his design in a home, Justus Kuijer saw how people were appropriating the coloured pebble into their lives. They carried it with them around the house and invented games and new practices with it. The reflection that this product invites is not a reflection on energy use. In fact, no indication of energy use is given. This object reduces information to a minimum. However, the information provided is immediate and people can integrate it in their lives by giving the pebble and the information their own meanings. In this way, the product facilitates open reflection and conceivably leads to reduced energy use by reducing the reflex many of us will have had at one point: turning up the heating fully to make it heat faster (although that does not make it heat faster). Through the reassurance and direct feedback, we can experience more calm, trust and affection for the heating system in our house.
3.2 THEME 2a Individual pathway activity to sustainability and wellbeing: for example through mindful personalisation of one’s new home. Staffan Till designed for young people who only have a weak identification with their temporary home, for example a room in a student accommodation or an interim home.
Figure 2 Staffan Till's project, Welcome Home. A warm invitation to engage with the new home.
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What if there was something you could use to make the new house your own, in an easy and pleasant way? A welcome-box from the landlord could be waiting for you as you enter (Figure 2). In it, you find a lamp with a lampshade to help you get started in your new home. The lampshade is easy to adjust. You can create pleasant, personalised light at home. Being able to easily adjust objects of use in the home to one's desires fosters attachment. It makes a use value directly apparent, for example a more pleasant quality of light. This leads to a sense of accomplishment. This in turn may make people more inclined to change things to suit them better. They may be able to integrate this noticing of opportunities for change into their habits. This can tip the balance towards becoming aware of energy in their home (for example a heating that is on high for too long, or a light being on or off) and to adjust it.
3.3 THEME 2b collective pathway activity to sustainability and wellbeing: for example moving pleasurably towards a future goal together. Sofia van Oord’s project was inspired during the analysis phase of her project: she encountered students in a shared flat who had teamed up to pursue their shared passion of making the building they live in more sustainable. Being students, they had no capital and no long-term prospect of recouping the investment. They created a foundation in which they asked alumni for funds, and then convinced the landlord to use the funds for solar panels on the roof, with energy savings going back to the foundation. Impressed by this positive energy and joint initiative, Sofia van Oord designed a communication set for tenants with similar ambitions, so that they could in turn convince fellow tenants and landlords. Inspired by the student culture she herself is a part of, she wanted to combine with having a good time. She threw a party that contained conversation starters - cups, hats, balloons and garlands that would inspire dreams and plans to improve the sustainability of the building they lived in, for example to get solar panels (Figure 3) and support collective meaning and empowerment. The party-set she iteratively developed also contained ways to then engage stakeholders with the resulting ideas, for example by sending a letter to the landlord. A participant: “Then we can build (the ideas and communication tools) ourselves, that’s really nice!”
Figure 3 Sofia van Oord's project, The party set. An enjoyable way to embrace and communicate sustainable options.
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3.4 THEME 3a resource preservation by enabling happiness-enhancing habits Kiki Ottenhoff's project goal was to help young (15-30 years) amateur ballroom dancers to prolong the feeling of excitement and fun that they have during a ballroom dancing lesson at home. She tried out different design ideas like stickers of footsteps that resemble a dance move, but realized through user tests that these are too prescriptive (Figure 4). The footsteps would quickly become boring, and participants missed an element of surprise.
Figure 4 Early explorations in Kiki Ottenhoff's project.
Kiki Ottenhoff wanted to leave ample room for the dancers to think back (and forward to) the dance lessons and to practice moves. Kiki Ottenhoff decided to only put a silhouette in the spotlight to ensure that MoveMind is a subtle reminder that fits very naturally in the home environment and can be ignored if so desired. Rather than randomly suggesting dance moves to practice, MoveMind picks up sounds that are already in the environment, e.g. on the radio, and indicates that this is a tune the person can dance to. All dancers who saw the prototype were drawn to it, because it appears like a desirable invitation and not an obligation. Amateur dancers are already motivated and excited about their hobby. MoveMind becomes a symbol of it, enabling them to savour it and get active (Figure 5). The student herself was not too keen on this being regarded as a sustainability-related project, since she thought it might dim the wellbeing focus of her idea. However, we noticed a side effect: the more active activities like dancing would become a normal thing to do at home, the less heating people would need. Being cold at home sometimes results from immobility. While this example only applies to people who already have a dancing hobby that they love, the design direction opens up intriguing possibilities for sustainable design.
Figure 5 MoveMind, Kiki Ottenhoff's design for happiness-enhancing habits with the fortunate side effect of preserving resources.
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3.5 THEME 3b material preservation by enabling emotional connection through dedicated care or... bittersweet chores Felix Marschner's goal was to facilitate young adults, who like to follow trends, in building an emotional connection to possessions, and use them over a long period of time despite changes in fashion. He sought to foster attachment through re-appreciation of the existing through detail-focused care. He identified five clusters of possessions: 'hot new stuff' might eventually become ‘obsolete and outdated’, a ‘memento’, or ‘evergreen’, but it can also work the other way around: an object that is ‘usually used’ but with reduced value or outdated can gain new value and use as an 'evergreen'. He then sought to support this effect with regards to sneakers. Participants perceived initial prototypes that facilitated efficient cleaning as a mandatory and formal, unloved chore: “Phew, that takes long...” “It feels like something mandatory... not satisfying.” Conversely, with a new kind of cleaning kit that enables users to painstakingly focus on details and intentionally take time (thus, at the deliberate cost of efficiency), some people realized that they still liked their shoes and that they now looked better than before – both incentives to start wearing them again (more often). To create an intimate setting, the rubber lid of the kit can be used as a mat in the living room or even sofa and the collection of tools conveys an entire ritual (Figure 6). The kit is branded to appeal to young adults, who do not usually associate maintenance and cleaning utensils with high-value branding. Some qualities the new kit evoked, according to participants: “It felt very purposeful and engaging.” “It was slower, but also more precise. I liked the experience of it.”
Figure 6 RElove your shoes, a sneaker cleaning kit by Felix Marschner that fosters attachment to shoes through the practice of taking dedicated care.
3.6 THEME 4 broader insights Julia Mattaar's goal was to enable people working in 9 to 5 jobs to consciously take notice of their environment while on their way to/from work. The experience should enable people to discover the beauty in ordinary things, in an unforced and subtle way. Julia Mattaar found in her research that people appreciated a slight variation in their daily routine, but this interruption needs to be as subtle as possible. Her attention soon turned
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towards the little things one can notice about one's environment, and the potential for small surprises by seeing the familiar environment through different eyes. Themes like 'something symmetrical / green / soft' invite people to look at different things than they normally would. Taking notice, adding variety and capturing it with a photo, keeps the activity interesting over a longer period of time. Julia Mattaar's design ‘Explordinary’ is a smartphone app that offers the user one theme at a time (Figure 7). The user receives the challenge to find something in his/her environment that fits this category. Once a picture is taken for a certain theme, the user can view the pictures taken by nearby users for that same category, which could tempt him/her to also locate these. After completing a number of themes, the user will have the opportunity to order a set of postcards with a selection of the taken pictures. The cards can be kept as a physical memory or sent to a friend, making the everyday route as special as a touristic highlight. At first sight, this last project seems far away from sustainable design. Yet it is close to insights that already exist in the field: a broader engagement with a neighbourhood is a useful prerequisite to any initiative seeking to engage residents in neighbourhood or home improvement efforts (Breukers, van Summeren & Mourik; 2014, Boess, 2015). A tool like this could stimulate people to realise their own values and needs for their neighbourhood, and learn to look more closely than usual at what makes up our environment.
Figure 7 Julia Mattaar's project Explordinary, a smartphone app to take notice of the local environment.
4. Discussion In the students' work, we identified four 'in-between' themes for possible design goals that led to the added benefit of either wellbeing in a sustainability project, or sustainability in a wellbeing project. The four themes are: As added benefits in design for sustainability: Open reflection via an object that people can appropriate Via pathway activities evoking mindfulness or pleasure As added benefits in design for wellbeing:
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 Resource and material preservation by stimulating wellbeing in areas where resources or material can be saved  Broader insights into an aspect of daily life facilitate engagement with it, which is also a prerequisite for many sustainability initiatives. Positive experiences as goal The projects all sought to enable a positive experience of subjective wellbeing of some sort, with behaviour changes merely being a consequence of that primary goal. For example, Sofia van Oord's and Staffan Till's pathway activities and Julia Mattaar's broadening activity enable people to discover new possibilities. People rather than design processes take care of the behaviour change that in turn leads to iterations in concepts. Wellbeing and practices People's needs for wellbeing are part of the experience design literature (Hassenzahl, 2010). The practice framework as discussed by Kuijer and Bakker (2015), on the other hand, emphasises normality as a condition of people's sustained engagement in practices. The students' projects often bridged those concepts. An example of connecting with normal practices is Sofia van Oord's party set, that enables people to approach something unfamiliar and unexpected, a future renovation, via the pathway activity of a pleasurable and meaningful party, an activity they already know as normal. Another example is Julia Mattaar's enhancement of a normal daily routine through directed awareness, which conceivably has the added effect of broadening people's mind and becoming more open towards changes than they would otherwise be. As inspiration in their projects, some students used existing insights from both wellbeing and sustainability research. Justus Kuijer's Coloured Pebble and Felix Marschner's RElove your shoes were both inspired by a practices approach to design (Kuijer and Bakker, 2015), yet applied it differently: Justus Kuijer, by designing for an extremely simple practice that leaves space for appropriations and ideas, and Felix Marschner, by designing for a practice in which people interweave possessions with an activity of care. RElove your shoes was also inspired by Chapman's (2009) emotional durability framework and Russo's (2010) analysis of love for products. Experiences and sustainability as side effect Products and resources can escape the rapid cycle of consumerism if the user and the product or resource becomes connected in shared stories and the unremarkable fabric of daily life. The RElove kit was designed as an object of delight in itself, but key to the project are the interactions with it, facilitating an intimate chore to nourish the passion for and commitment to the shoes. Material preservation is the side effect. Similarly, Kiki Ottenhoff designed MoveMind as an object of delight that would become intimately connected to someone’s favourite activity, dancing, with the side effect of resource preservation. Generalisability to society Kuijer and Bakker (2015) argue that life practices emerge as historical, social and material rather than individual phenomena. While we agree with this position, the work presented in this paper reveals the benefits of a careful focus on wellbeing when designing for
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sustainability. This focus creates unexpected scenarios that nonetheless connect with what people experience as normal, as acceptable, practicable and desirable. To connect the tripartite practices model of skills, stuff and meaning with the focus on wellbeing, we note that the latter generates insights for possible links between the three parts of practices. Such possibilities, or one might also call them scenarios, should always be iterated further in the context of use, with and by people. Citizen stakeholder groups are increasingly networked on the topic of sustainability, and designers should seek their collaboration and influence. The students featured here closely connected and iterated their projects within real-world situations and how people live their lives in them. Goal setting in design This research arose from two connected problems for goal-setting in design: a double focus, here on wellbeing and sustainability, and an approach to design that included, built on and adapted people's life practices. Design operates in a situation of uncertainty and complexity, which has led to multiple design tools that enable us to simulate various aspects of reality and to open the design process to participation and to a broader societal concern (Lee, 2008). The notion of 'designs with benefits' leading to 'in-between' design goal themes, we expect, can be a helpful approach to remind us to open up the design process and to design with people, rather than on people. We identified four such themes in a sample of six out of thirty projects, yet there may be more. Looking back on the brief for the sustainability students, there is a clear need for careful briefing as design for sustainability is a behaviourally complex topic that needs skills development beyond simply setting it as a goal in the educational domain. The same goes for designing for wellbeing. Some students working on wellbeing had experienced hesitant reactions to the suggestion that their work might also benefit sustainability. The term seems to have evoked connotations for them that would diminish the intended wellbeing effect. If students – and others – have those kinds of reactions, sustainability surely needs to shed its image of manipulating or depriving people of something. The design goal themes presented here illustrate a first step in this direction. Fortunately, research evidence underscores that environmental and personal wellbeing can be favourably compatible rather than mutually exclusive (Corral Verdugo, 2012; De Young, 1996; Kasser, 2009). In this paper, we widened this perspective to the design field by capitalising on the crossover of wellbeing and sustainability and opening an intriguing new area of deliberately designing for the inbetween. Acknowledgements: We thank Sofia van Oord, Felix Marschner, Julia Mattaar, Justus Kuijer, Staffan Till, and Kiki Ottenhoff for making their work available for this section. The pictures illustrating their projects are theirs. We also thank Sanne Kistemaker, Arnold Vermeeren and Natalia Romero Herrera, who co-coached the students.
5. References Boess, S. U., Pasman, G. & Mulder, I. (2012) Tweaking perspectives on futures, in Ehn, P., Watts, L., Nilsson, E.M. and Topgaard, R. (eds.) Travel Guide to the Futures, Companion guide (part 2, pp 29-
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33) to Making Futures Workshop, PDC'12, Roskilde, Denmark, http://medea.mah.se/2012/08/pdcmaking-futures, (Accessed 12 March, 2016). Boess, S. U. (2015) Framing resident acceptance of sustainable renovation, in Valkenburg, R., Dekkers, C., and Sluijs, J. (eds.), Reframing Design - Proceedings of 4th Participatory Innovation Conference (Pin-C 2015), The Hague, The Netherlands, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, pp 132-137. Boon, B., Wever, R., & Quist, J. (2015) Beyond behaviour change: technological artefacts and characterological development, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 8(3), pp 231-247. Breukers, S., L. van Summeren & R. Mourik (2014) Eerst proces, dan prestatie, http://www.duneworks.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BoB-Hoofdrapportage-April-2014.pdf, (Accessed 7 March, 2016). Chapman, J. (2009) Design for (emotional) durability Design Issues, 25(4), pp 29-35. Corral Verdugo, V. (2012) The positive psychology of sustainability, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 14(5), pp 651-666. Desmet, P. M. A., & Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2013) Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being, International Journal of Design, 7(3), pp 5-19. De Young, R. (1996) Some psychological aspects of a reduced consumption lifestyle: The role of intrinsic satisfaction and competence motivation, Environment and Behavior, 28, pp 358–409. Galvin, R. (2014) Making the ‘rebound effect’ more useful for performance evaluation of thermal retrofits of existing homes, Energy and Buildings 69, pp 515–524. Hassenzahl, M. (2010) Experience Design: Technology for all the right reasons, Morgan & Claypool. Kasser, T. (2009) Psychological need satisfaction, personal well-being, and ecological sustainability, Ecopsychology, 1(4), pp 175-180. Kuijer, L., & Bakker, C. (2015) Of chalk and cheese: behaviour change and practice theory in sustainable design, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 8(3), pp 1-12. Lee, Y. (2008) Design participation tactics: the challenges and new roles for designers in the co-design process, CoDesign, 4(1), pp 31–50. Lorek, S., and Vergragt, P. J. (2015) Sustainable consumption as a systemic challenge: inter- and transdisciplinary research and research questions, in Reisch, L. A., and Thøgersen, J. (eds.), Handbook of research on sustainable consumption, Edward Elgar, pp 19-32. Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005) The benefits of frequent positive affect: does happiness lead to success? Psychological bulletin, 131(6), p 803. Mont, O., Neuvonen, A., & Lähteenoja, S. (2014) Sustainable lifestyles 2050: stakeholder visions, emerging practices and future research, Journal of Cleaner Production, 63, pp 24-32. Niedderer, K. (2007) Designing mindful interaction: the category of performative object, Design issues, 23(1), pp 3-17. Niedderer, K., R. Cain, S. Clune, D. Lockton, G. Ludden, J. Mackrill and A. Morris (2014) Creating sustainable Innovation through Design for Behaviour change, Project report, http://www.behaviourchange.eu, (Accessed 16 Nov, 2015). Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2012) Design for Happiness, interfaces (92), p 8-11. Pohlmeyer, A.E. (2014) Enjoying Joy. A Process-Based Approach to Design for Prolonged Pleasure, in Proceedings of 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordiCHI’14), ACM, pp 871-876. Runeson, P., & Höst, M. (2009) Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering, Empirical software engineering, 14(2), pp 131-164.
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Russo, B. (2010) Shoes, Cars, and Other Love Stories: Investigating The Experience of Love for Products, Doctoral dissertation, Delft University of Technology. Wever, R., Van Kuijk, J., & Boks, C. (2008) User-centred design for sustainable behaviour, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 1(1), pp 9-20. Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010) Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration, Clinical psychology review, 30(7), pp 890-905.
About the Authors: Stella U. Boess is assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft. She has applied her interest in design participation to usability, medical product design and urbanism. She is a council member of the Design Research Society and DRS2016 conversations chair. Anna E. Pohlmeyer is assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, and coÂdirector of the Delft Institute of Positive Design. With a background in psychology, engineering, and design, her research focuses on experience design and designmediated subjective wellbeing.
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Happy moments: A well-being driven design of a Car2Go Tessa Duste*, Pieter Desmet and Elmer van Grondelle Technical University of Delft * tessaduste@gmail.com DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.425
Abstract: User well-being is increasingly addressed in design and design research. Previous work has proposed a design for well-being framework that includes three main ingredients: pleasure, personal significance, and virtue. While useful for analysing the well-being impact of existing designs, it is difficult to use the framework as a resource in well-being focussed design projects. This paper presents a design case study in which two key challenges have been addressed. The first is to understand how to identify relevant pleasures, personal significances and virtues in the context of design practice. The second is to understand how design concepts can be developed that integrates these three ingredients in a meaningful way. The design case was to develop a car interior for a car sharing service. The first challenge was addressed with two user studies where it was found that especially conflicts or tensions between ingredients stimulated design creativity. The second challenge was addressed by including the factor of time in the design concept (creating a concept in which experiences unfold over time). The design case is presented and the techniques that were used to address the well-being-specific design challenges are discussed and reflected on. Keywords: well-being, automotive design, positive design, car-sharing
1. Introduction In the last decade, user-centred design research has evolved from having a mainly utilitarian view on product-user relationships to one that embraces a more holistic interpretation that also includes subjective user experiences and emotions. User experience (UX) research has flourished, resulting in experience-focused theory and methodology (for an overview, see Schifferstein & Hekkert, 2011). More recently, UX researchers have expanded their interest to adopt an even more holistic view, including not only momentary experiences, but also more an indirect and long-lasting subjective impact of design, like mood and well-being. In 2013, the International Journal of Design published a special issue on the topic of design for This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Tessa Duste, Pieter Desmet and Elmer van Grondelle
well-being, with contributions that discussed how design can contribute to user well-being (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013), how designers can wilfully design for well-being (Hassenzahl, et al., 2013), ethical issues of design for well-being (Dorrestijn & Verbeek, 2013), and implications for marketing (Sääksjärvi & Hellén, 2013). Since the publication of this special issue, the domain has propelled, with explorations in both human-computer interactions (e.g., Calvo & Peters, 2012) and in product design (Vermaas & van de Poel, 2015). There are many definitions of subjective well-being in various domains of inquiry, including psychology, sociology, economics, and philosophy. In this paper we adopt the definition of Lyubomirsky (2007, p. 32), who defined subjective well-being as “the experience of joy, contentment or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful and worthwhile.” In this definition, well-being refers to happiness as an enduring sense of appreciation of one’s life (i.e., being happy with one’s life), rather than a momentary feeling. Design for well-being aims to address this enduring sense of appreciation; in the words of Desmet, Pohlmeyer, & Forlizzi (2013, p. 1): “Design for subjective well-being supports this definition by presenting itself as the activity of designing with the explicit intention to support people in their pursuit of a pleasurable and satisfying life, and, even more important, in their desire to flourish.” In order to facilitate well-being driven design, Desmet & Pohlmeyer (2013) introduced a framework that includes three main sources of well-being that can be addressed with design: pleasure, personal significance, and virtue. Each source can act as a design ingredient, but the combination is what they consider to be “Positive Design”. Some initial explorations on how this framework can be used in well-being driven design projects have been reported (e.g., Jimenez, et al., 2014; Lin, 2015; De Francisco Vela, 2014). These researchers report that, although the framework can be inspiring, designers encounter several challenges when applying it in design practice. In general, these authors identified two main challenges. The first is the challenge of determining which specific pleasures, personal significances and virtues to design for. This challenge includes two sub-challenges: (1) To determine which pleasures, personal significances and virtues are relevant for the specific design case at hand, and (2) to understand how to select from this large set those that are most interesting and relevant. The number of sources of pleasure, for example, is countless and therefore an important question is, which source of pleasure to focus on, and the same applies to the other two sources of well-being. The second challenge is to understand how design concepts are created that integrate the three sources in a meaningful way. Although each of the three sources can be used as the basis for developing design concepts, Desmet & Pohlmeyer (2012) state that the ‘sweet spot’ is in the middle, representing design that address all three sources simultaneously. When aiming to address all three sources in one design, there is a risk of creating a ‘collage concept’ that combines different ideas in a non-integrated fashion. The current paper reports a design case in which these two challenges were explicitly addressed. The design brief was to design a car interior, specifically designed for car sharing. This paper provides a brief overview of the design process, including key design decisions. The case was
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explorative: the aim was to explore how the positive design framework can be made useful for design activities, what challenges are encountered and how these challenges can be addressed. Details of the project were reported by Author (2014); this paper focuses on those steps in the process that illustrate how well-being can be operationalized in design practice. Below, first the framework of positive design is introduced. Next, the design process is described, focusing on those activities that addressed the two above-described challenges. With this design case, we hope to take a step in exploring how theory of subjective well-being can inform design processes, and to inspire those who are interested in understanding how user well-being can be addressed in design processes.
2. Positive Design Framework Desmet & Pohlmeyer (2013) introduced a framework that includes three ingredients of design for subjective well-being. Their ‘Positive Design Framework’ (see Figure 1) is a reductionist framework, which argues that human flourishing can be achieved through design that harmoniously integrates all three ingredients. The three main components of subjective well-being are based on well-established tenets in positive psychology and philosophy: pleasure, personal significance, and virtue. In design, each component can be seen as an ingredient that can contribute to people’s well-being. The corresponding foci differ in scope, methodological emphasis, and outcome. Yet, each in its own right can be regarded as a variant of design for well-being: Design for Pleasure Subjective well-being that is achieved by the sum of a person’s momentary pleasures: “Am I enjoying myself?” Design for Personal Significance Subjective well-being that is achieved by addressing personally held values and goals. It relates to pursuing goals and acknowledging achievements: “Am I achieving something?” Design for Virtue Subjective well-being that is achieved by living a virtuous life. Here, the emphasis shifts to morality: “Am I behaving honourably?”
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Figure 1 Positive Design Framework (Desmet & Pohlmeyer)
In the Positive Design framework, design for well-being targets the overlap of pleasure, personal striving, and moral values, i.e. the model’s centroid (see Figure 1). This can be achieved by combining the different ingredients or by emphasizing one or two elements, as long as the three do not conflict with one another. The authors provide some reflections on the corresponding design process. In their view, positive design aims to achieve a long-term impact in people’s lives by enabling them to flourish, and thereby to find balance between pleasure and meaning, short- and long-term goals, and individual and societal concerns. Moreover, the focus is on seeking supportive possibilities in a design solution, rather than on looking for a ‘quick fix’ by reducing an immediate problem. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach does not seem appropriate in the field of subjective well-being. Rather, a personal fit should be achieved through a thorough understanding of users and their context. Last but not least, active user involvement is required for the design to exert its intended effect. Involving users in the design process itself is therefore recommended.
3. Design case The design case was to redefine the interior of a Car2Go vehicle. In 2008 Daimler’s business unit introduced Car2Go, a car sharing service for the city centres. Car2Go is mostly used for leisure and commuting purpose. In average, 70% of the European users are male, varying in age from 19 to 39+. Car2Go identifies four user groups: the inactive driver (no driving), the
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fading driver (drives 1-6 times in six months), the active driver (drives 1-3 times a week), and the heavy driver (drives 4 times or more a week). Amsterdam is one the cities in which Car2Go operates with only electric vehicles (Car2Go data, 2013). A car interior is a complex human-centred design that includes technical, ergonomic, functional, experiential, and interactive product aspects. This complexity makes it an interesting case to explore how well-being can be addressed in a design process. An additional interesting aspect of this design case is that, to date, no cars have been designed specifically for car sharing programs.
4. Identifying sources of (dis)pleasure The first step in the design process was to address the ‘pleasure’ ingredient of design for well-being. The aim was to obtain an overview of pleasures that users can experience (a) in relation to the interior, and (b) in relation to interacting with the interior, and (c) in relation to driving the car. Since regular car interiors are used for car sharing systems, it was decided to first explicitly focus on (potential) displeasures. This approach was motivated by the idea that design for well-being can only be effective if sources of displeasure are eliminated first. The adopted approach was to use a customer-journey type method that focuses specifically on all emotions in a user experience and the underlying causes of thereof (the Emotion Capture Card procedure, ECC as introduced by Ozkaramanli et al., 2013). This procedure was done with eight Car2Go users (4 male, 4 female, ages between 24 and 55). They were followed and interviewed in real-life Car2Go usage cycles, which took approximately 30 minutes each. All interviews were taken in the city of Amsterdam. The observations started at the first encounter with the interior when opening the door and ended when the user checked-out of the rental. The ECC were sampled in different stages; in stage one, people were asked to drive their normal Car2Go drive, while the emotions were captured through shadowing. These emotions were reported by the participant and prompted by the observer. Following, the participant was interviewed using a laddering-type technique to deepen the understanding of his or her underlying goals. The captured emotions provided an overview of the momentary pleasures and displeasures experienced during a Car2Go ride and the causes of these emotions. Users experienced both positive emotions like surprise, enjoyment, security, pride, and freedom, and negative emotions like hastiness, annoyance and insecurity. Positive emotions (e.g. fun, surprise and freedom) were experienced frequently (by 5+ people) when driving through the city and parking, because of the manoeuvrability and the size of the car, but also because of the knowledge of not owning the car. A feeling of pride was measured several times (by 3 people) as the car drives electrically which feels like doing good for the world. One of the participants was having fun while driving because of the manoeuvrability and small size of the car: “This thing turns really fast”. As a negative emotion one of the participants recalled a feeling of disgust about sharing the steering wheel with so many people: “It is really an unhygienic idea when you think about it ”.
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Measuring all experienced emotions during the use of a Car2Go was important to analyse the positive factors that should be maintained in the final design and the disturbing factors that should be resolved (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Design for displeasure in the Positive Design Framework
The first conclusion, drawn on the basis of the insights that were obtained with the ECC procedure was that Car2Go should “stay Smart� by maintaining its biggest advantage; simply being a small sharing car. The second conclusion relates to momentary displeasures. Most negative emotions were experienced in the first steps of usage and related to the cleanness of the car and the intuitiveness of logging in and starting the car. In order to achieve a positive contribution to well-being, these disruptive factors that cause instances of displeasures must be solved first. The insights about pleasure and displeasure were applied to create an initial design concept (Figure 3).
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Figure 3 The simplified, intuitive interior of the Car2Go
In the initial design phase, the design concept was given smooth surfaces and simplified interior parts in order to stay cleaner and be to cleaned easily. The intuitiveness of the product was improved by guiding users through their interaction steps and by simplifying their actions. The insights obtained with the ECC procedure were mostly related to (dis)pleasures that users experienced (a) in relation with the original interior, and (b) in relation to interacting with the original interior. In order to design a new interior that facilitates human flourishing, it was needed to take a step back from the current interior and retrieve a deeper understanding of users’ (c) relation to driving the car. For that reason, a second study was performed, that aimed to determine the relevant pleasures, personal significances and virtues in relation to driving or owning a car.
5. Defining the values of Positive Design Framework One of the challenges that designers experience when using the Positive Design Framework in design practise is to identify which pleasures, personal significances and virtues (hereafter called “ingredients for flourishing�) are of relevance to their design case. Two moments that were experienced in this design case could be of use when being faced with this challenge. The first moment was to identify which ingredients for flourishing were of relevance for driving and owning a car. The second moment was to understand how to select those ingredients that were most interesting and relevant. To obtain a broad overview on the ingredients for flourishing an online questionnaire was filled out by hundred participants, representative for the Dutch Car2Go user group. They had the Dutch nationality; were aged between 21 and 68 (67% male and 33% female). It was decided to send the survey to non-users of sharing services to retrieve the underlying
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ingredients for flourishing of driving a car without linking to pre-defined emotions of any prior use of a sharing service. The questionnaire included questions that represented each of the three well-being ingredients. Participants were asked to give examples of recent experiences while driving a car. It was found that by asking participants about their latest experiences, it was easier to retrieve these moments of pleasures, personal significances and virtues. Pleasure question: “What are your moments of pleasure during driving? Name examples.” Personal significance question: “What are your goals of driving? Name examples.” Participants were also asked to give three definitions of a virtuous driver, by choosing from a list of commonly addressed virtues, derived from ‘Character Strengths and Virtues’ (Christopher Peterson and Martin E.P. Seligman, 2004). It was also possible for the participant to propose additional virtues that they found to be relevant. Question: “Can you give three definitions of a virtuous driver? Please give examples of experiencing this in a real situation.” The study resulted in a large data set with a total variety of 17 pleasures, 15 personal significances and 20 virtues. The ingredients for flourishing that were experienced to be most relevant were identified by the number of times that hey were mentioned.
5.1 Pleasures This source concerns the momentarily enjoyment, pleasure, where the focus is on the moment and the positive. In total 17 different moments of pleasures were experienced, Most pleasure in driving was experienced when listening to good music, experiencing freedom, racing, passing along nice scenery, interacting with other users and when they enjoyed nice company (see Figure 4). These listed happy moments were rated by 25% of the people or more, which was significantly higher than the other 11 moments of pleasure that reached a maximum percentage of 10%. “ I would wave at the person that drove the same car even though I didn’t know him, that was so funny!”
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Figure 4 Outcomes of design for pleasure
5.2 Personal significance Personal significance focuses on long or short-term strivings, goals and aspirations within the experience of driving a car. Four out of fifteen goals were mentioned by 40% of the people as most important. Goals that were pursued most often during a drive: making efficient use of time, experiencing a moment of contemplation and transporting goods (see Figure 5). “Driving always gives me a moment to think things over, and like I was on the autopilot, all of a sudden I was at my destination.“
Figure 5 Outcomes of design for personal significance
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5.3 Virtues Design for virtue represents the moral level, i.e. happiness that comes from being virtuous. The results showed what a virtuous driver meant for 75 participants; being social, friendly and controlled on the road (see Figure 6). For 77% of those 75 participants ‘controlled’ was one of the properties of a virtuous driver. Examples showed such a driver to be constant in their behaviour, anticipating traffic and comfortable behind the steering wheel. For 52% of the participants a virtuous driver was seen as social when following rules, giving priority to ‘weaker’ traffic and by communicating their actions clearly with others. 29% of the participants choose friendly as one of the virtues of a driver, showing gratitude when given priority by other road participants and by laughing and waving to each other.
Figure 6 Outcomes of design for virtue “ I treat people with respect, and expect they will return the favour. “
Though pleasures, personal significances and virtues of relevance were found, it was still the question, which of these are most interesting to design with.
6. Conceptualizing by finding conflict fields Framing the relevant outcomes along the sources of the Positive Design Framework showed that some pleasures, personal significances and virtues stood in conflict with each other. According to the principles of Positive Design, long-term happiness can be obtained by solving areas of conflicts that elicit happiness independent of each other (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013). Solving a conflict can be a form of happiness, because it makes it possible for people to have important values simultaneously (Ozkaramanli & Desmet, 2012). During an afternoon session a list was made of the users interest found during the research. Together with a group of Car2Go researchers interesting conflicts were listed within this set of interests. Three areas of conflict in this direction were found and resulted in the most interesting and relevant sources of pleasure, personal significance and virtue for this design case.
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The first area of conflict was found in ‘being a social and self-controlled driver’ while ‘having fun in driving’. Fun in driving was mostly perceived as ‘racing’ through the city, sharing good company, interacting with others or putting loud music on (see Figure 7). ‘Having fun’ and ‘being distracted’ are expected to influence virtuous behaviour, making it less social in traffic and less self-controlled.
Figure 7 Conflict field 1
The second area of conflict was found in ‘experiencing a moment of contemplation’ while ‘being serviceable for the community’ (see Figure 8). Allowing people to contemplate about who they are, where they are going and where they just came from, makes them preoccupied with their own personal goals instead of aware of the presence of others in the Car2Go community.
Figure 8 Conflict Field 2
The last area of conflict was found in the pleasure of ‘experiencing a moment of freedom’ and ‘being a thoughtful and self-controlled driver’ (see Figure 9). Acting with a sense of
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freedom can mean acting spontaneous and adventurous, which stands in contradiction with thoughtful and self-controlled driving.
Figure 9 Conflict field 3
Solving the conflict fields should result in design elements that will contribute to human flourishing in a specific design case. To find solutions for these areas of conflict, a method for idea generation should be used. In this design case a brainstorm was conducted to find solutions for these areas of conflict. All three areas were written down on three large sheets of paper and within three hours, several ideas were generated. Through conceptualizing it became clear that well-being driven design, for this design case, was not simply a redesign of the seat or dashboard. It was about defining a new interaction between the user and the city by means of the product. Positive design research showed that users almost never see a product as a source of happiness, but as an important resource that contributes to activities that are sources of happiness (Desmet, 2011). For every conflict area, one concept was chosen that solved the duality in a meaningful way without affecting the commercial heritage and strategic advantage of Car2Go. Above all it had to be implementable in the existing Car2Go system. These factors were important for Car2Go to address, because the design concept must align with the core values of the company.
7. Finding the sweet spot The second challenge designers encounter is how to integrate all three sources in a meaningful way i.e. finding the sweet spot (see Figure 10). Positive Design targets the overlap of pleasure, personal significance and virtues to enable human flourishing, which entails proper functioning and living in a balanced life (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2012). Using
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the conflicting areas to solve dualities in the Positive Design Framework can be seen as the first step in finding the sweet spot.
Figure 10 The sweet spot, the centroid of the Positive Design Framework
The second step is to integrate the design outcomes of these conflicts into one design. In this design case the only way of implementing all design outcomes in one design, without interfering with the simplicity and intuitiveness of the product, was to add the extra dimension ‘time’, in which experiences would unfold. Hereby, the user experiences the different sources of well-being at different stages of the usage cycle. Here the different stages of usage correspond with the user groups identified by Car2Go; the fading, the active and the heavy driver. 7.1 Fading driver: Being a social and self-controlled driver while having fun This interaction looks at how social behaviour could be stimulated in a controlled manner while at the same time being fun. The fading driver will have social interaction with other Car2Go users, by being able to give or receive driving rewards for social behaviour in traffic (see Figure 11).
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Figure 11 A rewarding system to interact playfully and stimulate social behaviour.
7.2 Active driver: Experiencing a moment of contemplation while being at service to the community The active drivers will become aware of the possibilities of collective collaboration in the city by being mutually visible on each others navigation displays, and actively interact by giving or receiving social driving rewards (see Figure 12). Adding a map and seeing each other’s position makes the user aware of its own position in a larger system.
Figure 12 Adding a radar map to actively interact with fellow users by anticipating on others behaviour.
7.3 Heavy driver: Being a controlled and thoughtful driver, yet experiencing freedom The heavy driver will have more privileges and personal bonding with the system by being guided through the city with the use of rewards to stimulate explorative behaviour (see Figure 13). These incentives make people explore the city, which is valuable to experience freedom, according to whatever the system indicates to be acceptable.
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Figure 13 A Head-up display gives the user the possibility to learn more about its city environment by rewarding explorative behaviour.
The conflict areas were consciously placed in these stages of use to correspond with their needs and behaviour. The fading driver is a driver that should get to know the system and the drivers, as they do not make use of the system that often. They will learn and have fun while doing so. The active driver already knows the system and grows from a simple user to a participant by being more serviceable to the community. The heavy driver already knows the community and is out for adventure by feeling free to take own actions and getting to know the city.
9. Conclusion & Discussion This paper describes a design case in which a Car2Go car (for car sharing) was designed with the explicit intention to design for subjective well-being. While all design has an effect on well-being, not all design processes deliberately envision a positive well-being effect. Although some theoretical insights are available about how design can contribute to wellbeing, we found that these insights are not easily implemented in the design process. While the three ingredients of design for well-being included in the model of Desmet & Pohlmeyer (2013) are easy to understand, it remains a challenge to use them effectively in the practice of product design. At the same time however, the design case indicated that the three ingredients can be of use when designing and organising user research. This may indicate that the ingredients can be made more concrete by formulating associated research questions. These questions can help bridging the abstract ingredients to concrete design considerations. While the current design case focused on product design, it may be possible to formulate such questions to be applicable to other design domains, like interior and interaction design. The two studies that were conducted in this design case did generate valuable insights on how to design for pleasure, significance, and virtue. We found that especially conflicts or
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tensions between ingredients stimulated design creativity. In addition, we found that the challenge of integrating insights about three ingredients was possible by introducing the factor of time in the design process: various sources of well-being unfold during a usage episode. Thus, the use of time as a design variable has been shown to be of use when designing for meaningful experiences (Hassenzahl et al., 2013). The choice of such a complicated product in a new scenario (car sharing) proved to be ambitious. This makes it more difficult to compare the outcomes with other design projects. Therefore, to determine if this approach can also be of use to the design for well-being in other product categories, further exploration will be valuable. Because time was added as a factor in the design, it would be valuable to measure the impact on subjective well-being over a longer period of time. A 1:1 mock-up of the interior was build to test the initial effect on momentary pleasures, with promising results. However, to measure the long-term impact on e.g. flourishing, a mock-up is not sufficient. That requires a working prototype in practice. Because currently no ‘positive design’ methodology is available, the approach to designing a Car2Go concept was partly based on improvisation, as is inherent in design practice. As a consequence, the process was not linear and it can be made more efficient. More design cases like these will further broaden the scope of Positive Design in practise and can be the stepping-stones towards a Positive Design methodology.
10. References Calvo, R. A., & Peters, D. (2012) Positive computing: Technology for a wiser world. Interactions, 19(4), 28-31. De Francisco Vela, S. (2014) The Meaningfulness of Saving Money: A web enabled money saving product-service that improves people's saving experience by enhancing their motivations. Unpublished master thesis. Delft: Delft University of Technology. Desmet, P.M.A., Pohlmeyer, A.E., and Forlizzi, J. (2013) Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 5-19. Desmet, P. M. A. (2011) Design for happiness: Four ingredients for designing meaningful activities. In L. -L. Chen, N. F. M. Roozenburg, & P. J. Stappers (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Design Research [CD-Rom]. Delft, The Netherlands: TU Delft. Desmet, P. M. A. (2012) Faces of product pleasure: 25 positive emotions in human-product interactions. International Journal of Design, 6(2), 1-29. Desmet, P. M. A., & Hassenzahl, M. (2012) Towards happiness: Possibility-driven design. In M. Zacarias & J. V. de Oliveira (Eds.), Human-computer interaction: The agency perspective (pp. 3-27). New York, NY: Springer Desmet, P. M. A., & Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2013) Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 5-19. Dorrestijn, S., & Verbeek, P. P. (2013) Technology, wellbeing, and freedom: The legacy of utopian design. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 45-56. Duste, T. F. (2014) The pursuit of happiness; redefining the interior design of a Car2Go vehicle. Unpublished master thesis. Delft: Delft University of Technology.
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Hassenzahl, M., Eckoldt, K., Diefenbach, S., Laschke, M., Lenz, E., & Kim, J. (2013) Designing moments of meaning and pleasure. Experience design and happiness. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 21-31. Hekkert, P. and Van Dijk, M. ( 2011) Vision in Design: A Guidebook for Innovators. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. Jimenez, S., Pohlmeyer, A.E., and Desmet, P.M.A. (2015) Positive Design Reference Guide. Delft: Delft University of Technology. Jimenez, S., Pohlmeyer, A.E., Desmet, P.M.A., & Huzen, G. (2014) Learning from the positive: A structured approach to possibility-driven design. In The colors of care: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion 2014 (pp. 607-615). Bogota, Colombia, 6-10 October 2014. Bogota: Universidad de Los Andes. Le Cocq, J. (2013) Internationales Projektmanagament im Smart Electric Drive Projekt, Steinbeis Center of Management and Technology. Lin, H. (2015) Design for positive engagement: On future personal financial management. Unpublished master thesis. Delft: Delft University of Technology. Ozkaramanli, D., & Desmet, P.M.A. (2012) I know I shouldn’t, yet I did it again! Emotion-driven design as a means to subjective wellbeing. International Journal of Design, 6(1), 27-39. Ozkaramanli, D., Fokkinga, S.F., Desmet, P.M.A., Balkan, E., and George, E. (2013) ’Recreating AlaTurca; consume goal conflicts as a creative driver for innovation’, in D.S. Fellows (ed.), Brilliant Transformations; proceedings of Qualitative Research. Peterson, C., and Seligman, M.E.P. (2004) Character Strengths and Virtues: A handbook and classification, Oxford University Press, pp. 28-31. Schifferstein, H. N., & Hekkert, P. (Eds.). (2011) Product experience. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Sääksjärvi, M., & Hellén, K. (2013). How designers and marketers can work together to support consumers’ happiness. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 33-44. Vermaas, P. E., & van de Poel, I.R. (2015) Handbook of ethics, values, and technological design. Dordrecht: Springer. Waldenmaier, P., and Marinesse K. (2013) Car2Go data and demographics, Daimler AG.
About the Authors: Duste, Tessa F. finished her master Integrated Product Design at Delft University of Technology in 2014 with a specialisation in Automotive design. Desmet, Pieter M. A. is full professor of design for experience at Delft University of Technology. He is board member of the International Design and Emotion Society and co-director of the Delft Institute of Positive Design. van Grondelle, Elmer D. teaches Automotive Design and Strategy. In research he develops management tools that facilitate and frame tacit knowledge in car styling, for the negotiations with other disciplines on the meaning of form i.e. brand identity and character.
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SECTION 10 DESIGN FUTURES
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Games as Speculative Design: Allowing Players to Consider Alternate Presents and Plausible Futures Paul Coulton*, Dan Burnett and Adrian Gradinar Lancaster University, UK * p.coulton@lancaster.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.15
Abstract: As games are inherently about exploring alternative worlds this paper proposes the utilisation of games as a medium for speculative design through which players can explore scenarios that represent plausible alternative presents and speculative futures The paper reviews futures orientated design practices such as Design Fiction, Speculative Design, and Critical Design alongside complimentary research areas in games studies such as Critical Play, Persuasive Games, and Procedural Rhetoric to create a frame for using games as speculative design practice. The aim of this design frame is to create debate and facilitate productive future practice through which designers can develop games that encourage user reflection by enabling players to reflect upon the complex challenges the world now faces. Keywords: Game Design, Speculative Design, Rhetoric, Design Futures
Introduction This research draws together future orientated design approaches such as Design Fiction, Critical Design (Dunne 2008), and Speculative Design with game design practices such as Critical Play(Flanagan 2009), Persuasive Games and Procedural Rhetoric (Bogost 2007) to create a design frame for the development of practice of designing games that allow players to rehearse alternative presents and speculative futures. This framing was derived through the reflective practice of ‘research through design’ (Frankel and Racine 2010, Frayling 1993) during the creation of the game Cold Sun. Cold Sun presents a plausible futuristic world impacted by climate change which has narrative based on scenarios developed from the International Panel for Climate Change report (2014) and with in-game events that are influenced by the current real world weather experienced by the player. This reflection upon the theories associated with the design of this game leads us to suggest that games have much to offer in relating complex concepts to players as they allow them to revert causality This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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and replay scenarios and as such the approach may prove both desirable and productive for future speculative design practice. However, in order to effectively illustrate this view it is important we first consider speculative design, critical design, and design fiction alongside techniques and approaches with game design, such as critical play, persuasive games and procedural Rhetoric that often espouse similar aims. Whilst there is no commonly agreed definition of speculative design, critical design, or design fiction they arguably share certain similarities in that they: remove the commercial constraints that might normally limit the design process; use prototypes as the main method of enquiry; and use fiction to present alternative futures (Auger 2013). We would also suggest there is another similarity within theses approaches in that the resulting artefacts can often appear subversive and irreverent in nature. This suggest that games and play are highly relevant in the context of speculative design as they often create a playful subversive and irreverent space, often described the ‘magic circle’ (Salen and Zimmerman 2004), to encourage greater exploration by players. Thus, by using games in this way we can encourage players to consider a wide range of complex, and in some cases subversive, issues that can be explored fully within the safety of the elaborate worlds games can create. Further, it is envisaged that speculative game design would complement Gaver’s proposition of Ludic Design (Gaver 2002). However, whereas Gaver’s definition places ludic design at the playful (Paidia) end of Roger Calliois continuum, that spans games and play (Caillois and Barash 2002), games as speculative design would take their place at the gameful (Ludus) end. In order to evaluate how games might be designed that explore issues through alternative presents and plausible futures we must first consider how speculative design, critical design, and design fiction address temporality – in terms of the past, present and future.
Temporality Considering the future is generally seen as an integral part of all design activity as Elliot and Roy (1978) stated: “Visions of the future are particularly important for designers, because designers have to imagine both the future conditions that will exist when their designs actually come into use and how those conditions will be changed by the creation of their new design”.
Whilst this focus on the future is often present within speculative design, critical design, and design fiction, in that it allows designers to question ‘how things might be’, they can also consider ‘alternative presents’ to enable them to question “why things are the way they are” (Auger 2013). These alternative presents often break existing timelines and technological evolutions by applying different ideologies and practices and are akin to historical practice of Counterfactual Histories in which we can ask ‘what if’ in relation to an historical event and imagine its effect on the present. As we all use the experiences and decisions we have made in the past when actioning our decisions in the present, consideration of the past should also be considered within these techniques. In fact, some of these design approaches explicitly
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exploit our past experiences within a particular scenario to make it more believable. In the following sections we consider the characterisation of future present and past in these design practices in more detail.
2.1 Future If we are to enable players to consider futures we must first consider what type of futures we wish to represent. The general approach has been to present futures as scenarios based on qualifiers, the most common qualifiers being probable, plausible, possible, represented in Figure 1. Whilst in some cases we might also add the preferable (Voros 2003), within any of the other qualifiers, this is potentially problematic for reasons we shall elaborate upon later. As these qualifications are subjective they are open to interpretation but could be considered as: possible – might happen, plausible – could happen, and probable – likely to happen. Note we have added the ‘impossible’ in Figure 1 to acknowledge that some concepts are currently outside current scientific knowledge and if used in games would likely be considered fantasy and therefore outside the scope of this discussion although potentially useful ways to consider the world (Gualeni 2015).
Figure 1 Probable, Plausible,Possible, and Impossible Futures.
Whilst ‘possible’ encompasses all potentials when addressing particular issues, it is plausible and probable which arguably have most to offer when attempting to raise awareness, or
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even persuade players, of a particular point of view that is relevant to their current experience. As many subjects such as climate change can be classified as wicked problems (Buchanan 1992) they cannot be easily defined and therefore many of its aspects could be considered as either plausible or probable dependent on your particular point of view. Therefore, we would suggest that it could be beneficial to deliberately use plausible to encompass both qualifiers to prevent discussions over the perceived difference overshadowing the issues a particular game is trying to highlight. The plausibility of particular futures may be addressed by considering design fiction in more detail. Although design fiction is still evolving as a method of enquiry, its general aim was most succinctly expressed by Science Fiction author Bruce Sterling in his NEXT 2013 keynote as the: “deliberate use of diegetic prototypes to suspend disbelief about change… It means you’re thinking very seriously about potential objects and services and try to get people to concentrate on those – rather than entire worlds or geopolitical strategies. It’s not a kind of fiction. It’s a kind of design. It tells worlds rather than stories”
The plausibility of such fictions comes by achieving the right blend of factual reality from the present when creating diegetic visions of the future (Lindley and Coulton 2014). To successfully achieve this blending it is often useful to draw upon the familiar and mundane elements of everyday life as people have very little experience of what they may encounter in the future as their expectations are usually based upon what they understand today (Evans 2011). As games are normally designed to be ‘playable’, this would differentiate them from much of the current design fiction, speculative design, and critical design where the majority of artefacts produced are unlike games in that they are not interactive, which means their purpose can often be misinterpreted through simply viewing (Auger 2013). Kirby argues diegetic prototypes within design fictions (Kirby 2009) effectively present them as fully functional stating that they: “have a major rhetorical advantage even over true prototypes: in the fictional world – what film scholars refer to as diegesis – as these technologies exist as real objects that function properly and that people can actually use.”
However, the majority of games are presented through mimesis, (imitation, representation, enactment) in that the player enacts the game through play, whilst diegesis (narrative, narration) is predominantly used in cut-scenes to provide an overall narrative for the game (Atkins 2003). Thus while games differ from the majority of design fictions this should not be seen as a disadvantage as mimesis in games makes the action closer to a lived experience and, coupled with a strong narrative, can produce powerful affects on the player. Effectively, diegesis and mimesis are properties of the design which can be varied by the designer as appropriate within the game.
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At this point it is worth returning to the notion of preferable futures as previously highlighted. A preferable future could be described as what we - want to happen and thus could be applied within any of the three previously described qualifiers of probable, plausible, possible. This notion of preferable is very much associated with critical design as defined by Dunne and Raby and stems from their PPPP model (2013) in which the artefact embodies the designer/artists own perspective of what is a preferable future. Privilege within speculative and critical design has already received criticism and as Martins states, “speculative and critical design risks to incur the same mistakes as critical theory” (2014) by “promoting elitist views of a ‘better world’ that society should aspire towards” (Bowen 2010). Whilst Martins does not specifically highlight the notion of preferable within the PPPP model as problematic, we believe this could be a significant factor that effectively encourages critical designers to adopt a privileged position. At this point we would therefore wish to depart from Dunne and Raby’s view of speculative design being part of a critical design practice (Dunne and Raby 2013) and propose that as most speculative design is intended to facilitate a discourse with a broad audience on future products, systems and services it should be considered a distinct practice . Therefore for us ‘preferable’ should be a question the designers ask of themselves within the design activity rather than an aim of the design. This emphasis on discourse we believe is best achieved by being inclusive within the overall design and would therefore suggest it should include the use of participatory or codesign approaches when creating speculative designs to democratise the process.
2.2 Present Speculative design typically often extrapolates the trajectories of current technologies that have not yet reached domestication to create speculative presents or futures. The other approach used is to present alternative presents (Auger 2013) which break the actual technology emergence timeline to speculate on the ‘what if” as shown in Figure 2. These alternative presents could be considered as the ‘lost futures’ from particular moments in the past and are often used to question the factors that help establish a particular dominant technology. There are those that argue that speculative design is actually primarily all about the present in that it is the point in time in which humans can take action and the role of the speculative presents or futures, coupled with our view of the past, is what influences the actions taken or the discourse created (Gonzatto, van Amstel, Merkle, and Hartmann 2013).
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Figure 2 Alternate Presents adapted from James Auger’s original (Auger 2013).
2.3 Past One issue with both Figure 1 and our discussion up to this point is ensuring how we acknowledge the influences of the past. Marshall McLuhan said in his book, The Medium is the Message, “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future” (McLuhan and Fiore 1967). Although McLuhan meant this primarily as a criticism, it serves as a reminder of the significant influences of the past on our perception of both the present and the future. This is not to say we should completely ignore the past, as we may have lost potential futures through the decisions we made, but rather we should be aware of its influence. Further, we should acknowledge that there is no universally accepted view of the past, or indeed the present, as Figure 1 might also suggest, but rather these are individually constructed to create a particular reality (Law and Urry 2004). Therefore, when constructing an alternative present or plausible future it will undoubtedly contain the designers own current perspective of the present and their experiences of the past and this should therefore be acknowledged within the design process. This emphasises that speculative design should not be considered as a neutral act, as design theorist Richard Buchanan stated all design can be considered “as rhetoric” (Buchanan 1985), and supports our previous argument of adopting a more conversational perspective and participatory design approaches to lessen the arguments of promoting privilege compared with critical design. This consideration of design as rhetoric leads us into the forthcoming considerations of design activities within the games studies community.
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Game Design Approaches In the following sections we will consider game design that goes beyond that of producing games purely for entertainment or education and, in particular, approaches that could be considered as emerging from the so-called Art Games movement as defined by Jason Roher (Bogost 2011). However, we would concur with Ian Bogost that art games is an insufficient term to consider many games, and it is currently “a stand-in for a yet unnamed set of movements or styles, akin to realism of futurism” (Bogost 2011).
3.1 Critical Games Although Mary Flanagan introduced Critical Play (Flanagan 2009) in relation to games, it does not have the same focus on creating the possible/plausible futures as within critical design (Dunne 2008). Whilst Flanagan does not preclude such a focus for critical play, thus far the vast majority of the critical games created has primarily been either: to critique current events or practices within the games industry; or critique games themselves (Grace 2015). An example of the former is Mollieindustria’s 2011 smart phone game ‘Phone Story’ [www.molleindustria.org] which critiques smart phone production by highlighting aspects such as the harvesting of precious metals and the production of electronic waste. While an example of the latter Mary Flanagan’s own game, ‘Giant Joystick”, provides both a critique about lack of collaborative play, while its phallic nature also pokes fun at male dominated play and machismo within contemporary game design (Grace 2014). In this respect, Martins previously discussed critique of privilege within speculative and critical design (2014), cannot be so easily levelled at critical games, as the work of designers, such as Anna Anthropy, directly address subjects such as race, gender, and sexuality (Anthropy 2012). Further, we would argue that the following discussion relating game design to rhetoric allows the privilege to be considered formally within the design process.
3.2 Persuasive Games and Procedural Rhetoric When discussing Persuasive Games (Bogost 2007) it is important to distinguish these from approaches described as Persuasive Technology (Fogg 2002). Persuasive technology generally seeks to directly encourage or discourage a particular behaviour. This direct approach takes its influence from experimental psychology and aims to reduce a problem so that it can be addressed through the promotion of minor behavioural change for easily understood and uncontroversial goals (Knowles, Coulton, Lochrie, and Whittle 2014). Persuasive games as defined by Ian Bogost provide an alternative approach, one grounded in utilising rhetoric to reveal to the player the underlying processes or concepts that drive a system or activity through playing the game (Bogost 2007). Before considering this rhetorical approach further, it is worthwhile considering how the term rhetoric is being applied, as in some modern contexts, such as politics, it can be associated with insincerity, whilst here it is used in the historical sense relating to the art of persuasive speaking (Rapp 2010). In terms of applying rhetoric within a specific design
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context, it can be considered in relation to the three modes of persuasion: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos identified by Aristotle (Rapp 2010). Within these three modes various devices can be used to appeal to the player, for example: Logos might utilize facts, statistics, analogies, and logical reasoning; Pathos might appeal to our emotions and draw upon feelings of fairness, love, pity, or even greed, lust, or revenge; Ethos would draw upon credibility, reliability, trustworthiness and fairness. Further to this, rhetoric has already been considered beyond simply speech; with visual rhetoric associated with image (Kim, and DiSalvo 2010) through to Richard Buchanan’s argument that all design can be considered “as rhetoric” (Buchanan 1985) as illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Rhetorical Mediums.
In relation to games, Bogost argues that the basic representational mode of videogames is “procedurality”, (Bogost 2007) enacted through rule-based representations and interactions and, when used to reveal processes or concepts of another system, presents the player with a procedural rhetoric. Thus, procedural rhetoric is the practice of using interactive processes persuasively (Bogost 2007). Whilst we acknowledge that procedural rhetoric is being challenged by some game scholars (Sicart 2011) this criticism is always focussed on procedurality and this then is overshadowing the consideration of rhetoric which is arguably the more important aspect. It is worth noting Bogost’s definition differs from Buchanan’s argument whereby all games would be considered as rhetoric. Although Bogost is essentially
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only promoting the conscious use of rhetoric, his definition would not necessarily preclude its unconscious use, and therefore, as Coulton argues procedural rhetoric could be applied to the design of all computer mediated interactive systems if we substitute system logic for rules (2015) as shown in Figure 3. Perhaps one of the principle differences between speculative design and persuasive games is in relation to commercial constraints as many of the game cited by Bogost in his book are produced by large commercial entities. In relation to this research we would argue the consideration of all design is rhetoric as the most useful way of unifying design theory with game design theory.
Design of Game: Cold Sun The initial objectives for the design of the game, Cold Sun, were (Coulton, Jacobs, Burnett, Gradinar, Watkins, and Howarth 2014): To build a compelling narrative of a futuristic world impacted by climate change and influenced by the weather at the players’ real world location; To engage players, through casual game play, to temporal and situated experiences of climate and weather; To encourage players to make connections between the real world weather and the fictional futuristic game world defined by climate change forecasts. Whilst weather was chosen as a means of providing a personal experience of climate change, this could not simply be incorporated using a direct causal relationship. The design needed to adequately represent the complex relationship between weather and climate, in particular the global nature of climate change versus the players’ own localised and situated experiences of weather. A participatory design approach was adopted using a number of workshops involving game designers, climate change scientists, and design academics. This process highlighted the importance of locality and temporality when working with live weather data, particularly, the differences in perceptions of weather in different regions of the world. For example, what constitutes hot weather in the northern hemisphere and cold weather in the southern hemisphere, and the difference between weather and climate and our ability to understand these different states on a localised and global scale. There were also questions about how time might affect the game play, frequency of play, how the current weather is presented to the player, and how long the game should be active in order for players to build a meaningful understanding of the relationship between their real-world weather and weather and climate depicted in the game. The workshops also established other clear design directions: To develop tasks that have consequences that could be replayed - so that the players can learn from their actions; to reflect the two states of weather and climate; to provide opportunities to explore both the positive and negative impacts of climate change;
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To consider issues of resources, health and environment as possible point scoring devices as well as elements of the narrative; To find ways to represent uncertainty and risk for the player within the overall narrative; In the first instance the game would be designed to represent futures that would be plausible to players in the UK rather trying to encompass the whole world.
4.1 Game Operation The resulting game is a hybrid, dual-mode adventure game where players must survive over a set period of time in a strange future landscape, affected by real-time weather, in order to traverse the extreme climates of a dream world by night. The two game modes, Existence Mode and Dream Mode, respond to real world weather data in different ways: The Existence Mode represents a first person fictionalised reality of a character, found in a specific location, which is controlled by real world weather during the daytime. Dream Mode takes place at night and involves an abstracted world of ‘planetary’ like spheres, where the connection between the weather data and the actions within the game are more complex. The game uses the player’s current location to obtain the corresponding real weather forecast for that location which is then used to trigger extreme weather events in the game world. The game also uses this data to fix the game’s day/night cycle to the real world location of the player. The aim is to allow the player to develop a ‘logic’ that connects real weather events with in-game actions and the resulting impacts within the fictionalised game world. The Existence Mode of the game is revealed as a first person adventure which in the current prototype works as a diegetic text adventure as shown in Figure 4. However, this mode could eventually be rendered as a 3D environment and it would be interesting to observe whether the switch to mimesis changed the players’ empathy. This mode is experienced as a set of tasks that combine to become levels. The player must carry out these tasks and puzzles in order to make decisions and develop skills that are bound to the real weather data through a complex system of causality.
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Figure 4 Cold Sun: Existence Mode
The character has a certain amount of life force, represented by their mortal coil and is required to replay each level in order to survive and move on to the next level. If a player’s mortal coil reaches zero they will die and the game is reset to the last transition from dream to existence. The weather within the game world is an amplified version of the real world weather, where a rain shower becomes acid rain, a strong wind becomes a hurricane, a grey day becomes a blanket of cloud blocking the sun’s rays and killing crops. The weather can change player’s environment for both good and bad. When day turns to night in the real world the game enters the Dream Mode, which is a 2D platform game, an abstracted world where the character is a small and distant figure that must navigate spherical planet like objects to emphasise the shift in scale required between climate and weather as shown in Figure 5. The character of each planet i.e. its terrain, gravity, etc relates to the accumulated real world weather the player has experienced while playing the game. The player must navigate this strange abstract world to find clues to the next level in the Existence World. In the Dream Mode the game is simple, you can win or lose which creates several outcomes: re-awaken in the Existence Mode; start again from the beginning of the dream mode; reach the staging point that reveals a clue to enable you to return to the Existence Mode and move further through the narrative.
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Figure 5 Cold Sun: Dream Mode
Reflections on design process As Frayling notes the intent of research through design is to create new design knowledge by reflecting upon the process that led to the creation of the artefact rather than the artefact itself (Frayling 1993). In this section we attempt to clarify the previous theoretical discussion developed from the design and development of Cold Sun (Coulton et.al 2014) to build a framing that can underpin the consideration of games as a specific approach to speculative design. It is important to note that this is an approach that aims to produce interactive, rather than fictional or exhibition, artefacts.
5.1 Framing of Games as Speculative Design 5.1.1 Speculative Game Design should embrace the plurality of realities of both designers and players. Given that critical design, speculative design, and design fiction have their roots in critical thinking, this opens them to accusations relating to the confirmation of privileged views. Schwind and Buger argue that opinions regarding socio-cultural issues are formed informally during deep personal reflection, stressing that if people do not have reflection time to evaluate the merits of opposing positions, they will “tend to select information that confirms their prior perspectives� (Schwind and Buder 2012). Figure 1 is very typical of many visualisations that present the future, in that, it presents futures as if they can be viewed from one specific point in the present which is a shared by all. However, as discussed previously our perception of the future is linked to our experience
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of the past and present and these will vary from individual to individual as illustrated in Figure 6. Thus if the aim speculative game design is to enable reflection and discussion to merge through play the developed games should allow different world views to be enacted within the game.
Figure 6 Plurality of perception of past, present, and future.
5.1.2 Speculative Game Design should be plausible. The plausibility of the scenarios presented within speculative games will be dependent to the designers ability to draw upon players knowledge of the present within these visions of the future. To achieve this designers can utilise the rhetorical modes of Ethos (credibility), by utilising authoritative data sources about the future, and Logos (logic), by linking these with familiar and mundane elements of everyday life. This is effectively illustrated in Cold Sun which deliberately links the player’s real world weather with future climate change scenarios (Coulton et.al 2014). Further there is a strong argument that these games should be codesigned with experts (as was the case with Cold Sun which involved climate change scientists) not only to ensure both plausibility but also that the design itself incorporates a plurality of views.
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5.1.3 Speculative Game Design allows designers to utilise both mimesis and diegesis. As previously highlighted, design fiction promotes the use of diegesis to help create a world within which a prototype from the future can plausibly exist. This, arguably, can help to overcome some of the misinterpretation by audiences associated with current critical and speculative designs in that their meaning often requires a separate explanation by the designer. The fact that games are designed to be interactive means that by combining player enacted mimesis, often associated with empathy, with narrative diegesis means that designers can produce powerful explorations of highly complex topics such as climate change. 5.1.4 Speculative Game Design should be iterative. Whilst iteration is commonly used within game design it is important that iteration includes all the participants within the design process and sufficient time is included to reflect. This also highlights not only the need for iteration within gameplay during prototyping but also the rhetoric expressed within the game at each iteration and that it should not be considered as a separate design requirement. 5.1.5 Speculative Game Design should not resort to reductionism. As discussed, one of the reasons for proposing using games as speculative design is that many of the complex problems society faces, both now and in the future, cannot simply be reduced so that they can be addressed through the promotion of minor behavioural change with easily understood and uncontroversial goals. Complex problems are best addressed revealing the complexity of the system to the player through playing the game. Whilst speculative design using games has obvious parallels to the procedural rhetoric and persuasive games we would argue that rhetoric is present within all game design and that the intent may be simply to encourage reflection rather than to overtly persuade players of a particular course of action.
5.2 Reflections on Framing Games as Speculative Design As with many design strategies this framing could lead to a wide variety of possible games. However, the highlighted attributes proposed in this paper are not intended to be used to rank games in relation to some perceived quality about what may or may not make a ‘good’ speculative design, but are to help designers reflect on their responsibilities when designing using games in this way. In terms of evaluating these games, traditional usability measures are also inappropriate as these games are designed to reveal their purpose to the player through play, and, in some cases, such Darfur is Dying (Coulton 2015), limiting the playability of the game might be a desired quality of the game. These games must, therefore, be evaluated phenomenologically so that players’ interpretations can be understood and considered in relation to meaning embedded within them by the designers. This means that appropriate methods of evaluation will emerge through the process of creating these games.
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By promoting such approaches we are aware that, for some researchers it presents the same issues as research through design, in that it does lend itself to the goal of generalisability. However, as Gaver’s argues, in relation to research through design, “convergence may not be the only or best model” (Gaver 2012). Creating games that embody discursiveness and elaboration will not only allow designers to build upon each others’ results but also challenge them, which is at the heart of many of design approaches we have considered in this research.
Conclusions In this paper we have considered design approaches, such as speculative design, critical design, and design fiction, in relation to similar approaches with games design such as critical play, persuasive games, and procedural rhetoric. Whilst drawing from design futures approaches, that have their roots in critical theory, we highlighted some of their limitations that prove problematic when attempting to create open conversations with an audience. In particular, we suggested that explorative worlds produced by games has much to offer over the traditional mediums of speculative design due to their inherent interactivity through which players can explore the complexity of the wicked problems society faces through play. To this end we have embodied our reflections on design theory and the design of the game Cold Sun within a framing for the utilisation of games as medium for speculative design. However, these considerations are not intended as a fixed set for rules or a recipe to follow, but are intended to open up a discursive space upon which researchers and designers can build and criticise whilst developing the future design techniques and evaluation methods required for speculative design. Overall, we believe this research will further extend and promote the use of games as speculative design beyond simply trying to make complex ideas ‘a bit more fun’ by considering the game as a very powerful medium to present complex issues that allow players to consider the societal impacts of alternative presents and plausible futures. Acknowledgements: The research presented in this paper has been made possible through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project The Creative Exchange at Lancaster University in collaboration with Mudlark and Anglia Ruskin University.
References Anthropy, A. (2012). Rise of the videogame zinesters: How freaks, normals, amateurs, artists, dreamers, drop-outs, queers, housewives, and people like you are taking back an art form. Seven Stories Press. Atkins, B. (2003). More than a game: The computer game as fictional form. Manchester University Press. Auger, J. (2013). Speculative design: crafting the speculation. Digital Creativity, 24(1), 11-35. Buchanan, R. (1985). Declaration by design: Rhetoric, argument, and demonstration in design practice. Design Issues, 4-22. Buchanan, R. (1992). Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues, 5-21.
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Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. MIT Press. Bogost, I. (2011). How to do things with videogames (Vol. 38). U of Minnesota Press. Bowen, S. (2010). Critical theory and participatory design. n Proceedings of ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI2010. Caillois, R., & Barash, M. (2002). Man, play, and games. University of Illinois Press, reprint edition of 1961 original. Coulton, P., Jacobs, R., Burnett, D., Gradinar, A., Watkins, M., & Howarth, C. (2014). Designing data driven persuasive games to address wicked problems such as climate change. In AcademicMindTrek '14 Proceedings of the 18th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Media Business, Management, Content & Services. (pp. 185-191). New York: ACM. Coulton, P. (2015). The role of game design in addressing behavioural change. In Proceedings for 11th European Academy of Design Conference. Dunne, A. (2008). Hertzian tales: Electronic products, aesthetic experience, and critical design. MIT Press. Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming. MIT Press. Elliott, D., & Roy, R. (1978). Man-made futures: readings in society, technology and design. N. Cross (Ed.). Hutchinson. Evans, M. (2011). Empathizing with the Future: Creating next-next generation products and services. The Design Journal, 14(2), 231-251. Flanagan, M. (2009). Critical play: radical game design. MIT press. Fogg, B. J. (2002). Persuasive technology: using computers to change what we think and do. Ubiquity, 2002(December), 5. Frankel, L., & Racine, M. (2010). The complex field of research: For design, through design, and about design. In Design & complexity: International conference of the Design Research Society. Design Research Society. Frayling, C. (1993). Research in art and design. Royal College of Art, Vol. 1 no. 1, (1994), 1-5. Gaver, B. (2002). Designing for Homo Ludens, I3 Magazine, No. 12. Gaver, W. (2012). What should we expect from research through design?. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 937-946). ACM. Gonzatto, R. F., van Amstel, F. M., Merkle, L. E., & Hartmann, T. (2013). The ideology of the future in design fictions. Digital creativity, 24(1), 36-45. Grace, L. (2014). Critical Games: Critical Design in Independent Games, Proceedings of Digital Games Research Conference DiGRA 2014. Gualeni, S. (2015) Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer, Palsgrave Macmillan 2015. Intercontinental Panel for Climate Change (2014), Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/,accessed 26/08/2015. Kim, T., & DiSalvo, C. (2010). Speculative visualization: a new rhetoric for communicating public concerns. In Proceedings of the Design Research Society (DRS) international conference design & complexity. Kirby, D. (2009). The future is now: Diegetic prototypes and the role of popular films in generating real-world technological development. Social Studies of Science. Knowles, B., Coulton, P., Lochrie, M., & Whittle, J. (2014). Wicked persuasion: a designerly approach. In Persuasive Technology (pp. 137-142). Springer International Publishing.
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Law, J., & Urry, J. (2004). Enacting the social. Economy and society, 33(3), 390-410. Lindley, J., & Coulton, P. (2014). Modelling design fiction: what’s the story?. In StoryStorm Workshop at ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems in 2014. Martins, L. P. D. O. (2014).Privilege and Oppression: Towards a Feminist Speculative Design, Design Research Society. McLuhan, M., and Fiore, Q. (1967). The medium is the massage. New York, Bantam Books. Rapp, C. (2010) Aristotle's Rhetoric, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2010/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/, accessed 26/08/2015. Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT press. Schwind, C., & Buder, J. (2012). Reducing confirmation bias and evaluation bias: When are preference-inconsistent recommendations effective–and when not?. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2280-2290. Sicart, M. A. (2011). Against procedurality. Game Studies, 11(3). Voros, J. (2003). A generic foresight process framework. foresight, 5(3), 10-21.
About the Authors: Paul Coulton is the Chair of Speculative and Game Design in the open and exploratory design-led research studio Imagination Lancaster. He uses a research through design approach for the speculative design of atoms and bits. Dan Burnett is a final year PhD student in the AHRC Hub The Creative Exchange, his research has been primarily based around Phygital interactions, bridging the gap between the physical and the digital in the Digital Public Space. Adrian Gradinar is a 3rd year PhD student in Design at Lancaster University, researching the intersection of The Internet of Things within the Digital Public Space, especially how digital information and archives can be integrated with and within familiar objects.
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An approach to future-oriented technology design – with a reflection on the role of the artefact Tiina Kymäläinen VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd tiina.kymalainen@vtt.fi DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.87
Abstract: This paper describes future-oriented design as a manner to carry out design research in the emerging technology context, i.e. it describes design activities within a research context. For the purpose the paper introduces a method called science fiction prototyping, which has arisen from the emerging technology research with a well-founded aim to encourage future-oriented thinking. This paper briefly introduces the method; primarily so as to clarify why the future-oriented design by science fiction has been found useful. The focus of the paper is nevertheless on the reflection of how the science fiction prototypes may have most value for the design field. The paper argues that this is achieved primarily by considering the prototypes as design outcomes of validated design-oriented research work i.e. by introducing the science fiction prototypes as research-oriented design artefacts. Keywords: design research; emerging technology research; human-computer interaction (HCI); science fiction prototyping (SFP)
Introduction The design research for the emerging technologies1 is usually carried out within the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). HCI as a discipline has evolved over some thirty years with the aim of searching for a suitable language of interaction for a world where information processing takes place in the human environment (Jacko, 2012). In contemporary practice, HCI is usually understood as a multidisciplinary field combining the efforts of various computer science disciplines, diverse fields of engineering, various social science disciplines – sociology, ethnography, behavioural sciences and cognitive psychology 1
In the context of this paper the emerging technologies are understood as covering new, under-construction technologies, developed in such research agendas as e.g. ubiquitous computing (ubicomp), ambient intelligence (AmI), intelligent environment (IE) and Internet of Things (IoT) (Kymäläinen, 2015)
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Tiina Kymäläinen
– as well as more design-oriented fields, such as graphic design, interaction design, product design, architecture and industrial design. The design outcome of HCI research is usually some form of a prototype that is used as a proof-of-concept and it may be exposed to users for performing tests and evaluations (Fallman, 2003). Over the years, one influential paradigm within HCI, encouraged especially in the Nordic countries, has been participatory design. Participatory design has a general aim of democratising design so that the people who will be affected by the technical systems should also be able to participate and influence their design processes (Greenbaum & Kyng, 1991; Schuler & Namioka, 1993; Thackara, 2005). Thackara supports active user participation by arguing that complicated systems should not be designed and left for people to cope with – instead they should be developed gradually in the context of use, in a “case-sensitive manner” and in firm collaboration with users. The subsequent HCI waves have explored many alternative methodologies for considering the role of human within technology design; and gradually the focus has shifted from simple usability, user needs and requirements towards an understanding of individuals; their concerns, desires, aspirations, values and experiences (e.g. Wright, Wallace & McCarthy, 2008). Bødker (2006) has been one of the leading critics of the active engagement of users in design, saying that, at a certain level, HCI research has taken active user participation too much for granted. In her view, this “taken-for-grantedness” in participatory methods has led to a lack of reflection, or reflexivity, on behalf of designers. Löwgren (1995) and Wolf et al. (2006) have firmly endorsed the need for a third wave of design practices that recognises the role of designer in the creative design practice within HCI; practices that would be based on design judgement and creative design. Wolf et al. emphasizes that design may only evolve by applying design judgement and engagement in a variety of HCI practices; Löwgren suggests that the third generation of design methodologies should focus on the specific competence of the designer. As a concrete method for the design activity, Sengers et al. (2005) have introduced reflective design as a critical approach for technology design, by arguing that: “Reflection on the unconscious values embedded in computing, and the practices that it supports, can and should be the core principle in technology design”. Another method that supports the third generation design activity is critical design, which, according to Wolf et al. (2006), aims at delivering a designer’s reflective, evaluative and communicative explanation of the designer’s personal judgements about the activities in which the designer has engaged (p. 524). Zimmerman et al. (2007) have proposed research through design (RtD) approach as an inclusive methodology that addresses the design problems through a holistic approach of integrating knowledge and theories from across many disciplines – with the aim of reframing the problematic situations and the preferred states as the desired outcome of research. The common determinant for all these methods and methodologies is that they create a unique design space for investigating important new topics that the technology brings forth. Wolf et al. consider this design space offering shared reflection combined with an insightful and forward-looking attitude that is naturally embodied in the practice of design. This statement
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exposes how – in addition with the critical and responsible attitude – the abovementioned approaches highlight the importance of future-oriented thinking in design. In emerging technology research the use of science fiction1 has been proposed as a potentially productive means for advancing the future-focused thinking (e.g. by Greenfield, 2006; Schmitz, 2008; Bleecker, 2009; Johnson, 2011; Marcus, 2013; Dourish & Bell, 2014 and Lindley & Coulton, 2015). Dourish and Bell justifies the need for a science fiction-driven design tool, by saying that: “This design tool could reveal new information or a streamline of the technological development process where the traditional scientific method could not” (Dourish & Bell, 2014, p. 37). For such a tool, this paper introduces a relatively new method called science fiction prototyping (SFP) (Johnson, 2011), which may be seen as an extension to those design methods that have earlier employed the critical and responsible attitude to technology design. The main asset of the SFP method – as compared to other recently emerged science fiction -inspired methods, such as speculative design (Dunne & Raby, 2013) or design fiction (Lindley & Coulton, 2015) – is in the manner how it introduces most suitable framework for a future-oriented design activity. The main contribution of the paper is to illustrate how the future-oriented design activity is carried out explicitly with the science fiction prototyping method. The paper explicates how the method provides means to deliver unique design spaces for investigating important new topics in the emerging technology research context. It illustrates this by four case studies that are used for delivering reflecting, radical outcome of HCI research. The design activity in this context is divided in two parts: design-oriented research and research-oriented design; a deviation introduced by Daniel Fallman (2007). The consequent future-oriented design approach demonstrates how it is possible to carry out a third wave of design practice that does not neglect the user-centred, participatory design efforts – yet it does not either neglect the role of designer in this conduct; particularly the designer’s distinct capability to judge and reflect the implicit knowledge that s/he has received through the HCI process.
The design outcome of the emerging technology research Human-computer interaction research emphasizes firmly the role of the research outcome; witch usually takes some form of a prototype. In emerging technology research the prototype is usually a high-fidelity proof-of-concept prototype or a test bed, e.g. a technology platform targeted towards a specific domain. Fallman (2007) has cautiously reminded that, in many cases, these technical prototypes may be wholly or partly faked, and if implemented, they may be unstable and lack some expected functionality. According to the experiences of the author, this has especially been true with high-fidelity proof-ofprototypes that often try to encapsulate many, even opposing, research objectives. Nelder (2013) has explained in more detail that the problems may often be associated with technical or financial challenges: short development cycles, fast commercialization of 1
Thacker (2001) defines science fiction as “a contemporary mode in which the techniques of extrapolation and speculation are utilized in a narrative form, to construct near-future, far-future or fantastic worlds in which science, technology, and society intersect.”
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technological innovations, procurement budget cuts, bureaucracy, political intervention, long run design and the accelerating commercial technology race. According to the experiences of the author, the technical prototypes also most often fail to represent the full benefit of extensive HCI research – thoughtful user participation and detailed user evaluations – and end up being merely rough interpretations of “what could and should be”. In other words, from the design judgment perspective they end up being only rough interpretations of high quality design artefacts1. Still, in many cases the design outcomes of the technology research – the prototypes – are referred to as design artefacts. They may even be the sole outcome of HCI research, although, as described above, they may only encapsulate some part of the vast amount of research that has been carried out for delivering the prototype. For a prototype to be regarded as a design artefact, it should predominantly have a meaning related to the purpose of its use, as Kuutti (2009) highlights, and this purpose should cover more than merely the technical merits or narrow interpretations of the user’s needs. Biggs (2002) emphases in more detail that the interpretation of an artefact should preferably be a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and, in order to communicate effectively, some control must be exercised over the extrinsic factors by providing a context for the artefact. In a case in which the prototype does not seem pass through the design judgment and qualify as a design artefact, most suitable person for delivering a meaning related to the purpose of its use – by providing a context and by that “exercising the control”– should ex officio be the designer (or researcher) of the original prototype. This conclusion is justified by bearing in mind that it is the distinct knowledge of the designer – through a self-inward, iterative process of designing – to understand the implicit factors of the process that has led to the materializing of the original work. Furthermore, in a case in which the new design artefact becomes a reflection of the physical prototype – a reflexive design outcome of the research – the intangible form might turn out to be more suitable. Bell, et al (2013) support this by saying that the contemporary capacity to present and manipulate concepts and ideas without the physical form enables a shift away from the need to produce and become locked into a prototype “in hand”. In addition, when clarifying the properties of an artefact, Biggs elucidated that: “The extrinsic factors of an artefact are commonly achieved through words; this is owing to the utility of words for explicatory purposes rather than because words have primacy over objects in design research. It is, therefore, the content rather than the form that becomes important; it is the content that must be explained” (Biggs, 2002). Bell et al. (2013) have found science fiction to provide an efficient mean to deliver conceptual form of prototypes that “shifts markedly from the traditional prototype that expects a tangible and solid form to be presented.” 1 Retrieved 11:50, 7 November 2015 from: http://tinyurl.com/jf3jmkj The Oxford dictionary defines artefact as: 1) An object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest. 2) Something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present, but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure.
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Future-oriented design by the means of science fiction It might be unnecessary to point out that the future-focused attitude has always been inherently present in the research agendas that aim to develop new, emerging technologies that do not yet exist. Greenfield illustrates this by saying that science fiction and emerging technology research have been locked into something he calls “a co-evolutionary spiral” (Greenfield, 2006). In his view, this means that: “The stories told in science fiction movies and novels have come to shape the course of real-world invention, and these in turn serve as seed stock for ever more elaborate imaginings; and so the cycle continues”. Dourish and Bell (2014) further remark that science fiction does not merely anticipate, but actively shapes the technological futures through its effect on our collective imagination. Accordingly, Johnson (2011) has turned “the co-evolutionary spiral” of science fiction and fact into a method: science fiction prototyping, which he has recommended as a particularly suitable tool for the emerging technology research. This future-oriented tool aims to deliver short stories that are grounded in current science and engineering research and written for the explicit purpose of acting as prototypes for people to explore a wide variety of futures (ibid.). Johnson explains that the method serves a purpose for scientists and engineers by extending their work – or, on the other hand, they may be created by any interested party seeking to influence the work of researchers. He considers science fiction prototypes to be most expedient when used explicitly as a step or input in the development process, and in such a case, the outcome would then be fed back into the scientific process in order to shape research and the outputs. Johnson’s framework essentially consists five steps that are critical for delivering the science fiction prototypes (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Johnson’s science fiction prototyping method (redrawn from Johnson, 2011).
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The steps are: 1. Pick the technology, science or issue to explore with the prototype. Set up the world; introduce people and locations. 2. Introduce the scientific inflection point. 3. Explore the implications and ramifications of the science for the world. 4. Introduce the human inflection point with the technology; modifications or fixing the problem; the new area for experimentation. 5. Explore the implications, solution or lessons learnt. Overall, majority of the published science fiction prototypes have focused on considering the wider socio-technical concepts and the consequences of technologies to the society. The higher abstraction themes have related e.g. to such topics as freewill (Egerton et al, 2011), transhumanism (Hales, 2011) and technological singularity (Callaghan, 2010), yet most published SFPs have explicitly focused on some specific application areas for the emerging technologies. Those application areas are e.g.: brain-computer interfaces (Grian, 2011), augmented/virtual/mixed realities (Clarke & Lear, 2010), gait recognition (Loke & Egerton, 2010), natural language processing (Tassini, 2011), robotics (Johnson, 2009), intelligent environments (Kovalchuk, 2011; Kymäläinen, 2013a), Internet of Things (McCullagh, 2013; Kymäläinen, 2013b) and nano computing technologies (WU & Callaghan, 2011). Most of these prototypes have taken some stance on the social aspects of the technologies, relating e.g. to privacy, security, visibility, control, ethics, legislation or governance, i.e. issues that discuss further implications of the technologies.
Design-oriented research and research-oriented design An important aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the science fiction prototyping as a potential method to be employed by designers for the future-oriented design research. Consequently, this paper limits itself to considering how the procedure may advance furthermost the design research; and this will be explained in detail in the following. It should first be noted, that in this paper the use of the SFP method differentiates from the one Johnson introduced, in the manner how it exposes the science fiction prototypes as the design outcome of a great amount of validated design-oriented research work, i.e. the SFPs are considered here as research-oriented design artefacts. The applied manner of approach has been initiated by Daniel Fallman (2007) who draws a clear distinction between two design approaches within HCI – design-oriented research and research-oriented design – essentially as to clarify the role of design in the field of HCI. Fallman considers this distinction to be important as – with regard to the aim and scope of design, and especially the role that research plays in these different conducts – it serves to strengthen the roles of both approaches and explain their distinctive cultures. Fallman perceives that design-oriented research – where research is the “area” and design the means – seeks to produce new knowledge by involving typical design activities in the research process. In research-oriented design – where design is the “area” and research the
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means – the primary objective is the creation of new artefacts for answering to the real problems and real-world obstacles that are faced in the process. When considering the engagement between the two approaches, according to Fallman, from this perspective the main disparity between research and design is not that design only produces artefacts and research only knowledge. In design-oriented research (within the field of HCI), the knowledge that comes from studying the designed artefact, whether in use or from the process of bringing the product into being, should be seen as the main contribution – the ‘result’ – whereas the artefact that has been developed becomes more of a means than an end (ibid.). In research-oriented design, Fallman’s contention is that, although design can relate to, seek to influence and even contribute to research – i.e. the generation of knowledge – in various ways, its main motivation and goal is the production of new artefacts. Keinonen (2006) specifies what Fallman calls the “area” by introducing the models of art and research interfacing and interacting within normal academic activity. For the “areas”, Keinonen proposes two distinctive non-overlapping fields of activities: Field of Art (Fa) and Field of Research (Fr). In addition, the practices conducted in both fields can be described by individual actions: Action of Art (Aa) and Action of Research (Ar). With these concepts, Keinonen outlines altogether eight models through which art and research may interact. From the models he presents, two have been considered important in this context to explain the manner of conducting design research. The first of Keinonen’s models is “Research interpreting art” (see Figure 2). In this case, a design researcher (or a research team) conducts a research project in a research context concerning a phenomenon in the Field of Art. The activity has its foundations in research, and it primarily aims at contributing to research. The second model (see Figure 3) is “Art interpreting research”, which Keinonen considers to be the mirroring approach to that above. In this case, a design researcher creates a work of art about a phenomenon that takes place in the Field of Research. The activity has been framed based on art-driven criteria and interpreted as a work of art. Keinonen has identified one example of the model as being science fiction literature and films, which he describes as creating visionary projections that utilise and further elaborate the results of research and technical development. Keinonen emphasizes that, in this situation, the elaboration and contribution is certainly required, instead of merely visiting or exposing the results.
Figure 2 Research interpreting art and Action of Research (Ar) = design-oriented research.
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Figure 3 Art interpreting research and Action of Research (Ar) = research-oriented design.
Science Fiction prototypes as research-oriented design artefacts For clarifying how the science fiction prototypes may be employed as research-oriented design artefacts, in the following will be a demonstration by two set of articles 1 (see Figure 4). Together, they present a reflective conversation that form around the design-oriented research and the research-oriented design, and furthermore, demonstrate the two models through which art and research may interact: research interpreting art and art interpreting research.
5.1. Design-oriented research The first set of articles presents design-oriented HCI and experience design research relating to four case studies (Luhtala, et al 2011; Kymäläinen and Plomp 2012; Kymäläinen and Siltanen 2012; Kymäläinen, et al 2015) (see Figure 4, left). The phenomenon that was studied in all the case studies related to the do-it-yourself (DIY) conventions that formed around the Internet of Things (IoT) proof-of-concept prototypes and their experiences (Roelands, et al 2011). The contribution of the case studies for the design-oriented research is in the portrayal of the design research in a particular HCI research context and in demonstrating how the prototypes have been used for building the knowledge. The first demonstrative case study introduces evaluations of a Home Control System for a nursing ecology (Kymäläinen, et al 2015). The proof-of-concept prototype was a test bed; a smart nursing home environment fitted with devices and sensors. The prototype allowed users to create customized Internet of Things setups for the physical space in question, and the design-oriented HCI research was carried out with a group of nurses. The primary objective of the design investigations was to identify suitable means of constructing a platform that supported the creation, configuration and sharing of DIY experiences. The second case study illustrates interaction design research on a Life Story Creation service, which comprised a shared online ecology for elderly people (Kymäläinen & Plomp, 2012). The prototype application was dedicated to content creation and the sharing of retrospections through a web-based application that exploited social media platforms, and it was co-designed with active elderly amateur writers. The objective of the design 1 The background research and their results, in addition with the science fiction prototypes and their reflections, can be found in more detail from the referenced articles and Kymäläinen (2015).
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investigations was to study how the system supported the creation and sharing of private retrospections. The third case study presents an augmented reality (AR) Interior Design service that was codesigned with amateur interior designers and bloggers (Kymäläinen and Siltanen 2012). The aim was to study how to use new technologies and applications – social media services, augmented reality (AR) features and location awareness – with the help of a web-based interior design application. In this case, the objective of the design-oriented research was to define optimal service ecologies for the interior design tasks, and study the DIY practices and key experiences that could be supported by the service.
Figure 4 The reflective conversation between the articles: design-oriented HCI case studies and research-oriented science fiction prototypes.
The fourth case study illustrates Music Creation Tool intended for a music therapy context (Luhtala et al, 2011). In this case study the focus was on providing tools, software and smart instruments that enabled disabled people to play music together, with a more long-term objective of sharing their creative work. The smart instruments in question were designed for easy and intuitive use and they were evaluated in music therapy situations. The objective of the design investigations was to discover interactive technologies that were easily available and motivating to use.
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5.2. Research-oriented design The second set of articles, the science fiction prototypes, aimed at elaborating the HCI research findings and creating unique design spaces for investigating the design-oriented research (Kymäläinen 2011; 2013a; 2013b) (see Figure 4, right). The main motivation for the reflection came from the acknowledged fact that the research outcomes, the proof-ofconcept prototypes, were only partially able to illustrate the design research, while neglecting many important and rich findings. The research-oriented design reflection follow Fallman’s contention: “Although research-oriented design can relate to, seek to influence, and even contribute to research (i.e., the generation of knowledge) in various ways, its main motivation and goal is the production of new artefacts” (Fallman, 2007). The first SFP, IF Alice Arrives THEN Wonderhome Incites, introduces Wonderhome – an intelligent and inspiring nursing home for the aged (Kymäläinen, 2013b). Alice, the protagonist in the prototype, is connected to the outside world, to her past experiences and even to her late husband, Frank, through various IoT technologies. The Home Control System case study provided substance about the motivations of people configuring, customizing and personifying their environments in a do-it-yourself fashion, the inspiring and supporting role of the system and the preference for multimodal systems and haptic interfaces. The Life Story Creation study provided material mainly for the sharing activity; especially for the sharing of private memories. The second SFP, Dreamnesting, introduces the protagonist, Abby, and an intelligent interior design ecology in which Abby creates interior design dreams for her forthcoming home – while at the same time creating a new employment for herself with a network of clients who want to share her designs (Kymäläinen, 2013a). The core activity in the prototype was the creating of novel interior design services that were virtually used by exploiting AR technologies. The focus was on the future interaction space, which was an all-inclusive fictional ecology “Dreamnesting” that combined the creative work of people and autonomous technologies. The third SFP, Song of Iliad, describes innovative music therapy tools for disabled young people. The critical DIY experiences in the SFP are confronted by Iliad, who finds new friends around the globe while composing music (Kymäläinen, 2011). In essence, the SFP illustrated a musical service concept twining around a magical music box that unfurled its secrets slowly through the music. The prototype presented an example of how emerging interaction technologies could be harnessed for the benefit of the experience design, by illustrating highly aesthetic, configurable and personal musical instruments and services.
Discussion Although these briefly introduced two sets of articles demonstrate, in a concrete manner, the models proposed by Fallman and Keinonen, the most important contribution for the design research is that the two approaches have been used here within the same research context – in which case they postulate a reflective conversation between each other.
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For a discussion, it should further be noted that when Keinonen (2006) considered the models of art and research interfacing and interacting within academic activity, he was not completely satisfied with the models presented. He pursued the definition of a common denominator – a “fifth element” – linking art and research” in a manner that each could be interpreted without reference to the other”. For the model representation, Keinonen considered that there might be a third field (Fx), which overlaps with both Field of Art (Fa) and Field of Research (Fr) (see Figure 5). He characterized the field Fx as including values that are common to both art and research – such as creativity, experience and novelty. He considered design as providing possibilities for being such a field, especially for its qualities as “a transmitting space between different fields”. On this, he made reference to Herbert Simon (1969), who proposed the idea of “the science of design” that could enable communication across the arts, sciences and technology. Keinonen nevertheless stressed that design itself is much too ambiguous as a term – and fragmented as a field – to provide the conclusive answer to the characteristics of the fifth element. Consequently, if this contemplation is interpreted to the contribution of this paper, the field Fx, in this particular context, may be understood as the explicit research agenda contributing to both sets of design research. The emerging technology – (the HCI research for) the Internet of Things represents novelty; the phenomena – the do-it-yourself culture signifies to creativity and the focus of the HCI research – the experience design embodies the experience factor that Keinonen requested to pursue. Accordingly, this leads to define the “fifth element” as the act of science fiction prototyping; more explicitly, as a design activity that applies design judgement in the creation of design artefacts that represent the outcomes of research (see Figure 6).
Figure 5 Research context and the overlapping fields.
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Figure 6 Focused research context and the “fifth element” = science fiction prototyping.
Presenting each science fiction prototype as an artefact is a type of implicit, theoretical contribution that also supports the research through design methodology advocated by Zimmerman et al. (2010). The supremacy of these artefacts consists in the description of how they codify designers’ understanding of the current state – including the relationships between the phenomena and the framing of the activities within them – and the description of the preferred state as an outcome of the artefact’s construction. Conclusively, the introduced artefacts, the science fiction prototypes, may have qualities as a proposition for a preferred state, or they may even be taken as a placeholder that open new spaces for design, allowing then other designers to make artefacts that better define the relevant phenomena (as encouraged by Zimmerman et al, 2010, p. 311).
Conclusion This paper aimed to tackle the future-oriented design research by introducing a concrete method, science fiction prototyping, to the field of design – with the evidence of how it may advance design research. The method was introduced as an extension to earlier design methods that have employed the critical, responsible, future-oriented attitude to design research. This paper also deliberated the design outcome, the artefact, which in the prototyping reality has often found to be inadequate to interweave all the gained design knowledge to the research outcome, the prototype. The design activity in the paper was consequently divided in two parts: design-oriented research and research-oriented design, for the purpose of conveying the conclusive future-oriented, science-fiction-driven design approach. The paper presented briefly four case studies that aimed at constructing user-driven, do-ityourself experiences for the Internet of Things, and three reflecting science fiction prototypes – short stories that were grounded on extensive user research. The practical objective of the research-oriented design artefacts was to build new design spaces that served for investigating the experience design findings elicited from the case studies – and
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elaborate them further. The contribution demonstrated essentially how the science fiction prototypes were regarded as complementary results of the research efforts and as the primary design outcomes of the research. Consequently, it may be summed up that, the design outcomes of research – the science fiction prototypes – were profoundly inspired by research, but they went far beyond with the creative means. Therefore, the prototyping activity may well be seen as an embodiment of the third wave of design and HCI practises that has the aim of capturing the essence of culture, emotion and experiences, and emphasizing the reflective role of the designer in HCI processes. In the paper, the science fiction prototypes were introduced as design artefacts – and as “fifth elements” – that opened new design spaces that stemmed from the discovered creativity, experience and novelty of the studied phenomena. For the design artefacts, the relationship between research-oriented design and design-oriented research provided reflective means for the communication. This finds justification from Biggs who has remarked that: “What is required is the combination of artefact and a critical exegesis that describes how it advances knowledge, understanding and insight. The essential factor is not a particular medium but a particular content, i.e. it must step outside the outcomes of research and explicate the way in which the research embodies its contribution to the advancement of knowledge, understanding and insight.” (Biggs, 2002)
As a final word, the motivation for offering this paper to publication came from the remark by Zimmerman et al. (2010) who asserted that: “If design researchers expect others to recognize the rigour and relevance of their contribution, they must engage in a critical discourse to better detail the role of design research within HCI and its potential outcomes”. One important contribution of this paper to that discussion is to highlight the unarticulated manner in which the designer actively carries the implications of field studies into the design artefact through a self-inward, iterative process. The future-oriented design approach described in this paper hopefully provides effective means for deliberating those intrinsic findings, in addition with providing “fifth-elements” for inspection, to be used (as advocated by Keinonen, 2006): “A transmitting space between different fields”. Acknowledgements: the author would like to express her thanks to her employer, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. for all the support in delivering this paper.
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About the Author: Tiina Kym채l채inen (Doctor of Arts) works as a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, in which she studies emerging technologies from the design perspective. Her current research interests involve human-computer interaction, advanced human augmentation and creative science.
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Future Product Ecosystems: discovering the value of connections Tim Williams* and Marianella Chamorro-Koc Queensland University of Technology, Australia * tim.williams@qut.edu.au DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.295
Abstract: Product Ecosystem Theory is an emerging approach to help understand the value networks that exist between products within a system. As products become increasingly interconnected, understanding the value that is gained from those connections becomes ever more important. This paper explores the concept of product ecosystems and how this concept can be employed in mapping current products’ evolution as well as that of new product conceptual development. Case studies using both hindsight from historical design and foresight from new product propositions reveal the different connections that take place or need to be considered in the emerging landscape of product ecosystems. This paper seeks to contribute to Product Ecosystem Theory through a discussion of the literature and analysis of emerging connections within a product ecosystem revealed in selected examples, as well as by proposing a conceptual tool to help map out products’ value networks. Keywords: Industrial Design, Product Ecosystem Theory, Innovation Theory, Internet of Things.
Introduction Products can meet with success or failure for many reasons. Whilst the authors acknowledge that success can take many forms, in this context we are considering success to be commercial success. That is; one that makes a satisfactory financial return on investment. According to the substitution effect in consumer choice theory, demand is considered to be proportional to perceived value and demand in essential for commercial success (SanchezFernandez & Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007).Therefore, in this context, perceived value and success are proportional. Conversely, failures are associated with a lack of perceived value; that is a failure in the premise of a product, or failure to communicate the value to customers.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Tim Williams and Marianella Chamorro-Koc
Because approximately 70 – 80% of all new products fail in their first year of launch (Savoia, 2014), understanding the value that products provide becomes very important. The traditional approach of Value Analysis or Value Engineering (DeSarbo, Jedidi, & Sinha, 2001; SAVE International Value Standard, 2015) is useful as it allows a value to be ascribed to each function of the product. This is effective for stand-alone products where all the value of the product is intrinsic to that product. However as products become more reliant on extrinsic ecosystems (Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a), a more holistic approach is required. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of how products within an ecosystem gain value from that ecosystem. Product innovation has long been a mechanism for product differentiation and a means to gain competitive advantage. It is widely accepted that innovation can be either disruptive or incremental (Christensen, 1997; Verganti, 2009). One of the main characteristics of disruptive innovation is high risk and potentially high gain whereas incremental innovation is associated with lower risk and correspondingly lower gain. Disruptive innovation creates new value networks, it disrupts existing ones; therefore understanding these value networks is seen as a key strategy for managing the risk associated with the introduction of new products. Product Ecosystem Theory is an emerging approach that helps visualize and understand products’ value networks by identifying where value is created and transferred between the various parts of the ecosystem (Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a). As previously mentioned, value and success are proportional and so increasing the overall perceived value of a product may be possible by identifying links that provide value and perhaps questioning the links that don’t provide value. Whilst Product Ecosystem Theory is still developing, a gap in extant theory is perceived as there are no widely accepted strategies or methods in place for mapping and understanding the flow of products’ value in complex interconnected ecosystems. As there is a general trend towards products that exist in more complex ecosystems, Industrial design must naturally follow this trend. For example a television of the 1960s required a power supply, transmission of programs and not much else. A modern television in contrast, may sit within an ecosystem of DVD players, pay TV, streamed content, free to air content, remote controls, surround sound systems, internet connectivity and so on. Additionally, as the “Internet of Things” (IoT) gathers momentum and wireless communication between products becomes commonplace, products will interconnect in many new ways. Increasingly designers are now required to consider and/or design the entire system. As products become increasingly interconnected and interdependent, the requirement to understand products’ emerging ecosystems becomes more important. Currently there is a lack of suitable methods to enable this. To this end, and complimenting current Product Ecosystem Theory, an initial model has been devised to identify existing and emerging connections within product ecosystems. This paper discusses a part of a larger research project that investigates how Ultra Small Vehicles (USVs) interact with and gain value from their ecosystem and what aspects of the
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ecosystem can be modified in order to improve the perceived value of USVs (Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a). The main aim of this aspect of the ongoing research is to identify what aspects of the ecosystem can be modified in order to improve the perceived value of the USV and make them more desirable. The need to devise a method evaluate this type of value flow and connections, led to the consideration that products tend to behave in ways that are analogous to natural ecosystems. The study of natural ecosystems is a mature science, and thus, many methods for mapping and describing natural ecosystems are already in place and can be adapted for use in the study of product ecosystems. For example, in nature the notion that the introduction of a new species into ecosystem can have a dramatic impact, often leading to the extinction of other species that are unable to compete is an idea that dates back to Charles Darwin (Oldroyd, 1986). In a product’s ecosystem, the introduction of a new product often has a similar impact on the incumbent products, also leading to their demise (Massey, 1999). This is especially true of disruptive innovation. This paper introduces a discussion about the theory of Product Ecosystems and the critical importance of understanding products’ value within an ecosystem. The intrinsic relationship between products, innovation and ecosystems is then explored. On this basis, a theoretical framework for product evolution is presented, and an Industrial Design approach is presented through two type of case studies, one responding to hindsight and exemplified with existing product innovations, and the second responding to foresight approach with examples from industrial design students’ IoT design projects. A model for the analysis of product evolution and ecosystems interconnections is presented and discussed. Finally, the conclusion section lays out the steps for the continuation of this research and development of this emerging tool.
Products, innovation and ecosystems Products are becoming increasingly complex and increasingly connected. Many products that were stand-alone are now reliant on other products as well as the environment in which they exist. This means that many products are platforms that now have little or no inherent value, but rely on gaining value from the ecosystem of which they are a part. For example, an iPad gains much of its value from its ability to connect with other devices, including the internet. The ability to add functionality in the form of apps is also a key value provider. Even the charger is also part of the ecosystem, without which the iPad would become inoperative. Many of these interactions provide obvious value where others may not be as obvious. As perceived value is clearly an important component of product success, understanding that value is critical. The importance of this is illustrated by the statistics of new product failures. Whilst the definition of a product failure is open to discussion, it is frequently cited that between 70 – 80% of all new products are commercial failures (Savoia, 2014)Of course there are many reasons why products fail, many of them unrelated to the premise of the product however as previously noted, disruptive innovation carries a higher risk of failure (Christensen, 1997). The consequences of failure can be ruinous for a manufacturer both financially and in terms of brand reputation. So even small
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improvements in success prediction have the potential to save money, effort and brand reputation. The term “Product Ecosystem” is most often used to talk about products that are connected electronically. For example the “Apple ecosystem” is a term used to describe a suite of products such as an iPhone, a computer, an Apple watch and an iPad. These products communicate with each other and therefore create an ecosystem where each product gains value from the other products. However, ecosystems are more complex than just the products mentioned. For example the software needs to be considered because without it the whole system has no value. Value is also gained through content on the internet, so this is also part of the ecosystem. Without an electricity source the entire system becomes useless and so on. The value of an individual component is less and sometime in fact worthless when removed from the ecosystem. Therefore the value of the system becomes greater than the sum of the standalone parts. Our research suggests that once the product ecosystem is understood it then it is possible to manipulate the ecosystem to favour one product over another (Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a). For example to address the problems of traffic congestion and pollution, vehicles that reduce these problems should be encouraged. Ultra-Small Vehicles (USV) are a class of vehicle specifically designed to address these problems. However in the context of the current road-vehicle ecosystem, the perceived value of USVs is less than that of conventional cars (Mitchell, Borroni-Bird, & Burns, 2010). For example the drivers of USVs are still affected by the traffic jams created by larger conventional cars. It has been suggested that creating special narrow vehicle lanes and thereby manipulating the product ecosystem, the perceived value of USVs can be increased (Williams, 2014). Departing from these considerations, the following section presents a theoretical framework of product evolution, which provides the basis for the development of the initial model for the analysis of product ecosystems.
A Theoretical framework: Product Evolution When one looks at sustaining innovation it is normally clear to see how a new model is related to the previous model and how there is a clear progression from one model to the next. With disruptive innovation the predecessors’ influence is not always as obvious as with sustaining innovation; however it is always there and often comes from more than one source. For example the DVD player has clearly adopted technology from the CD player as well as the VCR. Whilst the CD player still exists, (though arguably in decline), the VCR is no longer made in any reasonable quantities and has nearly ceased to exist. From this it can be seen that all new products have clear predecessors and therefore can be seen to have evolved from other products (Crawford & Tellis, 1981). Some product lines evolve rapidly while others evolve slowly over time. Some products are regularly superseded by others in a gradual progression whilst occasionally new products emerge that are radically different to those that currently exist. Occasionally a product line will decline and
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eventually disappear altogether, becoming extinct. All products compete for market share while only the fittest thrive. These patterns of behaviour are seen in both nature and consumer products (Massey, 1999) Broadly speaking, both biological species and consumer products respond to external opportunities and threats. In biology the opportunities and threats come from the environment and other species and for products the opportunities and threats come from the market, social trends and legislation (Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a). They all tend to thrive when they are well adapted to exploit opportunities and decline when unable to adapt to threats. They both compete for resources; whether those resources are consumer dollars or food. In biology, the principle of phyletic gradualism describes the process where the rise of a descendant species slowly displaces an ancestral species a clearly traceable lineage. This is based on small changes in physiology that allow species to become better adapted to their environment so they can thrive. In a resource constrained environment this tends to displace those ancestral species that are now less able to exploit those resources. This has parallels in the evolution of products as new products with slight changes are released onto the market. If the changes are well received by the consumer then the product will be successful; if not then the changes will be dropped in subsequent models. This is partly described by the term “sustaining innovation� coined by Clayton Christensen (Christensen, 1997). The difficulty with the concept of sustaining (or incremental) innovation is that it presumes that each new model is a slight improvement on the past and therefore likely to be successful. The reality is that 80% of all new products fail within the first year of launch (Savoia, 2014). When one looks at value network of products that undergo incremental innovation, the values tend to be similar to the previous generation with relatively small performance improvements. As a product line matures it becomes increasingly difficult to continually improve performance and therefore increase perceived value. By comparison, disruptive innovation typically has a completely new set of values. Some of the existing performance characteristics may in fact be less that previous products and there will be some completely new values. If the sum of these values is perceived to be superior to the predecessor then the new product is likely to be a success. Product Ecosystem Theory helps identify and document these value networks, which can assist Industrial Designers to develop products that are able to capitalize on extrinsic value from the ecosystem.
A Design Research approach Product Ecosystem Theory has greatest potential when applied to the conceptual premise of a new product as opposed to a specific product design. Product Ecosystem Theory allows us to explore both historical and conceptual/future product ecosystems, so that products can be developed that are able to fully exploit the latent value within the ecosystem. With a lack of appropriate ecosystem theory and tools, Industrial Design has typically tended to focus on developing stand-alone products with little consideration of the ecosystem. As previously
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mentioned the overall value of a product is comprised of both intrinsic and extrinsic values that contribute to the perceived value of a product. To create maximum perceived value for a product, designers need to consider the value obtained from the ecosystem. This can be achieved by considering past and future ecosystems: that is through gaining insights from hindsight as well as foresight thinking. Hindsight thinking refers to the understanding of past and current ecosystems. The past can be analysed to give rich insight into factors that contribute to the evolution of products. The study of current ecosystems allows for identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In foresight thinking, evaluating potential future ecosystems has greatest potential to identify future product ecosystems, and new product connections, which in turn, would provide a framework for devising new scenarios of emerging landscapes of new product ecosystems.
4.1 Hindsight thinking: Past ecosystem analysis Successive iterations of consumer products exhibit similar evolutionary patterns as those found in biological ecosystems (Tobias, 2007; Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013b; Zhou, Xu, & Jiao, 2010). Evolutionary theories such as phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium can be observed not just in biological evolution but are analogous in product evolution. (Massey, 1999). Phyletic gradualism describes the gradual evolutionary morphology changes in species over time. In contrast, punctuated equilibrium describes long periods of stasis occasionally punctuated by rapid changes or branches in species (Gould & Eldredge, 1993). This can be seen in Figure 1
Figure 1: Graphical comparison of phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Reproduced from (Williams, 2014), based on (Gould & Eldredge, 1993)
In biology, changes in morphology are driven by environmental pressures or opportunities. When the morphology of a species changes and is better suited to the environment, that species tends to flourish (Oldroyd, 1986). Sometimes gradual changes are not enough to
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keep up with a changing environment and radical change is required. The same patterns can be observed in product lines. As we know that in products, radical change is achieved through disruptive innovation and gradual change achieved through incremental innovation, we can see direct analogies between disruptive innovation and punctuated equilibria as well as incremental innovation and phyletic gradualism. As in nature, the two forms of evolution occur alongside each other in product evolution. Figure 2 depicts an example based on the evolution of watches, where incremental innovation is depicted by the horizontal green lines and disruptive innovation is depicted by the vertical red lines.
Figure 2 - An evolutionary diagram of watches. (Williams, 2015)
Each step in the evolutionary diagram can be evaluated to see what new technical opportunities allowed the change to take place and what additional values the product offered that contributed to its success (Williams, 2015). This type of evolutionary diagram
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allows the analysis of the products that failed and became “extinct� giving insight into the reasons behind the failure. There are many well established methods for this type of analysis such as Value Analysis (Rich & Holweg, 2000), FMEA (Carlson, 2014), and SWOT analysis (Pardeshi, Shirke, & Jagtap, 2010).
4.2 Foresight thinking: from Present Ecosystems to future ones Current ecosystem analysis can be used to visualise the value and influence of each component within the ecosystem. Figure 3 shows a partial ecosystem map for the automobile. The map shows the complexity of components that provide value to the automobile. The main reason for producing a current ecosystem map is that it allows a convenient baseline for proposing future scenarios. For example we might pose the question about what will need to be mapped in the ecosystem of electric cars. We may conclude that service stations and mechanics will offer less value for electric cars than they do for conventional cars and therefore may need to rethink their business models. By understanding the interdependencies of the car ecosystem and modifying the environment accordingly we gain control over the design of the viability of the car.
Figure 3 - The current automotive product ecosystem (reproduced from Williams & Chamorro-koc, 2013a)
In Figure 4 we can see a simplified product ecosystem diagram for a DVD player. The solid lines represent critical value transfer and the dashed lines represent components that add
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value but are not critical. The arrows show the direction of value flow. That is, the arrow points to the receiver of value. For example the TV is a critically important to the DVD player.
Electricity� � Home� Theatre� Audio�
DVD�Player�� Product�Ecosystem� TV� Movie� producers�
Speakers� DVD� �d discs� iscs� Remote� Control�
DVD� DV VD� V �player� playye yer� DVD� �sshop� hop�
Ba eries� User� Figure 4 - The product ecosystem for the DVD player
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In Figure 5 we can see the product ecosystem for direct movie streaming overlaid on the DVD product ecosystem. This demonstrates the components that are removed from the system. This is only a partial map. For example it could be expanded to include a modem, internet service providers (ISPs) etc. The quality of the internet connection is an important factor in value flow.
Electricity� � Home� Theatre� � Audio�
Movie�streaming� Product�Ecosystem� TTV� � Movie� producers�
Internet�
Speakers� �
DVD� �d discs� iscs� � Remote� Control�
DVD� D VD� V �player� playye er� DVD� �shop� shop� �
Ba eries� User� Figure 5 – The product Ecosystem map for direct Movie streaming
Therefore by understanding the potential value generated as the consumer environment changes and opportunities that technology allows we can start to predict which products are likely to succeed. More importantly it allows us to see what environmental variables can be modified to make a product more or less viable. The diagram presented in Figure 3 provided the foundation for an initial ‘tool’ or conceptual proposition to test the concept of foresight thinking and identification of value flows and connections in emerging product ecosystems. The diagram was presented to the third year Industrial Design students at Queensland University of Technology who were working on the design of an interactive product for the near future (five to ten years in time), within the IoT concept, and for the future generation of the older adult. It was explained to them that they could employ the tool to identify and outline the connections that their new product designs
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would require in order to exist and benefit the end user and society. Product ecosystems from three students’ design projects are presented here: the domestic hobby products, the scuba diving experiential devices, and the bed-ritual products family. Product ecosystems and connections were produced by the students according to their project needs. These are discussed next. In the case of domestic hobby based products, the students selected home-based activities that older adult enjoy doing on their own, but like to share with others. These are: mowing the lawn (a predominant DIY weekend activity in Australia), bird watching, and watching a rugby match. As a large portion of older adults in Australia prefer to maintain their independence and live on their own, students designed products to support these activities and enrich the users’ experience by augmenting their socialisation potential through interactive functions. Figure 6 shows the students’ product ecosystem map where the connections of the three interactive products to people, the central hub, and services are depicted. In this case, this product ecosystem map demonstrate connections that aim to add value to existing services and products in the household through a digital infrastructure supporting each of the new product designs.
Figure 6 - Students design project – domestic hobby products
In the case of the scuba diving experiential devices, the students explored the topic of active older adults who have enjoyed doing scuba diving since very young and who are not ready to give up this activity due to age. However, as physical and cognitive decline affects older adults performance and ability to continue being active, students focused on designing products that assist older adults’ performance and experience when diving. Figure 7 shows a
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product ecosystem map of the three different products that are part of the scuba diving gear. The diagram shows the connections of each product to the scuba diving activity, connections between the products, and connections to a social network.
Figure 7 Students design project – scuba diving experiential project
The third student project example is the bed-ritual products family. This project proposes an enhanced way of preparing to sleep and waking up. Many older adults include a relaxation activity as part of their preparation to sleep; reading a book is one of them. Another part of a bed-ritual activity is the wake up, which commonly is assisted by a noisy alarm clock. To enhance and augment these basic bed-ritual activities, the students worked on two product designs that would be seamlessly integrated into the persons’ ritual activities, helping to time and provide a relaxing reading time before sleeping, and prompting a gentle wake up experience without the startle caused by the mundane alarm clock. Figure shows the students product ecosystem map that clearly depicts two parallel branches that connect to a diversity of services, support network, and other products.
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Figure 8 - Students design project – the morning ritual products family
In this exercise the students were only asked to show the links within the ecosystem without complicating the exercise by qualifying the actual flow of value. The aim was to see how students approached the mapping process and to see what commonalities emerged. From this we observed three distinct product ecosystem maps that demonstrate three types of connections: (a) product to product, (b) product to system, (c) product family. Each of these connections would potentially lead to different value flow as they respond to different types of products’ innovation.
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Discussion This paper proposes two tools. The first is a tool to chart the evolution of a product and the second maps out the ecosystem of the product. Neither of these tools generate outputs of their own. Rather they both are techniques for creating a visual scaffold that allows evaluation using existing methods of analysis. It is this analysis that that generates empirical data that can be used as guidance for the design process. For example, once a product ecosystem map has been created for a product it can be used to rank the other entities based on the amount of value that they provide the product. This can be useful in deciding which entities to optimise the product for. As is often the case with design, judgement is required to determine what level of analysis is required. The two visual scaffolds created can also be described as maps of the value network. The evolutionary diagram represents the longitudinal value network and the ecosystem map represents the current or proposed value network. Whilst analysis of each of the nodes identifies the values gained from other entities in the ecosystem or how value is added over time, in practice it seems that this level of empirical data is not always required. It seems the process of creating these maps allows a designer to visualise the context in which a new product might lie. This is similar to other techniques used in product design such as Persona creation. It is not necessary to analyse the persona empirically to be of use, rather it is the process of creating a Persona and the ability to visualise that person’s archetype using the product that makes the technique useful. The nascent techniques of creating evolutionary diagram and ecosystem mapping need further evaluation to determine the usefulness in the design process. Initially this evaluation will take place with students, as the turnover of projects is typically more rapid when compared to professional projects. Refinement will be an important part of this process. Once an effective and reliable tool has been developed, this should be evaluated with professional projects.
Conclusion The need for tools to help design and configure ecosystems is becoming more apparent as products become increasingly interconnected. The “Internet of Things� promises a level of functionality for many products that was impossible until recently. Simultaneously the way that we interact with products is changing significantly as well. This suggests that Industrial Designers will find a decrease in emphasis from traditional areas of aesthetics, form and ergonomics to that of interaction and ecosystems. This follows a progression in the way that we interact with products. When Industrial Design was a new discipline, product interaction was typically with levers and handles. With the increase in electronic products, interaction involved knobs and switches. We are now moving into an era where interaction is through gestures and touch, increasingly remote from the product. Whilst ergonomics and form have been the subject of design research for many years, interaction and ecosystems are relatively new subjects and therefore adequate tools are lacking. This will require an
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approach to product design that is a significant departure from the traditional approach and this research aims to help fill the gap in knowledge. As previously mentioned, this paper is part of a wider research program investigating product ecosystems. It is still a work in progress that has been initially tested with industrial design student’s design projects and further research is required in order to provide a fully resolved tool (or tools) for use in design practice. Future research in this area is to investigate mapping ecosystems to identify either a suitable way to plot out all types of ecosystems or to identify different categories of ecosystems and develop mapping methods for each. Our initial research with design students suggests that there are different types of ecosystems that will require different approaches although it might be possible to develop a unified approach. The next area is to qualify and perhaps even quantify the flow of value within ecosystems. As product ecosystems are often very complex this would appear to be a very time consuming task. However it may be that only certain types of value links need to be evaluated. Further research in this area is required.
References Carlson, C. S. (2014). Understanding and Applying the Fundamentals of FMEAs. Christensen, C. M. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma. Business (Vol. 1). Harvard Business School Press. Retrieved from https://www.opac.unierlangen.de/webOPACClient/search.do?methodToCall=quickSearch&Kateg=0&Content=2324510 &fbt=7955401-2836663 Crawford, C. M., & Tellis, G. J. (1981). To Evolutionary Approach Product, 45(4), 125–132. DeSarbo, W. S., Jedidi, K., & Sinha, I. (2001). Customer value analysis in a heterogeneous market. Strategic Management Journal, 22(9), 845–857. http://doi.org/10.1002/smj.191 Gould, S. J., & Eldredge, N. (1993). Punctuated Equilibrium comes of age. Nature, 366(6452), 223– 227. http://doi.org/10.1038/366223a0 Massey, G. R. (1999). Product evolution: a Darwinian or Lamarckian phenomenon? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 8(4), 301–318. http://doi.org/10.1108/10610429910284292 Mitchell, W. J., Borroni-Bird, C., & Burns, L. D. (2010). Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century. Amazon. MIT Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=32Nbb26J9iEC Oldroyd, D. R. (1986). Charles Darwin ’ s Theory of Evolution: A Review of our Present Understanding. Darwin, 1, 133–168. Pardeshi, G., Shirke, A., & Jagtap, M. (2010). SWOT Analysis. Security (Vol. 33). http://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.43233 Rich, N., & Holweg, M. (2000). N u e l u a l. INNOREGIO: dissemination of innovation and knowledge management techniques. Sanchez-Fernandez, R., & Iniesta-Bonillo, M. a. (2007). The concept of perceived value: a systematic review of the research. Marketing Theory, 7(4), 427–451. http://doi.org/10.1177/1470593107083165 SAVE International Value Standard. (2015). Value Methodology. SAVE International Value Standard, (March). Savoia, A. (2014). FAILURE : ANALYZE IT , DON’T HUMANIZE IT.
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Tobias, J. (2007). Accessibility and Product Ecosystems. The Information Society, 23(3), 183–186. http://doi.org/10.1080/01972240701323598 Verganti, R. (2009). Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean. Harvard Business Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=rpaj0vLzPRkC&pgis=1 Williams, T. (2014). Developing a transdisciplinary approach to improve urban traffic congestion based on Product Ecosystem theory. In The Sustainable City IX : Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, (pp. 723–733.). Williams, T. (2015). Using the evolution of consumer products to inform design . Brisbane. Williams, T., & Chamorro-koc, M. (2013a). Product Ecosystems : An emerging methodological approach to study the implementation of disruptive innovations : The case of the CityCar, 1, 1297– 1306. Williams, T., & Chamorro-koc, M. (2013b). The theory of Product Ecosystems as a means to study disruptive innovations : The case of the CityCar. In IASDR 2014 (pp. 1–11). Zhou, F., Xu, Q., & Jiao, R. J. (2010). Fundamentals of product ecosystem design for user experience. Research in Engineering Design, 22(1), 43–61. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-010-0096-z
About the Authors: Tim Williams comes from a practice-led background with extensive experience in applied design. Particularly design for manufacture. His research interests are in transportation design, disruptive innovation and product ecosystem theory. Dr Chamorro-Koc’s main areas of interests are: User experience and context-of-use; issues for the design of user-product interactions; Human factors and product usability; Interface design of design tools; Design process
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Vision Concepts within the landscape of design research Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento*, Gert Pasman and Pieter Jan Stappers Delft University of Technology *J.R.MejiaSarmiento@tudelft.nl DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.390
Abstract: In the landscape of design research, several techniques of speculative design -or design about ideas- have been positioned, each with a different time frame. Design Fiction and Critical Design, for instance, emerged as making activities that explore the near and the speculative future, respectively. We previously defined Vision Concepts as a design-led technique that explores and communicates speculative futures. Even though Vision Concepts, such as long-term concept cars and products, have been part of the industry since 1938, previous work has failed to identify and understand them from the design research perspective or compared them with other speculative design techniques. This study intends to identify which spot Vision Concepts occupies within the landscape of design research. To that end, we developed a multiple case analysis that includes examples of Vision Concepts, Design Fiction, and Critical Design. This paper will help design researchers identify the similarities and differences between Vision Concepts and the other speculative design techniques and gain knowledge about when and why to apply this technique. Keywords: vision concepts; concept cars; speculative design; design fiction; critical design
Introduction In recent years, design has increasingly been applied as an instrument to challenge and speculate about future technological and societal developments, rather than merely as a method to develop durable goods. Under the umbrella of ‘speculative design’ (Auger, 2012), different techniques have emerged that help designers step away from the constraints of the current marketplace and enter into a fictional world that allows for future thinking, questioning, and dreaming. These techniques typically use design as a catalyst to start a discourse about the desirability of a new product or to open up the discussion about social implications of new technology. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento, Gert Pasman and Pieter Jan Stappers
The resulting physical and/or digital manifestations of these techniques are not meant to be considered in their own right, but rather as provocations or stimuli, that should trigger and inspire people to consider their ideas concerning the future. Two representative forms of speculative design are Design Fiction and Critical Design. The first one, Design Fiction, is a technique to develop "micro futures-studies [focus] on the everyday life, its short-term evolutions, and the standard objects or services that might fill these possible futures” (Girardin, 2015). It has been explored by researchers and design practitioners such as the Near Future Laboratory, a design agency that develop fictional objects (e.g. magazines, newspapers, and product catalogs) through workshops with clients, where they ask questions about the application of future technologies. The second one, Critical Design, “uses speculative design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions, and givens about the role products play in everyday life” (Dunne & Raby, 2013). It is extensively studied in academia, as the Design Interactions program at Royal College of Art, where designers such as Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Revital Cohen, or Sputnik, among others, deliver unconventional artifacts to ask questions about the means of some specific human situations. So far, these two speculative design techniques have been applied mainly within the design research and art community. In our previous study, we identified and analyzed a third, and older, future-oriented design technique, called Vision Concepts, which is typically used as a futures study technique within the business context of large corporations (Mejia, Simonse & Hultink, 2016). Vision Concepts embody future opportunities and ideas that are outside a company’s ordinary product portfolio (Ny & Thott, 2005; Berlitz & Huhn, 2005; and Keinonen & Takala, 2010). A wellknown example of a Vision Concept is the Concept Car, which has been used in the car industry since 1938 as an ‘experimental artifact’ (as defined by Styhre, Backman, & Börjesson, 2005) to explore and shape the future. Car companies use Concept Cars as inhouse testbeds to study and develop new technologies, materials, and interactions and also use them as (expensive) showcases to demonstrate their innovation capabilities to the general public. As a result, Concept Cars can influence a large number of parties involved in innovation, both inside and outside the company (Mejia, Hultink, Pasman & Stappers, 2016). If we consider its future-orientation and intention, Vision Concepts, could be placed under the umbrella term speculative design, but it also has some characteristics that distinguish it from Design Fiction and Critical Design. This paper aims to identify and clarify these characteristics to position Vision Concepts as a relevant future-oriented design technique as well as to reflect on its potential value for contexts other than product development in large corporations.
Different forms of speculative design Speculative design is an area of design research, presents in different design disciplines, where design is about ideas, not -factual- products. It produces artefacts, which are not
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intended to be mass-produced. Both Auger (2012) and Dunne and Raby (2013) distinguish speculative design from other design techniques as a space containing different forms of design that all happen when designers use fictional or imaginary worlds, thereby creating a space of challenges free from the restrictions of commercial products and separate from the marketplace. These imaginary worlds take place in alternative presents or diverse types of futures. Through the different forms of speculative design, designers facilitate “a dreaming process that unlocks people’s imagination” (Dunne & Raby, 2013) asking what-if questions and developing alternative visions. Speculative designers “use fictitious objects at the core of [their enquiries]” (Auger, 2012) as a way to trigger discussions (Mollon & Gentes, 2014) with a broad audience. Several authors have looked at the aims these speculative designs serve and found that they can function as a form of thinking, questioning and dreaming (Auger, 2012), as provocation and critique (Hales, 2013), and according to Dunne and Raby (2013) as inspiration, aesthetic exploration, speculation about possible futures, and catalyst for change. The three forms of speculative design studied in this paper are Design Fiction, Critical Design, and Vision Concepts.
2.1 Design Fictions Bleecker (2009) coined the notion of Design Fiction as a “prototyping technique tailored to facilitating conversations about the near future [3-5 years]”. It is a form of speculative design influenced by science fiction, the stories about an imagined future, in which “narrative and technology converge” (Hales, 2013). As a technique, Design Fiction stands on the intersection of futures studies and design, as a form of “forward thinking intervention” (Sterling, n.d.) or “micro futures studies” (Near Future Laboratory, 2015b). Designers make Design Fiction proposals either as self-initiated projects or as assignments for clients. Their goal is to “forge a discursive space where design insights emerge” (Lindley and Potts, 2014). The end is to grab public attention and to influence the audience’s thoughts about the future (Sterling, n.d.). Near Future Laboratory (2015b) defines its process as informal and experimental where "designers can create and embody new possible futures" (Grand and Wiedmer, 2010). The results of this design form of envisioning are prototypes of common artefacts of tomorrow, which are part of short-term futures (Grand & Wiedmer, 2010), and a short film, which presents a story based on individuals’ relation with the prototypes in a fictional world. Both, the video and the prototypes are used in workshops with clients, or other involved people, as means of communication. Designers use them in two different ways, as a form of representing the concept in a tangible manner, and as a mean of intervening, stimulating the discussion about the future (Hales, 2013).
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2.2 Critical Design Dunne (1999) coined the term Critical Design, which offers an alternative to how things are, unlike affirmative design, which reinforces how things are now. He argues that designers produce these proposals to make people reflect “on existing values, mores, and practices in a culture [thereby] provoking new ways of thinking about the object, its use, and the surrounding environment” (1999). It is a form of design influenced by radical design that is a design movement developed in Italy in the 60s and 70s, in which designers make independent design proposals as a critic of the existing state of affairs. Independent designers make this kind of proposals working with other professionals through a systematic investigation that, in combination with other design actions, produce provocative artifacts exhibited in art and design galleries. The results of this form of speculative design are “artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on consumer culture [...] to challenge the audience’s preconceptions and expectations” (Dunne & Raby, 2013). These unusual artifacts use the language of design to ‘touch’ their audience, triggering discussions within the design and art community. Instead of the artifact itself, the value of the project resides in its ability to encourage people to question in an imaginative way.
2.3 Vision Concepts In our previous studies, we described Vision Concepts as a type of probe1 made by organizations, as part of specialized, non-commercial portfolios, which serve to explore new technologies and styling and communicate a possible, plausible, probable, and preferable future (Mejia, Hultink, Pasman & Stappers, 2016). More than just isolated design exercises; Vision Concepts are part of regular programs that “support the company´s strategic decision-making beyond the range of product development” (Keinonen & Takala, 2010). Vision Concepts are a ‘futures study’ technique, that helps companies to perceive, interpret and respond to change, thereby discovering opportunities and risks in the future, which helps them make decisions about the present. As part of in-house interdisciplinary teams, which are part of large corporations, the designers, through a hands-on process, experiment with several sketches, prototypes, and narratives. These different media embody several ideas, making the ideas concrete and actionable (Mejia, Simonse & Hultink, 2016). The outcomes of this form of speculative design are a prototype and other types of visualizations. The prototype, which is a high-resolution model, and the other visualizations (such as videos, pictures and diagrams) are "used by organizations to explore and present new ideas of the interplay between products and users in the future” (Mejia, Hultink, Pasman & Stappers, 2016). These elements together are showcased in commercial
1
Philips (2015) define -design- probes as a dedicated far-future research initiative to track “trends and developments that could ultimately evolve into mainstream issues and that could significantly impact lifestyles and business”. The probes generate insights from research in different areas.
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exhibitions to the media and the public at large. They stimulate conversations about the future within the company, and outside the company, communicate the company's future direction (Ibid) grabbing diverse people's attention. To understand how these three speculative design techniques differ, we will start placing Design Fiction and Critical Design within the landscape of design research proposed by Sanders and Stappers. In the next section, we will describe Sanders’ landscape, and we will place the two techniques there.
Speculative design within the landscape of design research In her original landscape of design research, Sanders (2006) describes Critical Design as a place where “the designer is the expert who creates things to probe or provoke response” from their audience. Later, in 2014, Sanders and Stappers identified new forms of design and making activities, which differ with regards to their time-frames, such as Design Fiction and Critical Design. These activities, they argue, “can be used in the early phase of the design process for making sense of the future, as vehicles for collectively exploring, expressing and testing hypotheses about future ways of living” (Sanders & Stappers, 2014). Figure 1 positions these types of design across (i) the different time-frames: the world as it is, the near future, and the speculative future; and (ii) the design intent: provoking, engaging and serving people. Sanders and Stappers (2014) position Design Fiction mid-way between engaging and provoking, on the outside ring of the speculative future. Critical Design is located in the center of provoking, on the middle ring of near future. In the next section, we will locate Vision Concepts within the landscape of design research, by comparing it to Design Fiction and Critical Design. We will look at their different timeframes and their design intent, among other dimensions, integrated into a POP model. This model, developed by Jaffe and Alford (2013), offers a simple way to collect, organize, and analyze the data of cases in a systematic way. POP stands for purpose, outcome, and process. The model was used in a previous study as a framework to develop and structure the Vision Concept technique.
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Figure 1. The new techniques to design and making based on time-frames and design intent. In the inner ring, the world as it is, in the middle ring, the near future (e.g. the next generation), and in the outer ring, the speculative future (long-term). From left to right: design as a way to provoke, engage, or serve. Source: Sanders and Stappers (2014).
Prototypical examples of speculative design forms Through a multiple-case analysis, we positioned the speculative design techniques Vision Concepts, Design Fiction, and Critical Design in the design research landscape. The multiplecase analysis involves an examination of diverse subjects based on a set of criteria, which “enables the researcher to explore differences within and between cases� (Yin, 2003) with the aim to replicate findings across cases. As a first step, data from several existing speculative design projects was collected using various sources: web pages, press releases, specialized magazines and blogs (some including interviews with the designers), and books that refer to these projects. The resulting collection was then narrowed down to six illustrative examples, two for each technique, based on the degree in which the case represented the respective technique as well as on the amount, type, and quality of information available. Table 1 presents an overview of the six examples selected.
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Table 1 Overview of the six examples of speculative design Vision Concept Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion by Daimler AG, 2015
Bio-digester kitchen island, part of the Microbial Home by Philips, 2011
The F015 Luxury in Motion is a self-driving concept car designed for the City of the Future 2030+. The concept car is part of the "F series research vehicles”, which are part of the portfolio "Mercedes-Benz Concept Vehicles—the Shape of the Future" (Daimler, 2015). As a research vehicle, it formulates the question how to enable people to do what they want or need to do?
“The bio-digester hub is designed as a kitchen island, which includes a chopping surface with vegetable waste grinder, a gas cooking range, a glass tank that shows energy reserves and glass elements showing pressure, volume and readiness of compost sludge” (Philips, 2015). The project asks questions about the viability of biological processes in our home and places of work.
Design Fiction Helios: Pilot, Quick Start Guide by Near Future Laboratory, 2015
Song of the Machine, a Lab Project by Superflux, 2011
“The Quick Start Guide of Amazon Helios: Pilot is a 14-page z-fold document from the near future” (Girardin, 2015). The document presents an introductory guide of a fictional self-driving car. The project asks questions like how does the car
The project proposes an alternative remedy for visually impaired people. A special virus would be injected to introduce new genes into their nerve cells. “The patient would then wear a headset that records and interprets the visual scene and
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pick up groceries?, and how do you activate and sends coded pulses of light to the retina. As a lock the “Child Safe Mode” for your teenage son single pulse of light can generate a single action to take to football practice? potential, the information encoded from the visual scene can be much more in tune with the neural song expected by the visual cortex” (Pavlus, 2011). The project asks questions like what if we could change our view of the world with the flick of a switch?, and how might you choose to ‘compose’ your vision of the world? Critical Design Digicars, part of the United Micro Kingdoms by Dunne & Raby, 2013
Respiratory Dog, from the series Life Support, by Revital Cohen, 2008
Digicar is an electric self-drive car, which is the main form of transport for digitarians, a fictional- society that is organized entirely by market forces. According to Dunne and Raby (2013) “digicar has evolved from being a vehicle for navigating space and time, to being an interface for navigating tariffs and markets". The project formulates questions about the way that products, services and systems are made and used.
Respiratory Dog is a project that "proposes using animals bred commercially for [...] entertainment as companions and providers of external organ replacement. The use of [...] retired working dogs, as life support ‘devices’ for [...] respiratory patients offers an alternative to inhumane medical technologies” (Cohen, and van Balen, 2008). The device that is connected to the dog, consists of “a working harness that uses the dog's rapid breath rate to pump a bellow and push air into a patient's lungs”, and a treadmill that includes the lure. The project asks questions like could animals be transformed into medical devices?, and could humans become parasites and live off another organism’s bodily functions?
We positioned each technique into the design research landscape of Sanders and Stappers, by integrating the dimensions used to construct this landscape (the different time-frames, the design intent, and the role of the designer and of the others) into the POP model mentioned in the previous section.
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Some relevant dimensions were then defined within each category of the POP model (see Table 2), as: Table 2 Dimensions within each category of the purpose, outcome, and process POP model
Parts
Notion
Source
Motive
Describes the general perspective in applying a technique.
The authors
Design intent
Reflects the mechanism used to achieve the Sanders and intended goal Stappers (2014)
Venue
A place where the prototype is shown
Purpose
The authors
Main audience The group of people targeted by the project Sanders and Stappers (2014) Main manifestation Outcome
Process
The form selected by the designer to share the concept
Sanders and Stappers (2014)
Other Additional mediums to support the sharing (Mejia, Hultink, manifestations process Pasman & Stappers, 2016) Approach
The driver behind the project
Type of team
The team that develops the project
Role of the designer
The role of the designers who are part of the team
Role of others
The role of other people that are part of the team
(Mejia, Simonse & Hultink, 2016)
These dimensions were subsequently categorized into a few discrete values. For example, “Time-frame” was classified as “World as it is”, “Near future” and “Speculative future”. Each of the six cases was then coded on all dimensions, resulting in a table of comparison (Table 3).
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Results Table 3 Comparison between six different examples of speculative design. POP stands for purpose, outcome, and process. Vision concept
P
Critical design
MercedesBenz F 015 Luxury in Motion
Bio-digester kitchen island
Helios: Pilot, Quick Start Guide
Song of the Machine
Digicars
Respiratory Dog
Time-frame
Speculative future
Speculative future
Near future
Near future
Speculative future
Near future
Motive
Businessoriented
Businessoriented
Non businessoriented
Non businessoriented
Non businessoriented
Non businessoriented
Design intent
Engage
Engage & provoke
Engage & provoke
Engage & provoke
Provoke
Provoke
Venue
Consumer exhibition
Design exhibition
Website
Museum/ gallery
Museum/ gallery
Design exhibition
Main audience
Media, car enthusiast, and general public
Media, design community, and general public
Media and design researchcommunity
Media and design researchcommunity
Media and design & art community
Media and design & art community
Main manifestation
Fully working prototype
Non-working prototypes
Fully working prototype
Video
Scale models
Nonworking prototypes
Other manifestations
Pictures, diagrams, videos, and texts
Pictures, diagrams, videos, and texts
Non-working prototypes
Pictures, diagrams, videos, and texts
Pictures, a diagram, and a text
Approach
Businessdriven
Businessdriven
Researchdriven
Researchdriven
Researchdriven
Researchdriven
Type of team
In-house special design team
In-house special design team
Independent design team
Independent design team
Independent design team
Independe nt design team
Role of the designer
Leader and team-member
Leader and teammember
Leader and team-member
Leader and team-member
Leader and team-member
Leader
O
P
Design fiction
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Role of others
Multidisciplin ary team
Team with external advisors
Multidisciplin ary team
Multidisciplin ary team
Multidisciplin ary team
MercedesCommunicati Near Future Song of the The United Benz R&D ons, Philips Laboratory Machine Micro Source (2015); Design (2015); Near (2011); Song Kingdoms Daimler (2011); Future of the (2013); Dunne (2015); Philips Laboratory Machine and Raby, Mercedes(2013); (2015b); (2011b); (2013); Dunne Table 2 shows the comparison six (2015) prototypical examplesPavlus of speculative design. Benz (2015); of the Philips Girardin (2011); and Raby Mercedes(2015) Raford (2012) (2013b); Rossi Benz (2015b) (2013)
5.1. Purpose
Team with external advisors Cohen and van Balen (2008); Darlaston (2011); Bates (2011); Etheringto n (2009)
When it comes to motive, there is a clear distinction between the two Vision Concept examples and the Design Fiction and Critical Design examples. Vision Concepts are currently primarily developed within large companies, since their present form requires considerable resources in terms of budget, people, and time. As they are primarily used in a business environment, this implies that the knowledge and exposure gained through a Vision Concept should directly benefit the company’s competitive position. In the case of the MercedesBenz F 015 Luxury in Motion, for instance, Daimler’s main intent is to show its leading position in regards to self-driven cars, building its brand image in relation to this significant business trend. According to Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, the company is sharing this experimental vehicle to stimulates the dialog about autonomous cars. Daimler claims that their Concept Cars feature innovative technology that enter into a dialog with customers, inspiring the market and helping them sound out customer interest (MercedesBenz, 2015). Design Fiction and Critical Design, on the other hand, are mainly applied within the context of a design research lab, a design agency, or even created by an individual designer. These contexts are usually unable to free up the amount of resources that a Vision Concept requires. Moreover, when applying these design techniques, their main motive is not to make money, but to generate awareness, raise concerns or challenge values about (the use of) new, emerging, and future technologies, products and services. That difference in motive is apparent, for instance, in the Song of the Machine case. In that case, Superflux, a collaborative design practice, and Dr. Denegaar, an optogenetics researcher at Newcastle University, collaborated with the intention to design for the ‘imminently probable’. They sought to explore the design possibilities and near-future implications of emerging technologies on people, culture, and the environment. At the core of this discussion was “a conscious awareness of the substantial difference between this hybrid optoelectronic system and the ‘closed’ technology of bionic implants” (Song Of The Machine, 2011b). The ‘design intent’ dimension shows a similar, though less strict distinction. Vision Concepts are designed to engage the general public about the brand and the innovative and futureoriented character of the company. As a consequence, exposure to the outside world (which will be discussed in more detail later) is directed completely towards communicating this
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positive image, using design primarily as an aesthetic tool to attract attention and polish the message. Design Fiction and Critical Design, however, both use design as an instrument to challenge and provoke, resulting in representations that are usually less polished and sometimes even uncomfortable to experience. Although Design Fiction mostly tries to at least wrap its provoking message into an engaging video or appearance, as with both Helios and Song of the Machine, Critical Design typically uses a more confrontational and direct approach. The Respiratory Dog case, for instance, presents the somewhat unusual prospect of a retired greyhound acting as a human prosthesis in the form of a piece of art. The differences in motive and design intent also lead to differences in the ‘main audience’ that is targeted as well as the venue that is used to present the results. Vision Concepts are generally aimed at large audiences and are therefore typically showcased at big commercial events, to generate as much attention and exposure as possible. This is why the Philips Biodigester Kitchen Island was displayed in a large design gallery during the yearly Dutch Design Week. Interestingly enough, the Mercedes Benz F 015 did not make its world premiere at a motor-show, but at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, thereby emphasising its electronic innovativeness rather than the typical car characteristics, like styling and horsepower. Design Fiction and Critical Design are more targeted to a smaller group of specialized people, usually within the design research and art community. These are communities with a lively discourse that expresses itself through blogs, magazines, and (scholarly) events. As a consequence, both techniques require less promotional efforts, but their results are also less apparent to the general public.
5.2. Outcomes Essential to all three techniques are the manifestations they use to communicate their results to the outside world. Overall, a difference was identified, going from very detailed, full-scale prototypes in Vision Concepts, that leave little to the imagination, to open-ended probes in Critical Design, that provoke the audience to actively create their own impressions. Since Vision Concepts are aimed at large and diverse audiences, they typically use a variety of rich visualizations with different levels of detail and fidelity. In the case of the MercedesBenz F 015 Luxury in Motion project, its main manifestation is a fully working prototype, a car that can actually be driven and experienced. In addition, a host of other manifestations, such as glossy pictures, diagrams, videos, and texts were created and distributed as press kits for maximum exposure. In the Philips case, the displayed prototypes were nonfunctional, but full-scale and highly detailed. Design Fiction’s main manifestation is typically a video, as in the Song of the Machine case. Because of its visual richness and inherent narrative structure, a video provides designers with the opportunity to merge the richness of today’s everyday life with the possibilities of the near future in a believable and compelling way. Another example of how Design Fiction
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seeks to blend the future with the present is the Quick Start Guide produced in the Helios case, which was rather conventional in its representation (though not in its content). The Near Future Laboratory, which designed the Quick Start Guide, started with a broad spectrum of questions that guided them into a discussion about generic interactions with a fictitious car, with detailed definitions of these interactions but without the definition of the actual product or its technical requirements. Creating the guide was thus considered more of an exercise that provided room for conversations about the topic, rather than an end in itself. While Vision Concepts and, to a lesser extent, Design Fiction generally are aimed at presenting a ‘comprehensive’ picture, Critical Design intentionally leaves blank spaces which need to be filled in by the audience. In the Digicar case, for example, the outcomes were presented by means of small-scale models, which were supplemented by “sparing quantities of supporting material [which] evoke a society by themselves” (Moore, 2013). Again, the models used here were intended as vehicle for speculation about potential scenarios of transportation in an imaginary country.
5.3. Process All six cases are clearly design-led projects, in which design is used as the main instrument to achieve the desire goal. When it comes to the role of the (individual) designer, though, there appears to be a clear distinction between Vision Concepts, driven from a strategic and business-oriented perspective, and Design Fiction and Critical Design, which use a noncommercial and research-oriented view. Vision Concepts are typically created by an in-house design team within a company context, in which the resulting outcomes should primarily reflect the image and values of the brand rather than those of the designer. By contrast, Design Fiction and Critical Design especially seem to be much more driven from a designer’s personal stance and opinions. In the cases of the Digicars and the Respiratory Dog, for instance, the names of the designers are explicitly stated; the designers who created the Mercedes Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion and the Philips Bio-digester Kitchen Island remain anonymous.
Discussion The diagram below presents the location of Vision Concepts, Design Fiction, and Critical Design, as making activities, within the landscape of design research as proposed by Sanders and Stappers. The three speculative design techniques we compared encompass the three different time-frames. They use fictional time-frames as a mechanism to unlock the imagination, gain a fresh perspective on reality, and to escape from the constraints imposed by the market. While the speculative future opens possibilities, designers establish a distinct
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area of interest, as a scope for the project, which guarantees that they remain focused during the exploration and the discussion. Based on our findings, we suggest to reposition Design Fiction and Critical Design. Design Fiction should be moved from the speculative future to the near future in response to its interest in mundane short-term speculations. It is now located in the central quadrant just in the middle of Embodied Interaction and Critical Design, mediating between technology and its impact. Design Fiction is also mid-way between engaging and provoking, producing videos and other types of visualizations that both attract and challenge design research and art communities. Critical Design can cover a wider variety of times, ranging from alternative presents to speculative futures. It is clearly in the provoking area, making unpleasant proposals presented as rough prototypes and other type of visualizations to trigger reactions.
Figure 2 The spot of Vision Concepts, Design Fiction, and Critical Design within the landscape of design across time scales.
Vision Concepts would be positioned on the outside layer of speculative future, while concentrating on a particular domain. These two characteristics are consistent with their business-oriented approach, taking into account the type of business and the market dynamics, as well as the domain in regards to its strategic direction, e.g. fifteen years into the future for automakers within the domain of private mobility solutions. The design intent of Vision Concepts is to engage the public at large in commercial shows through refined visualizations that convey positive images that benefit the business. Overall, we found that while the three techniques are all future-oriented and design-led, they clearly differ in terms of intention and character. Because of its business context, Vision Concepts is mainly oriented on generating strategic value for a company. As a consequence, its perspective on the future tends to be on the safe side, resulting in outcomes that are
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mostly in line with the brand and mainly presented and discussed within the limited scope of the domain in which the company operates. Critical Design and Design Fiction, on the other hand, are not bound by commercial restrictions and are thus able to generate scenarios that are more challenging and disruptive, addressing certain issues from different viewpoints (social, cultural, technological, environmental, or economical) other than a commercial one. This freedom also enables designers to actively facilitate and engage in the discussion that should result from their work. Unlike design as a problem-solving strategy, where the design process has a (commercial) product as the end result, in speculative design, designers make prototypes and other visualizations as means (of communication). The end goal, then, is to engage and (or) provoke a discussion about a well-bounded domain. To do this, designers explore the future to develop a set of neat ideas: a concept. The concept is deployed in a narrative for a certain audience and shared through different manifestations, combining prototypes and other type of visualizations. The chosen audience depends on the domain and the purpose, and is divided into three: the media, the specialized public, and the general public. For our future research on Vision Concepts as a speculative design technique, we will further explore what it can learn from Design Fiction and Critical Design. By looking at the ways in which these techniques with limited resources challenge the existing status quo, our aim is to bring Vision Concepts from the current niche of large enterprises to the much larger domain of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An interesting direction could be the collaboration between a design studio and an SME, in which the design studio uses Vision Concepts as a speculative design technique, to explore, communicate, and discuss the SME’s preferable futures. We are currently developing a Vision Concepts toolkit, which we will soon evaluate with several SMEs. Acknowledgements: This research is supported by the Colombian Government’s Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation—Colciencias.
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Mollon, M., and Gentes, A. (2014) The Rhetoric of Design for Debate: triggering conversation with an “uncanny enough” artifact. Proceedings DRS 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.drs2014.org/media/655218/0411-file1.pdf Near Future Laboratory (2015). Home, Products, Helios Quick Start Guide [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://nearfuturelaboratory.myshopify.com/products/helios-pilot-quick-start-guide Near Future Laboratory (2015b). Pilote Quick Start Guide by Near Future Laboratory [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://qsg.nearfuturelaboratory.com/ Near Future Laboratory (2015c). Clarify Today, Design Tomorrow. Our Approach of Design Fiction [Blog]. Retrieved from http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2015/07/28/our-approach-of-designfiction/ The United Micro Kingdoms (2013). [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.unitedmicrokingdoms.org/ Ny, J., and Thott, N. (2005). Incorporating the future. Retrieved from http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1344978&fileOId=2434132 Pavlus, J. (2011). What if a virus could let blind people see in infrared? [Digital Magazine]. Retrieved from http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663998/what-if-a-virus-could-let-blind-people-see-ininfrared Philips (2013). Microbial Home [Video]. Retrieven from http://youtu.be/dM0WYdkKlu8 Philips (2015). Philips Design. Retrieved from: http://www.design.philips.com/ Raford, N. (2012). Three Good Examples of Design Fiction [Blog]. Retrieved from http://noahraford.com/?p=1349 Rossi, C. (2013). United Micro Kingdoms: A Design Fiction [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2013/06/28/united_micro_kingdomsadesignfiction.html Sanders, E. B. N., and Stappers, P. J., (2014). Probes, toolkits and prototypes: three approaches to making in codesigning. CoDesign, 10(1), 5-14. Sanders, E. B. N., and Stappers, P. J., (2008). “Co-creation and the New Landscapes of Design.” CoDesign 4 (1): 5–18. Sanders, E.B. N., (2006). Design research in 2006. Design research quarterly, 1 (1), 1–8. Sterling, Bruce. (n.d.). “Futurism : Design Fiction for Media Philosophers.” Accessed January 2013. Available at http://www.egs.edu/faculty/brucesterling/lectures/. Styhre, A., Backman, M., and Börjesson, S. (2005). The Gendered Machine: Concept Car Development at Volvo Car Corporation. Gender, Work & Organization, 12(6), 551–571. Song of the Machine (2011). [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://superflux.in/work/song-machine Song of the Machine (2011b). [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://superflux.in/blog/song-of-themachine-in-depth Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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About the authors: Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento is an innovation consultant specialized in product and service design. He is a doctoral fellow at the ID-StudioLab where he is experimenting with the design of Vision Concepts to explore and communicate the future of SMEs. Gert Pasman is senior lecturer of Design Techniques, focusing on tools and techniques to support designers in the early phases of the design process. His main research interest is in the use of video as a generative design tool. Pieter Jan Stappers is professor of Design Techniques, focusing on tools and techniques to support designers in the early phases of the design process. His publications focus on the topics of user research, especially ‘contextmapping’, and research through design methodology.
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Visual conversations on urban futures. Participatory methods to design scenarios of liveable cities Serena Pollastri*, Rachel Cooper, Nick Dunn and Chris Boyko Lancaster University * s.pollastri@lancaster.ac.uk DOI: 10.21606/drs.2016.436
Abstract: Visualisations of future cities usually depict coherent scenarios that rarely express the complexity of urban life. Our research explores ways to articulate conflicts and diversities, rather than mitigate them, when reflecting on possible futures for urban life. We define Visual Conversations on Urban Futures as visualisations of future scenarios that utilise visual methods to generate, facilitate, and represent dialogues of multiple voices imagining possible futures for life in the city. This paper will introduce our research on this topic and reflect on a number of significant examples to draft a description of methods and processes of Visual Conversations on Urban Futures. It will then present three design experiments in which we adopted this approach in the context of interdisciplinary academic research on possible scenarios for urban futures. Finally, as this is an ongoing research project, we will suggest a number of open questions and possibilities for further practical and theoretical exploration. Keywords: visualisations; urban futures; scenarios; participatory design.
Introduction: imaginary urban futures This paper is part of a broader research study that reflects on the role that visualisations can play in supporting interdisciplinary research on urban futures and in orienting design processes. In particular we ask: how can the diversity that characterises the city be represented in visions of future, to give voice to different, often diverging ways of living and experiencing it? How do these visualisations contribute to inclusive design and research actions aimed at envisioning, prototyping, and reflecting on possible scenarios for liveable cities?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Serena Pollastri, Rachel Cooper, Nick Dunn and Chris Boyko
A look at the history of visualisations suggests that visions of futures can be much more than stylistic exercises. Visualisations of future cities contribute to our social imaginary. They can, and have been used as speculative objects for imagining new possible ways of living as communities (Dunn et al., 2014). The history of the United Kingdom, where this study takes place, is rich with examples in which visual methods are used to imagine and reflect on futures of cities. Howard’s diagram of Garden Cities of Tomorrow published in 1898, and contemporary of Booth’s map of poverty in London, is perhaps the most well-known and influential example of future city vision. As a radical alternative to overcrowded Victorian British cities Howard proposed a vision of a hybrid town that combined aspects of urban and country life. Plans, maps and diagrams were used to address social issues as much as to make the yet to be realised vision tangible to the reader. The search for new models of urbanism aimed at reinventing new ways of living in cities and towns, became even more relevant after the Second World War, when the need for rebuilding cities, their economy, and their social structure, further encouraged analysis and imaginative visual experimentations. Though often grounded on spatial models of urban forms, the key theme in UK future cities visualisation is their fundamentally civic nature (Dunn et al. 2014). From the egalitarian plans for London envisaged by Foreshaw and Abercrombie (1943), to the neighbourhoods of connected communities that Alison and Peter Smithson opposed to Corbusian visions of divided cities, to Archigram’s playful reconfigurable cities, the first few decades of post-war Britain were effectively a laboratory for the social imagination of new ways of living. While some of these visions developed into concrete plans for neighbourhoods, housing projects or new towns, others have never been realised, but played an important role in the debate on urbanism. Images of the future are products of the cultural context in which they are created. At the same time, they can have a significant influence on the culture in which they are disseminated (Cook, 2012). Yet, the reflectivity of the highly contextual message and the place-making agency that these visions articulate often gets lost in more recent examples of future visions, particularly in the case of “smart cities”: generic, ahistorical, professedly apolitical spaces whose identity is defined by information technologies that could be adapted in any context (Greenfield, 2013; Hollands, 2008). In a moment in time in which cities are facing new challenges and are called once again to radical actions of systemic redesign and social restructuring, we aim to reclaim visions of urban futures as artefacts built through participatory methods that enable, support, and document localised social conversations on imaginary (yet attainable) utopias that radically question the present, and show what we think is impossible as possible (Levitas, 2013). But if visualisations are to be used in speculative and creative conversations, how do we represent disagreement and diversity of opinions and experiences? Our research focuses, in particular, on techniques and processes that allow divergent visions from various stakeholders to emerge. It explores ways of visualising possibilities for life in future cities
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that include and valorise plurality and agonism (DiSalvo, 2010), rather than present (as it usually happens) only one story. We call this approach “Visual Conversations on Urban Futures”. The following paragraph provides a working definition of Visual Conversations on Urban Futures, and reflects on the role that they can play in producing design-orienting scenarios. We will then describe three cases in which this approach have been adopted. In the conclusions of the paper, we will discuss open questions and suggestions for further research, as we see the need and potential for more studies and experimentation.
Visual Conversations on Urban Futures We define Visual Conversations on Urban Futures (VCUF) as visualisations of future scenarios that utilise visual methods and tools to articulate multiple voices discussing possible futures for life in the city. Latour’s actors-network theory inspired the development of a growing number of methods of mapping controversies of unfolding events and current matters of concern (Venturini, 2009; Venturini, Ricci, Mauri, Kimbell, & Meunier, 2015), but there is no established equivalent for mapping controversies and pluralism in imaginary futures. Talking about futures is always problematic: opinions count as much as facts, the boundaries of the spectrum of possibilities blur, and ideologies might substitute logic in driving choices. Furthermore, when urban life is the subject matter, very different experiences can coexist in the same space (as subjective or psychogeographic maps show). It is therefore challenging to design visualisations that can act as “macroscopes”(De Rosnay, 1979) that delve into complexity and represent it in ways that make it legible, understandable, and usable. But although there are no definitions or structured descriptions of Visual Conversations on Urban Futures, prototypes can be found in design, art, and architecture. These examples show the great variety of methods and media that have been adopted in participatory processes of imagining futures cities. To contribute to the discussion and the development of methods for VCUF, a significant part of our research consists in documenting those experiences that can be found in the literature and in various forms of art and design practice. Our growing online archive (https://subjectivefutures.wordpress.com/) shows an incredible and unexpected variety of ingenious methods adopted in different historical moments to visualise multiple voices debating possible urban futures.
2.1 100 years of Visual Conversations on urban futures. A selection of examples The earliest example listed in the archive dates back to 1919, when Bruno Taut initiated a secret correspondence project known as “The Chrystal Chain” (Whyte, 1985). This little known experience was aimed at extending the debate on utopian urban futures to German architects working outside Berlin. Drawings, ideas, questions and criticisms were exchanged
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in heavily annotated and visually dominated letters, produced and exchanged in a collaborative process regulated by strict rules. Between 1967 and 1978, a Parisian group of architects and social scientists started publishing their thoughts on contemporary and future urban life in the magazine “Utopie: Sociologie de l’Urbain”. This collective project was the material evidence of an ongoing dialogue that deliberately put ideological and iconographic differences on the foreground (Buckley & Violeau, 2011). The layout of the magazine was designed to visually reproduce this dialogue, with its fights, overlaps, and critiques. In particular, the “colonne critique” (critical column) was a visual device consisting of a large page margin containing texts and images that contradicted or problematized the content from the central column. Visual writing (through drawings or collages) was a predominant mode of expression in the first issues of the magazine (Colomina, 2010). A common frustration that members of Utopie encountered was the inability for them to move beyond the critique of the present and think constructively about the future. As Fredric Jameson once wrote: it is easier to imagine the end of the world than a radically different society (2003). Games have been found to help overcome this issue. Critical play, in particular, (Flanagan, 2013) can be adopted as a process to speculate about alternative futures. In the experience of play we are able to forget the present, suspend our disbelieve, and accept the rules and space of action defined in the game by voluntarily participating in the “magic circle” (Csikszentmilhalyi et al., 1982). Games have often been used as platforms to enable Visual Conversations on Urban Futures to happen. “World Without Oil” and “Maker Cities” are two recent examples of online multiplayer games developed by the Institute For The Future. Communication technologies have also been used to enable conversations, particularly through interactive platforms that users can contribute to by submitting comments or ideas. Imaginable Guidelines, for example, is an “open-platform collaboration tool” to involve citizens, municipalities, and advocacy groups in creatively rethinking their neighbourhoods. Although the project is based in Istanbul, users from around the world can submit design ideas for the cards that are used in idea-generation games. The aim of Imaginable Guidelines is not to seek for agreements, but to extend the conversation by producing more, often divergent, ideas for “imaginable” guidelines.
Experimenting with the approach in academic research on future cities. The examples introduced in the previous paragraph, as well as the many others that can be found on the online archive, show the great variety of contexts in which Visual Conversations on Urban Futures can be conducted. For this reason, rather trying to formalise a set of methods or detailed guidelines, we decided to contribute to the research on this approach through our practice. We have been conducting, documenting, and reflecting on a
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series of design experiments (Eriksen & Bang, 2013) in a specific context: interdisciplinary academic research on future cities. What initially brought the authors together was the involvement in several academic projects and programmes investigating scenarios and solutions for cities in the future. As part of larger interdisciplinary teams, one of our tasks was to translate the outcome from research and stakeholders involvement into visualisations of future cities. Rather than simply producing images to summarise and communicate a research project, we took this opportunity to explore the role that future visions developed as visual conversations could have in academic research. In particular, we focussed on: visual writing: by reflecting on how we can use visual language to represent complex and heterogeneous stories and ideas about the future in a way that enables the reader to explore future scenarios in a non linear way; participatory scenario making: in which one theme or idea is unpicked and reworked by multiple and heterogeneous actors enriching and problematizing a scenario; creative speculations: conversations to open up and expand the scope of research to include new, radical ideas that might challenge our assumptions.
Design experiments The following paragraphs describe three case studies in which we applied the VCUF approach to academic research. For the purpose of this paper, we will present each experiment as corresponding to one of the three models presented above. “Living in the city” (Paragraph 4.1) will describe an experimental project of translating a research paper into visual form (visual writing). The Sharing Cities case study in Paragraph 4.2 reflects on ways to use visual methods to involve a heterogeneous group of stakeholders in reflecting on the possibilities and implications of thinking of their city as a “sharing city” (participatory scenario making). Finally, in Paragraph 4.3 we will describe how we are using Visual Conversations to open up spaces for discussing imaginary cities of the future and explore how we might live in them (creative speculations).
4.1 Living In the City – an experiment in visual writing This paragraph introduces an experiment in using visual methods to represent research. In February 2014, the UK government Foresight Future of Cities project commissioned a team of researchers a report entitled “Living in the City”, to understand what would be possible scenarios for UK cities over the next 50 years. The published paper is concerned with the nature of city living, looks at how urban lives have changed in the last 40 years, and established a range of possible urban futures for the middle of this century. The report also
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sought to bring together different areas of research in the sociology of living the city that are normally thought of separately, in order to highlight their interdependencies. To help doing so, the publication included visual representations of each scenarios, designed in a way that made connections, flows, and correlations visible while highlighting the main features of the depicted futures (Urry et al., 2014).
4.1.1 Process The process of translation from the written to the visual form started with mapping the recurring ideas and categories in the main text. The information coded in this way was then organised in a layout that was used to produce preliminary sketches of the visualisation.
Figure 1 Coding of the research and early sketch of the visualised scenarios
The visualisations and the paper were produced almost simultaneously. Most of the reviews to the text were made through comments and additions to the Word document. It became evident that a similar process to collaboratively edit and comment on the visualisation needed to be created. A shared “Draw� document on Google Drive seemed to be a suitable way to involve researchers that are not familiar with graphic design techniques or software. The file created at this stage of the process included all the relevant elements of the visualisation, albeit in a very simplified way. Everyone with access to the file could both add comments and modify it. However, it must be noted that very few comments and edits have been made on the shared file by the group of authors.
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Figure 2 Shared sketch of the scenarios intended for remote collaboration and feedback
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4.1.2 Outcomes
Figure 3 The visual scenarios as presented in the report
The published version of the visualised scenarios can be seen in Figure 3.
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The paper grew by weaving together the contributions of four authors with different backgrounds and areas of expertise. The visualisations helped transform coherent narrative descriptions of the scenarios into an explorable map in which the different disciplinary areas are unpicked and made visible. For example, the reader could easily compare the patterns of mobility in the different scenarios. For this reason, the visualisations have, since their publication, been used independently from the paper to generate discussions in a number of workshops or presentations.
Liveable Cities as a context The following two projects have been carried out as part of the Liveable Cities programme, which is worth introducing briefly at this point to provide a context for the description. Liveable Cities is a five-year interdisciplinary programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). It involves engineering, social science, and design departments from five UK universities (University of Birmingham, Lancaster University, University College London, and University of Southampton). The core objective of Liveable Cities is “to transform the engineering of cities to deliver global and societal wellbeing within the context of low carbon living and resource security through developing realistic and radical engineering that demonstrates the concept of an alternative future” (“The Liveable Cities Project - Liveable Cities,” 2013.). Future thinking and future envisioning are key activities in the programme, and methods for Visual Conversations on Urban Futures have been used as part of the research in several occasions, such as the “Sharing Cities” thought experiment presented in paragraph 4.2 and the Future Visioning activities described in paragraph 4.3.
4.2 Sharing Cities – participatory scenario making to discuss a “what if?” “Sharing City” was a three month “thought experiment” aimed at developing scenarios of desirable and provocative urban futures in the form of social conversations to influence policy recommendations and new prototypes. Sharing cities are understood to be cities where sharing, commoning, and collaborating are the main paradigms (Gorenflo et al., 2013; Mclaren & Agyeman, 2015). Sharing cities have been described as a possible way forward to achieve “just sustainability” (Agyeman, 2013; Agyeman, McLaren, & Schaefer-Borrego, 2013). However, very little coherent, critical, published material is currently available on the topic, and existing literature often focus on specific aspects of sharing. Various, often conflicting actors have been using the term “sharing city”, such as local governments, grassroots initiatives, and sharing economy companies, with the aim of promoting their approach or lobbying for more permissive regulations. For this reason, the in-depth study that Liveable Cities conducted on the notion and possibilities of sharing cities included the development of platforms to give voice to groups of heterogeneous actors involved in initiatives of sharing. Sharing and collaborating are, in
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fact, dynamic and highly contextual activities, for which active participation is key. For this reason, understanding local assets and initiatives is a necessary preliminary step to the creation of scenarios of future possibilities.
4.2.1 Process (conversations) A set of methods for the creation of future scenarios of sharing cities as visual conversations was prototyped through a workshop that was conducted first in Lancaster and later on in the wards of Moseley and Kings Heath, in Birmingham. Each workshop was divided into two sections:  Mapping the sharing city: in which sharing is made visible and tangible, by mapping and outlining local initiatives of sharing and unveiling existing or potential connections between them.  Envisioning scenarios of sharing cities: connecting what happens now on a small, disconnected scale, to ideas on what would happen if these solutions were amplified, new services and infrastructures where created, and obstacles were removed.
Figure 4 Images from the "Sharing City" workshops. On the left: a participant contributes to the local map of sharing (Lancaster). On the right: designing scenarios for Moseley and Kings Heath (Birmingham) as sharing cities.
The workshops involved a series of hands-on activities of mapping and envisioning as well as moments of in-depth discussion. A delicate balance between structured formats and open discussions allowed us to capture a large number of information, some of which would not have been uncovered without the conversations that happened while producing the maps and the scenarios. We included these findings in the reports and visualisations produced after the workshops and distributed to the participants and the broader Liveable Cities research team. At the time of writing we are combining the outcomes from the workshops with the rest of the findings from the Sharing City project.
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Figure 5 Design process for creating localised scenarios of sharing cities
4.1.2 Outcomes The combination of open conversation and visual outputs allowed us and participants to understand the subtle, hard to map aspects of their experiences with sharing, while producing at the same time sets of tangible outputs to make ideas visible and usable in further conversations. The interactive report from the two workshops, which includes the maps of local sharing and the future scenarios can be downloaded from the Liveable Cities website: http://liveablecities.org.uk/outcomes/sharing-city-workshop-report
Figure 6 Reproduction of the interactive map that represents current sharing initiatives in Lancaster and in Birmingham’s wards of Moseley and Kings Heath.
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Figure 7 Poster of the scenario of Moseley and Kings Heath as a sharing city.
Using visual methods to facilitate and represent the sharing city allowed us to map different dimensions of sharing and combine and relate ideas about possible futures. Furthermore, it allowed us to communicate academic research and its relevance to a general audience.
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4.3 Future visioning – creative speculations on multiple futures The third case study that we are presenting as an example of using Visual Conversations on Urban Future as an approach to imagining and reflecting on alternative scenarios is the Future Visioning project that was organised as part of Liveable Cities. This research activity is divided into two parts: a series of co-creation workshops, and the analysis and visualisation of the outcomes; this phase is still ongoing. The Future Visioning research project aims to broaden the scope of academic research by involving a diverse group of leading experts in various sectors to imagine “unthinkable” urban scenarios for future cities. These scenarios seek to question our assumptions on what is desirable by highlighting conflicts, alternative solutions and unconventional ideas, as well as differences and commonalities in fears and aspirations. The outcomes from the research seek to inform design and engineering recommendations developed in the Liveable Cities programme. This research activity involves Visual Conversations at two moments: During the workshops. A series of tools and hands on activities have been designed to facilitate discussions in which participants imagine and represent cities and ways to live in cities that are radically different from now. For the analysis and communication of the outcomes. In order to explore the differences and similarities across issues discussed by different groups, visualisations are being used as the primary research outcome, rather than being used in combination with written reports.
4.3.1 Process Between February 2014 and June 2015 we conducted nine Future Visioning workshops. Each workshop was sector-specific, and involved experts discussing possible futures for the city in relation to their sector. The workshops were 2 hours long, to allow a number of activities and structured conversations to take place, while making it possible for busy professionals to participate. Enabling blue-sky thinking and the generation of radical ideas in such a short time was problematic. We wanted to push the conversation beyond the familiar and expected, and encourage participants to be as imaginative as possible. For this reason, several versions of the workshops had been designed, prototyped, and evaluated, before finding an engaging way to involve participants. The list of activities described below outlines the final structure of the workshop: Warm up: Participants were asked to think about what has significantly changed in their sector in the last 50 years. Time-limited negative Scenarios: In this exercise, participants worked in groups to answer the following question: What is the worst thing that could happen in the next 50 years to the city and/or to your sector?
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The future liveable city: This exercise was designed to stretch the participants’ imagination and push their time horizon. It was done in pairs, with each pair given four ‘Thinking cards’ to help them imagine what a future liveable city could be in terms of what that city would look like and where people would live fifty years from now. Silly ideas are encouraged and pairs could use different materials to visualise or explain their ideas. There are four types of “Thinking Cards” (environment, social aspects, economy and politics, and technology), and each card presents an issue that might become relevant in the future. These issues are included in the future low-carbon scenarios being developed as part of Liveable Cities, and are grounded in theory. This helped to contextualize the future imagined by participants within the Liveable Cities research framework. However, participants were free to question or reject the cards. The future city building: In this part of the workshop we focussed on the future of the sector in the city, fifty years from now. Participants were split into two groups, provided with an array of materials (e.g., coloured blocks to represent buildings, small people, tissue paper) and asked to design a future city from their own professional perspective, bearing in mind the scenarios they created and heard about in the previous activity. Specifically, the groups needed to consider consumption and production practices, what infrastructures would need to be in-place and what the general vision of the city would be.
Figure 8 Two moments from one of the future visioning workshops (with architects and urbanists). On the left: using the "Thinking Cards" to imagine life in the future cities. On the right: designing the city of the future.
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After each workshop photographs and transcriptions from the audio-recordings were combined in a report that was shared with participants and made available on the Liveable Cities website.
4.3.2 Outcomes Since a core objective of the Future Visioning activity is to include non-academic contributions in defining and creating radical scenarios for UK future “liveable� cities, a key part of the project is the design of communication artefacts that help integrate the outcomes from the workshop with the rest of the research. After attending the first few Future Visioning workshops, we started to recognise connections between what people would say and build across different sectors. Some ideas were recurring, others were described as problematic, and others were sector-specific. However, the connections that as a research team we could identify between the workshops, remained hidden in the reports that were produced as a first outcome. For this reason, we started experimenting with visual ways to translate the information into research outcomes. Unlike written reports, visualisations can enable the reader to move in and out levels of detail and complexity while exploring connections and controversies across visions in a non-linear way (Dondis, 1973; Manovich, 2011). At the moment of writing, we are building an atlas as a tool for the reader to explore issues, worries and creative ideas from the Future Visioning workshops by navigating the collection of maps of fictional cities. The atlas will be shared online upon its completion (expected before June 2016) on the Liveable Cities website: http://liveablecities.org.uk/.
Figure 9 The process of the Future Visioning research project.
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Discussion and directions for further research The three case studies described in the paper highlight the equal importance of processes and outputs in producing visualisations of urban futures through participatory conversations. For this reason, we see the visualisation process as a continuum, in which visual methods can be used not only to represent, but also to enable and facilitate conversations aimed at imagining urban futures. One critical aspect of both the Sharing Cities and Future Visions projects was the design of activities to engage participants in participatory conversations. The structure of the workshops was tested and refined multiple times, as it became clear that there was a fine balance to be found between structure and openness. Structured activities, materials, and facilitation are necessary to frame the discussions and push its depth towards radical ideas, while a degree of openness is necessary to put people at ease, eliminate judgement, and extend the breadth of the conversation. The quality of the design of the workshops as platforms for the conversation had a direct impact on the quality of the outcomes that ultimately inform the visual scenarios produced as a result. In both these case studies, designers interpreted the conversations to create the visualisations to be used in further research activities. Designers are not objective translators but themselves makers of meaning that gets brought into the artefacts that they produce. One of the ways to overcome the unavoidable bias is to design the interaction with the visualisation to allow the user to access the data sources. This aspect is currently being prototyped both in the Sharing Cities visualisation and in the atlas of Future Visions. We do still however wonder whether is it possible to extend the participation of stakeholders to the making of the visualisations. We suggest that designing tools for visually self-documenting conversations could be a way to do this. When designing the visualisations for the “Living in the city� paper, Google Draw was used as a platform to share initial sketches and allow co-authors of the research to contribute to the final outcome. This approach provides a technical solution to the problem of opening the design process to a multidisciplinary team, but it is still a middle-of-the-road solution, that can sometimes generate redundant and time consuming activities. In the case of the Living in the City report, for example, researchers involved in redacting clear and rigorous research were reluctant to then take time to participate in translating their finding in visual scenarios. Once again, we suggest that the key is in rethinking the process of writing and researching to open up early on in the process to alternative, multimodal, modes of communication (Kress, 2009). As this research is at its early stages, a number of questions on the impacts and values of Visual Conversations on Urban Futures remain open. We argue, however, that the main reason for this is the lack of discussion and experiments in this field, particularly, but not exclusively, in the academic context, which could benefit from novel ways to conduct inclusive discussions on diverse and contrasting possibilities for future cities.
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Conclusions This paper suggested the need of developing and reflecting on participatory ways to produce inclusive visions of future cities that allow the controversies, diversities, and conflicts that characterise the city to emerge. Visual conversations on urban futures are not themselves agents of change, but can offer a significant contribution in the early stages of processes of building scenarios for possible futures. Manzini and Coad (2015) describe scenarios as “communicative artifacts produced to further the social conversation about what to do”. This designerly way of imagining futures is ultimately about building alternatives to the dominant order by “making possible what apperar(s) to be impossible” (Lefebvre, 1970, cited in (Buckley & Violeau, 2011). While in times of urgent change seeking clarity and agreement might seem a much preferable route, we argue that articulating divergence is a necessary step to explore truly radical solutions. Stepping back from a solution-oriented approach allows us to critically question the present and the underlying assumptions of current research and political discourse on “growth” and “sustainability”. This paper drew on research in which Visual Conversations on Urban Futures have been used as an approach to communicate research findings (“Living in the City”, Paragraph 4.1) or to promote speculative conversations in an academic context (Sharing Cities and Future visioning, Paragraphs 4.2 and 4.3, respectively). We wish to encourage further experiments with this approach in different contexts beyond academia. To promote the growth of a community of interest, and to share methods, tools, and suggestions that could be applied across contexts and disciplines, a growing database of examples of Visual Conversations on Urban Futures is available online (website hidden for peer review as author would be immediately recognisable).
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the researchers and investigators that contributed to the case studies presented in this paper, as well as the participants to the Sharing Cities and Future Vision workshops. We would also like to acknowledge the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for their financial support under grant number EP/J017698 (Liveable Cities).
References Abercrombie, P., & Foreshaw, J. H. (1943). Country of London PLan. London, UK: Macmillan and Company Ltd. Agyeman, J. (2013). Introducing Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice. London, UK: Zed Books Ltd. Agyeman, J., McLaren, D., & Schaefer-Borrego, A. (2013). Sharing cities. Friends of the Earth Briefing. Retrieved from https://shareableandliveable.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/agyeman-et-al-2013sharing-cities.pdf
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Buckley, C., & Violeau, J. (2011). Utopie: Texts and Projects, 1967--1978. Los Angeles, Calif. : Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Colomina, B. (2010). Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines, 196X to 197X. ACTAR Publishers. Cook, P. (2012, March). Real is Only Halfway There. Keynote speech presented at the Is Drawing Dead?, Yale. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpw3Lm8ZKOY&feature=youtube_gdata_player Csikszentmilhalyi, M., Csikszentmilhalyi, I., Graef, R., Holcomb, J. H., Hendin, J., & (John.), M. (1982). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: The Experience of Play in Work and Games. Jossey-Bass Publishers. De Rosnay, J. (1979). The Macroscope. New York: Harper & Row. DiSalvo, C. (2010). Design, Democracy, and Agonistic Pluralism. In Design & Complexity. Montreal. Retrieved from http://www.drs2010.umontreal.ca/data/PDF/031.pdf Dondis, D. A. (1973). A Primer of Visual Literacy. MIT Press. Dunn, N., Cureton, P., & Pollastri, S. (2014). A Visual History of the Future (Future Cities). UK Government, Office for Science. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360814/14-814future-cities-visual-history.pdf Eriksen, M. A., & Bang, A. L. (2013). Experiments all the way : Diagrams of dialectics between a design research program and experiments. Presented at the NORDES’13 (Nordic Design Research Conference), Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools for Architecture, Design and Conservation. Retrieved from http://dspace.mah.se/handle/2043/15731 Flanagan, M. (2013). Critical Play: Radical Game Design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Gorenflo, N., Eskandari-Qajar, Y., Orsi, J., Weissman, E., Hall, M., & Mann, A. (2013). Policies for shreable cities a sharing economy policy primer for urban leaders, (Shareable and the Sustainable Economies Law Center.). Oakland, CA. Retrieved from http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/theselc/pages/33/attachments/original/1392170734/Poli cies_for_Shareable_Cities.pdf?1392170734 Greenfield, A. (2013). Against the smart city (1.3 edition). Do projects. Hollands, R. G. (2008). Will the real smart city please stand up? City, 12(3), 303–320. http://doi.org/10.1080/13604810802479126 Howard, E. (2010). To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1 edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kress, G. (2009). Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication: Exploring Contemporary Methods of Communication (New Ed edition). London ; New York: Routledge. Levitas, R. (2013). Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstitution of Society (First Edition edition). Houndmills : New York: Palgrave Schol, Print UK. Manovich, L. (2011). What is visualisation? Visual Studies, 26(1), 36–49. http://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2011.548488 Manzini, E., & Coad, R. (2015). Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Mclaren, D., & Agyeman, J. (2015). Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities. Place of publication not identified: MIT Press.
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Ricci, D. (2010). Seeing what they are saying: Diagrams for socio-technical controversies". Presented at the DRS2010 - Design & Complexity, Montreal. The Liveable Cities Project - Liveable Cities. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from http://liveablecities.org.uk/content/liveable-cities-project Urry, J., Caletrio, J., Birtchnell, T., & Pollastri, S. (2014). Living in the city (Future Cities). UK Government, Office for Science. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-cities-living-in-the-city Venturini, T. (2009). Diving in magma: How to explore controversies with actor-network theory. Public Understanding of Science. http://doi.org/10.1177/0963662509102694 Venturini, T., Ricci, D., Mauri, M., Kimbell, L., & Meunier, A. (2015). Designing Controversies and their Publics. Design Issues, 31(3), 74–87. http://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00340 Whyte, I. B. (Ed.). (1985). Crystal Chain Letters: Architectural Fantasies by Bruno Taut and His Circle. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
About the Authors: Serena Pollastri is a design PhD candidate at Lancaster University. Her current research is on processes of visualising future scenarios of urban life that articulate and celebrate divergence, complexity, and conflict, rather than mitigate them. She previously studied and worked in Italy and China. Rachel Cooper OBE is Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University. She is currently working with The Creative Exchange. She is a member of the FUSE board, a nonexecutive Director of the Future Cities Catapult, and a Lead Expert for the UK Government Foresight programme on the Future of Cities, and is on the Academy of Medical Sciences Working group addressing ‘the health of the public 2040’. Nick Dunn is Professor of Urban Design at Imagination, an open and exploratory research lab at Lancaster University. He is also Associate Director for the Institute for Social Futures where he leads research on the Future of Cities and Urbanism. Christopher Boyko is a Lecturer in Design at Lancaster University. His research interests include urban design, sustainability, digital technology in cities and wellbeing in urban environments. He is currently examining sharing in cities for the UK EPSRC-funded Liveable Cities project.
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Index of Authors
Abdelmohsen, Sherif, 1969 Aftab, Mersha, 3181 Ahmadpour, Naseem, 1457 Ahmer, Arif, 593 Aish, Robert, 111 Alhonsuo, Mira, 3069 Alshawaf, Eman, 959 Andrietc, Ekaterina, 157 Annable, Louise, 303 Arvidsson, Anna-Karin, 1411 Arvola, Mattias, 1089 Atkin, Ross, 2391 Atkinson, Harriet, 2583 Atman, Cynthia J., 593 Bachman, Leonard, 295 Baek, Joon Sang, 3943 Bailey, Jocelyn, 3619 Bakir, Ramy, 1969 Barbosa, Janaina Teles, 4045 Bastian, Michelle, 2107 Bauer, Birgit S., 569 Baule, Giovanni, 1039, 1047 Baur, Ruedi, 1139 Beck, Jordan, 17 Benford, Steve, 3033 Berghman, Michaël, 139, 277 Bingham, Guy, 2239 Bissett-Johnson, Katherine, 637 Bitterman, Noemi, 1433 Black, Alison, 2301 Blackler, Alethea, 2063, 3149, 3251 Blomqvist, Mikael, 1411 Bobroff, Julien, 555 Boehnert, Joanna, 2359 Boess, Stella, 625, 1573 Bofylatos, Spyros, 3449 Boggs, Charles, 513 Bohemia, Erik, 1699, 1881 Bonja, Susanne, 1411 Börekçi, Naz A.G.Z., 795 Borgford-Parnell, Jim, 593 Boyd Davis, Stephen, 2591 Boyko, Chris, 1677 Boztepe, Suzan, 1253 Braga, Mariana Fonseca, 1863 Brischke, Lars-Arvid, 3913 Broadley, Cara, 1737 Brooks, Judy, 539 Brown, Michael, 3033 Brulé, Émeline, 1985 Burnett, Dan, 1609, 1625 Burns, Kathryn, 303 Büscher, Monika, 1123
Buur, Jacob, 1723 Cadavid, Ana, 179 Cain, Rebecca, 1271, 1433 Calvo, Mirian, 3591 Canina, Marita, 2075 Caratti, Elena, 1039, 1047 Carmen Bruno, 2075 Casais, Mafalda, 1553 Castanedo, Rebeca Torres, 2163 Catoir-Brisson, Marie-Julie, 2285 Celi, Manuela, 2015 Ceschin, Fabrizio, 3731, 3785 Chamberlain, Paul, 1499 Chamorro-Koc, Marianella, 1643 Champion, Katherine, 1737 Chan, Jeffrey, 3539 Chatzakis, Emmanouil, 1881 Cheng, Peiyao, 215 Chiapello, Laureline, 17 Chou, Wen-Huei, 3133 Christensen, Anders, 1757 Chueng-Nainby, Priscilla, 969 Chun, Min Hi, 1935 Ciastellardi, Matteo, 1111 Ciuccarelli, Paolo, 941 Claxton, Stella, 3815 Coddington, Alicen, 781 Connor, Andy M., 83 Cooney, Richard, 2201 Cooper, Rachel, 1677, 1699 Cooper, Tim, 1277, 3831 Corrigan-Doyle, Emily, 1529 Coskun, Aykut, 1357 Côté, Valérie, 3669 Coulton, Paul, 369, 1609, 3019 Craib, David, 385, 2325 Craig, Claire, 1499 Craig, Mark, 609 Cranny-Francis, Anne, 2985 Dallison, Delphine, 609 Danahay, Evan, 2533 Darzentas, Dimitrios, 3033 Darzentas, Jenny, 3449, 3771 Darzentas, Jenny S., 2307 Darzentas, John, 3771 Dawes, Cecilie, 3435 de Eyto, Adam, 2709 de Kerckhove, Derrick, 1111 de la Rosa, Juan, 2121 de Lille, Christine, 2423, 2563 De Moor, Eva, 3435 De Paoli, Giovanni, 853 de Ruijter, Laura, 1473
Index of Authors
De Smet, Annelies, 2759 DeEyto, Adam, 3573 Del Gaudio, Chiara, 2121 Deni, Michela, 2285 Derksen, Gerry, 2121 Desai, Shital, 3149 Deserti, Alessandro, 2015 Desmet, Pieter, 1553, 1589 Desmet, Pieter M. A., 1999 Dhadphale, Tejas, 2415 Dias, Julia, 2121 Djaelani, Robert, 3705 Dong, Hua, 3199, 3229, 3247, 3263, 3279 Dorst, Kees, 2493, 2667 Downing, Niamh, 3485 Downs, Simon, 321 Dunn, Nick, 1677 Durrant, Abigail C., 2181 Duste, Tessa, 1589 Dziobczenski, Paulo Roberto Nicoletti, 705 Earl, Christopher, 3687 Earl, Christopher F, 2519 Eckert, Claudia, 2519 Edwards, Liz, 3485 Eftekhari, Farzaneh, 1389 Elliott-Cirigottis, Gary, 609 Elzenbaumer, Bianca, 4005, 4015 Emili, Silvia, 3785 Erbug, Cigdem, 1357 Escobar-Tello, Carolina, 1433, 1529, 3961 Evans, Mark, 813, 2239 Evans, Martyn, 97 Fassi, Davide, 3407 Feast, Luke, 3569, 3635 Felsing, Ulrike, 1139 Fenko, Anna, 3467 Fennell, Jac, 1441 Ferronato, Priscilla, 2121 Fisher, Tom, 3479 Flintham, Martin, 3033 Forlano, Laura, 927 Frankel, Lois, 3103 Franz, Fabio, 4015 Fredriksen, Biljana C., 2911 Freimane, Aija, 1271 French, Tara, 2965, 3653 Fundneider, Thomas, 401 Gabrielse, Gorm, 1211 Gagnon, Caroline, 3669 Galeotti, Anamaria, 2837 Galluzzo, Laura, 3407 Gamman, Lorraine, 3479 Garde, Julia Anne, 2043 Gardin, Astury, 969 Gasparin, Marta, 881
Gaved, Mark, 609 Gaziulusoy, Idil, 3731 Gentes, Annie, 555 Germany, Jason O., 3085 Ghassan, Aysar, 471 Giaccardi, Elisa, 3553 Giang, Colin, 781 Gideonsen, Hanne, 3435 Godin, Danny, 355 Görgül, Emine, 2825 Goworek, Helen, 3831 Gradinar, Adrian, 1609 Graf, Laura K. M., 203 Graham, Alexander, 781 Grangaard, Sidse, 3393 Gray, Colin M., 2549 Graziano, Valeria, 4005 Green, William, 881 Gribbin, John, 3181 Gristwood, Simone, 2591 Groth, Camilla, 2889, 2895, 2941 Grover, Shruti, 2391 Gudiksen, Sune, 1757 Gudur, Raghavendra Reddy, 3251 Guité, Manon, 853 Gullick, David, 3019 Gulliksen, Marte S., 2889, 2925 Hadfield, Mark, 2709 Håkansson, Lena, 1411 Hall, Ashley, 2481 Hall, Peter A., 2625 Hands, David, 2445 Hanington, Bruce, 729 Harland, Robert, 385 Harrison, David, 3785 Haslem, Neal, 2201 Hasselqvist, Hanna, 3929 Haug, Anders, 1903, 3873 Hazzard, Adrian, 3033 Heaton, Lorna, 853 Heiltjes, Sanne, 3467 Hekkert, Paul, 139, 277 Henriksen, Pernille, 1757 Hermannsdóttir, Hafdís Sunna, 3435 Hermansen, Pablo, 895 Hermsen, Sander, 1323, 1375 Hernandez, Maria Gabriela, 2089 Hesselgren, Mia, 3929 Heylighen, Ann, 3199, 3229 Hill, Helen, 3831 Hofmeister, Tobias Barnes, 3847 Hogan, Trevor, 3005 Hornecker, Eva, 3005 Hough, Simge, 751 Hrinivich, Ellen, 3103
4081
Index of Authors
Huang, Tao, 2699 Hung, Chung-Wen, 3133 Huotilainen, Minna, 2941 Hutchings, Maggie, 2709 Hyltén-Cavallius, Sara, 1411 Hyysalo, Sampsa, 3889 Imbesi, Lorenzo, 2325 Ingram, Jack, 303 Ings, Welby, 483 Ivanka, Tania, 2201 James, Meredith, 719 Janssens, Nel, 2759 Jernegan, Elizabeth, 2121 Johnson, Michael Pierre, 1737 Johnson, Simon, 2391 Jones, Derek, 295 Jonkmans, Anna, 767 Joost, Gesche, 3913 Joutsela, Markus, 259 Jowers, Iestyn, 609 Jun, Gyuchan Thomas, 1809 Jylkäs, Titta, 3069 Kaland, Lennart, 835, 2563 Kantorovitch, Julia, 2463 Karlsson, Monica Lindh, 4029 Keirnan, Alen, 1457 Keitsch, Martina, 3847 Kelly, Veronika, 425 Kempenaar, Annet, 2271 Kenning, Gail, 1441 Kerridge, Tobie, 1025 Ketola, Anne, 1179 Kettley, Sarah, 1277, 2985, 3121 Kim, KwanMyung, 1919 Kim, Sojung, 3943 Kimbell, Lucy, 3605 Kirk, David S., 2181 Knutz, Eva, 1827 Kocsis, Anita, 781 Kokotovich, Vasilije, 2493 Komatsu, Tamami, 2015 Koskinen, Ilpo, 1013 Kotlarewski, Nathan, 2533 Koumoundourou, Myrto, 2307 Koutsabasis, Panayiotis, 2307 Kristensen, Tore, 1205, 1211 Krzywinski, Jens, 2869 Kuijer, Lenneke, 3553 Kuys, Blair, 1163, 2533 Kuzmina, Ksenija, 1809 Kymäläinen, Tiina, 1627 Lahusen, Miriam, 3913 Laivamaa, Laura, 3069 Landwehr, Jan R., 145, 203 Langrish, John Z., 51
Lee, John, 969 Lee, Seong geun, 157 Leinikka, Marianne, 2941 Lenskjold, Tau U., 1827 Lewis, Huw, 3573 Liao, Cai-Ru, 3133 Liapis, Aggelos, 2463 Lim, Christopher Sze Chong, 3295 Lima, Verena, 3983 Linde, Per, 913 Lindley, Joseph, 369 Liu, Sylvia, 1205, 1237 Liu, Tsai Lu, 501, 1389 Lloyd, Peter, 3619, 3687 Lønne, Irene Alma, 1223 Loudon, David, 1515 Lu, Xiaobo, 3373 Lucas, Rachel, 3121 Ludden, Geke, 245, 1271, 1305, 1433, 1473 Lulham, Rohan, 1777 Ma, Xuezi, 3279 Macdonald, Alastair S., 1515 Macduff, Colin, 1515 Maciver, Fiona, 2463 Mackrill, Jamie, 1433 Mages, Michael Arnold, 3503 Maguire, Martin, 1809 Mahar, Doug, 3251 Maher, Carmel, 2709 Mäkelä, Maarit, 2889, 2941 Malins, Julian, 2463 Manohar, Arthi Kanchana, 3591 Marchand, Anne, 2653 Marenko, Betti, 2755 Margolin, Victor, 5 Markussen, Thomas, 1827 Marlen Dobler, Judith, 997 Marttila, Sanna, 4063 Mattila, Pauliina, 781 Mauri, Michele, 941 Maxwell, Deborah, 3485 Maya, Jorge, 179 Mayer, Stefan, 145 Mazzarella, Francesco, 3961 Mazzilli, Clice, 2837 McAra, Marianne, 3213 McGaw, Janet, 669 McGilp, Helen, 2519 Mcginley, Chris, 2391 McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, 1737 McLaren, Angharad, 3831 Mercer, Lisa, 2029 Messell, Tania, 2737 Meyer, Guilherme, 2121 Michura, Piotr, 2121
4082
Index of Authors
Micklethwaite, Paul, 2163 Mitchell, Cynthia, 2255 Mitchell, Val, 1809, 3961 Mok, Luisa Sze-man, 3889 Moncur, Wendy, 2181 Moreno, Mariale, 1809 Morris, Andrew, 1271 Mota, João Almeida, 4045 Moussatche, Helena, 513 Mugge, Ruth, 215, 1553 Mulder, Sander, 1375, 2809 Munro, Tasman, 2219 Murphy, Emma, 97 Murray, Lesley, 1123 Neira, José, 895 Nevay, Sara, 3295 Neven, Louis, 3553 Niedderer, Kristina, 1271 Nimkulrat, Nithikul, 3177 Ning, Weining, 3263 Noel, Lesley-Ann, 455, 501 Nordvall, Mathias, 1089 Norris, Jane, 2795 Ó Catháin, Conall, 125 O’Rafferty, Simon, 3573 Oberlander, Jon, 2991 Olander, Sissel, 985 Oppenheimer, Maya Rae, 2583 Orzech, Kathryn, 2181 Ou, Li-Chen, 233 Oxborrow, Lynn, 3815, 3831 Ozcan, Elif, 1433 Ozkaramanli, Deger, 1999 Paepcke-Hjeltness, Verena, 2415 Page, Rowan, 1487 Pahk, Yoonee, 3943 Paiva, Isabel, 3165 Palmgren, Marianne, 653 Park, Sumin, 3181 Parker, Chris, 1809 Pasman, Gert, 1659 Person, Oscar, 705 Peschl, Markus F., 401 Petermans, Ann, 1433 Pillatt, Toby, 3485 Piper, Anna, 2959 Pisanty, Diego Trujillo, 2181 Piscicelli, Laura, 1305 Pizzichemi, Catherine, 513 Plowright, Philip, 295 Plowright, Philip D., 339 Pohlmeyer, Anna E., 1573 Poldma, Tiiu, 295 Pollastri, Serena, 1677 Popovic, Vesna, 2063, 3149, 3251, 3373
Porter, Samantha, 1809 Potter, Eden, 2379 Prince, Anne, 781 Prochner, Isabel, 2653 Prytherch, David, 1441 Pschetz, Larissa, 2107 Pui Ying Lo, Kathy, 1529 Quam, Andrea, 3861 Radtke, Rebekah, 685 Raman, Sneha, 2965 Rankanen, Mimmu, 2941 Ranscombe, Charlie, 637 Rashidi, Ingrid Halland, 2637 Reddy, Anuradha, 913 Redström, Johan, 4029 Reimer, Maria Hellström, 4045 Renes, Reint Jan, 1323, 1375 Renner, Michael, 1073 Renon, Anne-Lyse, 555 Renström, Sara, 1339 Reumont, Marie, 853 Revsbæk, Line, 1723 Riccò, Dina, 1101 Richardson, Mark, 1487 Ritzmann, Susanne, 3913 Rive, Pete, 83 Rizzo, Francesca, 2015 Roberts, Maxwell J., 2341 Rochead, Alan, 609 Rodgers, Paul A., 2677 Rogel, Liat, 3407 Rontti, Simo, 3069 Rosenqvist, Tanja, 2255 Roto, Virpi, 259 Roy, Robin, 3755 Ruecker, Stan, 2121 Ruiz-Córdoba, Stefany, 179 Rytilahti, Piia, 3069 Sadkowska, Ania, 3521 Sadkowska, Anna, 3121 Sakurai, Tatiana, 3983 Salinas, Miguel, 1411 Salvia, Giuseppe, 2075 Sametinger, Florian, 3913 Santos, Maria Cecília, 3983 Sarmiento, Ricardo Mejia, 1659 Scaletsky, Celso, 2121 Schaeffer, Jennie Andersson, 653 Schifferstein, Hendrik N.J., 3427 Scupelli, Peter, 539, 729 Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita, 2889, 2941 Self, James, 157 Selvefors, Anneli, 1339 Shroyer, Kathryn E., 593 Sice, Petia, 1291
4083
Index of Authors
Sissons, Juliana, 3521 Siu, Kin Wai Michael, 1793 Skjerven, Astrid, 43 Skjold, Else, 1223 Smith, Madeline, 3591 Smith, Neil, 1881 Snelders, Dirk, 767 Sosa, Ricardo, 83 Southee, Darren, 813 Speed, Chris, 1123, 2107, 2991 Spencer, Nicholas, 1291 St John, Nicola, 3349 Ståhl, Ola, 1191, 1411 Standaert, Achiel, 3329 Stappers, Pieter Jan, 1659, 3329 Stead, Michael, 3049 Steenson, Molly Wright, 31 Stergiadou, Zoi, 3449 Sterte, Marie, 1411 Stewart, Nifeli, 2201 Storvang, Pia, 1843 Strömberg, Helena, 1339 Sun, Qian, 1699, 1707 Sung, Kyungeun, 1277 Sustar, Helena, 3635 Svensén, Tobias, 1411 Taylor, Damon, 1123 Teal, Gemma, 2965, 3653 Tham, Mathilda, 1411 Thong, Christine, 781, 2533 Thurgood, Clementine, 1777 Tironi, Martín, 895 Tomkin, Douglas, 2611 Tovey, Michael, 419 Townsend, Katherine, 3521 Treadaway, Cathy, 1441 Trimingham, Rhoda, 3725 Trogal, Kim, 4005 Tromp, Nynke, 2141 Tsang, Kaman Ka Man, 1793 Tsay, Wan-Jen Jenny, 2423 Turns, Jennifer A., 593 Uhlmann, Johannes, 2869 Umney, Darren, 3687 Uri, Therese, 441 Urquhart, Lewis, 1951 Väänänen, Jenni, 3889 Vaeng, Ida C.N., 2341 Vaes, Kristof, 3329
Valentin, Frédéric, 1985 Valtonen, Anna, 525 van den Berg-Weitzel, Lianne, 3467 van der Bijl-Brouwer, Mieke, 2141, 2147 Van der Linden, Valerie, 3199, 3229 van der Lugt, Remko, 1375 van Dijk, Jelle, 3313 Van Essen, Anita, 1323 van Grondelle, Elmer, 1589 van Onselen, Lenny, 767, 835 Van Rompay, Thomas J. L., 245 Van Steenwinkel, Iris, 3199 Vardouli, Theodora, 65 Verhoeven, Fenne, 3313 Vernooij, Annelijn, 835 Vial, Stéphane, 2285 Victor, Ole, 1411 Voort, Mascha Cecile van der, 2043 Vuontisjärvi, Hanna-Riina, 3069 Vyas, Pratik, 1291 Walker, Sue, 2301 Wan, Susan, 1515 Warwick, Laura, 3705 Wasserman, Arnold, 539 Watkin, Thomas, 2285 Whitehead, Timothy, 2239 Wilkie, Alex, 873 Williams, Alex, 1699 Williams, Tim, 1643 Wodehouse, Andrew, 1951 Wölfel, Christian, 2721, 2869 Wölfel, Sylvia, 2721 Woodcock, Meghan, 513 Wurl, Julia, 767 Yee, Joyce S.R., 2677 Yilmaz, Seda, 2415 Ylirisku, Salu, 1723 York, Nicola, 813 You, Xinya, 2445 Young, Robert, 1291, 3181 Zahedi, Mithra, 853 Zamenopoulos, Theodore, 1123 Zhang, Wenwen, 1163 Zhao, Chao, 3373 Zhou, Ningchang, 2699 Zhou, Xinyue, 2121 Zi, BingXin, 969 Zingale, Salvatore, 1061
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“Over fifty years the Design Research Society has been fundamental to developing and supporting the field of Design Research. In that time many influential and innovative conferences have been held and the 50th Anniversary in Brighton conference continues that tradition. The breadth and depth of design research represented in these proceedings is extremely impressive and shows, I think, not only how important design research has become, but also the considerable potential that it holds for the future.� - Professor Nigel Cross PRESIDENT OF THE DRS
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