tools, and techniques are being
invented or reinvented on a daily basis.
The participatory prototyping cycle of
making, telling, and enacting is a way
to organize and activate the dozens of
old and new tools for bringing people
into the design development process.
What is designed?
Interdisciplinary design teams
are now responsible for design at
several levels of scale. They are still
responsible for the design of tangible
things, such as products, buildings,
visual communication materials, and
interior spaces. However, the context
for design has expanded to also include
the social realm through the design of
intangible services, interactions, user
experiences, systems, interventions,
behavior changes, transformations,
and so on. Designers are part of
diverse multidisciplinary teams
tackling crucial societal issues such as
obesity, resource scarcity, and aging
populations. Designers and design
researchers are at work at the fuzzy
front end to help ensure that what is
designed makes sense in the future
lives of people.
Success is no longer defined
primarily by monetary value
such as sales in the marketplace.
Beyond monetary value, we now see
experience value, the objective of
which is to meet the wants and needs
of people, as well as social value,
the objective of which is to be able
to deliver on more sustainable and
convivial ways of living [ 4].
How are designers and design
researchers educated today? Change
has been slower on the academic side.
Most design schools still offer degrees
with distinct specializations such
as industrial design, graphic design,
interior space design, fashion design,
and architecture. At the same time, we
see new programs focusing on goals
rather than means, such as design for
sustainability, design for experience,
and design for service. Typically,
design research (in both senses—see
In 2044, technology will be seen
as a tool to serve people, rather than
primarily as a means to produce
products for profit.
emerging as the dominant practice in
other design domains, particularly in
newer areas such as social and service
design. The traditional mindset of
designing for people still operates in
architecture and fashion design.
Co-design is practiced using a
designing-with mindset. There is
growing interest in and support for
this mindset that the end-users are
the experts of their future lives and
that designers/design teams can
design with the people. It is a growing
recognition of and skill at involving
end-users in design processes as
“experts of their experience,” and
a recognition that this requires
a process rather than a one-shot
reaction. (In our 2012 book Convivial
Toolbox [ 3], we describe co-design
tools and techniques and their
underlying principles—see sidebar).
Furthermore, it is now recognized
that the end-user is only one person
among others whose needs and dreams
need to be addressed in product/
service development. For example,
other roles include caregiver, trainer,
purchaser, back-office worker,
maintainer, assembler, and bystander.
It is also now acknowledged that all
levels of people’s needs should be
addressed, including ergonomic,
cognitive, emotional, social, and
cultural needs.
Many people have become uneasy
about terms like user, consumer,
and client, which pin people down
in narrow and restrictive roles. At
this moment, we refer to them as
participants and partners, or just
people, to express the multiple roles
and perspectives that are needed.
Who does design and research at
the front end, and what methods do
they use? For the design researcher
who uses a designing-for mindset,
interviews and observations are still
the predominant tools for conducting
research. For those who use a
designing-with mindset, the toolbox
is virtually unlimited. New methods,
COVER STORY
