Abstract
Life-centred design decenters humans and considers all life and the far-reaching impacts of design decisions. However, little is known about the application of life-centred design tools in practice and their usefulness and limitations for considering more-than-human perspectives. To address this gap, we carried out a series of workshops, reporting on findings from a first-person study involving one design academic and three design practitioners. Using a popular flat-pack chair as a case study, we generatively identified and applied four tools: systems maps, actant maps, product lifecycle maps and behavioural impact canvas. We found that the tools provided a structured approach for practising systems thinking, identifying human and non-human actors, understanding their interconnectedness, and surfacing gaps in the team’s knowledge. Based on the findings, the paper proposes a process for implementing life-centred design tools in design projects.
Keywords
life-centred design; sustainability; product lifecycle; systems thinking
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.724
Citation
Tomitsch, M., Clasen, K., Duhart, E., and Lutz, D. (2024) Reflections on the Usefulness and Limitations of Tools for Life-Centred Design, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.724
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Reflections on the Usefulness and Limitations of Tools for Life-Centred Design
Life-centred design decenters humans and considers all life and the far-reaching impacts of design decisions. However, little is known about the application of life-centred design tools in practice and their usefulness and limitations for considering more-than-human perspectives. To address this gap, we carried out a series of workshops, reporting on findings from a first-person study involving one design academic and three design practitioners. Using a popular flat-pack chair as a case study, we generatively identified and applied four tools: systems maps, actant maps, product lifecycle maps and behavioural impact canvas. We found that the tools provided a structured approach for practising systems thinking, identifying human and non-human actors, understanding their interconnectedness, and surfacing gaps in the team’s knowledge. Based on the findings, the paper proposes a process for implementing life-centred design tools in design projects.