Abstract
The theme track Opening Up Design Impact Assessment: From Singular Metrics to Plural Understandings addresses the limitations of conventional approaches that rely on standardised and predominantly quantitative metrics. The ten contributions in this track therefore explore alternative ways of understanding design impact, considering it as a situated, relational, and interpretative phenomenon. Instead of proposing a single evaluative framework, the papers collectively demonstrate how impact emerges through diverse practices, contexts, and forms of knowledge. The track is organised into two complementary sessions: one that reconfigures structured approaches to assessment, and another that foregrounds lived experience and participatory processes. Together, they point toward a more plural and reflexive understanding of design impact, where evaluation becomes an ongoing process of interpretation and sensemaking rather than a fixed act of measurement.
Keywords
Design impact, alternative assessment, pluralising metrics, theoretical-methodological framework
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.155
Citation
Tjahja, C., Predan, B., Meroz, J., Černe Oven, P., Kaygan, H., Piancazzo, F., Tolic, I., and Vänskä, A. (2026) Opening up design impact assessment: From singular metrics to plural understandings, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.155
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Opening up design impact assessment: From singular metrics to plural understandings
The theme track Opening Up Design Impact Assessment: From Singular Metrics to Plural Understandings addresses the limitations of conventional approaches that rely on standardised and predominantly quantitative metrics. The ten contributions in this track therefore explore alternative ways of understanding design impact, considering it as a situated, relational, and interpretative phenomenon. Instead of proposing a single evaluative framework, the papers collectively demonstrate how impact emerges through diverse practices, contexts, and forms of knowledge. The track is organised into two complementary sessions: one that reconfigures structured approaches to assessment, and another that foregrounds lived experience and participatory processes. Together, they point toward a more plural and reflexive understanding of design impact, where evaluation becomes an ongoing process of interpretation and sensemaking rather than a fixed act of measurement.