Abstract
The theme track of designing with and for taboo responds to the increasing number of design researchers working on taboo topics from various parts of the world. In this session, six papers addressed sensitive topics such as intimacy, chronic disease, relationships, and death, but they also touched upon taboos within the design activity itself, on what is considered to be good design. The discussions provide critical reflections when exploring emotionally challenging and sensitive research environments through design research practices. While this theme track represents an initial contribution, we acknowledge there is still more work necessary to strengthen the community’s understanding of how design practice can inform and advance into preferred situations and futures.
Keywords
Taboo; Sensitive topics; Design methods
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.115
Citation
Correia de Barros, A., Lefèvre, Y., Salarić, P., and Prochner, I. (2026) Designing for and with taboo, 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.2026.115
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Designing for and with taboo
The theme track of designing with and for taboo responds to the increasing number of design researchers working on taboo topics from various parts of the world. In this session, six papers addressed sensitive topics such as intimacy, chronic disease, relationships, and death, but they also touched upon taboos within the design activity itself, on what is considered to be good design. The discussions provide critical reflections when exploring emotionally challenging and sensitive research environments through design research practices. While this theme track represents an initial contribution, we acknowledge there is still more work necessary to strengthen the community’s understanding of how design practice can inform and advance into preferred situations and futures.