Abstract
This is an overview editorial of the track "Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics" at the Design Research Society (DRS) conference 2026. In this track, we discuss how care could serve as a critical lens guiding research and design. Our track received 55 full paper submissions, and 21 of which have been accepted through a double-blind peer-review process. Together with three additional submissions from the open track, we organise these papers into four theme sessions: Knowing with Care, Practicing with Care, Co-designing with Care, and Making with Care. Collectively, the track demonstrates diverse ways of engaging with care during design research processes, while providing vocabularies, methods, frameworks, and examples for making visible and legitimising care in design research. The editorial offers a brief introduction and one way of interpreting these papers together. We also highlight what is missing from the track submissions and future directions for this emerging field.
Keywords
Design with Care; Design through Caring; Caring for Design; Feminist Ethics of Care; Matters of Care; Caring Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.133
Citation
Wang, Z., Liu, J., Wu, B., Vines, J., Helms, K., Kettley, S., Rodgers, P., and Light, A. (2026) Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics, 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.2026.133
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics
This is an overview editorial of the track "Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics" at the Design Research Society (DRS) conference 2026. In this track, we discuss how care could serve as a critical lens guiding research and design. Our track received 55 full paper submissions, and 21 of which have been accepted through a double-blind peer-review process. Together with three additional submissions from the open track, we organise these papers into four theme sessions: Knowing with Care, Practicing with Care, Co-designing with Care, and Making with Care. Collectively, the track demonstrates diverse ways of engaging with care during design research processes, while providing vocabularies, methods, frameworks, and examples for making visible and legitimising care in design research. The editorial offers a brief introduction and one way of interpreting these papers together. We also highlight what is missing from the track submissions and future directions for this emerging field.