Abstract
Smart product concept exploration unfolds in dynamic and diverse use situations (DDUS) that yield fragmented, multimodal scenario data, yet how experienced designers organise design reasoning in data-intensive environments to support problem framing remains underdescribed. We used a Scenario-Data-Informed (SDI) Canvas to make designer-data conversations visible and ran task-based sessions with 18 designers. From coded think-alouds and canvas inscriptions, we report three findings: first, three reasoning stances that structure work with scenario data; second, three language-in-use strategies and an actor-network mapping that renders translations among contexts, artefacts, and intentions as a traceable network; third, shareable cues that support collaboration and surface frictions. We position the combination of the SDI Canvas and our actor-network map as a medium for dialogic engagement with scenario data and as a carrier of shared language, sustaining data-informed concept exploration and cross-role shared understanding in smart product design.
Keywords
scenario data; data-informed design; concept exploration; language in use
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1040
Citation
Peng, Y., Yuan, X., Tan, Y., and Song, Z. (2026) Conversing with scenario data: exploring experienced designers’ data-informed reasoning strategies in smart product concept exploration, 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.2026.1040
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Conversing with scenario data: exploring experienced designers’ data-informed reasoning strategies in smart product concept exploration
Smart product concept exploration unfolds in dynamic and diverse use situations (DDUS) that yield fragmented, multimodal scenario data, yet how experienced designers organise design reasoning in data-intensive environments to support problem framing remains underdescribed. We used a Scenario-Data-Informed (SDI) Canvas to make designer-data conversations visible and ran task-based sessions with 18 designers. From coded think-alouds and canvas inscriptions, we report three findings: first, three reasoning stances that structure work with scenario data; second, three language-in-use strategies and an actor-network mapping that renders translations among contexts, artefacts, and intentions as a traceable network; third, shareable cues that support collaboration and surface frictions. We position the combination of the SDI Canvas and our actor-network map as a medium for dialogic engagement with scenario data and as a carrier of shared language, sustaining data-informed concept exploration and cross-role shared understanding in smart product design.