Abstract
Design plays a key role in driving economic and organizational transformations. However, existing approaches face significant challenges in addressing the translation of cross-cultural needs, integrating diverse perspectives, and critically reassessing the role of design within the singular economic/efficiency paradigm, particularly regarding affective experiences assessment such as comfort. To address these, this study proposes a qualitative framework that incorporates multiple stakeholders and cross-cultural users into the design process, referred to as the Diversity-Co-Creation-Framework (DCF). Through four phases—Scanning, Framing, Mapping, and Deepening—the DCF combines tools such as semi-structured interviews and the Futures Triangle from foresight research to engage opinion leaders and cross-cultural users. Using comfort experience in intelligent cockpit design as an example and incorporating the participation of 20 KOLs/KOCs from 14 countries, the framework is empirically validated. This framework provides a theoretical basis for understanding the diverse roles of design and evaluating the mutual compatibility of affective experiences.
Keywords
methodological framework, cross-cultural innovation, multiple stakeholders, comfort experience
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1708
Citation
Zhao, D., Qin, R., Ma, C., Jiang, Y., and Wang, B. (2026) The DCF framework: Integrating Cross-Cultural and Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives on comfort experience, 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.2026.1708
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The DCF framework: Integrating Cross-Cultural and Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives on comfort experience
Design plays a key role in driving economic and organizational transformations. However, existing approaches face significant challenges in addressing the translation of cross-cultural needs, integrating diverse perspectives, and critically reassessing the role of design within the singular economic/efficiency paradigm, particularly regarding affective experiences assessment such as comfort. To address these, this study proposes a qualitative framework that incorporates multiple stakeholders and cross-cultural users into the design process, referred to as the Diversity-Co-Creation-Framework (DCF). Through four phases—Scanning, Framing, Mapping, and Deepening—the DCF combines tools such as semi-structured interviews and the Futures Triangle from foresight research to engage opinion leaders and cross-cultural users. Using comfort experience in intelligent cockpit design as an example and incorporating the participation of 20 KOLs/KOCs from 14 countries, the framework is empirically validated. This framework provides a theoretical basis for understanding the diverse roles of design and evaluating the mutual compatibility of affective experiences.