Abstract
Foregrounding the voices of vulnerable communities in future-oriented co-design workshops is a growing concern in design. Yet, their participation in multi-stakeholder settings may be limited by factors such as power imbalances, cultural differences, low self-efficacy or limited availability. In this paper, we present a case where a care-oriented approach to vignette making and use was adopted to foreground the voices of migrant care workers (MCWs) in a multi-stakeholder co-design workshop. Through this approach, vignettes (1) fostered our critical reflection and affective understanding, (2) supported the articulation of MCWs’ lived experiences, and (3) provided a medium to highlight the interconnectedness and complexity of MCWs’ experiences with technology. We argue that a care-oriented approach to creating narrative tools can help foreground vulnerable communities’ concerns, support participation in workshops, and foster more care-full inclusion.
Keywords
Ethics of Care, Migrant Workers, Vignettes, Co-design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1851
Citation
Campos-Muñiz, D., Yao, Y., Ng, T., Seah, C., Ong, G., Cho, J., and Lee, J. (2026) Design for care-full inclusion: Foregrounding the voices of vulnerable communities through vignettes in co-design, 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.2026.1851
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Design for care-full inclusion: Foregrounding the voices of vulnerable communities through vignettes in co-design
Foregrounding the voices of vulnerable communities in future-oriented co-design workshops is a growing concern in design. Yet, their participation in multi-stakeholder settings may be limited by factors such as power imbalances, cultural differences, low self-efficacy or limited availability. In this paper, we present a case where a care-oriented approach to vignette making and use was adopted to foreground the voices of migrant care workers (MCWs) in a multi-stakeholder co-design workshop. Through this approach, vignettes (1) fostered our critical reflection and affective understanding, (2) supported the articulation of MCWs’ lived experiences, and (3) provided a medium to highlight the interconnectedness and complexity of MCWs’ experiences with technology. We argue that a care-oriented approach to creating narrative tools can help foreground vulnerable communities’ concerns, support participation in workshops, and foster more care-full inclusion.