Abstract
Air pollution is both largely invisible and extensively monitored, making it a data-intensive issue that presents significant challenges for public engagement. Its abstract and often intangible nature makes it difficult for people to relate to or understand. Designers can play a role by transforming abstract (air pollution) data into tangible, context-sensitive artifacts—a practice known as data physicalization. This paper introduces “airing” as a design approach to situated data physicalization. Rather than relying on detached design approaches, airing argues for situated, real-world engagement with data. Airing data through materiality highlights the active role of materials in embedding data within the physical and social contexts from which it emerges. Using a research-through-design methodology, this study draws on case studies and reflexive analysis, comparing them with existing research on the same cases and relevant literature. The aim is to examine how design decisions—particularly those concerning materiality—inform and shape design approaches in the practice of situated data physicalization. This paper contributes to the growing discourse on data physicalization by offering practice-based insights into how design can reconnect data with the lived realities it seeks to represent.
Keywords
Situated Design; Data Physicalization; Material Engagement; Air Pollution
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.899
Citation
Piscaer, A., Vrancken, K., Claes, S., van Dartel, M.,and van Dartel, M.(2025) Airing Data through Materiality: a Situated Design Approach to Data Physicalization, in Chang, C.-Y., Chen, C.-H., & Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.899
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 6 - Co-creation
Airing Data through Materiality: a Situated Design Approach to Data Physicalization
Air pollution is both largely invisible and extensively monitored, making it a data-intensive issue that presents significant challenges for public engagement. Its abstract and often intangible nature makes it difficult for people to relate to or understand. Designers can play a role by transforming abstract (air pollution) data into tangible, context-sensitive artifacts—a practice known as data physicalization. This paper introduces “airing” as a design approach to situated data physicalization. Rather than relying on detached design approaches, airing argues for situated, real-world engagement with data. Airing data through materiality highlights the active role of materials in embedding data within the physical and social contexts from which it emerges. Using a research-through-design methodology, this study draws on case studies and reflexive analysis, comparing them with existing research on the same cases and relevant literature. The aim is to examine how design decisions—particularly those concerning materiality—inform and shape design approaches in the practice of situated data physicalization. This paper contributes to the growing discourse on data physicalization by offering practice-based insights into how design can reconnect data with the lived realities it seeks to represent.