Abstract
A designer-focused approach is often taken when observing co-design processes and the designers’ learning is reflected rather than the users. This study takes an all-inclusive angle in observing an inclusive design workshop which involved five professional designers, five users from a diverse backgrounds, and five design researchers. Questionnaires were distributed to the designer and user participants, before and immediately after the workshop, to gather data about their opinions on broader issues relating to inclusive design. The design researchers carried out observations during the workshop, gathering detailed notes and audio-visual data. Follow-up interviews were conducted to identify any issues relating to the workshop, and to let participants reflect on their experiences. It was found that the participants interpreted inclusive design and user-involvement in many different ways. The designers were not necessarily ‘user-centred’, but the fact that they were brought together with the users in the workshop did make them think more inclusively. Challenges for co-design were identified and suggestions were made to improve the co-designing process.
Keywords
Co-design, inclusive design, workshop
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.037
Citation
Dong, H.,and Yuan, S.(2013) Learning from co-designing, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.037
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Learning from co-designing
A designer-focused approach is often taken when observing co-design processes and the designers’ learning is reflected rather than the users. This study takes an all-inclusive angle in observing an inclusive design workshop which involved five professional designers, five users from a diverse backgrounds, and five design researchers. Questionnaires were distributed to the designer and user participants, before and immediately after the workshop, to gather data about their opinions on broader issues relating to inclusive design. The design researchers carried out observations during the workshop, gathering detailed notes and audio-visual data. Follow-up interviews were conducted to identify any issues relating to the workshop, and to let participants reflect on their experiences. It was found that the participants interpreted inclusive design and user-involvement in many different ways. The designers were not necessarily ‘user-centred’, but the fact that they were brought together with the users in the workshop did make them think more inclusively. Challenges for co-design were identified and suggestions were made to improve the co-designing process.