49 research outputs found
The situal self: fashioning identity discourses and loved objects
That we are what we have⊠is perhaps the most basic and powerful fact of
consumer behaviourâ (Belk 1988 p. 139).
Womenâs individual identity discourses are encoded socially and culturally through
relationships with material objects and practices of dress. Relationships with loved
objects yield an emotional and intellectual approach that literally unpicks fashion,
exposing its operations, its relations to the body whilst at the same time binding
feminine structures. This more expansive view of fashion situates the relationship
material objects have to the self and how women relate to the material world as a
universe of meaning making.
The phenomenological inquiry presents a set of methods for practice based research
including observations from workshops, in-depth interviews, case studies, films and
questionnaires. The research as practice approach includes visual and verbal narratives
that portray the essence of the self, interpreting the conceptual complexities that are
inherently tentative, temporal and temporary in identity construction. The intimate
research portraits are presented as the interplay between image and text; whilst the
films portray the silent spaces in research contexts. These visual apparatus speak of
expressions of embodiment.
It is the articulation of these feminine practices that elucidates the incorporation of
the socially constructed body into the corporeal. The situal thus embodies the lived
relation as a result of the phenomena experienced in the specific social encounter.
The situal, positions the social practices of fashion as a series of intimate identity
discourses. Through this collective engagement, heterogeneous forms of knowledge
emerge, transforming the act of dressing into a wider view of self and life
Designing Empathy: Ritual Respect
Design approaches have been developed to establish
empathy between practitioners, researchers,
collaborators, and participants in human-computer
interaction (HCI) in the context of health, care, and
wellbeing. Unpacking nuances of empathy, in this
position paper we discuss our exploratory research into
bereavement following miscarriage and consider how
our visual practice has enhanced communication and
comprehension within an interdisciplinary team. We
propose that such accessible visualisations can
stimulate a shared, compassionate understanding of
user needs, and thus inform the development of
empathic services, systems, and solutions
Making Design Explicit in Organisational Change: Detour or Latour
This paper explores a Latourian approach in addressing the challenge for Design Management to integrate design strategically within small, medium enterprises (SMEs). Design thinkingâs positioning towards providing an accessible and open process for organisational change is argued to currently manifest a rhetorical detour around the role of design practice. The proposal is that the role of design can be expressed in the repeated interactions between participants and design artefacts, and how these are then translated into the organisation.
The paper uses a case-Ââstudy method to produce a situated account of design work within a strategic design intervention with an SME. Drawing on Latourian principles around actor-Âânetwork theory (ANT), observations and accounts of the intervention are grounded in the use of tools, artefacts and activities deployed. This allows for analysis exploring the traceable influences design artefacts have on the work being performed and a reflective space for designers to assess their performative agency.
The paper proposes an approach to the constraints and opportunities that design management encounter around the matters of concern for organisational change; and in so doing, how this can inform reflective design practice
Crafting Futures: Inspiring Interdisciplinary Innovation with Young Craft Artisans in Malaysia
The authors present a studio-based approach to inspiring interdisciplinary innovation with young craft artisans in Malaysia drawing on Crafting Futures, a project delivered in partnership between the British Council and The Glasgow School of Art. The Malaysian craft context currently faces a range of challenges that have led to a precarity in communities where craft has historically been a key mode of economic production, in addition to youth migration, particularly young women, from villages to urban centres. In response to this, Crafting Futures is predicated on the economic empowerment of young women in South East Asia through fostering innovation and design-led skills for female artisans. A Design Innovation pop-up studio programme was co-designed with Malaysian-based craft experts, and delivered to young craft students studying at the Insitut Kraf Negara, a specialist craft school in Rawang, Kuala Lumpur. Studio-based pedagogy underpinned the programme, with a focus on nurturing creative capacity-building towards cultivating a collective community of practice centred on Design Innovation approaches. The authors share insights surrounding the co-design process of programme development and delivery, where themes around gender, neo-colonialism and cross-cultural collaboration emerged. The authors conclude by discussing the value and impact of participation for the students, and set out directions for future regionally-focused research in the Malaysian craft context
Designing for reimagined communities
Within place-based design research the concept of community has become an increasingly important reference point, particularly in relation to the areas of co-design and participatory design. This Special Issue âDesigning for Reimagined Communitiesâ emerged from a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded programme Design Innovation & Land-Assets: Towards new communities. Here, a review of available participatory and collaborative framings of community in design revealed a broad landscape of directions and options
In conversation: is care in opposition to design?
We need to challenge underpinning assumptions of design including 'Who does it?' 'What's it for?' and 'How do we learn to do it?' are brought into sharp focus by the question of care. Care might even be something conceived to be in opposition to design. Care isn't a discipline whereas design might still think of itself as one
Supporting the open innovation process in small and medium enterprises
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) encounter specific barriers in engaging in innovation. This paper explores the concept of open innovation and how best conditions conducive to this can be created to support SMEs to
engage in innovation. It presents Chiasma â innovation workshops â as a method towards a collaborative approach that brings together SMEs, designers
and academics. Design in action (DiA) is a knowledge exchange hub, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which draws together six universities and art schools across Scotland. Adopting a qualitative approach, the paper presents an ongoing process, whereby the approach emerges from action research in conversation with the actors involved
Craft, textiles, and cultural assets in the Northern Isles: innovation from tradition in the Shetland Islands
This article explores design innovation approaches in the creative economy in the Northern Isles of Scotland, specifically, the Shetland archipelago, focusing on the textiles sector. Shetland has a rich history of craft work, including Fair Isle knitting and lace making. We contend that the value of cultural assets in contributing to the creative economy is underexamined and that there is a paucity of understanding of the innovative potential of craft and creative practitioners in the region. The insights presented are derived from Innovation from Tradition workshops, which aimed to reframe the creative economy within an island context, elicit knowledge surrounding local cultural assets and explore the innovative capabilities of creative practitioners. We reflect on how a design innovation approach allowed us to garner the collective wisdom held in communities and foreground the focal themes of practice, place and people
Design Innovation: Experimental Creative Research Approaches
Design innovation is a way of structuring design research processes and practices in pursuit of valuable outcomes. Drawing together ideas of complexity theory, creative action and communities of practice, we depict design research as creative action ? an emergent, unpredictable, creative interaction amongst embodied participants and reified objects. From complexity theory we are interested in how modes of interaction and connection, combined with non-linear feedback processes, can give rise to innovation. In particular, we wish to explore how use of visual artefacts and the design of spatial and temporal dimensions of research might influence outcomes. We are attentive to the body as an expressive process rather than simply an instrument of the intellect and are cognisant that design research, like any other social practice, is linked to the processes of identity construction, which is inherently tentative, temporal and temporary in nature
Materiality Matters: Exploring the use of design tools in innovation workshops with the craft and creative sector in the Northern Isles of Scotland
This paper presents initial reflections regarding the use of bespoke design tools within a series of innovation workshops carried out with practitioners and stakeholders active in the craft and creative industry sector in the Scottish Islands of Orkney and Shetland. We argue that by emphasising such bespoke material tools located in and inspired by the local landscape, history and culture, we encouraged engagement, provided space for innovation and enabled creative collectives in their goal of enhancing and sustaining the creative economy in rural geographies