User & Society means to take the end user into consideration. What are their needs? Both the ones they know about and the ones that are hidden from their sights. Creating direct impact on daily life changing people's behaviours and perspective of how they interact and look at the world through the products and services that they use. Being able to empathize with all stakeholders during the design process working in different societal contexts. Its focus lies on awareness of your position in society as a designer and that of your stakeholders with their respective cultures, norms and values.
In my first year, I was under the impression that user & society was primarily focused on users and their experiences in web development, their wants and needs. I now see that there are many more layers to it. In conjunction with my new insights into C&A I now see affordances to create interactive actions that support the user. I now also see that the user experience extends beyond that of the product itself, but also the process that it represents, something I explored during my third project where I hosted a co-creation session.
Another thing that I was not aware of was the fact that the users themselves don’t know what they want most of the time. Something you learn to unravel and become aware of by doing a cultural probe study like the one performed in the course Design <> Research.
Another point of awareness that I gained compared to my first year was the impact of an industrial designer on a societal level. Being aware of the implications that material choices and production choices have. Seeing the environmental impact that non-circular design has. Through the course Sustainability & Design, I found new ways of thinking and looking at the world. This new perspective, in conjunction with the lessons learned during the course designing for more-than-human worlds, has inspired me to go in a new direction with my vision.
Future Development
I want to improve my competency in this expertise area through furthering my knowledge and awareness in regenerative practices. I want to focus on a user study language that encompasses not just humans but also non-humans. Finding ways to let them collaborate and show each other their needs in respect to one another. This is something that I will be testing and applying in my future projects, diving deeper into more-than-human design.
Design <> Reserach cultural probes
Sustainability & Design: circularity, regeneration & rights of Nature
Evaluating best practices
System map
R-strategies
R-Strategies
First-Person sketching, Understanding ecosystems.
Designing for more-than-human worlds co-creating with the hop plant
Getting to know our more-than-human
First-Person documentation and understaning of more-than-human
Entanglements workshop
Entanglements workshop
Becoming exercise
Making music with more-than-humans
First prototype
First prototype
Midterm presentation stand
Documentation of creation process japanes knotweed flute.
Final design creation kit
Final design
Final design
PROJECT 3: PLASTHETICS co-creation workshop
