A curated collection

of Design Research

A multifaceted concept that is part genre, approach, and lens.

It applies and reflects the experiences of people from the African diaspora to speculation and futures thinking.

In the context of Design Research, it is likely to be used as a type of Speculative Design that is empathic to the aesthetics, politics and experiences of the African diaspora.

Bringing together lived experiences of communities and professional expertise in collaborative design processes.

Co-design is closely related to Participatory Design but often seeks to include participants or co-designers directly in decision making.

An approach to Research through Design that is complementary to Speculative Design, Design Fiction and Critical Design but that focuses on functional prototypes that are then deployed in real-world settings.

An approach to Research through Design that uses the process of designing to challenge societal norms, assumptions, and trajectories. Unlike traditional design, which aims to provide solutions, Critical Design aims to ask questions.

A type of Speculative Design that takes inspiration from science fiction.

Design Fiction works by creating a fictional or story world and then putting prototype designs into that world.

This allows the prototype designs to test whether the fictional world makes sense and also for the world to test whether the designs make sense.

Design Fictions are often made up of several artefacts that are viewed together.

A research approach where researchers immerse themselves in the situations and contexts they want to understand. Through observation, participation, interviews, and detailed field notes, ethnographers uncover how people actually live and work.

While used across many disciplines, in Design Research ethnography grounds problems in real practices, reveals tacit knowledge and hidden values, and helps researchers develop genuine empathy.

It's an invaluable tool for identifying unmet needs and challenging assumptions.

Ethnography is often used in conjunction with other approaches—researchers may use ethnographic insights to enable better Co-design, Participatory Design, or Speculative Design work. Also see Thing Ethnography and Anticipatory Ethnography.

An approach to research or knowledge production that is built on the premise that when we go through design processes we often learn things about the world. Often shortened to RtD and can sometimes be used interchangeably with Design Research.

While the underlying premise is simple because Research through Design represents a research method and a theory of knowledge (or epistemology) it can become very complex.

There are many related terms including practice-based research and constructive design research.

An approach to design that deliberately moves beyond Human-Centred Design to consider the interconnected relationships between people, technology, and the environment. Taking inspiration from a wide range of philosophical traditions (including posthumanism, new materialism, and actor-network theory, and object-oriented ontology), in practice it challenges design researchers to consider broader impacts and relationships, asking not just "how does this work for people?" but "how does this impact the world?" More-than-human design is a broad idea that can be used as motivation for a project, as inspiration for a design or solution, or as an analytical tool.

See also Thing Ethnography which is a specific approach to doing More-Than-Human Design

An approach to designing technological systems that prioritises reflection and calmness over speed and efficiency.

Rather than demanding immediate attention, Slow Technology encourages thoughtful, long-term interactions that unfold over time.

This approach has become important in Design Research for understanding how relationships with technology evolve and deepen. It is often used in combination with Research through Design.

While it is related to the broader Slow Design movement—which promotes wellbeing and sustainability—Slow Technology specifically focuses on the temporal qualities of our interactions with digital systems.