A curated collection of Design Research examples
It is intended to provide a route into understanding the value of Design Research for newcomers and providing a useful repository to draw upon for experts.
The Observatory is part of a larger project called Design Research Works whose mission is to show the world what it can gain from Design Research.
The Design Research Observatory is aimed at three core audiences...
Beginners
Those who might benefit from Design Research but don't know what they don't know.
Using the Observatory, they can find out what it looks like, how it works, and what it can achieve.
Improvers
Those who already know about Design Research but want an easy-to-navigate way of expanding their horizons and exploring some world-leading examples.
Everyone
Design Research is a young field and is not very well known. Part of our mission is to try and change that.
For that reason, as a general tool to help increase awareness and knowledge, we hope the Observatory will be for everyone.
What is listed?
The Observatory is a curated collection and as such we are not attempting to include every single example of Design Research.
However, we do want a broad collection that demonstrates the huge diversity of different types of Design Research.
To help us achieve this, we have an ongoing programme of guest curators to help us build the collection. If you would like to be a guest curator, please get in touch.
Our guiding principles are that entries should be:
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An example of Design Research
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Complementary to the existing collection
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Show the value of Design Research in a novel, unique, or noteworthy manner.
Want to help out?
Become a guest curator
Are you a Design Researcher and know of a great project that could become part of this collection? If yes, then, become a guest curator!
Propose a entry
The first step is to propose an entry into the observatory. The guiding principles listed above are a starting point, but we are very open minded. Propose your own project, someone else's work, or anything else you can think of.
About the process
Once you have signed up as a guest curator our Project Manager Saadia Shah will guide you through the process. Because we deliberately keep all our entries short, the process is very lightweight. Further information on the process is available in this curator's guide.
Get in touch
If you would like to contact us about anything to do with the Observatory then please send an email to designresearchworks@lancaster.ac.uk