Designerly influence on politics and the press: Changing a deadlocked relationship
In recent years, political communication and political television debates have become farcical because of the professionalization of political communication. This has resulted in a deadlock between politicians, journalists and citizens, who appear to have fundamentally different goals. Consequently, television debates have become predictable, less focused on political argument, and far removed from their consequences in the daily lives of citizens. Drawing on empirical data from a workshop attended by a diverse set of stakeholders - journalists, producers, politicians, and media students - this paper presents the initial findings on how co-design and design games can take part directly in the ‘heat’ of democracy and make room for mutual understanding. In addition, the paper argues for new perspectives on design game research by demonstrating how prioritization, selection, and ‘reversal of perspectives’ can be incorporated into design games.
Business Model Design Games: Rules and Procedures to Challenge Assumptions and Elicit Surprises
Previously well-established companies are currently struggling to secure profits, mainly due to the pressure from new communication technology-based business models. Because of this, the business model research field has flourished in recent years, but most of the applied approaches still rely on linear, rational conceptions and causal reasoning. Through three games and three business cases, it is argued that experimental game-like innovation activities can lead the way into another approach to business model development, called ‘business model design games’. This paper illustrates how the application of game rules and procedures can challenge business assumptions and evoke surprises that lead to novel business model insights.
On designing open-ended interpretations for collaborative design exploration
User-centred design is a widely acknowledged practice. Much attention has been paid to the methods, tools and processes on how to conduct design research and field studies with and about ‘users’ and existing or possible ‘contexts of use’. The underlying driver is that the design team will be better at designing if they have an empathic understanding of the people to design with and for. Currently, more effort is invested in engaging various stakeholders in collaborative design activities that nurture an attitude of human-centredness as a strategy. Empathic design approaches are essential in such strategies as they value subjective and experiential perspectives in design. The objective of this paper is to illustrate and discuss different kinds of formats that can be used to work with representations of field research findings and insights in ways that can be open-ended. Being open-ended means that they can allow and inspire new individual interpretations for various participants in the collaborative design processes, which include users, designers and other stakeholders. What is argued for here is the value of incompleteness of field study outcomes as it invites sense-making through making new interpretations which lead to empathic understanding and engagement. Rather than communicating the final results, design in supporting collaboration is applied in a process of exploring what it is that will create value for specific people.