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IntroductionMany innovation projects are currently organized as co-design processes (i.e., as processes of creative cooperation). The term codesign can refer, for example, to the organizing of open innovation processes, in which people from different organizations share and combine ideas and knowledge, or to involving users or customers as participants in the design process. 1 One might even argue that design is always co-design because it is inherently a social process. 2 Co-design comprises diverse approaches, ranging from research-oriented ones (e.g., applied ethnography) to design-oriented ones (e.g., using generative tools), and with a focus on user involvement, ranging from approaches in which researchers and designers move toward users (e.g., usability testing) to approaches in which users move toward researchers and designers (e.g., participatory design). 3 Co-design often builds on the tradition of (Scandinavian) participatory design. 4 In this paper, I follow Sanders and Stappers's use of the term co-design to indicate "collective creativity as it is applied across the whole span of a design process." 5 Another useful definition is provided by Kleinsmann and Valkenburg, who describe codesign as "the process in which actors from different disciplines share their knowledge about both the design process and the design content… in order to create shared understanding on both aspects… and to achieve the larger common objective: the new product to be designed." 6 This definition draws attention to the sharing and combining of knowledge and to developing shared understanding-issues that are discussed here.Diverse benefits are associated with co-design: from improving processes of idea generation and service or product development, to improving decision-making and promoting cooperation and creativity, to improving users' and customers' satisfaction and loyalty over the long-term. 7 Despite the prominence of co-design as a strategy, it receives little scholarly attention, and the ideas behind it are rarely discussed critically. 8 This situation might be caused by the popularity of labelling projects as co-design and the conceptual dilution or confusion that results.

In this essay several virtues are discussed that are needed in people who work in participatory design (PD). The term PD is used here to refer specifically to an approach in designing information systems with its roots in Scandinavia in the 1970s and 1980s. Through the lens of virtue ethics and based on key texts in PD, the virtues of cooperation, curiosity, creativity, empowerment and reflexivity are discussed. Cooperation helps people in PD projects to engage in cooperative curiosity and cooperative creativity. Curiosity helps them to empathize with others and their experiences, and to engage in joint learning. Creativity helps them to envision, try out and materialize ideas, and to jointly create new products and services. Empowerment helps them to share power and to enable other people to flourish. Moreover, reflexivity helps them to perceive and to modify their own thoughts, feelings and actions. In the spirit of virtue ethics-which focuses on specific people in concrete situations-several examples from one PD project are provided. Virtue ethics is likely to appeal to people in PD projects because it is practice-oriented, provides room for exploration and experimentation, and promotes professional and personal development. In closing, some ideas for practical application, for education and for further research are discussed.

Many innovations in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry are driven by technological developments, rather than by concerns for users' needs and preferences. This technology push approach brings a risk of creating products or services that people cannot or do not want to use. In some projects, however, people conduct human-centered design (HCD) as an alternative approach. In HCD, diverse experts, such as designers and researchers, cooperate with potential users-who are "experts of their experiences" 1 -to bring users' ideas and knowledge into the innovation process and to jointly articulate problems and develop solutions.The term HCD is used here to refer to a broad range of approaches, including participatory design, the lead user approach, co-design, ethnography, contextual design, and empathic design. 2 HCD is based on four principles: 1) involving users to better understand their practices, needs, and preferences; 2) searching for an appropriate allocation of functions between people and technology; 3) organizing project iterations in conducting the research and generating and evaluating solutions; and 4) organizing multi-disciplinary team work. 3 Kujala, in her review of the benefits and challenges of early user involvement in the ICT industry, concluded that "User involvement is clearly useful and it has positive effects on both system success and user satisfaction." 4 However, she adds that "Involving users is not an easy task for designers. Early involvement of users appears to be promising, on the condition that user involvement methods are developed further and the roles of users and designers are carefully considered." Indeed, realizing the principles of HCD in practice is "not an easy task." In projects on which I have worked, I experienced tensions between HCD principles and HCD practices, and I expect others to have had similar experiences. For example, when we conduct participatory design, we usually set an agenda for a workshop with users. This agenda steers users' participation; as a consequence, we might miss topics that are not on our agenda but are nevertheless relevant to the users and to the project. When