Generating implications for design through design research

Abstract

A central tenet of HCI is that technology should be usercentric, with designs being based around social science findings about users. Nevertheless a repeated but critical challenge in design is translating empirical findings into actionable ideas that inform design, or generating implications for design. Despite various design methods aiming to bridge this gap, knowledge informing design is still seen as problematic. However there has been little empirical exploration into what design researchers understand by such design knowledge, the functions and principles behind their creation. We report on interviews with twelve expert HCI design researchers probing the roles and types of design implications, and the process of generating and evaluating them. We synthesize different types of design implications into a framework to guide their generation. Our findings identify a broader range than previously described, additional sources and heuristics supporting their development as well some important evaluation criteria. We discuss the value of these findings for interaction design research.

Communication Needs of Elderly at Risk of Falls and their Remote Family

“…Study findings suggest three design implications [36] extending previous findings on the importance of negotiating between the value of continual contact and one's need for autonomy [21], within the context of risks of falls.…”

User Perceptions of 3D Food Printing Technologies

“…We now discuss the findings and articulate several sensitizing concepts opening novel design opportunities [8] for 3DPF technologies in HCI. Findings indicate that 3DFP technology is understood mostly as a nondomestic technology raising concerns over the longterm effects to health of the foodstuff produced.…”

Tariff Agent

“…One common method for grounding the implications of a field study is to run a new study by utilising what have learnt in the previous one [Sas et al 2014]. Therefore, we decided to run a new longer field study to explore the questions stated above, after implementing some design changes for improving the first prototype based on the implications of the first study.…”