Materializing the Agency of Design in Innovation Practices

Abstract

This article critically reviews how we think about design in technology and service innovation. Human-centered design has emerged in this science-driven field as a way to include the interests of humans and their needs in production processes. As such, design has a considerable effect on the development of new technologies and services. Making visible the agency of design in these practices thus is of immense importance. A gap remains in the ability of current concepts of design to visualize and conceptualize design agency. Therefore, drawing on concepts of materiality in design and practice, this article proposes a framework that makes design agency visible.

Design process of live-action video instructions

“…The tension between making and reflecting evokes new knowledge to emerge (Frayling, 1993, p. 5). The research uses configuring artefacts as an analytical framework (Neubauer, 2022). The design artefacts are here understood as imaginaries that are both material and idea, and these material-idea imaginaries are active collaborators in design projects.…”

“…We illustrate design as an activity where designers and materials act together through imaginaries, which are active artefacts in the design process. We draw on a conceptual framework, 'configuring artefacts', which visualises the trajectories of imaginaries from an ephemeral thought to a tangible design decision (Neubauer, 2022).…”

Making the 3000m2 Prototype

“…An important contribution which we are seeking to make, is the methodological approach which combines concepts of STS with the material-reflective approach of design (Neubauer, 2022;Neubauer & Wecht, in press), hereby proposing that the scripts that inscribe technologies and social practices, can be reflected upon, and can also be reinvented, redesigned and remade.…”